Tech investment must bring value to care delivery
The era of low interest "free money" is being replaced by more thoughtful investment.
From left, Michael Meucci, Anthony Del Rio, Sanjay Doddamani and Rob Cetti speak at HIMSS24.
Photo: Susan Morse, HFN
ORLANDO - Digital health experts talked about the state of healthcare investment and what's needed to close the gap in a fragmented care delivery model.
Michael Meucci, president and CEO of Arcadia, moderated the panel, "Tech-Driven Healthcare Transformation: Navigating Innovation, Payment Reform and Patient Care." He was joined by Anthony Del Rio, partner at Kirkland & Ellis; Dr. Sanjay Doddamani, founder and CEO of Guidehealth; and Rob Cetti, president of CareAllies, which is a division of Cigna.
"The sector is entering a major transformational phase," Meucci said.
With the introduction of genAI, healthcare is at the precipice of an explosion in technological advancement, but 70% of healthcare systems are suffering operating losses and have yet to recover from COVID-19, he said.
"Everyone's under tremendous pressure," Doddamani said. "We're certainly at a fork in the road."
Capital investment and venture capital have been hampered by higher interest rates since the days of "free money," when money could be borrowed cheaply. Healthcare's share of private equity is falling.
Now that money is less free, providers are more thoughtful about their investments, Del Rio said. A lot of his clients are focused on what's driving value for the system.
"Sophisticated investors recognize that," Del Rio said. "There's a lot of capital looking for a solution going to drive meaningful value."
Cetti said the best investment is around the patient experience.
"'Physicians will say, what is of value?'" Cetti said. "Improving clinical outcomes and billing."
It's a time of great opportunity to embrace technological innovations, Doddamani said.
"I'm incredibly optimistic," Doddamani said.
The last decade was about risk adjustment. Now there are technological innovations to drive huge healthcare improvements.
"I think it's a good time for investments to occur with a rational backdrop," Doddamani said.
AI can be supportive in that journey, all agreed. AI can help connect disparate systems and data.
"There's never been more of a calling for a way to reinvent care," Meucci said
"2023 was looking at the revenue line," Cetti said. "2024 is looking at the bottom line."
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org
