Day 3: Tuesday, October 21

Overheard on Day 3:
"In 10 years, if we do this right, we can do 90% of our healthcare at home. That's the only way we're ever going to fix healthcare. If we don't have that level of a North Star, all the technology is just a distraction."
—Susan Monarez, former CDC Director, on building a unified health ecosystem

“Should we create a Hippocratic oath for any company wanting to work in healthcare?”
—Dr. Jordan Shlain, Founder, Private Medical, commenting on the tech-meets-healthcare ethos of “move fast and break things”

On the AI tech spectrum of hard skeptic to overhyped evangelist, strive for the middle - optimistic realist.

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Day 2: Monday, October 20

The trade show floor is open. And the reality of yesterday’s discussions meets the hype of booth taglines. Here’s what I’m finding as I walk the floor.

Overheard at HLTH - Day 2 Edition

"Communicating our value to pharma and investors is really important for tech bio. (Valuation now) is not a science issue, it's a communication issue."
— Trevor Martin, Mammoth Biosciences on telling your story as the biotech winter thaws

"We're not the ones resurrecting woolly mammoths."
— Also Trevor Martin, addressing the inevitable question about the company’s name

"If you can help senior leaders solve their problems, you've got a business. They don't want any more ideas from AI. They want validation of the ideas they have."
— Michelle Lee, Medra, with her advice for biotechs partnering with pharma

"I long for the day when pharma will invest in the technology itself without having the partner company create the technology and prove that they can find the right drug targets."
— Sean McNeil, Apsci, on the frustrating reality of pharma partnerships

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AI Startup pitch competition - and narrative as pitch
The ones I saw from Meela.ai (AI companion for elderly), Rubitection (skin monitoring device), and Flagler Health (clinical back-office AI support) were clear, sharp and concise. Not enough to convince the judges, though, who awarded PONS Digital Inc. the prize for their portable, accessible ultrasound device.

Even when not actively pitching, there’s a lot of value in creating and rehearsing that “tight 5” pitch, or in this case “tight 3-minute” pitch. It’s a lot of work but worth it to break down your offering into the simplest, clearest, most compelling story.

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Walking the floor, playing AI Madlibs

You don't have to be in the official HLTH AI Zone to be drowning in AI messaging. I documented every "AI + modifier" combination I could find on the floor in booth taglines. Here's a sampling:

AI-Powered: patient communications, accounts payable solutions, slide decks, revenue, cycle management, insights, technology, scribe

AI-Enabled: health systems, exponential growth

AI-Driven, AI-Led: exponential growth, patient experience

Agentic AI: agents for healthcare, automation for healthcare, transforming care and discovery

AI Clinical Assistant, AI-Guided, Expert-Guided AI

Enterprise-Grade AI, Healthcare-Ready AI

AIko AIko (the song in my head as I strolled, maybe it was the Rainman / Vegas connection)

AI is now what "eBiz" was in the late '90s. That shiny badge of modernity you tack on your story, because not having it suggests you're behind. It’s ubiquitous, and mostly meaningless. We can do better.

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What stood out on the floor

In a sea of sAImeness, a few booths broke through with their messaging:

ZocDoc: "Eliminate wait times, book more appointments by phone." By phone! It was great to see it. No AI, no buzzwords, just solving an actual problem with proven 19th-century technology.

Perks Health: "Digital health doesn't work for high risk members. We fixed that." I like that it was direct, problem-focused, differentiated. Do I remember exactly what Perks Health does? No. Do I truly believe they fixed digital health? Also no. But they got my attention.

Mila.ai: Smart use of earned media. They had a printed handout of Wall Street Journal coverage, and video of CBS News coverage. The only company I saw using third-party validation. Old-school credibility still works.

TextQL: "If we can't reveal something new in your data, our CEO owes you 30 push-ups." Finally, something with personality and a stake in the ground.

Most others blurred together in a wave of AI "empowering," "transforming," and "unlocking" healthcare in one way or another.

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Talk like a founder

I’ve been listening to a lot of founders and non-founder corporate execs here at HLTH, and I’m struck by the differences in how they tell stories of themselves and their companies. Founders tend to share their deeply personal origin stories – why they not only started their business but what sparked their curiosity throughout their lives.

Mammoth Bio co-founder Trevor Martin talking about cold-emailing co-founder, co-inventor of CRISPR and Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna because he was obsessed with CRISPR potential. Michelle Lee from Medra wondering if scaling laws from the tech / AI world would apply to biology, and deciding to pursue it though she’s admittedly “not a biologist.” These weren't polished corporate narratives; they were human, unfiltered, compelling stories that drew you in.

