17 HLTH 2022 Predictions from Digital Well being Executives to Watch

Earlier than HLTH 2022 kicks off subsequent week in Las Vegas, we requested 17 digital well being executives for his or her predictions and main themes to anticipate at HLTH. 

1. Keith Reynolds, Chief Working Officer at Welldoc

Entry to care is a central focus for healthcare given a number of components: a rising inhabitants being impacted with continual situations, elevated resourcing constraints, and rising fatigue and workload amongst suppliers. A current research indicated that it could require a PCP 26.7 hours/ day to serve their sufferers in the event that they adopted the nationwide advisable tips for preventive and continual care.

Large tech and healthcare firms are paying consideration, as indicated by the current strikes of Amazon, CVS and Walgreens. They’re all making an attempt to deal with this concern of broader entry by launching new major care fashions and digital providers.

Digital well being is a essential enabler as we take into consideration the brand new fashions of healthcare rising to deal with entry points. The shift from digital well being being siloed from care to being a central connector between people and their care groups ought to now be the usual, in order that precious insights into vitals, signs and repair wants may be managed and addressed past the everyday workplace go to.

2. Emily Goetz, VP of Business at Bright.md

I anticipate workforce shortages and burnout will probably be main themes at HLTH, in addition to the digital entrance door. The staffing disaster continues, however I’ve lately seen a shift from implementing short-term “fixes” in direction of figuring out sustainable options. I’ve additionally seen the resurgence of the time period “digital entrance door” recently with well being programs rethinking their entry factors to care. As direct-to-consumer care firms shift shopper preferences, well being programs are on the lookout for solutions round easy methods to ship handy care at decrease prices that meets these rising expectations. I’m wanting ahead to listening to what’s working and what we’re studying with automation to navigate sufferers by means of the healthcare journey.

I’m additionally beginning to see discuss round “telehealth 2.0” – shifting from merely replicating the in-person expertise to truly rethinking care supply. Digital visits that don’t resolve capability challenges or combine into present workflows want to alter. It’s encouraging to see extra leaders speaking about asynchronous, distant affected person monitoring, rethinking continual illness administration, and different methods to foster longer-term strategic development, and I’m actually wanting ahead to conversations that heart affected person wants and inventive options at HLTH.

3. Mark Engelen, CEO of RXLive

Because the healthcare world continues to quickly undertake telemedicine, transfer towards value-based care, and fight rising pharmacy prices, HLTH 2022 will showcase digital well being firms that embrace these tendencies: medicine administration options, telemedicine providers, and inhabitants well being analytics. One-on-one consideration helps sufferers enhance their high quality of life and healthcare organizations enhance care outcomes, and know-how ought to empower physicians and pharmacists to ship that personalised care at scale. By higher connecting total healthcare groups, leveraging inhabitants well being information, and delivering clear, actionable data to sufferers about their remedy plans, we’ll see higher adherence and a lowered burden on total healthcare programs.

4. Robin Shah, Thyme Care CEO and Co-Founder

We anticipate a continued shift within the digital well being ecosystem in direction of personalised, disease-specific care that prioritizes help all through all sides of remedy. The pattern is evident: continual care sufferers and their households desire a care workforce that helps them by means of each step of the method, together with sourcing and explaining viable choices, in addition to a constant care workforce well-versed on a affected person’s given case. The digital well being business is rising to the event, with value-based most cancers care  on the forefront, as we are going to see at HLTH 2022. As this pattern continues, firms will face the problem of making complete help by means of all sides of the sufferers’ journey to well being and doing so in an economical method.

5. Dr. Lissy Hu, President, Related Networks, at WellSky

The pandemic confirmed us that the affected person overwhelmingly want to obtain their care at house. Now comes the problem of delivering it at scale. What works on a subscale stage typically breaks down when prolonged to a regional or nationwide stage. That will probably be a significant theme of this convention – enabling new fashions of care supply at scale.

6. Megan Callahan, COO at Twill

I’m anticipating to see three interconnected themes come up repeatedly this yr at HLTH. First, psychological well being shouldn’t be seen as some adjunctive drawback to unravel. It’s integral to bodily well being and must be handled as such. Behavioral healthcare can enhance all the things from despair and nervousness, to emphasize administration, food plan, bodily exercise, sleep, remedy adherence, and the checklist goes on. Medical-behavioral integration, or behavioral medication, is critical to drive true well being outcomes.

Second, the one-size-fits-all strategy to healthcare will more and more really feel like a factor of the previous. Precision Care, the place an individual’s wants, particular person traits, and preferences are factored into the tailor-made care they obtain will in the end prevail. Many firms, each digital and brick- and-mortar, are remodeling to allow a way forward for Precision Care. We really feel effectively positioned at Twill to play a number one function in establishing this future.

