Making healthcare connections more accessible

Mark Woodland is the founder and chief executive of Kismet, a health tech start-up designed to improve access to healthcare and disability support and minimise fraud. In the case of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Kismet connects patients with legitimate providers and helps them to manage their funds.

Why did you start Kismet?

To me, Kismet was a case of “I can’t believe anyone else hasn’t done this”. Everyone needs healthcare, but finding help is prohibitively confusing. It was clear the industry needed digitising and simplifying, so we created Kismet.

Kismet means destiny and fate, but to us it also means overcoming hurdles and supporting each other.

We (my team and I) started by founding Xplor, a provider of childcare software that has helped save the government billions in fraud. We’ve used our learnings to develop services for the disability healthcare system, which suffers from similar problems.

What is Kismet’s underlying philosophy?

Our philosophy has remained the same: to improve accessibility to healthcare and provide the tools to facilitate strong support systems. The first-ever Kismet search was by my mother-in-law, who had previously struggled to find the help she needed. When she succeeded in doing this, we knew we were on the right track.

How has the business fared in the post-pandemic era?

The pandemic highlighted inequalities within existing healthcare systems, and the need to provide more inclusive care. The already stretched healthcare system is set to face its biggest challenge with an ageing population that will see six million Australians aged over 65 in the next ten years.

Useful programs such as the NDIS were set up to help those living with disabilities. However, the lack of systems, processes and policies is holding it back from its full potential. The recent federal budget also reinforced the need for better cost and fraud controls and improved accessibility in healthcare, especially with the NDIS and aged care.

How are interest and inflation affecting your company and your clients?

Cost of living pressures will leave many vulnerable Australians to choose between health or housing.

Everyone is affected, but healthcare isn’t like a gym membership or a take-away order - you can’t just skip it to save money. The difficult economic times have highlighted the benefits of cost-saving solutions.

How does your company stay on top of its finances?

In the current economic environment, there is no option but to run a tight ship. Luckily, this isn’t my first start-up venture, so I have learnt the lessons and know what to prioritise.

From a business perspective, I really appreciate my experience with my previous start-up as it means that my team and I can avoid the past mistakes, thus building the most efficient and effective version of Kismet.

What motivates you to stay passionate about the business?

It’s exciting to think about the difference we can make in Australia but even better when we consider how many millions or even billions of people we can help if - and when - we go global. Meanwhile, there are more than 550,000 Australians registered with the NDIS, but 4.4 million Australians – one in six - who need access to disability support and health care services that we can offer through Kismet.

What is your advice to other small business start-ups?

Stay humble: no matter how smart or successful you think you are; you will always have something to learn.

Start-ups and small businesses are not for the faint of heart, they are unpredictable and insecure. However, the reward when you make it through the woods is worth it.