Peter Kuipers

Have y’all ever watched someone pour water in a cup so fast that it overflows? That’s where I think we are in US #healthcare right now, and according to an article by Yahoo Finance, I’m spot on: US Healthcare spending rose to $4.8 Trillion in 2023, an estimated 17.6% of US GDP. Now I’ve worked in roles across #publichealth, #healthcare and #pharma, but admittedy never quite understood the economic jargon of comparing US healthcare spending to gross domestic product (GDP). So here’s my attempt at explaining this in plain language. ✨ GDP is the total value of all goods produced in a country during a time period; it’s a measure of the size and health of an economy. ✨ Healthcare spending refers to all money spent on healthcare services and products in a country— i.e- hospitals, doctors, medications, insurance… ✨ Why do we compare the two? When we compare healthcare spending to GDP it helps us understand how much of our economic resources are being used for health related expenses. ✨What does this headline mean? U.S. healthcare spending grew faster than the economy *overall* last year—and is expected to do so through 2032. Think of it like this: if we pour water in a cup too quickly, it will overflow. This is like healthcare costs rising faster than the economy can sustain. ✨What’s driving the increase in cost? 1) Insurance coverage has hit historic highs, 2) Medicare is projected to have the highest spending growth, 3) Hospital spending is soaring… Here are a few additional thoughts I had… 💡 How will the rapid uptake of #AI in healthcare, impact these projections? 💡 I wonder how projected healthcare workforce shortages will impact this? 💡*This* is what we mean when we say everyone should care about #healthequity, because inequities are costing all of us. What do y’all think about future drivers of cost or solutions? Drop me a line in the comments! #healthcareonlinkedin

38

2 Comments

🚨 California Bill AB-3129: A New Era for Health Care Transactions? 🚨 Thanks for the detailed note: Kathryn Edgerton, Deborah Daccord, Karen S. Lovitch The recently introduced California Bill (AB-3129) aims to curb the price increases and lower service quality often linked to such acquisitions. Key Highlights: 🔸 Mandatory Reviews: Private equity groups and hedge funds must notify the AG 90 days before any transaction involving a health care facility or provider group. The AG can extend this period by 45 days, potentially delaying transactions. 🔸 Conditional Approvals: The AG can grant, deny, or impose conditions on transactions if they are likely to have anticompetitive effects or significantly impact access to health care services. 🔸 Prohibitions on Management: The bill restricts physician and psychiatric practices from entering management agreements with private equity or hedge fund-controlled entities. Impact on Digital Health Adoption: The increased scrutiny could slow down the adoption of digital health solutions, as transactions involving tech investments may face delays and additional costs. However, it could also ensure that such innovations prioritize patient care over profit. Cost of Healthcare Provision: While the bill aims to control costs, the additional administrative burden and potential delays might increase operational costs for health care providers, which could be passed on to patients. Consolidation by PE Firms: The bill could deter private equity investments, slowing down the trend of consolidation in the health care sector. This might benefit smaller, independent practices but could also limit access to capital for necessary upgrades and innovations. 🤔 Should Other States Follow? While California's approach aims to protect patients from the negative impacts of unchecked acquisitions, it also introduces significant regulatory overhead. Other states should consider the balance between oversight and operational efficiency, learning from California's experience. This bill is a double-edged sword: aiming to protect patients but risking increased costs and delayed innovation. Other states should watch closely to determine the best path forward. #HealthcareReform #DigitalHealth #PrivateEquity #HealthCareInnovation #CaliforniaLegislation

6

💡Benchmarks in the investment industry serve as a standard for measuring the performance of securities, mutual funds, or investment managers. They provide a reference point for analyzing allocation, risk, and return of a portfolio, enabling investors to make informed decisions. Thanks Peter Walker for keeping us all informed!! Can’t wait for this!! Follow and get on the waitlist for this one! #benchmarks #fundraising #Capitalraise #founders #womenshealth #femhealth #medtech #wellness

16

The (Healthcare) Ground Beneath Our Feet… This year it is likely that over $10 billion will be invested in the digital health sector – a robust amount, no doubt, but inconsequential when compared to the amount of capital tied up in healthcare real estate assets, which is estimated to be $1.2 trillion by Jones Lang Lasalle. Of that amount, approximately $790 billion is in the hospital sector while the remaining $490 billion is in medical office assets. It is estimated that there are 48.6k facilities with 3.4 billion square feet of healthcare real estate, 42% of which are owned by REITs and another 33% held by other private investment vehicles. Much of the digital health investment is meant to make the physical healthcare infrastructure more productive: greater operating efficiencies, greater patient throughput, more relevant personalized care models with better outcomes. As the healthcare system is being pushed to be more distributed to lower cost sites of care, accelerated now by the rapid proliferation of automation and AI capabilities, the potential impact on healthcare infrastructure assets will be profound. Thoughts on what that might look like... https://lnkd.in/eTfAdUbS #digitalhealth Flare Capital Partners

