JP Morgan Healthcare Conference Learnings . . .  real transformation is happening at the After Party!
Hormone Therapeutics President Hunter Howard presenting at the Athena Health Disruptors Showcase

JP Morgan Healthcare Conference Learnings . . . real transformation is happening at the After Party!

The JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is the most important place to understand what's happening in the $3 trillion US healthcare industry. The Sir Francis Drake hotel is ground zero for the 4,000 conference attendees representing public and private companies in biotech, pharma, medical device and technology, providers, payers, private equity and VC firms and investment banks. These are the institutional players assessing drug pipelines and M&A activity. 

Major M&A deals were announced and a couple of POTUS-E tweets sent pharma stocks tumbling and everyone rushing to their smart phones. Drug development was already experiencing massive headwinds as ROI is down to 3.7%, from 10% in 2010 and only 22 new drugs received FDA approval v. 51 in 2015. Pharma had experienced concerns by Hillary Clinton’s plans, and felt post-election relief until the unexpected, head-turning tweets from Trump during the conference. The YPO (Young President's Organization) Healthcare Network convened for breakfast one morning and we enjoyed a private, market overview and analysis from JP Morgan discussing what to expect from different sub-sectors in the market. This group of Healthcare CEO's were concerned with how an ACA Repeal and Replace would effect payment models and the potential changes in the % insured but all were generally very bullish.

One big realization really struck me more significantly than before was how these companies in the JPM conference are really in the Business of healthcare. These are the slow moving, difficult to turn aircraft carriers in our healthcare fleet. I spent a lot of time at these ballroom sessions last year and heard about growth strategies, M&A, drug pipelines, profits . . and little about patients or improving quality of care. These magnificent war ships do so much of the work in our system, but they are also beholden to quarterly reports and shareholder value rather than driving innovation in our burdened healthcare system. 

It's about the Conference outside the Conference 

Outside of the actual conference, there are 20,000 more people in healthcare here for private, non-conference meetings. This is where you will find the innovators and creators reshaping and transforming healthcare as we rarely witness massive disruption evolve from within bigger companies in any industry. 

These start-ups, and growing businesses, are the ones driven by passionate founders who see the world differently. They are building technology shaped by their unique experiences with problems in the healthcare system to create radically improved, patient-centric solutions. Unity Stokes and Steve Krein brought StartUp Health and their Global Army of Healthcare Transformers to SF. They hosted their own adjacent StartUp Health Festival featuring a star studded line-up of speakers, including: Vinod Khosla, Esther Dyson, Jerry Levin, Bill McDermott and 40 others.

VP Joe Biden spoke passionately at the StartUp Health festival, in a private session with the entrepreneurs, about the urgent need for change from the impassioned group in the audience to improve our healthcare system. He encouraged all of the leaders to "never worship at the shrine at orthodoxy", and to break the old way of doing things holding back radical improvement and change.

He continued, with incredible inspiration, to share his personal experience around loss that ignited his Presidential Mission to Cure Cancer. He has been working very closely with StartUp Health on their Cure Cancer Moonshot in helping the best researchers receive the assistance and funding needed to accelerate finding a cure. He gave everyone a pep talk on the importance for entrepreneurs to work together and fight the fight that so many people are counting on us for.


Brilliant geneticist, Dr. Craig Venter from Human Longevity Inc., discussed how their gene sequencing and preventative health management will add 50 years of ‘Lifespan’ to everyone's life. This discussion was highly motivating for Hormone Therapeutics. We are excited to watch their 50 year Longevity Moonshot but this dovetails into our concerns for healthy, effective and independent living as we age. Humans already live 64% longer than we did 100 years ago (.001% of human existence) as life expectancy has increased from 38 to 78 years. Hormone Therapeutics mission is to increase ‘Healthspan’ by adding 20 healthy years to every life and push back delayable issues from aging. Hormone Therapeutics wants to offer everyone comprehensive in-home testing, previously only available in expensive, destination, Concierge Executive Wellness centers. Our testing and analysis help us decode each patients scientific map to health optimization which our health coaches and physicians use to guide them to their optimized healthy life.

