Dr. Steven Malen PharmD MBA

Dr. Steven Zachary Malen PharmD/MBA

I have over 10 years experience in healthcare, over 5 years of management experience and an MBA which gives me a unique perspective on the healthcare industry. Everyday at work I see not only the massive problems with our healthcare system but I also see how insurance companies and Big Pharma exploit us as consumers to maximize profits. On a positive note, these problems are perfect entry points for businesses to come in and solve our dilemmas. These opportunities are ripe for the taking especially because company’s engaging in ICOs are in an advantageous position to conquer due to their inherent agility, lean operations and unrestricted ease of raising capital without necessarily sacrificing equity. I want to be a part of the ICO revolution as it can finally disrupt a healthcare system which is unnecessarily expensive and fraught with unethical corporations. These companies have done everything possible to create incentives for consumers which give little transparency and choice. Noam Chomsky describes this very well explaining that these companies have lobbied our government to try as hard as possible from having a free market. Instead, consumers have almost no moral hazard navigating the healthcare system. We have no idea how much a doctor visit, tests or prescriptions will cost until it is too late. Our insurance policies are also filled with confusing factors such as deductibles, donut holes, out of pocket maximums, prior authorizations, etc. which make it very difficult to make the optimum choice. Deductibles are my favorite example of what is wrong with the incentives for patients. In the beginning of the year we dread the period where every doctor you see and every drug you get is expensive; the notorious $700 EpiPen which I have sadly sold to many desperate moms comes to mind. Then after paying off the deductible we almost get a high that everything costs less and we want to go to every doctor we can. This change in incentives throughout the year creates a mentality where we underutilize and overutilize medical care which in general causes us to simply poorly take care of ourselves. My interest in the blockchain movement comes from my side gig of writing science fiction which resulted in performing research on artificial intelligence, machine learning and of course, the blockchain. We are living in a world that is similar to the years when the internet was first invented; the changes so far have been great however the future implications are on an exponential level. Of course this bubble will pop but in its aftermath will be a changed society where blockchain will take over the financial world. After the dot-com bubble we created iPhones, iPads and machine learning which allows us to find every dog picture in Google Photos. I don’t know 100% what will happen after the ICO bubble pops but I do know it will be revolutionary! If you have a company which is in anyway healthcare related, then you want expert advice from someone who is in the trenches of our healthcare system. We will work together to make our healthcare system better!