HLTH 2024: Bold Innovation and Breakthrough Moments in Healthcare Innovation
The image includes the following individuals from the “Financially Unhealthy Healthcare” discussion: Tina Wheeler, Partner and Senior Health Care Leader, Deloitte, Mike Mosquito, CHCIO, MBA, PMP, CDH-E, SVP, Emerging Technology and Innovation, Northeast Georgia Health System, Melissa Cohen, Chief Innovation & Transformation Officer, Cayuga Health System, Sarah Chouinard, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Main Street Health, and Baligh Yehia, MD, MPP, MSc, President, Jefferson Health
Written by Raj Ronanki, Lyric CEO
The Venetian Expo in Las Vegas became healthcare's innovation epicenter as HLTH 2024 welcomed over 12,000 attendees from October 20-23. In his opening address, HLTH Founder, CEO, and Chairman Jonathan Weiner emphasized that "boldness has genius, power, and magic," calling for "bold thinkers, leaders, and innovators to create real change in healthcare."
Healthcare System Transformation
Kaiser Permanente’s Strategic Vision
Opening the conference with a bold move, Kaiser Permanente Chair and CEO Greg Adams announced plans to commit up to $5 billion to Risant Health, targeting acquisitions of multiple community health organizations. Reflecting on their Geisinger Health acquisition, Adams shared promising early results of approaching a 1% improvement to their margin. Overall, the CEO sees being able to reach a 2 to 3% increase in margins for acquired health organizations and “lift up these systems.”
Modernizing Healthcare Operations
At HLTH 2024, Blue Shield of California announced a transformative partnership with Salesforce designed to innovate the prior authorization processes. During his panel presentation, CEO Paul Markovich compared the new system's efficiency to modern payment processing, looking to remove the fax from the equation, and bring many of these common data exchanges and decisions, from days to hours.
Artificial Intelligence Revolution
Tech Giants Lead the Way
NVIDIA was heavy in the AI conversation at HLTH. On Day 2, Vice President of Healthcare and Life Sciences, Kimberly Powell, revealed their latest healthcare innovations. The company noted a strong focus on the future of “digital biology” as a catalyst for greater efficiency and possibilities in drug development and research applications. Powell discussed the possibilities around the company’s NIM™ Agent
Blueprints as a significant shift in how healthcare organizations can deploy AI, transforming complex models into accessible microservices.
Beyond core technology announcements, NVIDIA shared their vision for healthcare-specific AI applications, including specialized digital health agents and foundation models designed for clinical workflows. Their development of a sophisticated reasoning layer promises to bridge the gap between AI capabilities and validated medical knowledge, potentially transforming clinical decision support.
Also, during HLTH 2024, an expanded collaboration between NVIDIA and Microsoft was announced, specifically to nurture AI startups in healthcare and life sciences—demonstrating commitment to fostering innovation across the industry.
Cleveland Clinic President & CEO Tom Mihaljevic on his separate panel, reinforced this momentum, emphasizing AI's crucial role in accelerating knowledge synthesis and healthcare delivery. Cleveland is collaborating with other large companies, including Palantir, IBM, and Microsoft around AI-driven solutions to improve the health system’s clinical documentation efficiency, as well as improve technology to drive greater efficiency in administrative tasks and operations.
The AI Coalition Mission
A powerful, future-focused session included David Rhew (Microsoft) [view additional content in our recent fireside chat], Brian Anderson (CHAI), Christine Silvers (AWS), and Melanie Fontes Rainer (Officer for Civil Rights) discussing the importance of evolving comprehensive frameworks for responsible AI deployment.
Their discussion centered on key priorities including the strong need to lessen human biases in the machine learning algorithms, while increasing transparency, trust, AI literacy with healthcare professionals, as well as addressing global health challenges, and reducing healthcare disparities.
Women’s Health Innovation
ARPA-H’s Bold Investment
First Lady Jill Biden kicked off the final day at HLTH with an announcement of $110 million in ARPA-H funding for women's health research and development. "Women's health is under study and research is underfunded," Biden declared. "As a result, too many of our medications, treatments, health products and medical school textbooks are based on men."
From 1,700 applications across 34 countries and 45 states, 23 groundbreaking projects secured funding, including:
Revolutionary noninvasive blood tests for endometriosis
Advanced neurological assessment through MRI biomarkers
Innovative pain evaluation through eye-movement tracking
Transformative approaches to menopause management
Last November, the Biden administration launched the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. Since then, the program has reached nearly three-quarters of a billion in women’s health studies funding, including recent announcements of $500 million from the Defense Department and $200 million from the National Institutes of Health.
Celebrity Advocacy for Health Transformation
The conference brought star power to crucial healthcare conversations, with each celebrity advocate focusing on specific health challenges and solutions. Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry engaged in an illuminating discussion with Women's Health Editor-in-Chief Liz Baker Plosser about her personal journey through menopause and the launch of her midlife women's health and wellness company, Respin. Berry's mission to "rebrand menopause" resonated with attendees, as she shared early positive results from her platform's strategy and implementation.
