How did Salauno develop a user-centric solution to democratize healthcare in Mexico?
Salauno is a network of ophthalmologic clinics intended for patients at the bottom of the social pyramid. Founded in 2011 its mission is to eliminate unnecessary blindness in Mexico, this being the nation’s second-greatest cause of disability. The business model takes inspiration from Aravind, a hospital in India that offers quality, low-cost ophthalmologic healthcare services and whose success story was described in C.K. Prahalad’s book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.
Fundamental problems
Salauno’s mission and business model have been recognized among the most innovative in the world. Despite as much, the enterprise faced turnover difficulties in its doctor teams simultaneous with increasing patient numbers. Following a detailed analysis, Thrust identified a need not only to strengthen internal culture but as well to implement a series of emotion- and experience-management mechanisms for two important tribes, doctors and patients.
See, live, transform
We completed mapping each of the tribes’ fears and incentives with regard to Salauno’s business model. We discovered that while for doctors it was an issue of validity and prestige before the overall medical community, for patients the issue was a generalized fear regarding surgery’s “risks.” We needed to detach Salauno clinics from negative ideas about hospitals and turn them into a boutique experience focused on “see, live, transform.”
Custom solutions
For patients we created the “Transformative Journey,” i.e., a series of micro-moments (protocols and visual support tools) designed to calm them and control situations during surgery processes. For doctors, on the other hand, we created growth and compensation plans as a vehicle for making their strength visible and enhancing their sense of belonging within the Salauno vocation of eliminating unnecessary blindness in Mexico.
Looking ahead
With now more than seven years in collaboration, Salauno is rapidly growing. Where there was a single clinic when we first met, there are almost fifteen today. It is additionally one of the pioneer enterprises to get involved in telemedicine service models and to migrate its physical recruitment to digital platforms. In 2015 it won the World Economic Forum’s “Social Businesspersons of the Year” award, demonstrating that innovation is not a destination in itself but rather a “state of mood” as well as a process.