Corporate comms teams take note: let your executives speak more from the heart, with that same sense of personal ownership, even a sort of naivete in going after something you don’t yet fully understand.

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Day One: Sunday, October 19

Overheard on Day 1:
“You get one shot at implementation (of tech) for doctors and patients.”

“In Silicon Valley, the solution is always tech, but just pushing tech is almost never the answer.”

“F— the insurance companies. F— the PBMs.”
— Marc Cuban
But it wasn’t all F-bombs at his session. There was some sound rationale about getting away from list prices and moving to net prices in negotiations between pharma, wholesalers and PBMs. “If any other industry did this, they’d collapse.” Also this gem: “Trust = transparency plus self interest.”

A sampling of other sessions throughout the day:
Authentic Connections, Artificial World
One of the more unexpected panel discussions, this was focused on the loneliness epidemic, and the promise and limitations of AI in helping to address it. The premise of Total 4 Life, according to founder and CEO Neelam Brar: “Loneliness starts with thoughts.” Help people change their thoughts, and you can short-circuit loneliness. David Finkelstein, CIO of RiverSpring Living, talked about their successes and the clinical data to prove it, of working with startup Meela.ai, a chatbot that speaks with seniors to alleviate loneliness and depression. All agreed the tech shouldn’t substitute for the human connection. Agreed - though cash-strapped and increasingly tech-reliant institutions may see otherwise in the years ahead.

Prioritizing AI Investments: Stacy Lloyd of the American Medical Association says the right application of AI tools is having a positive impact on doctors. “Less burnout and more joy,” is how she put it. But they want to be engaged throughout the process of evaluating, choosing and rolling out the tools. What’s working to get more AI adoption? Small pilot programs that scale, for starters. Andrea Willis of BCBS Tennessee offers this recipe for pilot success: “You want both enthusiasts and naysayers” involved in pilots to see the upside and potential drawbacks.

The Hinge Moment: AI, Human Data, and Drug Development in the 21st Century -
Here the conversation took “digital twins” head on - overhyped or no? The consensus, generally, was overhyped but full of promise. Alicia Jhou of Cancer Research Institute summed it up well - “It’s ok for the biology we understand. It’s overhyped for the biology we don’t yet understand.” That sort of talk isn’t unusual from healthcare leaders. Imagine hearing that sort of humility from Silicon Valley? Which brings me to perhaps my favorite comment of the day from moderator Tom Cassels of Manatt Health, ”When Sam Altman speaks, it makes me feel less soulful.” The takeaway: Don’t believe the hype. And don’t let the tech bros take your soul!

The Bigger Picture: Scaling Personalized Medicine for All -
A line outside the door for this one, and standing room only inside. First mention of “digital twins” I’ve heard today, from Justin Brueck of Endeavor Health. Where we’ll all have our digital profile available to docs for “endless testing.” Think - mini clin trials, always on.

One of the better closing questions from the moderator: “What homework do you assign this audience?” And a great answer from Dr. Nwando Anyaoku of Kuzihealth: “Be intentional when developing (personalized medicine) models. Make them sustainable, democratized and intentional. Whose voice are you missing?”

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9:45 am
I drop into a session on Delivering Health That Works, a thoughtful discussion on developing trust in digital health among providers, patients and the broader public.

Some great storytelling from Drew Schiller, CEO of Validic, who drew on the history of thermometers and ice boxes as examples of inventions whose public health benefits were unknown for decades until the scientific community gathered the evidence to support their widespread use. Interesting take I hadn’t heard before. The message: we don’t yet have enough evidence of the effectiveness of AI (and other health tech) to make them the accepted standard of care. Schiller left us with a rhetorical cliffhanger: “What more evidence do we need?”

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8 am

That Vegas convention energy is in the air - a mix of anticipation, excitement, and a whiff of residual tobacco smoke from the casino.

The official HLTH USA app’s “digital companion,” Clara, helped me find the registration desk. (And also left me wondering why a chatbot was created with vocal fry. More human, perhaps?) There are purple-robed wizards in attendance, and a gallery of cardboard speakers led by Mark Cuban and Rob Lowe.

Heading to my first panel, I chat with a woman who runs marketing for an employee benefits company. First timer at HLTH, like me. I ask her about the topic du jour - how are they using AI in their practice? She says mainly for efficiency - analyzing documents. Nothing custom. Why not? I ask? Her response: "You just can’t trust these models yet.” And a theme is born…