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Selling Digital Health Solutions to Payers

Build a payer sales approach grounded in how health plans actually evaluate solutions.
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Selling to payers is not traditional enterprise sales. It requires understanding how health plans assess value, manage risk, and decide what gets funded, often through processes that are opaque to early-stage teams.
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This master class, led by Akros experts Demi Radeva and Steve Weissblum, is designed for founders and GTM leaders who want a clearer view into payer decision-making and a more disciplined, realistic approach to commercialization.

What You’ll Learn

This course offers direct insight into payer perspectives and priorities, including:

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  • How different payer types evaluate value and ROI

  • What makes pilots succeed, stall, or end

  • How to align your solution with payer goals and constraints

  • Where teams most often misalign pricing, evidence, and messaging

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The focus is not on selling tactics alone, but on building a payer-informed commercialization foundation.

Course Modules

Module I: Pre-Sales – Laying the Foundation

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  • Understand Your Business and Competition: Dive deep into competitive analysis to identify your strengths and weaknesses.

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  • Identify the Right Payers: Learn about various payer types—employers, health plans, platform partners—and tailor your approach accordingly.

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  • Case Study: Explore how UnitedHealth Group transformed pharmacy care services and set growth priorities to inform your own strategy.

Module II: Sales – Navigate the Sales Process

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  • Develop Your Ideal Customer Profile: Define your target organization and buyer persona for effective outreach.

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  • Create a Strategic Sales Plan: Learn how to set revenue targets, milestones, and actionable steps that align your team’s efforts.

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  • Engagement Techniques: Discover key engagement strategies that resonate with payers and lead to successful partnerships.

Module III: Post-Sales – Ensure Long-Term Success

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  • Strategic Positioning: Understand the value of your solution and how it aligns with payer goals.

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  • Pilot Management: Learn how to structure and manage pilot programs effectively, ensuring measurable success.

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  • Forecasting & Strategic Planning: Equip yourself with tools to determine rates, reimbursements, and project future growth.

Why This Master Class Exists

Many digital health solutions struggle with payers not because they lack value, but because that value is never framed in payer terms. Misalignment around evidence, pricing, and incentives often leads to stalled pilots and prolonged sales cycles.

 

This master class helps teams:

 

  • Enter payer conversations better prepared

  • Reduce stalled pilots and unproductive cycles

  • Build credibility earlier in the process

  • Create a foundation for repeatable payer engagement

"The experts have turned their decades of experience into an enlightening course that saved me months, if not years, of stumbling my way to success."

Andrew DeLeeuw IV,  MBA, President & CEO of DOCSI
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The Experts

Demi Radeva

Demi Radeva, MSc

Former Director of Strategy & Business Development, UnitedHealthcare

Demi brings a decade of payer-side experience across strategy, innovation, and commercialization. Her work focuses on helping digital health companies align with real payer decision criteria and navigate complex GTM pathways.​​

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  • Decade in Strategy, Innovation, Consulting and Business Development

  • Mentor of the Year, Techstars

  • UnitedHealthcare Accelerator

  • Adjunct Professor, Medical Industry Leadership Institute

  • Business Advisor, University of Minnesota Venture Center

  • Mentor, Minnesota Cup (MN Cup), Former Co-Founder, Digital Health Tech Company (Social Care + Onco)​

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BSc, Finance & International Business

MSc, International Health Policy, London School of Economics

Executive Education, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Stanford

Steve Weissblum

Steve Weissblum

Former CRO | Entrepreneur | Healthcare Sales Advisor

Steve has over 25 years of experience in healthcare services and digital health sales, including leadership roles as a CRO and advisor to growth-stage companies. His expertise spans payer engagement, sales execution, and commercialization strategy.

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  • 25+ years in healthcare service and digital health sales

  • 2x Chief Revenue Officer and Entrepreneur

  • Techstars All-Star Mentor and Mentor in residence

  • Advisory Board Member and Consultant

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MBA, Entrepreneurial Finance, Columbia Business School

BA, Media Arts, University of Arizona

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