New research and advances in healthcare and technology are growing exponentially. As part of this rapid growth, more companies are focusing on solutions for women’s health. Women make up half of the world’s population and drive 80% of consumer purchasing decisions in healthcare. However, women’s healthcare has been historically considered a narrow focus of the broader healthcare sector.
Femtech – the term used for diagnostics, software, clinical models, wearables, and technology that address women’s healthcare needs – is transforming women’s healthcare. Digital healthcare companies are “at the cutting edge of a growing market focused on women’s health . . . [with] the potential to reach almost $10 billion by 2024.”
As the healthcare sector recognizes the need to improve women’s health outcomes by designing patient-centered approaches, femtech companies are capitalizing on the opportunity to develop new and innovative products specifically for women.
Women’s healthcare is the focus of medicine that affects women’s physical and psychological well-being. Historically, women’s healthcare was typically associated with pregnancy and fertility care. That limited focus disregarded the unique healthcare needs of women across their lifetimes. While women’s healthcare focuses on a women’s comprehensive healthcare needs, some key areas include reproductive health, pregnancy and childbirth, osteoporosis, menopause and hormone therapy, mammography, ovarian, breast and uterine cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic disease management.
Women’s healthcare recognizes that common conditions do not always look the same in women as they do in men. For example, women do not typically experience heart attack symptoms like men do, which can result in delayed diagnosis or treatment and poorer health outcomes. The historical lack of solutions designed specifically for women now presents a significant opportunity for companies aiming to address these gaps and improve care for women.
The differences between men and women extend to cellular biology: every single cell in an individual’s body has a sex chromosome. Approaches to disease management and treatment for women must account for these differences. They can impact disease risk and prevention, recommended diagnostics and procedures, how symptoms present, and best-suited therapies for treatment.
Recent advances, increased awareness, and expanded utilization of genomics take this difference into account. Genomics is the branch of molecular biology focused on mapping genomes to inform care. It gives providers more information about a patient’s family history, gene type, the potential to respond to certain therapies, and what diagnostic tools might be most effective. “Genomics will make it possible to do more preventive care in the next five to ten years,” says Dr. Kathy Gregory, a San Francisco gynecologist. “We’ll know if someone is at greater risk, and thus we need to do more regular testing or introduce certain therapies earlier.”
New femtech solutions are poised to help women live longer, healthier lives. Virtual clinics, clinic models designed around women’s needs, and direct-to-consumer prescriptions provide women with better access to care. Women can take greater charge of their health and health data with new and emerging diagnostics, health trackers, and wearable devices.
Femtech encompasses a broad range of consumer-centric, technology-enabled solutions. Innovative femtech companies like the ones below are delivering breakthrough approaches to address gaps in women’s healthcare.
Aimed at addressing rising maternal mortality and morbidity rates in the United States, Bloomlife provides personalized prenatal care by combining technology, data science, and medical expertise. Patients use a remote wearable device that tracks contractions and can access an online prenatal platform with support and education, and their providers can monitor their condition remotely. Bloomlife has identified a breakthrough digital biomarker to identify early labor onset. Providers are able to monitor their patients better, and patients have more peace of mind with Bloomlife’s technology solution.
Carrot Fertility is a complete global solution for fertility benefits. The company defines its mission as helping employers and health plans provide equal access to inclusive fertility benefits, including healthcare, IVF, and adoption. Employers and health plans see results like better employee retention, better health outcomes, and long-term cost savings.
Visana Health focuses on timely, personalized treatment and support for women. Visana is “staffed by women’s health experts dedicated to fixing the broken system that is failing women.” The program centers on Four Key Pillars of Integrated Care: pelvic floor physical therapy, education, nutrition, and mental health support. The app is designed to help women take control of their health care and find the answers and support they need.
Cayaba Care is a home-based pregnancy, birth, and postpartum support program that offers personalized care in between OB visits. The company offers maternity navigators, emotional and mental health support, nursing help, home and virtual visits, and simplified communications via call, text, or email. Utilizing local services, resources, and specialists, Cayaba Care boasts a dedicated team of experts right at your fingertips. Cayaba Care’s vision is to use the power of technology and community to achieve health equity for all women.
