At the INVEST Digital Health conference scheduled for September 18 in Dallas, the role of employers in selecting and working with startups will be one of the features on the agenda.
Jim Winkler, chief strategy officer with the Business Group on Health, is a speaker on the panel, Should Startups Be Selling to Employers? In a phone interview, he discussed the role Business Group on Health plays in helping employers understand the complexities of healthcare innovation.
Business Group on Health, based in Washington, D.C., brings together about 440 of the world’s leading companies, and the industry partners that serve those companies for purposes of health and well-being. Winkler explained that its purpose is to help members to advance the role of the employer-sponsored healthcare system through a few different areas — convening, content, and advocacy.
The Business Group brings employers and their partners together in an array of forums, including an annual conference in April.
“We have one on pharmacy, one on well-being, one on innovation, and several others focused on multiple issues. In those settings, we are discussing and debating that great combination of both innovative and practical approaches to solving problems,” Winkler said. “So, it’s thought leadership but with a pragmatic bent towards how employers and their partners get things done.”
On the content front, Winkler and his team produce written, audio and visual content for members to elevate understanding of complex topics, whether it is GLP-1 drugs, cancer treatments, or other topics. The content describes an issue, discusses new ways to think about these topics, and functions as a call to action for employers and their partners.
Then there’s advocacy. Winkler and his colleagues work with key decision makers on Capitol Hill, the administration, and across the healthcare ecosystem. The goal is to ensure that policies and regulations point towards things that are in the best interest of employers, Winkler said.
“Our ethos is driving change together — bring everybody into a room together, work hard on the complicated topics. That’s us in a nutshell,” he added.
The group within Winkler’s organization that most closely deals with startups — or more commonly, emerging, growth-stage companies — is the Health Innovations Forum. It includes 50 organizations and meets three times each year. The meetings focus on strategic challenges related to innovation and health such as: How do you get multiple vendors to work together? What’s your integration strategy? What’s your employee experience strategy?
Participants also hear sales pitches from three to five startups.
“We will bring them to our members because we think they have an interesting story to tell or an interesting product idea around a problem that we think is relevant to the majority of our members,” Winkler said.
But Winkler acknowledged that the biggest challenge for most employers is the sheer volume of organizations that employers want to understand. “It’s a bit overwhelming, even with a good vetting process.”
“The day-to-day life of a benefits manager is exponentially harder than it was 10 years ago. [Healthcare] costs are much higher so scrutiny is greater, but the problem set is more complex,” he added.
An organization that may have started by doing fertility is now adding a wealth of menopause solutions or vice versa. As an employer, Winkler said companies have to think about what the best strategy is, whether it is to have the best in class in each of those areas or to have fewer vendors that can do more. Often, participants watching the vendor pitches may recommend that the company would be a better fit for payers, a health system, or a large physician practice.
To learn more about the Business Group on Health and how they work with startups, register for INVEST Digital Health in Dallas today!
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