And eventually, well being fairness and social determinants of well being will proceed to be essential discussions. Shifting care digital actually improved entry, however there are nonetheless so many extra issues on this house to unravel. This theme relates again to my second level that whereas entry is essential, tailoring care to the person will probably be key going ahead.

7. Dr. Peggy Chou, Chief Medical Officer at Stability Health

Digital well being and its transformational guarantees are not an summary idea to healthcare programs and practices. Nonetheless, organizations are actually greater than ever on the lookout for confirmed options which deal with their most urgent challenges – employees turnover, morale, and profitability amongst them – and whereas these are huge challenges, healthcare organizations that take a extra transformative mindset can leverage one of the best options to their full potential.

8. Brian Whorley, CEO of Paytient

I anticipate reflection on as we speak’s realities — diminished capability at suppliers, a down market, rising inflation, and many others. — and quick ahead to how sufferers and suppliers can have a more in-depth and extra direct relationship within the years to come back. Right this moment’s headlines trace that it’s changing into ever extra attainable as value transparency rolls out and shoppers really feel an erosion of belief in establishments. I’m notably taken with how people and employers are addressing skyrocketing healthcare prices and entry to essential care.

The pandemic not solely harmed individuals on a biblical scale, but it surely additionally harmed the well being system’s operational capability to offer care. Caregivers left the workforce, aid {dollars} had been consumed by spikes in prices, and now we’re staring down a recession. One optimistic facet impact of previous market downturns was healthcare practitioners returning to hospital networks and the healthcare workforce. At HLTH 2022, I’m taken with listening to how healthcare leaders and innovators are working to regulate prices in 2023 and 2024 whereas delivering accessible and inexpensive care to sufferers who want it.

9. Nicole Rogas, President at symplr

Monetary pressures are precedence primary for hospitals and well being programs and would be the main focus of HLTH. This could shock nobody, as a Kaufman Corridor Report predicts that 53% of hospitals are projected to have unfavourable margins all through 2022. Moreover, primarily based on our personal analysis, we all know that the pandemic prompted hospitals and well being programs to speculate closely in workforce and expertise administration options, in addition to clinician scheduling options and compliance, high quality, and security options. That is indicative of how essential – although traditionally not prioritized – healthcare operations really are. With narrowing margins and continued workforce shortages forward, optimization and automation of operations are formally mission-critical, and in consequence, these subjects will function prominently at HLTH.

10. Matt Dickson, Senior Vice President of Stericycle Communication Solutions

Like the remainder of the US economic system digital well being firms won’t be immune from robust monetary headwinds being forecasted over the following 12 months. Digital well being firms have to deal with constructing a demonstrable ROI case that doubtless requires deeper and higher integrations into well being programs that transcend what’s required to offer their particular service. Monetary programs integrations that draw a transparent line as to how you might be driving prime line development or bottom-line financial savings, scientific programs that present you might be producing higher outcomes reminiscent of lowered size of stays or lowered readmissions, CRM programs that present elevated engagement, and many others.

An emphasis should be positioned on aggregating that data into dashboards that permit stakeholders at well being programs to simply digest, analyze and disseminate that data to the whole lot of their varied inside companions in advertising, IT, operations, and many others.

11. Ramakant Vempati, Co-founder and President, Wysa

In 2022, psychological well being was top-of-mind at each healthcare occasion, with even the Surgeon Common figuring out it as the highest well being precedence for the nation. HLTH 2022 provides us an opportunity to broaden on this dialog and contemplate how digital psychological well being options can broaden entry to psychological well being help, the influence they will have on the individuals and organizations that use them, and the function applied sciences like AI will play in its future. The promise of digital psychological well being has all the time been accessibility, and we now have to go in direction of displaying efficacy. With this, 2023 might be the yr the place we are able to present psychological well being help for everybody, wherever, on a regular basis.

12. Jay Goss, Common Associate, Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health (Wavemaker 360)

There is no such thing as a healthcare group within the U.S. that isn’t consumed with the clinician scarcity drawback. Wavemaker 360 is aware of this as a result of we’re in fixed dialog with the nation’s main healthcare establishments, due to our 300+ robust LP base. This yr’s HLTH occasion is destined to have plenty of dialogue round how healthcare organizations (of all sizes and styles) can overcome this problem. On the one hand, being smarter with staffing is a good reply, and firms like Trusted Well being are doing precisely this. Alternatively, firms which have options that improve the productiveness of clinicians (medical doctors, nurses and different allied healthcare professionals) and allow them to apply on the prime of their license is the opposite approach of tackling this concern. In so doing, the U.S. healthcare system (as an entire) can do extra with much less. Firms like Luna, DeepScribe, Luminate Well being and Ufonia are bringing options to the healthcare business that do precisely this.

