Katie Adams
I had dozens of conversations with health system leaders, venture capital investors and digital health executives during the three days I spent in Las Vegas for this year’s HLTH conference. I also got the chance to observe some of the event’s programming, which featured topical conversations about the rapidly evolving spheres of healthcare delivery and technology.
Below, I compiled seven refreshingly honest takes I heard during my time at HLTH 2024.
AI could be worsening health disparities
When it comes to the deeply embedded health inequities in the U.S. healthcare system, AI is “furthering the divide big time,” said FDA Commissioner Robert Califf.
“I’m very worried that health systems are using AI mostly to segregate patients into those that are profitable and those that are not. Seems to be the biggest use of AI right now in American healthcare. What we need is for AI to bring up the people who are currently disadvantaged. And it’s so obvious that could happen, but you have to focus on doing that,” he declared.
Retail companies should stop trying to be something they’re not
Retailers entering the primary care world are starting to realize just how complex healthcare economics can be, said Tampa General Hospital CEO John Couris.
“You can’t simply take a model in the retail space and apply it in the healthcare space — because healthcare delivery is not a retail business. Primarily we are not. We are a wholesaler of healthcare — we don’t operate with the same principles,” he remarked.
Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth, who joined the company a year ago, has shifted the company’s focus away from its primary care investments and back toward its core pharmacy business, Couris noted, adding that he thinks this is smart move.
“When I read that, I thought, ‘That guy knows exactly what he’s talking about.’ Stop trying to be something you’re not. You failed at primary care because you tried to apply a model that works in the pharmacy business to the provider side of a business, and it doesn’t translate,” he declared.
Strict abortion laws are likely already resulting in economic consequences
MedCity News Editor-in-Chief Arundhati Parmar moderated a panel discussing strict abortion laws, which explored the fact that these measures aren’t just negatively impacting women’s health — they’re also having a definite economic impact, the true effect of which is still unknown.
One panelist — Dr. Irene Agostini, an emergency medicine physician at the University of New Mexico and the former chief medical officer of the University of New Mexico Hospital — pointed out that New Mexico allows abortion with no gestational limits. Knowing that physicians in the neighboring state of Texas do not have the same freedom to practice safely, her hospital launched a campaign to recruit physicians from Texas.
“We are literally recruiting doctors [through] big billboards on the interstate to come to New Mexico.” Dr. Agostini said.
The campaign is called FreeToProvide.
“New Mexico is a poor state, and we need physicians, and so now this becomes a political as well as economic argument. Texas is, of course, very unhappy about that,” Dr. Agostini explained.
There are additional warning signs for states with strict abortion policies. For example, from 2022 to 2023, there was a 11.7% drop in the number of OB/GYN medical residency applications in states that had banned abortion, as well as a 6.3% decline in states with gestational limits on abortion.
That is compared to only a 5.2% decline across all states and a 5.3% decline in states where abortion was legal, according to a study conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Applications dropped again by 6.7% from 2023 to 2024 in states with complete abortion bans, whereas applications increased by 0.6% across all states and 0.4% in states where abortion was legal.
Many investors have realized they backed products, not companies
The digital health investment landscape looks very different than it did a couple years ago — an era that was characterized by bloated valuations and a frenzied pace of funding.
“I definitely think there was a lot of rationalization this year. [Investors] came to the realization that things they backed were products, not companies. When the venture funding model tightens, investors have to make hard decisions about where they put new money and how they support their existing investments. So there had to be a lot of rationalization that happened this year,” said Andrew Adams, co-founder and managing partner at Oak HC/FT.
He pointed out that this is a good thing, noting that the investment activity we saw in 2021 and 2022 was “not a sustainable trend.”
Healthcare leaders should remember they’re in the customer service industry
Sven Gierlinger, chief experience officer at Northwell Health, highlighted a belief that is central to the health system’s organizational strategy.
“We get everybody to understand that the patient is our customer, and that we are serving their needs, and that we depend on them as much as they depend on us — or maybe even depend on them more than they depend on us,” he said.
Gierlinger noted that Northwell CEO Michael Dowling meets with all new employees during their orientation and tells them that they’re in the customer service industry.
“That’s not an inherent understanding in healthcare,” he declared.
Next year, exit activity will likely still be lifeless in the digital health space
There hasn’t been much exit activity among digital health startups over the past couple years, and Abby Miller Levy, managing partner at Primetime Partners, doesn’t think that will change next year.
“I think there’s still enough capital to support some of these startups in the venture community, as well as bridge rounds. And I think the acquirers — like Aetna CVS or other payers — are very distracted this year,” she explained.
However, she did predict that private equity firms might start acquiring more healthcare businesses.
“I’m the most optimistic about a PE exit of all possible paths,” Miller Levy stated.
We need to stop treating AI like a buzzword
Arcadia CEO Michael Meucci noted that the experience of being a healthcare consumer in the U.S. is “dismal.” He thinks that AI has the power to bridge the gap between the fragmented, frustrating experiences that patients have today and where we need to be tomorrow.
“But we need to stop using AI as a buzzword and start defining it for what it is — a tool that can transform healthcare, eliminate inefficiencies and help us meet the needs and expectations of patients as consumers of care. I believe AI can push EHRs into the background, becoming the co-pilot we need to empower physicians, improve patient outcomes and create a system that finally works for everyone,” he remarked.
Photo: HLTH