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HLTH 2024 reinforced many of the key market themes our team is excited about, validating our approach to supporting founders positioned at the intersection of technology and healthcare. Here are four core themes shaping healthcare transformation.
1. AI in Healthcare: Driving Operational Efficiency and Personalized Care
Market Perspective
We're focused on backing founders building AI technologies that unlock efficiencies, reduce costs, and enable precision in healthcare workflows. With substantial interest in AI-driven tools, especially those that address critical operational bottlenecks, we see a unique opportunity for solutions that balance innovation with usability in complex healthcare settings.
Observations at HLTH 2024
HLTH highlighted a growing disparity between early AI adopters and incumbents needing external support. Companies like Lilly and Amgen demonstrated impressive gains—Lilly saved 1.4M hours by applying AI to drug development, while Amgen used AI to halve the time to market for new drugs by optimizing clinical trial site selection.
However, only half of the healthcare industry has adopted the foundational cloud services needed to leverage data for AI models. This has led to significant point solution fatigue, particularly among payers. Notable partnerships like Highmark Health's integration with Google Cloud and Epic demonstrate the growing preference for unified platform solutions that can advance data sharing and care coordination. Our portfolio company, Vivid Health, exemplifies this trend by leveraging Provider Led AI™ to transform post-acute and home health care. Their platform accelerates documentation, automates pre-visit care plans, and streamlines follow-up with patients, enabling providers to efficiently deliver personalized care at scale while addressing labor challenges in home-based care settings. Similarly, Latitude, a company backed by Redesign, demonstrates how AI can transform core healthcare processes. They leverage AI to modernize utilization management workflows for health plans—enabling faster, more accurate clinical decisions while delivering immediate ROI.
The explosive growth in GenAI vendors and use cases from HLTH 2023 to 2024 underscores that we're witnessing just the tip of the iceberg in the "AI generation" of software solutions. Enterprise customers emphasized the need for well-articulated strategies across two critical areas. The first is testing and rating LLM accuracy regularly with users outside their core customer base—particularly crucial given relatively low barriers to entry for GenAI companies. The second is supporting end-to-end change management, as leaders emphasized that entire workforces—up to the CEO—will need upskilling to realize AI's true value. A high-performing LLM is useless without a rock-solid change management strategy.
"Only half of the healthcare industry has adopted the foundational cloud services needed to leverage data for AI models, leading to significant point solution fatigue."
Opportunity Zone: Where We See Potential
We want to partner with founders who both address incumbents' simultaneous AI appetite and point solution fatigue head-on, including:
- Delivering Joint Value to Health Plan Enterprises Through Partnerships with Legacy Players
Opportunity: Health plans are eager to adopt AI but often face challenges with integrating new technologies alongside existing systems. There’s an opportunity to partner with legacy technology providers to co-sell solutions, offering a collaborative approach that combines innovative capabilities with established infrastructure, enhancing adoption and impact. - Providing Customizable AI Solutions for Legacy Technology Companies
Opportunity: Many legacy technology companies seek to expand their offerings with customizable, white-label AI solutions but lack the expertise to develop these internally. By selling directly to these companies, startups can provide tailored solutions that address specific needs within existing frameworks, enabling scalable AI integration. - Driving Network Effects Through Data-Driven Solutions
Opportunity: Many healthcare platforms operate in silos, missing out on the benefits of network effects generated by shared data. Solutions that leverage data accumulation to enhance performance and insights can create significant value, making each user’s experience richer and more informed over time. - Building Platforms That Demonstrate Immediate ROI and Compliance
Opportunity: Health plans and providers are under pressure to realize rapid returns on AI investments while maintaining compliance and model accuracy. Comprehensive platforms that deliver quick ROI, meet compliance standards, and ensure reliable model performance can help overcome reluctance to adopt new AI tools, meeting both operational and regulatory demands effectively.
2. Workforce Empowerment: Solutions for Staffing Shortages and Burnout
Market Perspective
The demand for workforce optimization technologies in healthcare is undeniable, especially as nursing shortages, turnover, and burnout become increasingly acute. We are focused on founders who empower healthcare workers, streamline administrative tasks, and create sustainable workforce solutions.
Observations at HLTH 2024
The conference's dedicated Nurse Pavilion highlighted critical challenges in the nursing workforce, including administrative overload and opportunities to accelerate the shift to value-based care. Early innovators like In-House Health demonstrated the potential for AI-driven scheduling platforms, but the opportunity extends far beyond basic automation. We've seen this need firsthand through our portfolio company Stitch PEO, which is helping independent medical practices optimize their workforce management through a purpose-built PEO that handles everything from benefits and payroll to scheduling and compliance, allowing healthcare providers to focus on patient care. Similarly, our portfolio company Iolite uses AI-powered analytics to help provider organizations boost clinician engagement and performance through data-driven guidance and early warning systems for clinician performance.
"The demand for workforce optimization technologies in healthcare is undeniable, especially as nursing shortages, turnover, and burnout become increasingly acute."
