How to Build a Health Tech Case Study That Moves Deals Forward
A tactical framework for vendors selling into plans, built around what buyers actually need to see
Earlier in my career, I sold into a Medicare Advantage plan, and our solution significantly improved their RAF scores. The client was thrilled, became a strong reference, and I figured the case study would be perfect to feature in my prospecting deck.
Fast forward two months. I was in a room with half a dozen executives from another health plan who were wrestling with the same problem. Confident, I walked them through what I thought was a powerful example of our results. But a few minutes in, it was clear they weren’t following. Instead of leaning in, they grew skeptical, asking about member counts, regions, operational changes, and whether the lift came from automation or staff.
That’s when it clicked. They weren’t trying to understand what we did. They were trying to determine if it would work inside their plan. And I hadn’t built the case study to answer that. I had built it as a success story, one that made my company look strong but did little to help them imagine their own success. We eventually won the account, but not because of my case study.
That experience changed how I think about proof. Case studies aren’t about recapping the past. They’re about equipping a buyer to make a decision about the future.
Why Most Case Studies Fall Apart Under Pressure
Most vendor case studies start with the right instinct: “We did something valuable, let’s document it.” But the way they come together rarely matches how health plans make decisions.
What happens instead: Internal teams each pull the asset toward different goals like brand alignment, social proof, and sales enablement. The final product might look great, but it often implies outcomes without quantifying them.
And while it might work as a leave-behind after a webinar or a nice-to-have in a sales toolkit, it doesn’t function in the way it matters most, which is the meeting where your buyer is alone, trying to justify your solution to someone with veto power.
In that setting, the case study doesn’t need to inspire. It needs to transfer confidence. And in these times, if the outcomes aren’t directly tied to budget, risk, or quality measures, (or if the reader has to infer how the work actually got done), it’s no longer a sales conversation. Instead, it becomes a credibility test that the vendor has little control over.
What Health Plan Buyers Are Actually Evaluating
Health plan executives don’t read case studies for the story. They’re scanning for proof.
Proof that the vendor can perform under real constraints.
Proof that the outcomes tie to business results.
Proof that what worked once could work again.
They size it up quickly, most of the time in less than two minutes:
Does this outcome align with a meaningful metric? Stars bonus, risk adjustment accuracy, grievance reduction, member retention, and avoidable utilization
What was the size, acuity, and region of the member population? Raw volume doesn’t mean much without context.
What exactly changed operationally? Lift reduction, workflow impact, staffing model
What would it take to reproduce this result at our health plan? Data availability, internal alignment, timeline, cost
How much interpretation is required? If the buyer has to do the math or translate the logic, the case study stops being helpful and starts being work
If those questions aren’t answered clearly, the case study gets mentally discarded, regardless of how well it’s written.
Example:
A vendor positioning itself as an “automated outreach platform” might claim it helped a Medicare Advantage plan increase colorectal screening rates from 42 to 65 percent. Those are real results. However, the case study details that the lift originated from a small cohort of 680 members, who were targeted through live agent calls over a six-week period, with close coordination between the vendor’s team and two PCP groups.
The work delivered impact, but not in the way the vendor said it would. The case study used a staffing-driven result to support an automation claim. That mismatch breaks the internal logic, so instead of reinforcing the message, it undermines it.
Why Most Case Studies Get Dismissed in Under Two Minutes
In my experience, most vendors assume case studies fail when the outcomes aren't impressive enough. But with plan buyers, that’s not the issue as often as you might think. They aren’t just looking for meteoric results (those actually raise suspicions), especially when they’ve struggled with the same problem for years and know what’s realistically possible.
What they are looking for is support, clarity, and a credible path to impact. After all, they’ve got plenty of other priorities competing for their attention. They don’t have time to chase maybes. Your case study doesn’t need to impress. It needs to be worth the risk your buyer’s taking by backing you.
When a case study gets ignored, it’s usually because it doesn’t speak to what matters most and doesn’t answer the questions buyers actually care about. Here’s what experienced buyers notice right away:
Vague outcome language: “Improved engagement,” “higher utilization,” and “better experience” are all soft claims that don’t say anything useful.
Missing denominator: The phrase “45% lift” means nothing without the raw numbers. Was that 900 people or 19?
Cherry-picked cohorts: Seasoned buyers scan for size, line of business, and region. If it looks narrow or hand-selected, they’ll assume it doesn’t scale.
No operational details: Without clarity on staffing, workflows, or timelines, buyers can’t tell if the result is repeatable or just a one-time success.
Over-produced formatting: Anything that feels like a press release or sales slick puts buyers on alert. They aren’t looking for polish, they’re looking for proof.
Build your case study for the skeptical finance or compliance leader who has never heard of you and has 90 seconds to decide if your proof is credible.
This Is What a Useful Case Study Actually Looks Like
If the last section was about what not to do, this one is about how to build proof that actually works. Buyers aren’t just scanning for results; they’re assessing whether your success is real, repeatable, and relevant to them.
Start with the outcome. Not the backstory. Not the process. Not the member vignette. Lead with what changed, for whom, by how much, and over what time period. That’s the proof. Everything else is support.
Be specific. “Closed SDoH gaps for 4,100 dual-eligible members in Florida, improving connection rate from 38% to 61% over 6 months. This reduced plan-attributed grievances by 14% and generated ~$430K in downstream cost avoidance, net of program costs.” That’s the bar to aim for.
Define the population. Spell out the region, line of business, and risk group. Say whether it was a new implementation or an expansion. Buyers will decide relevance within seconds—don’t make them guess.
Explain attribution clearly. Explain how you measured the impact. Did you compare results before and after the program? Against a control group? An external benchmark? Even if it’s simple, name it. If you don’t, they’ll assume the worst.
Show the operational footprint. How many FTEs did it take? What was automated? What workflows were touched? Buyers don’t just want to see outcomes, they want to understand the effort it took to achieve them.
Only include quotes that add operational detail. “The implementation took 42 days and required no plan resources beyond an eligibility file,” which helps buyers assess effort, compared to “This program was a great success,” which tells them nothing.
Don’t just prove that it worked. Show what would need to be true for it to work again. That’s what turns a case study into a buying asset, and not just a success story.
Final Thought
Case studies are often built for websites, not for sales. The best teams treat them as core sales infrastructure. A good case study does more than recap a win. It provides your buyer with what they need to carry the argument forward, whether that appears in a budget thread, a second meeting, or an executive review.
And the difference always comes down to specificity. What changed, how it happened, and why it can happen again.
The best case studies do not just show proof. They create momentum.
In a sales cycle that rarely moves in a straight line, they strengthen the case when your buyer needs to justify the path forward.
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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.