Which Events Will You Attend in 2024?

An overview of 2023, what sparked most of your interest in H2 2023, 5 reflections on healthcare challenges in the US and Europe, and European events in 2024!

Dec 29, 2023

This is a monthly newsletter of Faces of Digital Health - a podcast that explores the diversity of healthcare systems and healthcare innovation worldwide. Listeners get equipped with insights into market specifics, go-to-market strategies, barriers to success, characteristics of different healthcare systems, challenges of healthcare systems, and access to healthcare. Find out more on the website, Linkedin page, tune in on Spotify or iTunes.

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2023 is drawing to a close, and as we look back, here’s what was covered over the year:

A lot of AI.

The natural language processing series was a perfect introduction to understanding the difference in how AI is used for symptom checking, voice recognition, data structuring, and where generative AI fits in the picture.

For an even deeper dive into understanding the origins of data for healthcare innovation, how companies in the US consolidate healthcare data, and how it's reused for new findings and improved patient and clinical experiences, you can hear from leaders at Komodo Health, EPIC Cosmos, Seqster, and other key players who are connecting the dots among health data silos in the US. For example, in 2019, Epic launched Cosmos, a special program for data mining of patient records data gathered in Epic systems. Today, Epic Cosmos contains over 227 million patient records.

Komodo Health is currently tracking individual encounters with the healthcare system for over 330 million patients.

We started the year with AI, and also finished it with a special live podcast UPSIDE DOWN: How AI Changed Healthcare in 2023. The future seems to be bright, with speakers expecting a positive impact on the healthcare documentation burden, health equity, healthcare personalization, and a boost in value-based care.

Watch the full discussion or tune in the podcast.

Healthcare Digitalization Strategies in Europe, Healthcare Innovation in APAC, LATAM and Africa

Faces of digital health explores the diversity of healthcare systems and healthcare innovation worldwide. We travelled across several continents in 2023 (eyeing Australia and India for 2024!).

Europe is on a roll with healthcare digitalization

Representatives of the Dutch, German and Slovenian Health Ministries shared their strategies and investments in healthcare digitalization. One big change is expected by the ministries: hospitals must begin considering IT as an integral component of healthcare provision. Consequently, the costs associated with digital services and tools will need to be incorporated into the price of healthcare service provision.

France wants to become the leader in digital health. Learning from the challenges encountered in DTx reimbursement in Germany, France has designed a distinct approval and reimbursement process for DTx companies. This approach aims to facilitate greater success for market players by providing clearer and more navigable rules.

Great Connectivity and Opportunities in the APAC and more Challenges with digitalization in LATAM

Vietnam, Thailand, and South Korea all pride themselves on a large proportion of the population aged between 15-64 years old. As mentioned by Beth Ann-Lopez, CEO of Docosan, there’s a lot of highly educated talent in the region, making growing a company here a good opportunity.

The Chinese healthcare market is experiencing significant momentum from government policies, industry advancements, and big tech involvement. However, entering the Chinese digital health market as a foreign entity can be challenging due to strict data privacy laws and regulatory authorities. Also, if you think you have a unique service, get ready to be copied. Read more.

In LATAM, plenty still needs to be done for national digitalization progress: with the fast technological advancement, healthcare can sometimes get caught up in legislation challenges. For startups, many collaborations happened during the pandemic, but have hit regulatory walls after.
Mexico has a predominantly public healthcare system, with workforce shortages. In situations like these, the government is often focusing on closing the gap between people accessing basic care, rather than investing in tech infrastructure, says Rafael Lopez, CEO of Diagnostikare.

The challenge in Argentina is the regional fragmentation, and region-based rules, which make scaling across the country challenging.

Africa

Africa is sometimes mentioned as a continent with great potential for startups developing more affordable medical devices. In the West, clinical experts complain that these innovations are below the clinical standard. But in an environment where something is better than nothing, these solutions have a great impact. African countries are facing healthcare scarcity on every corner, however, with the aid of foreign investments, innovation is progressively addressing these challenges, one step at a time.

⭐ Top episodes in H2 2023 ⭐

Podcast downloads build up over time. This gives episodes earlier in the year an advantage, hence I’m listing top 5 episodes based on downloads in H2 2023:

Which Digital Health Events Will You Attend in 2024?

