The HLTH 2024 conference kicked off Sunday, Oct. 20, in Las Vegas at the Venetian Expo Center, where all sorts of innovative companies from the healthcare industry will connect to share strategies, network and discuss their thoughts on the future. Speakers and presenters this year include leaders from Kaiser Permanente, Nvidia, Oracle, Walgreens and many more plus special appearances by Dr. Jill Biden, Halle Berry and Lenny Kravitz.
Follow here for updates throughout the day on the latest happenings at the conference.
Missed a day? Catch up here:
- Day 2
- Day 3
- Day 4
9:00 p.m. CT: Kaiser Permanente CEO bullish on Risant strategy
Here’s a message to community health systems: Risant Health wants you.
In April, Kaiser Permanente acquired Danville, Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health and folded it into Risant, a new nonprofit that buys health systems to create a national value-based care network.
Through Risant, health systems have access to a value-based care platform and can improve their cost structure, Kaiser CEO Greg Adams said as part of the HLTH conference’s opening remarks. He estimated Geisinger is approaching a 1% improvement in its cost structure in six months.
Risant is also rolling out the first phase of new value-based care guidelines at Geisinger, Adams said.
“It’s an opportunity for us to lift up these systems,” Adams said. “What we’re doing is bringing that system the resources and the tools to help it be successful, to help it to scale.”
Acquired health systems can keep their leadership team and focus on serving patients, he said.
Risant has said it plans to invest at least $100 million in Geisinger through 2028 to expand care delivery and health plan services in Pennsylvania.
The new nonprofit signed a definitive agreement in June to acquire Greensboro, North Carolina-based Cone Health. The deal is expected to close next year.
— Caroline Hudson
7:50 p.m CT: Talkiatry CEO talks DEA rule extension
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration looks like it will extend remote prescribing flexibilities for another year, and one affected company isn’t surprised.
The DEA has a rule pending at the White House Office of Management and Budget that indicates there will be a third extension of COVID-19 pandemic era flexibilities that allow clinicians to prescribe controlled medications such as Adderall and Vicodin through digital platforms.
The rule has yet to clear OMB, but Talkiatry CEO Robert Krayn said in an interview at HLTH that he expects the extension to go through and punt the debate over remote prescribing for another year. Talkiatry provides virtual therapy services.
“I’m not surprised,” Krayn said. “There’s a view that an extension deals with it and then everyone pivots and works on something else. Then you get to July and [the DEA will] pick up their head and realize, ‘Oh we’ve got to do this.’ And they run out of time very quickly.”
Two extensions of the COVID-19 era flexibilities have already been granted, including the current one that runs until the end of this year. Talkiatry is working with the digital health industry group Alliance for Connected Care to advocate for longer-term solutions, Krayn said.
The company does prescribe controlled substances to patients when applicable. Talkiatry, which raised $130 million in funding in June, will be watching the new presidential administration and DEA leadership for any potential policy changes.
“It’s going to take a bit more effort to make sure that momentum is not lost with a new administration,” Krayn said.
A media report in September indicated the DEA was planning to impose tighter restrictions on providers who remotely prescribe these medications. The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
— Gabriel Perna
6:15 p.m. CT: Providers, payers lean into home care innovation
Providers and payers are banking on technology and artificial intelligence capabilities to reach seniors at home, healthcare executives said at HLTH’s “Staying Home and Healthy” session on Sunday.
Dr. Jason Hill, innovation officer at New Orleans-based Ochsner Health, said the system is looking for ways to engage with patients outside of its clinics. That work is critical in low-income areas, where it’s not viable to open more brick-and-mortar locations or hire the primary care doctors needed to serve the population, he said.
Ochsner Health expanded its digital medicine program earlier this year to include weight-loss management. Launched in 2015, the program focused on patients with hypertension, Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol.
Large language modeling has already revamped back-office operations at CenterWell, Humana’s senior primary care business, said Dr. Erika Pabo, chief transformation officer and operations leader.
“The transformation is here,” Pabo said. “If you are not doing it as an operator, you are behind.”
Dr. Mona Siddiqui, senior vice president of home and community care at Highmark Health, noted the company wants to work directly with providers to design at-home care programs, which ultimately reduce the cost of patient acquisition.
— Caroline Hudson
4 p.m. CT: Kaiser Permanente CEO Greg Adams among opening keynoters
Welcome to Day 1 of HLTH! The annual digital health event is underway with more than 12,000 people expected to descend upon Las Vegas.
Opening remarks begin at 4 p.m. PT with Kaiser Permanente Chair and CEO Greg Adams discussing the health system’s Risant Health nonprofit entity. After Adams, former NSYNC singer Lance Bass will join Dexcom Chief Operating Officer Jake Leach to talk about diabetes-based technology. Closing out the opening keynotes will be Meta’s Vice President of Health Technology Dr. Freddy Abnousi who will talk about how the company has developed artificial intelligence-powered wearables.
— Gabriel Perna
What to expect from the HLTH 2024 conference
From artificial intelligence to glucagon-like peptide agonists, HLTH 2024 will feature healthcare's hottest topics and some of the industry's biggest names.
The in-person event has run annually — except when it went virtual in 2020 — since its inception in 2018. It is expected to attract more than 12,000 people including digital health, provider, insurer and employer executives as well as venture capital and private equity investors.
Catch up here on what you need to know about this year’s event.
