In today's world, health care startups that find favor among health plan sponsors—and the benefits brokers that counsel them—are best positioned to survive. (Image: Shutterstock)

Go online and you'll find plenty of lists of health care startups to follow. These upstarts have names like Healx, Helix, Hu-manity.com, HabitNu … and those are just a few of the “H” newbies.

Everyone seems to have their favorites. But which horse to back? It's a tricky business, this founding or funding a health care company, or releasing a new product or service under the auspices of an existing firm. Those employers concerned with health plan design and cost, and the quality of care, want innovators that claim they can lower costs and improve outcomes. But they also want some sort of track record. And many think startups younger than three years are barely worth watching.

“When it comes to 'solutions' in health care, we don't fully believe something is proven until it's been in place five years,” says Health Rosetta founder Dave Chase, himself a serial health care entrepreneur. “We start believing in three years.”