113

6 Comments

📈 Demand for fertility services is rising -> 💼 PE recognizes this and wants in -> 🏜 but opportunities are scarce (https://lnkd.in/g6zXEVZh). Highly recommend anyone who wants a deeper understanding of what's going with fertility and fertility tech read Aya Spencer's *2024 State of fertility tech report* (https://lnkd.in/gVjK_UpX) - it's a great summary

20

This 👂 podcast episode and insight’s from a16z Bio + Health's Julie Yoo spoke so clearly to the fundamental challenge facing both 🩺 clinicians and 🏥 healthcare systems.  There is a huge disconnect between supply, in the availability of clinicians, and demand, in the increasing volume and complexity of healthcare needs. -     36% of physicians plan to reduce their hours next year according to the AMA -     48% of physicians reported feeling burned out in a 2024 Medscape survey At the same time, the demographic baby boomer bubble and steady increase in the prevalence of major chronic disease, which consumes up to 90% of healthcare expenditures according to some estimates, is driving demand. With this context, Yoo points to a major opportunity for AI adoption in healthcare in 2025. Yeah, a VC hyping a wave of new AI companies that will replace the decades of training and experience of clinicians, the skeptic would say.  But Yoo is thoughtful in pointing to the role AI can play, and is already playing, through solutions such as ambient, autonomous scribe solutions (of which local star Abridge is leading the pack) in not replacing, but freeing up productivity for clinicians. There is so much unstructured context in both the complexity of disease and treatment options and the social/emotional considerations that we shouldn't be looking for AI to *replace* clinicians. But companies are getting better at finding the structured, repetitive and time-consuming places where AI tools can *help* clinicians. Nearly two-thirds of doctors cited bureaucratic tasks as the leading contributor to burnout. Rigorously trained-AI driven solutions can be a force multiplier for clinicians, and I’ve seen several interviews where nurses and doctors go as far as to say some of these solutions are ”restoring their joy in practicing medicine”. Our health is precious; and we rightly want any technology engaging with it to be developed thoughtfully and thoroughly tested. This requires top AI talent and diverse and realistic training data. Pittsburgh’s strengths in both areas is why we are an emerging hub for data-driven healthcare. #AIinhealthcare #clinicianburnout #healthinnovation #digitalhealth

15

Imagine swallowing the competition whole. That's what many players in tech do via roll-up strategies, gobbling up smaller firms to deliver richer solutions and amass greater market share. Where else are roll-up strategies common? // HEALTHCARE Picture being a patient at a medical practice that’s been part of a roll-up in Healthcare Services. It's an industry ripe for roll-ups due to its fragmented nature and potential for greater efficiency. // CONSUMER SERVICES Or let's say you needed your HVAC serviced, and notice your local repairman is now part of a bigger Consumer Services entity? Centralized management and scale economy turn these localized businesses into roll-up targets. // FINANCIAL SERVICES Think about your insurance agent or wealth management advisor. They're working in complex, highly regulated environments. In the Financial Services sector, roll-ups offer an effective way to consolidate expertise, streamline operations, and enhance customer offerings. // MANUFACTURING Now, imagine driving past factories under a new name — the result of Manufacturing and Industrial Services roll-ups. Bulk purchasing reduces costs, enhances production capabilities, and expands geographical footprints. // REAL ESTATE Lastly, envision your real estate brokerage firm. The industry sees roll-ups as a strategic move to increase market penetration, enhance service offerings, and hike up portfolio value. Roll-ups play a huge role in most industries, rather like a snowball rolling downhill, gaining momentum, and size. Are you seeing roll-ups in your sector or considering M&A?

