Healthcare has traditionally been slow to adopt, and even adverse to, new technology. Today, industries such as finance and airline are several steps ahead when it comes to the latest tech, but the times are changing. A recent Forbes article has predicted that healthcare IT is poised to create a new group of billionaires.
Technology is no stranger to billionaires. As of today the top three U.S. billionaires involved in technology are Bill Gates, with a net worth of $85. 3 billion; Larry Ellison, with a net worth of $47.5 billion and Jeff Bezos, with a net worth of $38.4 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires. Microsoft, Oracle and Amazon are not healthcare-focused, though all three have entered into that space.
While these well-established billionaires may be profiting from forays into healthcare, there are pure healthcare technology companies well on their way to making a fortune from the ground up. Forbes points to Zenefits, a company that managed health insurance, payroll and benefits for small businesses. The company was launched by Parker Conrad in 2003, and already he has an approximate net worth of $900 million. In 2014, Zenefits was named as the start-up with the fastest growing valuation, according to the report.
The healthcare IT market is expected to be worth $56.7 billion by 2017, according to a Markets and Markets report. Giants in the market include Epic, Cerner, McKesson, athenahealth, Allscripts and more. But in such a fluid and expanding industry, there is more than enough room for startups and their founders to create a footprint and launch relatively unknown figures to the coveted billionaire position.