Exciting Disruptive Start-Ups Showcased

Athena Healthcare hosted a packed house, standing-room-only event, showcasing disruptive health startups from around the globe. CEO Jonathan Bush spoke on his desire for 'More Disruption Please', and Athena’s focus to expand continuity of care that focuses on the patient. This refreshing voice is not what we heard while sitting among the Investment bankers in the main conference. The 24 presenting companies were selected from four themes of healthcare disruption: Clinical Workflow, Patient Experience, Population Health and Big Data Analytics.


Hormone Therapeutics was selected to present as a disruptor in the area of Patient Experience. We shared our mission to 'Add 20 Healthy Years to Every Life' and discussed our telemedicine platform for health optimization using in-home testing for personalized therapeutics. One point that really resonated with attendees and investors was our focus on transforming care from 'physician-centric, triage, crisis management' to 'patient-centric, in-home testing, with continual coaching and prescription therapeutics'. 

Transformation is happening at the After Party . .

It was nice to meet so many innovators in one place driven to change the future of care. The passionate entrepreneurs presented creative solutions to the healthcare issues we face. The 'epiphany' moments that sparked them to leave comfortable jobs to create change in the US Healthcare system were remarkable and often moving. We had a collection of brilliant researchers, genius data scientists, a NASA engineer (yes, sometimes it does take a rocket scientist), care givers, social workers.

These founders all shared one thing in common. At some point they experienced a profound moment, or realization, that moved them to seek to disrupt a complex system that needs better solutions. A few companies really impressing me with their vision and passion included: Deep6, Agathos, Cerebrum Health, MultiSensor Diagnostics, Open Health Network, Vital Score, ManageUp, Open Beds, ProjectVision and so many others.

Athena Health CEO Jonathan 
Bush and Hormone 
Therapeutics President 
Hunter Howard


The capacity for technology and innovative platforms to improve care, patient experience and outcomes is inspiring. Trust me that it is a lot more fun to be surrounded by the inspirational entrepreneurs and innovators outside of the big institutional ivory tower conference and their bankers. I've been a Fortune 100 company manager and understand the pressure and hand cuffs that limit innovation when you manage profits to the penny every 90 days for the public markets.

Healthcare is a far more complicated industry to innovate in than tech, but that's why we need more innovators who are able to learn how to drive the small, agile boats in $50M-500M-$1B niche lanes between the slow moving aircraft carriers. 

These transformative startup founders lead the companies that will drive revolutionary change and are the people you'll find at the JP Morgan 'After Parties' as I did at the Athena Health Showcase, StartUp Health festival and other events. These are the types of people that work 100 hours a week with little pay for years, so they don't have to work 45 hours a week for someone else. More importantly, they see the world differently, recognize under served opportunities, or refuse to sit by and accept poor patient experiences they seek to change. It's an inspiring group.

Look for Hormone Therapeutics at the 'after party' again next year and let’s continue the conversation on how we can drive innovation to our healthcare system, reduce costs, improve access to the specialists patients need, wherever they are. Expect new technologies, deeper comprehensive diagnostic testing, personalized therapeutic approaches, greater cross industry collaborations, . . but always focus on improving the quality of patient care.  More Disruption Please!

#hormonetherapeutics #suhfestival #JPM17 #startuphealth #cancermoonshot #longevitymoonshot #digitalhealth #athenahealth #telemedicine

Larry Ozeran, MD, FAMIA

Strategic Consultant for Health Informatics, Organizational Governance, Health Policy and Software Development

7y

Thanks for sharing your observations. I wondered what happened there . . .

Michelle Green

Customer Experience Manager at Healthchat

7y

Great read. Thanks for sharing your insight.

Matt Vogelhuber

CEO of World Changing Idea Company, fluidIQ; providing fluidic solutions that improve the quality of life for humankind | Board Member | Principal | COO

7y

Cerebrum Health impresses at JPM 2017 - nice work, Jimmy!

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