11

1 Comment

Taking stock of primary care today and looking ahead.... Increasing presence, market share for non-traditional providers - payers, advanced primary care providers, primary care enablers. Question marks over retail's presence in primary care and what care models and patient populations they might need to focus on to be a force. #VBC #populationhealth #primarycare #caremodels

1

1 Comment

On the latest Vital Signs, Nikhil Krishnan and I sat down with Parth Mehrotra, CEO of Privia Health. Privia is a physician enablement platform and >$2B public company partnering with 4500+ providers on practice improvement and value-based care. We talk about the most important ways to manage risk, building effective physician enablement solutions, the future of value-based care programs & contracts, and more. Some highlights: 🏥 Capabilities practices need to participate in risk-based contracts Parth highlights 3 sets of capabilities:  1. Diversification of risk. This can range from pooling the risk with other providers to hedging risk across multiple programs.  2. Audit, compliance, controls and documentation 3. A tech stack and data that allows the provider to understand their patient population and care for them throughout the entire care workflow (e.g., identifying the patient’s relevant conditions, closing care gaps, caring for the patient after the visit). 🏥 The types of providers partnering with Privia Parth explains that physicians have 4 general settings in which to practice medicine: 1. Being employed by a hospital or a clinic. 2. Starting their own practice or joining another independent practice. 3. An independent practice that partners with another entity to help with business operations. 4. Selling the practice and having the new owner transform it. He notes that practices that join Privia are self-selecting: these physicians want to stay independent but need another player to help throughout the entirety of the practice. 🏥 How physician enablement companies influence practices Parth is a strong believer that physician enablement companies don’t need to buy practices in order to influence outcomes. Rather, companies can achieve better outcomes by giving physicians more autonomy. Improved performance is driven by the combination of 1) giving physicians the tools to manage everything outside of direct patient care and 2) maintaining incentives for physicians to want the practice to succeed. A must-listen for anyone looking to understand the physician enablement landscape and how providers can take on risk. Check out the full episode below: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Ulb7FL Apple: https://apple.co/4dQwS7i

33

1 Comment

This is quite incredible to see. Very few #CMMI demonstrations can point to any savings at all. And “…MSSP savings go further than savings generated by Medicare Advantage…” #ACO #VBP #Primarycare #MSSP #healthcareinnovation

1

🌟 Exciting News in the Fight Against Homelessness in California! 🌟 🏠 Imagine a world where healthcare extends beyond the hospital walls and directly into the communities that need it most. That's exactly what California is pioneering with its CalAIM initiative! Launched in 2022, CalAIM is transforming how Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, addresses homelessness by integrating healthcare with critical housing support services. 🤯 Did you know? In 2023 alone, over 68,600 Californians benefited from CalAIM’s “housing trio” services, which help individuals secure housing, maintain their living situations, and manage initial move-in costs. But that's not all - the program also offers medically tailored meals, medical respite care, and more, all designed to create a healthier, more stable environment for those in need. 🔄 However, there’s a catch - this groundbreaking program operates under federal waivers that are set to expire at the end of 2026. The future of CalAIM hangs in the balance, depending on the renewal decisions of the federal administration. This uncertainty poses a significant challenge to the continuity of services that many depend on. 🔍 Looking ahead, California advocates are pushing to make these essential services a permanent part of Medi-Cal, aiming to safeguard the future of healthcare and housing integration. This proactive approach illustrates the critical need for sustainable solutions in addressing homelessness. 🏛️ At PHOCIS Capital™, we believe in the power of sustainable development and the role of private money in driving social change. Our commitment to financial empowerment and success ties directly into initiatives like CalAIM, where thoughtful investment can yield transformative societal impacts. 💬 We'd love to hear your thoughts! How do you see the integration of healthcare and housing evolving? What role can private investors play in supporting initiatives like CalAIM? 👍 Like, comment, and share to spread the word about this innovative approach to tackling homelessness! 📢 #RegisterNow to stay updated on how you can contribute through impactful investments with PHOCIS Capital™. #HousingForAll #SustainableDevelopment #PrivateMoney #fixandflip #hardmoney #FinancialEmpowerment #RealEstateHumor 🔗 [Your thoughts and actions can help pave the way for a brighter, healthier future!]

1

Sage advice

6

Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe, has announced plans to take the genetic testing company private. This strategic move aims to provide more flexibility in navigating regulatory challenges and to accelerate growth opportunities. The decision follows a trend of health tech companies seeking private ownership to focus on long-term objectives. Wojcicki highlighted the importance of this shift to maintain the company's commitment to innovation and customer-centric services. Taking 23andMe private reflects a bold step towards enhancing its position in the rapidly evolving genomics industry. Read more about this exciting development here: https://lnkd.in/gdrC3a64 #genomics #IPO #privatisation #23andMe

