Health Plans Don’t Buy Disruption - They Buy Certainty
When you signal risk, you stall the deal. Here’s how vendors make themselves safe to buy.
Every health tech vendor wants to sound bold.
That’s what the market rewards. It’s what investors ask for. And in the early stages, it’s what gives your company momentum. Bold claims can feel like a differentiator.
But health plans aren’t betting on differentiation. They’re betting on whether your product is worth the political and operational lift of implementation. And when your pitch signals risk (even subtly), it doesn’t matter how compelling your solution is.
In my work helping vendors land and expand health plan deals, I’ve seen what actually moves forward and what quietly dies.
This piece breaks down four patterns that derail promising solutions before they ever get to legal:
Why “pilot” doesn’t mean low stakes
What health plan buyers are really risking
How “disruptive” messaging actually increases buyer anxiety
What credible vendors do differently to make themselves easy to choose
Each one sounds obvious on the surface. But if you don’t address them directly in your outbound strategy or presentations, you’ll keep hearing polite interest that goes nowhere.
1. Even “Pilots” Come with Real Risk
Health tech vendors love to pitch pilots as “light” lifts.
The idea is simple: let’s just get a small test live, see some early results, and scale from there. It feels nimble. Experimental. Low friction.
But inside a health plan, a pilot usually means:
Security and compliance reviews
PHI data handling and IT integration
Legal procurement and contract workflows
Cross-functional alignment with internal teams
Executive visibility the moment a member is touched
There’s no such thing to a health plan as a low-stakes pilot when member data and compliance risk are on the table.
This is the cultural divide that trips up even experienced vendors. What feels like agility to a vendor can feel like reputational risk to a health plan.
Plans aren’t asking, “Will this vendor solution work?”
They’re asking, “Will this partnership blow up in my face?”
If you want the pilot, you have to make it safe for someone to say yes. That means showing you understand what a pilot really entails, not from your side, but from theirs.
2. Buyers Are Betting Their Credibility
Health plans get labeled as slow-moving or risk-averse.
But it’s not just red tape that makes them cautious. It’s personal.
After all, your buyer has to answer FOR you.
They’re the ones who push you through procurement, champion your product internally, and answer questions if something slips, breaks, or underdelivers.
Even small issues like missed timelines, buggy dashboards, and confusing reporting can damage their reputation.
That’s why you're not really competing against another vendor.
You're competing against the safety of doing nothing.
The real decision filter isn’t: “Does this work?”
It’s: “Can I afford to be wrong about this?”
The more your pitch introduces uncertainty, such as new categories, vague claims, or signs of inexperience, the more likely you are to quietly lose the deal, even if the product is objectively strong.
So when you hear: “We like it, but the timing’s not right,”
What they often mean is: “This feels like more risk than I can carry right now.”
3. Selling Innovation Often Sounds Like Selling Risk
Many vendors use language they think sounds impressive.
They talk about redefining care, revolutionizing engagement, or transforming outcomes. They describe their solution as AI-powered, next-generation, or game-changing.
To investors, that can signal ambition.
To health plan buyers, it signals something else entirely.
It reads as unproven. It raises questions about whether your team has ever navigated a real-world rollout. It makes them wonder if you understand what implementation actually takes.
Because buyers have learned the hard way:
“Disruptive” often means hard to implement
“Revolutionary” often means no support model
“Game-changing” often means not ready
None of those are “safe bets.”
It’s not that your product can’t be innovative. It’s that your messaging needs to show you understand the environment you’re walking into.
If your messaging sounds like it was written for TechCrunch, don’t be surprised when the buyer quietly moves on.
4. The Best Vendors Sound Like a Safe Yes
The vendors who consistently win health plan deals don’t try to impress.
They make the decision easy to justify.
They speak in specifics that buyers immediately recognize:
“We integrate with existing care gap workflows like Epic, Salesforce, or even Excel-based programs.”
“We support MA and DSNP populations and built our reporting to align with changes to Stars cutpoints.”
“We launched with a regional Blues plan and hit 80% outreach within the first 60 days.”
“We’re HITRUST certified, SOC 2 compliant, and already approved by two state Medicaid programs.”
None of that sounds bold. That’s what makes it land.
It gives the buyer language they can forward to compliance, pitch to leadership, and feel confident standing behind.
Ironically, many of these vendors are doing innovative work.
But they tell the story in a way that respects the risk on the other side of the table.
They don’t sound like a gamble.
They sound like a decision someone’s ready to defend.
Final Thought
Health plans aren’t looking for disruption.
They’re looking for vendors they can trust with real work.
That means your pitch doesn’t just need to be clear.
It needs to make someone feel safe putting their name behind it.
If your story triggers doubt (even quietly), you won’t get the deal.
If it signals readiness, alignment, and low risk, things tend to move faster.
Make it easy to say yes.
Then deliver like hell once they do.
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About the Author
Ryan Peterson writes Upward Growth, where he shares practical insights on selling health tech into the payor market. With 15+ years in healthcare growth leadership, he focuses on helping vendors translate their value into traction with health plans.
🟦 Connect with him on LinkedIn.
The LinkedIn version stirred up a ton of reactions. If you’re curious how it landed—or want to weigh in...here’s the thread: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ryan-peterson-1a20866_healthtech-digitalhealth-medicareadvantage-activity-7330733627166613504-mVPW