We’re entering 2024 with many digital health gatherings to look forward to. The events industry is in full bloom. Here is a list of events happening in H1 2024 in Europe:

February

European Digital Health Excellence Forum: 14 and 15 February, Rotterdam, Netherlands

April

DMEA: 9 to 11 April, Berlin, Germany
BOOM Summit: 10 and 11 April, Basel, Switzerland

May

ICT&health World Conference 2024: 14 May 2024
Vitalis: 13-16 May, Gothenburg, Sweden
Radical Health Festival: 22-23 May, Helsinki, Finland
HIMSS Europe: 29 - 31 May, Rome, Italy

June

Bits & Pretzerls Healthtech: 5-6 June, Munich, Germany

HLTH Europe: 17-20 June, Amsterdam, Netherlands

5 reflections on healthcare in the US and Europe …

HLTH is recognized as the United States' number one health innovation event. In 2024, HLTH is coming to Europe. In a special Faces of Digital Health podcast episode, filmed in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Jody Tropeano, Head of Content at HLTH US, and Henry Stoneley, Head of UK and Netherlands, reflected on healthcare in the US and Europe, key trends, and challenges. They also shared their top tips when attending large conferences:

Prepare, prepare, prepare. Not when you arrive to the event but a week or more before.
Figure out your goals and objectives. If you want to learn, analyze the agenda and mark the sessions you want to go to. If you want to network, set-up meetings in advance.
Make a plan and stick to it. Serendipity is a part of the experience, don’t count on it as your sole strategy.

Many conferences offer event apps that help with networking and planning. Make sure to check them out.

Watch the full interview on Youtube:

Conference organisers need to know the key trends and dynamics in the industry to be able to build an appealing program that attracts the right audience. In the interview with Jody and Henry we discussed how they see they key topics and trends in the US and European Healthcare.

Here are a few takeaways.

1. DTx are “out of fashion”; it will take time for generative AI to be used for clinical use cases

Digital therapeutics have had and exciting few years, but that excitement subsided significantly in 2023, at least in the US, one of the challenges being a lack of a reimbursement system to fund these solutions “I find digital therapeutics fascinating. But as it often happens in healthcare, we get this new idea, everyone is excited how it may change the industry, and then you realize after a certain number of years, how hard the US healthcare system is, a you have to go back to the drawing board,” said Jody Tropeano.

At the moment, the key topics in the US remain consumerism, what are players such as Amazon doing in healthcare and what their strategy is moving forward, the boom of Medicare Advantage in the US, and generative AI, with the focus on how will it make the work of clinicians easier for documentation management.

2. It Will Take a Decade For Value-Based Care to Have a Broad Impact

Despite its potential to improve healthcare outcomes and costs, scaling value-based care remains challenging. Value-based care use cases are seen a lot in the specialty care space, for example in oncology, MSK and gastroenterology, but he U.S. healthcare system, predominantly operating on a fee-for-service model, has shown slow progress toward widespread adoption of value-based care, indicating a significant transformation still needed.

3. Generative AI's Emerging Role and Cautious Optimism

Generative AI is seen as a promising development in healthcare, with potential benefits for clinical efficiency and workforce support. However, its application is in early stages, with only a fraction of digital health startups utilizing generative AI. The anticipation surrounds its future impact, especially in improving healthcare delivery and provider satisfaction.

4. Healthcare Workforce Dynamics and the Need for Sustainable Models

There's a growing concern about the workforce shortage in healthcare globally, with Europe facing additional complexities due to workforce mobility within the EU. This situation underscores the urgency for reconfiguring healthcare delivery to create sustainable models, considering the impending workforce shortages and the varying healthcare systems across different regions.

5. The Dilemma of Catering to the "Worried Well"

There's a recognition that the healthcare model should shift from being reactive (treating illnesses as they occur) to proactive (focusing on wellness and prevention). This shift might inadvertently cause a surge in healthcare resource consumption by those who are more health-conscious and affluent, have the buying power, and are primary customers for healthcare startups.

Investments often target solutions that cater to profitable markets, typically the "worried well." The expectation is that successful innovations in these areas might eventually trickle down to broader populations.

All the best in 2024! Stay healthy and stay tuned!