Ohio Entrepreneurs Predict What’s Coming in 2022

What do these founders and CEOs expect in the new year?

In spite of all the challenges faced by companies across the globe, it’s been an amazing year for startups in Ohio. But as 2021 winds down, it’s time to turn our attention ahead to 2022 and what comes next.

We asked a variety of Ohio entrepreneurs what they see as a major point of change in their industries in 2022. Here’s what they told us:

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“We expect to see a continued emphasis on virtual healthcare and healthcare in the home. When the current public health emergency ends, some health insurance payers, like Medicare, are expected to end their broad coverage for telehealth and other healthcare access innovations. But now that so many Americans have experienced virtual care, prescription delivery and other health innovations, patients will demand coverage for those services. It may not happen in 2022, but we believe that Medicare and Medicaid policy will change to meet those demands. After all, more access to healthcare leads to healthier Americans, and a healthier populace reduces the amount American taxpayers spend on healthcare.”
–Amanda Epp, CEO of ScriptDrop

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“The pandemic gave the RV rental industry a huge tailwind as travelers turned towards RVs for an escape in a self-contained unit to reconnect with nature and spend time away from home. Due to high demand and a shift in consumer needs in 2020, the awareness and consideration for RV rentals advanced by five years. The interest in outdoor travel has remained consistent in 2021 as we have continued to see ongoing demand.

As sporting, music, and culinary festival events come back in full force in 2022, demand for RVs is projected to rise. In RVshare’s 2022 Travel Trend Report, over half of respondents said they’re very or even 100% likely to choose an RV over other accommodations when attending a music, food or other multi-day festival event, including a sporting event or game.
–Jon Gray, CEO of RVShare

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“In healthcare, supply chain shortages have been most commonly associated with personal protective equipment or medicine, but there’s an often-overshadowed shortage that pales in comparison: the shrinking size of clinicians available to serve patients. In fact, Ohio will be short more than 1,200 primary care physicians by 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Looking ahead to 2022, healthcare organizations are beginning to realize how data and analytics applied across the provider community could help to solve this problem.”
–Charlie Lougheed, CEO and co-founder of Axuall

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“Based on what we’ve seen this past year, it looks like the supply chain issues won’t be going away any time soon. We’ll continue to see companies trying to get ahead of supply chain issues, resolving freight costs and logistics. Unfortunately, we’ll probably continue to see price increases along with a more focused effort on cost cutting to win back some of the lost margins.
–Dr. Asad Khan, CEO of Kent Displays

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“Remote patient monitoring is becoming more sophisticated and accessible, and its presence in patients’ homes, to whatever extent, will continue to increase in 2022. We believe that live transmission of data such as vitals from patients directly to their healthcare providers will cut a significant chunk of unnecessary costs and enable more patients to remain healthy.”
–Faris Ghawi, CEO of Vytalize Health/MedPilot

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“When it comes to local advertising and news delivery, institutions need to be more in tune with meeting the aging millennial and Gen Z demographic where they’re at or not, and in an authentic yet digestible format. We’re successfully seeing Curafied hit on both of those points – entertaining and informing this age group and connecting them with local and regional brands via weekly texted news roundups.
–Arielle Jordan Cassidy, Founder and CEO of Curafied

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“I wouldn’t take it as far as saying pricing transparency in the prescription space because that’s a longer-term problem to solve, but we’re building tools for better “pricing discovery” and that’ll drive large change. Total Rx spending has gone up by hundreds of billions per year, over the past few decades. Pricing continuing to increase at that velocity isn’t sustainable. 2022 will lay a solid foundation for pushing cost in the opposite direction.
–Nick Potts, Co-founder and CEO of giftHealth

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We didn’t just stop at that single open-ended question. What new or emerging industry or topic will thrive in 2022? The founders we talked to answered that question from a variety of angles. Lougheed, for example, is excited about the digital health boom, but is wary of how long it can take the medical industry to adapt to change.

“This trend reflects the growing consumerization of healthcare and the demand for a better experience,” he said. “However, many of these companies face an uphill battle in an industry notoriously slow to adopt innovation. Consider how many doctor’s offices still use a fax machine to share patient information. Only those who are solving the industry’s hardest problems will truly succeed, but they will have an enormous and long lasting impact on the healthcare industry.”

Potts, on the other hand, is excited about the world of blockchain technology and NFTs, which have caught the eye of many in the tech world. “I’ve long thought blockchain was applicable in healthcare, but haven’t seen any critical momentum to date,” he said. “The evolution of NFT and the tokenization of community and collaboration may be the tipping point to drive the adoption needed.”

What do these entrepreneurs think people should be paying more attention to in the business and startup world? For Khan, it’s the environment. “Being environmentally conscious and being prepared to make sure the business and product offerings are aligned with the needs of the environment,” he said.

Potts went in a different direction, focusing on the way a business builds culture in 2022. He said company events will be a unique focus point next year. “With work-from-home growing so quickly, it’s important to host events and include those that are remote in a focused effort to foster relationships that may not happen as organically as in an office setting,” he said.

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Be sure to check back next week for round two of our entrepreneurs’ thoughts on 2022. Have any predictions of your own? Give us a glimpse of the future on our Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram!