3 takeaways from HLTH
Consolidation & maturity. Fragmentation & ability to scale up. Don’t go alone
Last week I had the pleasure of attend the HLTH conference (and that’s my excuse for not publishing last week!). HLTH is definitely consolidating itself as the reference for innovation in healthcare. It’s not only impressive to look at the numbers, almost 10.000 attendees, but also the quality of the audience. Really great panels and plenty of opportunities for high quality networking during the exhibition and the different sessions. And this are my 3 takeaways of the event:
Consolidation & maturity - the whole space seems to be entering in a phase of deeper consolidation and advanced maturity. Multiple panels and sessions tackled the need for more and better evidence generation to show clinical utility, highlighted the importance of meet high quality standards for regulatory approval and the advancements (still limited) around reimbursement opportunities for digital health.
Fragmentation & ability to scale up - still, one the big challenges is the ability to scale up solutions. Health care is very fragmented, with variable and multiple driving factors and incentives changing from country to country. Even within the same market and sometimes within the same health care system fragmentation exist. As consequence, creating a business model that is scalable it’s not straightforward. Especially, looking at the upfront costs needed to meet the high quality standards and the needs for evidence generation it makes it hard for many companies to start. As discussed a few weeks ago, this creates a good opportunity for those platforms that are able to create a critical mass in an adjacent space (such as wellness) and for those companies with deep pockets (VC funded or large corporations).
Don’t go alone - probably one of the buzzwords of last week. The complexity of building and driving adoption for this kind of solutions seems to push everyone to the divide & conquer mindset. Spezilize in on the steps of the value-chain and try to get that right, partner for the rest and go together.