Opportunity Zone: Where We See Potential
We're particularly interested in founders building solutions that are:
- Enhancing Workflow Customization for Nurses through AI Solutions
Opportunity: Current AI tools often lack the ability to adapt to the specific workflow needs of individual nurses, leading to inefficiencies and missed opportunities for personalized support. There’s a need for custom AI that aligns closely with each nurse's unique preferences and workflow requirements, enhancing productivity and job satisfaction. - Aligning Clinical Behavior with Value-Based Care (VBC) Incentives
Opportunity: The shift to Value-Based Care requires clinicians to adopt new behaviors that improve patient outcomes, but existing incentive structures don’t effectively support this change. Solutions are needed to bridge this gap by creating incentives that align more closely with VBC goals, motivating sustained behavior change among healthcare providers. - Supporting Career Growth and Internal Innovation through Structured Programs
Opportunity: Many organizations lack cohesive platforms that encourage career development, cross-functional rotational programs, and intrapreneurship. By creating comprehensive programs that empower employees to explore new roles, develop skills, and innovate within the organization, companies can drive engagement, retention, and internal innovation. - Optimizing Workforce Sustainability with Technology-Driven Solutions
Opportunity: Healthcare systems face ongoing workforce challenges, from staffing shortages to burnout, and traditional optimization methods are often insufficient. There’s a need for advanced, technology-driven solutions that support sustainable workforce optimization, enabling healthcare organizations to manage resources effectively while enhancing employee well-being.
3. Wellness & Preventive Care: Shifting the Focus from Treatment to Prevention
Market Perspective
We're excited about founders who can bridge the gap between treatment-focused models and holistic, preventive approaches. Despite high levels of primary care access and the push toward value-based care, preventive strategies remain underutilized.
Observations at HLTH 2024
HLTH 2024 doubled down on wellness themes, particularly Food as Medicine and its role in holistic prevention strategies. Leaders highlighted successful preventive medicine businesses, such as home testing and whole-body MRI companies, that have achieved rapid growth through direct-to-consumer, cash-pay approaches.
"Despite high levels of primary care access and the push toward value-based care, preventive strategies remain underutilized."
Opportunity Zone: Where We See Potential
The market is ready for new businesses that are:
- Integrating Evidence-Based Prevention and Wellness into Conventional Care
Opportunity: Traditional care settings often lack access to evidence-based prevention and wellness approaches, which limits the effectiveness of preventive health strategies. There’s a need to bring these approaches into mainstream healthcare, improving patient outcomes by addressing health proactively rather than reactively. - Scaling Preventive Care Within Existing Reimbursement Structures
Opportunity: Many preventive care solutions face challenges with scalability due to limitations within current reimbursement frameworks. Developing models that fit within existing payment structures would enable preventive care to reach more patients while remaining financially viable for providers. - Improving Access to Preventive Care for Diverse Populations
Opportunity: Access to preventive care remains uneven, particularly across socioeconomically and geographically diverse populations. Addressing these disparities through enhanced access solutions can help ensure that critical preventive care reaches those who need it most, reducing health inequalities. - Building Sustainable Models for Integrating Wellness into Traditional Healthcare
Opportunity: Efforts to incorporate wellness into conventional healthcare delivery often lack sustainability, which can prevent long-term adoption. By creating sustainable models that seamlessly integrate wellness practices, healthcare providers can offer more holistic care that supports both prevention and treatment.
4. Women's Health Innovations: Closing the Gender Gap in Healthcare
Market Perspective
We're focused on backing founders who are addressing historically underserved areas in women's health, particularly those that can translate new research into scalable, accessible solutions.
Observations at HLTH 2024
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden's announcement of $110M in funding for women's health research marks a significant milestone. This initiative will support research into understudied conditions such as endometriosis and menopause, while developing new methodologies for assessing women's pain levels during procedures.
"Women's health needs are frequently underserved by general healthcare platforms, leading to gaps in care."
Opportunity Zone: Where We See Potential
We believe this research will create significant momentum for the next generation of women's health companies. We're particularly interested in founders who are focused on:
- Accelerating the Translation of Research into Commercial Solutions
Opportunity: New research in women’s health often faces delays in becoming accessible, commercial solutions. There’s a need for companies that can efficiently bridge this gap, quickly transforming research findings into real-world applications that improve care options for women. - Aligning Women's Health Solutions with Current Care and Reimbursement Structures
Opportunity: Many innovative women’s health solutions struggle to integrate seamlessly within existing healthcare settings and reimbursement pathways, limiting their scalability. Solutions that align with current frameworks can expand accessibility and adoption, bringing vital services to more women. - Addressing Women’s Unique Health Needs on a Broad Scale
Opportunity: Women’s health needs are frequently underserved by general healthcare platforms, leading to gaps in care. There’s an opportunity for platforms specifically designed to address these unique needs at scale, providing comprehensive and tailored health support for women. - Demonstrating Tangible Improvements in Women’s Health Outcomes
Opportunity: Innovations in women’s health often lack measurable outcomes, making it challenging to assess their real impact. By focusing on measurable improvements, companies can enhance the credibility of women’s health solutions, driving adoption and investment in impactful, outcome-driven healthcare.
As we transition into 2025 and beyond, we plan to double down on these transformative themes. We remain committed to redesigning healthcare for all by embracing AI innovation, workforce empowerment, preventive care, and women's health, all while building companies that can scale rapidly for maximum long-term impact.
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