The Venture+ Forum at HIMSS offered some insights from investors and entrepreneurs ranging from the predictable — patient engagement is oversaturated — to some surprising political insights on the eve of Super Tuesday. Here’s a look at some of the more interesting observations from the investor panels with a couple of entrepreneur insights as well.
Standardized security protocol Dr. Ricky Bloomfield, director of Mobile Technology Strategy at Duke University said it gives preference to entrepreneurs who use standards based technology. “We see a huge barrier of entry for companies that don’t have standardized security…This should be available within a day of asking for it.” He suggested taking longer than that was a red flag.
Google Glass direct to consumer approach reflected a problem with a lot of healthcare entrepreneurs, Bloomfield noted. “Google Glass was a solution looking for a problem.”
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
On missed opportunities Claire Celeste Carnes, a partner with Providence Ventures, referenced Theranos when she said “For us, it would be better for us to miss a great opportunity than invest in a bad company.”
A need for solutions that make big data insights actionable Bloomfield called attention to one of the biggest sources of frustration with the population health buzz at HIMSS. “Doctors barely have time to do their work now, but how will they manage all this data coming into their workflows? They need to be able to look at data and determine whether that data meets a critical workflow that’s needed.” Essentially, the data needs to automated, fit into their workflow and be trusted.
What do investors like?
“I love it when businesses can articulate the future well,” Carnes said. She suggested one problem she frequently sees is that entrepreneurs fail to give enough thought as to how their company will realistically grow or what their long-range plans are.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Bloomfield said it’s looking for ways it can engage patients in their own care at home to keep them out of the health system.
@rickybloomfield “Smart on FHIR is the Duke U tech stack of choice to integrate apps with EHR.” #HIMSS16 #pharma #mhealth #hitventure
— James Hayden (@JamesDHayden) February 29, 2016
Companies that can build a strong user experience into their products and services resonate with investors. At least that’s what I took away from Lynne Chou O’Keefe, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers partner when she talked about social communication tool Slack. “Users love Slack so much that it almost goes viral,” she observed. “The only way to break out from the incumbents is to have a great user experience. Apple came to the forefront because it created such a great user experience.”
Pet peeves
If Norwest Venture Partners General Partner Casper de Clercq has a pet peeve, I am pretty sure it would be the data walls of some of the largest electronic health record providers (and let’s be honest, some health systems as well) that have helped prevent interoperability. At least, that’s how I read his comment ahead of today’s Super Tuesday. He contrasted Donald Trump’s push to erect a big wall between Mexico and the United States with the question of how much of health data will be open API or a walled garden and how much access will we get into the EMR space? “Sarah Palin might be Judith Faulkner in drag,” he mused.
Todd Johnson, HealthLoop CEO, said it seemed like every other hospital is trying to be a venture fund. “Everyone thinks they can bring value and the truth is they can but not everyone is good at it.”
Asked where they see oversaturation by startups, Schulte, “Population health and patient engagement. He said he see so many startups targeting these areas that it’s tough to distinguish one approach from another.
Don’t waste time
“If you don’t target a segment well, you will go into meeting rotation without moving the needle on your business model,” Lynne Chou O’Keefe, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers partner cautioned entrepreneurs. “If you are targeting payers or providers, who selects innovation well and can deploy it through their system?Take a lot of that to heart because you can waste a lot of time otherwise.”
The Catch 22 of investment
Startups have a big problem! Buyers want REAL evidence before they talk to you but you need $ to generate the evidence #HIMSS16 #HITventure
— Paulo Machado (@pjmachado) February 29, 2016
Paul Machado captured the point of view of Carnes on the Catch 22 of healthcare startups seeking investment.
What about the future?
A couple of investors predicted that the pervasiveness of pilot programs will go down. Dave Schulte, McKesson Ventures managing partner, said “We went through a period with a lot of health systems where anyone could get a pilot in a health system and while they’re not all on the same timeline, pilots won’t be as easy to get. We are probably heading into a phase where pilots have defined commitments compared with what a lot of people refer to as pilot purgatory.”
Photo: Flickr user jaycoxfilm