13. Shireen Abdullah, CEO of Yumlish

One overarching theme we anticipate to see is a deal with equitable entry to assets and well being interventions. Greater than that although, and on the coronary heart of what we’re engaging in at Yumlish, is a dedication to truly assembly underserved communities the place they’re and tailoring options to cultural contexts to drive higher outcomes. Underpinning all of this, and all conversations at HLTH, are the implications of inflation, an ongoing pandemic, and an ever- getting old inhabitants.

The digital well being ecosystem is experiencing a metamorphosis from one targeted on person acquisition to 1 set on demonstrating efficiency by means of sustainable margins. That may present up in how digital well being consumers discuss their methods notably with respect to outcomes and affected person expertise. Moreover, the digital well being revolution continues to provide sufferers higher company in their very own wellness regimens.

We suspect that many enterprise fashions that discovered traction within the earlier days of the pandemic will probably be examined now that customers have pocketbook strain and extra choices on the desk.

A few of these firms could have a tricky time. The problem for the business is making certain that we don’t undergo an excessive amount of collateral harm and lose progress by actually good firms benefiting underserved communities that simply want time to determine.

14. Mustafa Shabib, Co-Founding father of Season

Social Determinants of Well being (SDOH) will proceed to be an essential a part of the business dialog as well being programs and payers start to strain take a look at which options merely test advertising bins, versus these which can be driving engagement and bettering outcomes. It’s heartening to see the rising understanding that the foundation reason behind a lot of the nation’s well being points stem from society’s systemic issues and that healthcare should shift to prevention.

Equally, the dearth of psychological well being suppliers is a urgent matter of concern and may take heart stage at HLTH. To handle this scarcity, we’re in dire want of cross purposeful help groups that present early entry to care and transfer care upstream in direction of a extra holistic prevention targeted strategy. Doing so would alleviate pent up strain on the well being system and allow present suppliers to deal with probably the most acute affected person wants.

15. Rex Chekal, Principal Product Designer at TXI

At HLTH 2022, we’ll see digital well being companies will proceed to stretch innovation past the affected person. The healthtech house is an more and more two-sided market: sufferers and practitioners are equal components of the equation. By figuring out the overlap in affected person and practitioner wants, we are able to enhance outcomes for sufferers and empower practitioners to enhance care over time. Physicians have to know why a selected resolution is the proper device to unlock improved affected person outcomes, and sufferers should perceive its operate so that they’ll decide to utilizing it. The successful medtech companies of the long run will make investments equally in each affected person and doctor ache factors through the discovery course of and ease these areas of friction with considerate product design.

16. Neal Stine, Common Supervisor at uMed Technologies

I feel the primary era of “digital” was extra about supplier effectivity, or put one other approach, shifting duty/burden from the supplier onto the affected person. I don’t know what number of sufferers discover filling out types and printing them at house earlier than a supplier go to “empowering” As some extent of comparability, do we actually really feel “empowered” utilizing self-checkout on the grocery retailer? Or simply one thing else we now have come to just accept.

The brand new wave of digital is about bringing collectively efficiency-focused initiatives with those who really empower the affected person. At uMed, we attain out on to sufferers – on behalf of their acknowledged suppliers – to convey them the chance to take part in scientific research. It really works for the affected person as a result of they don’t all the time know the place to look / easy methods to discover research. It’s a win for the supplier as a result of the executive and IT burdens related to recruitment are eliminated.

I imagine that the following wave of digital innovation will probably be comparable – Approaches that make the affected person an lively a part of the care dialogue, and outcomes targeted on what’s essential to the affected person versus statistical significance that has little bearing on their lives. Digital well being is uniquely poised to fill many of those gaps, and the choices which can be rigorously examined with vital outcomes would be the clear winners within the coming yr.

17. Kristin Russel, Chief Advertising and marketing Officer at symplr

Hospitals and well being programs are going through challenges from all sides—inflation is squeezing already tight margins, their workforce continues to burn out and resign at staggering charges, and affected person volumes are on the rise as COVID circumstances collide with an early chilly and flu season. The instruments that acquired us by means of the final two years are insufficient to unravel for this triple menace, as new symplr information exhibits, executives at supplier organizations imagine their well being system’s administration of supplier information is ineffective. HLTH will probably be an setting for frank conversations between key stakeholders about easy methods to streamline know-how property, synchronize know-how for an enterprise-level strategy, and in the end facilitate higher look after sufferers and a greater work setting for scientific and administrative employees at hospitals.