HLTH 2023 has come to a close.
The four-day event, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, attracted about 10,000 attendees from a range of sectors including health systems, insurance companies, digital health startups, financial institutions and government organizations. It featured several high-profile speakers, such as musician Nick Jonas, comedian Howie Mandel and former first daughter Chelsea Clinton. Beyond celebrity appearances, the conference fostered top-level discussions on generative artificial intelligence, new Medicare models, retail disruptors and more.
Catch up on our live coverage of HLTH 2023 starting on Day 1
Here are six takeaways from this year’s HLTH conference.
1. Generative AI is on everyone’s mind
Seemingly every exhibitor booth at HLTH featured AI in its signage and marketing materials. It was hard to find a keynote speech or panel that didn’t touch upon the topic. Google and Microsoft, along with several smaller companies, rolled out AI-related product announcements at the show.
It’s clear that many in the healthcare industry are captivated with the potential of AI, particularly large language models. Kash Patel, chief digital information officer at Edison, New Jersey-based Hackensack Meridian Health, said the idea of automating administration tasks such as documentation has clinicians excited.
“There are use cases that [tech leaders] are bringing to the physician to reduce the time they spend on the keyboard and [to spend] more time with the patient,” Patel said. “That is something that [can happen] in the next year to two years.”
Still, stakeholders say the industry needs to move at a careful pace when it comes to adopting the technology. AI models require transparency to ensure they are being deployed safely and equitably, experts said at HLTH.
“There is tremendous enthusiasm for AI applications in healthcare,” said Michael Pencina, chief data scientist at Durham, North Carolina-based Duke Health. “At the same time, if it’s not done with a human at the center, there’s a tremendous opportunity for misuse and lack of public trust.”
2. Big tech had a big presence
Google, Microsoft and Amazon had a significant presence at the show. All three had multiple executives speaking throughout the event, and Google and Microsoft had exhibitor booths, as did Amazon's One Medical primary care service.
Amazon Vice President of Health Services Neil Lindsay said the big tech company has established itself more deeply in healthcare over the past year or so. Along with buying One Medical, the corporation launched the direct-to-consumer telehealth offering Amazon Clinic and rolled out a generic drug subscription service
“It’s taken us some time to make sure we are building the right foundation,” Lindsay said.
Read the full interview with Amazon’s Neil Lindsay
3. Insurers are investing in behavioral health
For many, the COVID-19 pandemic normalized the use of virtual care and exposed the cracks in the nation’s mental healthcare infrastructure. Health insurance companies are tapping digital startups to help them expand access to behavioral healthcare amid rising consumer demand and a shortage of providers.
Cigna Group announced it paid an undisclosed sum to acquire Bright.md, with plans to integrate the digital health company’s services into its MDLive telehealth platform. Highmark Health said it will partner with digital behavioral health provider Spring Health to expand mental healthcare services to an estimated 2.8 million enrollees come 2024.
And at Headspace, health insurance companies represent the digital mental health organization's fastest-growing customer base in terms of revenue generated.
4. Investors see Medicare Advantage opportunities, challenges
Healthcare startups and incumbents display optimism about the Medicare Advantage market despite industry challenges and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reimbursement rate cuts.
UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Financial will partner with Uber to allow Medicare Advantage members to use their flexible spending accounts to pay for rides to the doctor’s office. CVS Health wants to leverage Medicare Advantage members' preference for texting to create a “super app,” which patients could rely on for all their healthcare services.
The introduction of new health equity rules to the Medicare Advantage star ratings program is driving insurers and providers to contract with social determinants of health startup Unite Us to help the two sides share data, co-founder and CEO Dan Brillman said.
“Stars are such an interesting dynamic between payers and providers,” Brillman said. “They’re going to have to work together better for insurers to keep or improve their star ratings.”
But experts at the conference said problems with the private Medicare program are becoming apparent as membership grows. Dr. Richard Gilfillan, former CMS deputy administrator and previous head of the agency’s Innovation Center, called on Congress to recoup overpayments from insurers. Alex Azar, former Health and Human Services secretary, said it no longer makes actuarial sense to benchmark Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare.
“The math doesn’t work because the population skews your fee-for-service model and blows your [Medicare Advantage] rate structure,” Azar said.
5. Retail continues its healthcare push
Retail disruptors announced several direct-to-consumer offerings during the conference, with each company touting the role it aims to play in the existing healthcare ecosystem.
Walgreens announced a new virtual care offering, which the healthcare company hopes to eventually sell as a value-based service to insurers. Walmart detailed a plan to extend its virtual primary care services to all of its employees. Best Buy Health said it will begin selling a prescription-based medical device online.
“We want to play this unique role as an enabler of care, and connect Amazon, Hims & Hers, all of us, and deliver care at home,” Best Buy Health Chief Operating Officer Chemu Lang’at said during a panel.
Retail disruptors’ operations have caught the eye of some traditional provider organizations. New Orleans-based Ochsner Health Network, a clinically integrated system made up of 27 hospitals and 277 physician practices, was inspired by Chicago-based Oak Street Health and Miami-based CareMax to launch a primary care clinic chain for older adults, CEO Eric Gallagher said during a panel.
“One thing we’ve done, and I’d encourage everyone to do, is look around and do some copying,” Gallagher said. “Ochsner looked at what Oak Street is doing and CareMax clinics are doing and felt like it made a lot of sense for the senior population and launched Ochsner senior clinics.”
6. GLP-1 mania shows no signs of ending
Telehealth companies prescribing glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist weight loss medications are not letting drug shortages deter them. Some researchers have also pointed out the drugs' side effects on gastrointestinal health and overall cost.
Shortages of injectable GLP-1 medications Ozempic, Saxenda and Wegovy are causing issues with fulfillment, said Ro chief medical officer Dr. Melynda Barnes. Despite the challenges, Barnes said that consumer demand hasn’t slowed down.
During a keynote address, WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani expressed confidence in the longtime dieting company's strategic pivot to offering injectable GLP-1 medications through Sequence, a telehealth provider it bought in March for $106 million.
Digital health company Accolade, which was at the conference, released a separate survey on Monday that found GLP-1 coverage among employers could increase from 25% in 2023 to 43% that plan to cover them next year. The vast majority of employers--81%--said their employees would be interested in getting coverage for the GLP-1 drugs.