13

Introducing In-House Health and a round of financing we at TMV led alongside New Enterprise Associates (NEA): Nursing burnout and retention is a top issue facing healthcare today, leaving hospitals and clinics critically understaffed. There is an estimated shortage of as many as 450K nurses in the U.S., with 45% of inpatient nurses likely to leave their role in the next six months. A key cause of this chronic burnout is workload management, and in particular, the administrative burden that keeps nurses from doing the work that they love. At the core of this frustration is scheduling. Today’s legacy solutions lack nuance and technical sophistication, making scheduling static, manual and difficult to predict. This presents a challenge for nurse managers — who spend as much as 50% of their time calling team members to fill shifts—, nurses — who crave more visibility and input into their schedules—, and health systems— who face increased margin pressure when they must rely on expensive outsourcing for their staffing needs. Enter In-House Health. Led by CEO Ari Brenner, a seasoned leader who previously built unicorn Stellar Health, CNO Sergey Vasilenko, an experienced nurse and CTO Shachar Har Zvi, a talented engineer from Google, IHH has built a robust solution to drive efficiency in nurse scheduling and increase retention across health systems. The IHH AI-powered platform pulls in data from patient admission and discharge, surgical schedules, and HR systems to better predict nurse staffing needs, increasing visibility by a significant degree. The result is an on-demand, per-shift view for nursing care driven by patient needs. Proactive staffing will drive significant efficiencies for nurses and nurse managers, who will have better insight into their schedules and more time to spend on high-value activities. Why We Invested "One of our central themes at TMV is to invest in businesses transforming the future of the healthcare workforce," explained Soraya Darabi, Co-founder and General Partner at TMV. "The bar is very high for hospital systems to purchase outside technology. In-House Health is distinctive in that they are a win for the nurse experience as well as the hospital bottom line." Read more about In-House Health and their new round of financing led by TMV and NEA in Fierce Healthcare. https://lnkd.in/dfEk6KvJ #tmv #trailblazers #nea #venturecapital #healthcare #care #nurses #ai

64

8 Comments

There is a misconception emerging that AI agents will lead to immediate reductions in healthcare labor costs. While AI agents can automate end-to-end workflows such as booking appointments, answering basic patient questions, and performing form completion for prior authorizations, automating a single task is not equivalent to automating an entire job. Nurses are a prime example. Certain nursing tasks, such as care coordination and patient documentation, are highly automatable by AI agents; however, there is a tremendous amount of work nurses perform on the ground that cannot be fully automated with current technologies such as direct patient care, physical examinations, medication administration, wound care, patient support, and clinical assessments. These nuances make full role elimination less likely with current technologies. When articulating the ROI of an AI agent, we need to be both precise and accurate. Automating a task is more often not automating an entire profession. For roles that encompass many functions, such as nursing, AI agents can be invaluable tools for unburdening staff, increasing efficiency, and boosting throughput—benefits that are particularly valuable given current healthcare staffing and resource shortages. The most promising job candidates for full role elimination through AI remain positions with monolithic task structures, of which there are relatively few in healthcare today—scribes, medical coders, and data entry specialists for example. It is therefore unsurprising then that the most progress has been made in these categories.

123

18 Comments

It is seldom that a book I review lands on the Nasdaq screen in Times Square. And yet that is just what transpired with “The Consumer Insights Revolution, Transforming market research for competitive advantage” did. Authored and anchored by the following powerhouse squad, CIR is an invaluable resource to those seeking to mobilize and ennergize their organizational marketing efforts, including integration of AI. Steve Phillips, CEO and Co-founder of Zappi, Ryan Barry, President of Zappi, Steven Gans, SVP and Consumer Insights Officer of PepsiCo, and Kate Schardt, VP, Global Insights Capabilities and Partnerships, PepsiCo, leave no stone unturned, pursuant to providing not only invaluable knowlege but multiple resources found at connectedinsights.com. Job well done!

2

With Americans over 65 projected to grow from 58 million to 82 million by 2050, AI solutions like Foundation Capital portco SafelyYou are becoming increasingly crucial. They’re also a powerful answer to the industry’s persistent staffing shortages, acting as a force multiplier for caregivers. The benefits extend beyond individual residents and their families. For senior living homes, SafelyYou’s AI-powered fall prevention and response system translates to longer lengths of stay and higher net operating income (NOI). With AI, we are working towards a future where every individual—regardless of age or health status—receives the highest quality care, tailored to their unique needs and circumstances. Companies like SafelyYou are leading the charge in making this future a reality, and I’m immensely proud to work alongside them as they use AI to build a better world.

47

1 Comment