Report: 50 percent of digital health startups will fail within 20 months

As more startups enter digital healthcare, more are likely to quickly fail, but that gives larger companies the ability to "mine" them for new innovations, according to a report from Accenture.

Accenture examined 900 health IT startups and found that half were in danger of failing within 20 months of their creation. The researchers call them "zombie" start-ups, and say instead of discarding them, larger industry players should acquire them.

"[I]t often makes sense for healthcare stakeholders to acquire them, salvage their best people and technologies and awaken them from a zombie-like existence," Kaveh Safavi, managing director for Accenture's global healthcare business, said in an announcement. "Many digital start-ups that are dying or in danger of failure have developed solutions that can help traditional and non-traditional healthcare companies achieve their goals." Announcement