DotLab offers DotEndo, a non-invasive blood test that measures biomarkers in the blood and aids in diagnosing active endometriosis. The solution addresses challenges in women’s healthcare and barriers to accurate endometriosis diagnosis. Research shows that an endometriosis diagnosis can take up to 11 years for some patients, leading to increased costs and poor health outcomes. DotLab aims to advance women’s healthcare through breakthrough, actionable technologies that result in better health outcomes.
50 million women are currently navigating menopause in the US. Elektra Health provides evidence-based menopause expertise and care, empowering women to understand and manage their symptoms through online education and expert care from board-certified doctors. Elektra Health also offers a community where women can connect to others with similar experiences in a safe space.
Evvy aims to close the gender healthcare gap by discovering and leveraging biomarkers in the female body, starting with the vaginal microbiome. The company offers a first-ever at-home test to use metagenomic sequencing to generate a report that uncovers all bacteria and fungi related to pH imbalance and other factors. Women are able to learn more about potential recurrent infections or infertility issues and are empowered to make informed healthcare decisions.
ATUSA is the world’s first AI-driven portable and automated 3D breast ultrasound scanner, introduced by iSono Health. The device includes a one-of-a-kind wearable accessory for enhanced efficiency and accuracy. ATUSA’s scans provide physicians with advanced 3D visualization. Breast imaging with ATUSA is painless and convenient, advancing and improving women’s care and experience.
More women are joining STEM fields
Femtech companies offer more opportunities for women to participate in designing care models and solutions based on their own experiences. More than 70% of femtech companies have at least one female co-founder. More representation across gender, sexuality, and ethnicity at femtech companies contributes to solutions and technology rooted in lived experience.
Advances in femtech tie into increases in the number of women studying and working in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. When women lead and participate in teams and companies creating new models of care and technology solutions, the end products benefit from a more diverse perspective.
There are still significant challenges and barriers to addressing women’s healthcare. Femtech companies face obstacles such as the historic underrepresentation of women in clinical studies (and associated lack of data on women), and the stigmatization of women’s health conditions. Clinical trials and research excluded women until 1993, seriously impacting women’s healthcare today.
Femtech companies are also addressing disparities among women head-on by developing models that deliver culturally sensitive and tailored care. Companies focus on black women, women of color, LGBTQ+ populations, and women with low socioeconomic status.
Femtech is tackling these challenges and addressing unmet clinical and research needs in long-neglected areas of women’s healthcare. Women’s healthcare focuses like infertility, menstrual health, pelvic care, sexual health, endometriosis, and menopause – have lacked resources due to the stigma associated with these conditions. Femtech companies are developing specialized value propositions to address gaps in these focus areas, and it’s paying off. These new companies are seeing significant consumer engagement as more women learn about these solutions.
Women’s health outcomes are linked to the health of society. Women play outsized roles in healthcare decisions outside of their own care. They are typically the decision-makers for their entire family – partners, children, parents, and even extended family members. Technology and healthcare that addresses women’s preferences and needs are more likely to both be chosen by women and to have a greater impact on women’s health. For example, trusted relationships with providers and care teams are important to women and impact their healthcare decisions.
Women comprise 70-80% of the healthcare workforce, and 66% of caregivers for the aging population are women. Not only are women the gatekeepers for healthcare decisions in their families, but they are also savvy healthcare consumers. Since women make up a significant part of the healthcare workforce, they serve as the drivers of health in their communities.
Femtech solutions and models that take these issues into account can have a significant impact beyond the women they serve. As women manage caretaking responsibilities, it can adversely affect their individual health. Often, women prioritize the needs of those around them instead of their own. When women can first address their healthcare needs, they can better support their loved ones.
Femtech companies are growing in market share, consumer engagement, and financial investment. While femtech companies still receive only a small portion of all digital-health funding, they are already showing promising returns and significant advances in women’s healthcare. Femtech will only continue to grow in the future. The transformation will continue, and providers and patients will benefit from access to new models of care, improved diagnostics and treatments, and better resources and tools to address women’s healthcare needs.
The Welkin Care Management platform supports femtech digital health companies in scaling compassionate care, personalizing patient approaches, nurturing collaborative care models, and reducing administrative fatigue . Learn more about how healthcare CRM technologies like Welkin can help offer patient-centered care to support women’s healthcare.
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