Industry Voices—The changing digital health landscape

According to my taxi driver, HLTH was the second-largest conference in Vegas two weeks ago (the largest was a meeting of Marijuana growers). Over 10,000 people swarmed the Venetian to talk about everything from telemedicine to cancer testing (and maybe attend a panel while there).

It was a far cry from the digital health events of 10 years ago when a few hundred people would meet at a hotel in San Francisco. As someone who remembers when we still had to convince people that smartphones were essential tools for care, here are five takeaways/observations about where we are today with digital health.

HLTH has expanded—As the definition of health has expanded, so has the makeup of the players in the space, and as a result, HLTH attendees. Digital health is no longer the purview of startups and is no longer just about using desktop and mobile applications to support care. It is now about the full tech stack and vertically integrated care experience. Everyone is part of this ecosystem, from AWS to the startup doing culturally competent Medicaid primary care (in AWS’s healthcare accelerator).

Healthcare is personal, not only population-driven—A few years ago, every booth at HIMSS and all the pitch decks screamed “population health.” It was all about data aggregation and risk stratification. Now, it feels like we have shifted to put the patient more at the center. Access, specialization, and outcomes were the words of the day. Thirty Madison’s president, Michelle Carnahan, spoke on a panel about personalization, one of many discussions around the impact of consumerization on digital health.

Behavioral health continues to be front and center—HLTH kicked off on Sunday with a three-hour session on mental health and substance use investing and innovation. It’s a strong signal that discussion around something that was once stigmatized is now mainstream. It will be interesting to see what treatments or conditions are destigmatized next—my money is on metabolic syndrome, given the number of conversations I had about GLP-1s and new models for weight management.

Healthcare has become more politicized-and companies are leaning in—HLTH started the day after the Nevada senate race was called. Between this, the ongoing discussion over abortion and its impact on women, and the changing landscape of telemedicine regulation, politics are now very firmly in the center of the conversation. This is hand-in-hand with the rising focus on and opportunity in women’s health. Multiple companies have started to embrace their role in shaping politics and legislation and having a voice in the debate. Nurx, our women’s health brand, gave out “patients have rights” stickers, a hot item.

More diversity and focus on health equity—HLTH was much more diverse this year, in terms of attendees, panelists and the topics under discussion, but there is still room for improvement. Relatedly, there was a clear focus on cultural competency and the need to support health equity. My takeaway here is that this will be much of the work over the next few years—but the topic is now front and center, with multiple panels and discussions to help us move forward in this space.

Overall, HLTH this year felt like a step forward, in terms of where people focused, the diversity of topics and attendees and the commitment to patient-first care.

It was also a good reminder that a mix of meeting people where they are—virtually and in person—delivers value. I am excited to see what’s next for digital health. Normally I would say see you in SF for JPM, but my final takeaway is that no one is going—we got all the business we needed to get done under the artificial sky of the Venetian.

Julia Bernstein is Head of Operations and Strategy at Thirty Madison. She’s responsible for the functions that power Thirty Madison's care models, including customer experience, medical operations and pharmacy, as well as driving corporate strategy and shaping the company's position in the evolving digital health landscape