Chelsea Clinton took to the main stage alongside Jennifer Klein, assistant to the president and director of the Gender Policy Council, for a comprehensive discussion on reproductive rights. Their conversation covered pressing issues including states with abortion access on their ballots and the critical need for better education about reproductive health among younger generations. Clinton and Klein highlighted a startling statistic about medical education: future doctors receive only four hours of menopause training during their entire four-year medical school curriculum.
Grammy Award-winner John Legend brought powerful insights to health equity discussions, joining Johnson & Johnson's EVP Vanessa Broadhurst for a compelling conversation about diabetes awareness and healthcare access. Legend spoke passionately about the vital need to build stronger trust between the African American community and medical providers. His advocacy emphasized the importance of considering all populations and communities in healthcare delivery, challenging the industry to address longstanding disparities in care access and outcomes.
These celebrity appearances transcended typical star power, representing authentic advocacy for critical healthcare issues. Each speaker brought personal experience and genuine commitment to their cause, whether addressing women's health challenges, reproductive rights, or healthcare equity. Their presence at HLTH 2024 helped amplify important messages about healthcare access, education, and the need for systemic change in how healthcare serves diverse populations.
The GLP-1 Revolution
Cost and Implementation Challenges
Discussions about GLP-1 medications revealed both promise and concerns across the healthcare ecosystem. Geisinger CEO Dr. Terry Gilliland shared that these treatments now represent 10% of their medical expenses, while data showing significant first-year discontinuation rates raised questions about sustained effectiveness and financial impact.
Stanford's Dr. Kavita Patel offered a crucial perspective on the broader context, stating, "I don't think people start with, 'Let me inject things into my body.' You have to make changes, and they're not going to come from one drug." Her insights sparked important conversations about compounded versions of these medications, highlighting tensions relating to accessibility as well as safety considerations.
Therapeutic Horizons
Conference sessions explored GLP-1 applications extending far beyond weight management. Presentations highlighted emerging evidence for these medications in:
Addiction medicine and recovery support
Women's health optimization
Cancer prevention strategies
Cardiovascular health management
Mental health treatment
Technology leaders demonstrated innovative support solutions, with Samsung and Nestle unveiling AI-powered platforms designed to enhance treatment adherence and outcomes. These digital tools aim to address the complexities of long-term medication management while supporting necessary lifestyle modifications.
Health Equity and Policy Evolution
A key session, which included NACHC CEO Kyu Rhee, highlighted Community Health Centers (CHCs) as cornerstones of health equity advancement. These centers prove crucial for populations facing health disparities, while also serving as models for culturally competent primary care delivery. A sobering statistic emerged during these discussions: 25% of Americans struggle with medication adherence, prompting innovative conversations about community-based initiatives to improve affordable medication and care access.
Health equity requires a comprehensive approach beyond clinical care. Speakers shared successful strategies that address social determinants of health, including housing stability, educational opportunities, and economic barriers. These discussions revealed how community engagement plays a vital role in developing effective health equity initiatives, with successful programs incorporating local leadership and building trust through consistent community presence.
Workforce diversity emerged as a critical component of health equity advancement. One session focused on the importance of developing stronger pipelines for diverse healthcare professionals and enhancing cultural competency training in medical education. Speakers from SFSU, Gilead Foundation, and Kaiser emphasized that increasing the number of healthcare workers from communities of color directly improves patient outcomes and trust in healthcare systems.
Policy Perspectives for 2025 and Beyond
At HLTH 2024, a compelling dialogue between former CMS administrators Andy Slavitt (Obama administration) and Seema Verma (Trump administration) revealed nuanced insights into healthcare's political future. Their discussion painted a picture of healthcare taking a less prominent role in the upcoming election, with Slavitt noting pointedly, "Healthcare is not the main event."
Both experts emphasized affordability in healthcare as a bipartisan concern. Verma highlighted Trump's previous focus on healthcare costs, noting "He was in favor of wanting people to have more health insurance... The concern was affordability." The Affordable Care Act appears likely to remain stable, with Slavitt observing, "It's hard to find something that's a whole lot better."
The administrators agreed that regulatory changes, rather than legislative actions, would likely drive healthcare policy evolution. However, they warned that the Supreme Court's recent Chevron ruling could significantly constrain federal agencies' regulatory authority. "The spillover will be real," Slavitt cautioned. "You'll see a more restrained set of regulations." Verma concurred, suggesting agencies might face increased legal challenges on previously settled issues.
Regarding Medicare and Medicaid, the discussion revealed distinct approaches between candidates. Harris's proposed Medicare at Home benefit aims to support the "sandwich generation" caring for both children and aging parents. Meanwhile, Verma indicated that a Trump administration would maintain Medicare protections while potentially reassessing recent Medicare Advantage reforms. On Medicaid, key differences emerged around state authority and work requirements, though both candidates emphasize program integrity.
Innovation Recognition
The 6th Annual Digital Health Hub Awards celebrated breakthrough technologies across eight categories, with Ada Health, Healthy.io, and Oura demonstrating exceptional advances in consumer-friendly healthcare solutions.
Looking Forward
HLTH 2024 illuminated healthcare's transformative path forward, emphasizing that meaningful change requires bold leadership, innovative technology, and unwavering commitment to equity. From groundbreaking AI advancement to women's health initiatives, from celebrity advocacy to policy reform, the conference demonstrated that healthcare's future depends on collaborative innovation and decisive, bold action.
About Lyric
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