At the Health Equity Innovation Summit on July 25-28, 2024, in Dedham, Maine, an exclusive group of invitees & sponsors joined us for a deep dive into opportunities to use innovation to accelerate health equity.
Unveiling the Challenges:
The US healthcare system, while accounting for a staggering $4 trillion in expenditures, still grapples with significant inefficiencies and disparities in care. Despite its scale, there are persistent gaps in quality, service, and outcomes across different regions and demographic groups. Shockingly, health inequities contribute to over $300 billion in unnecessary spending, signaling a critical need for transformation.
A Vision for Change:
Our summit aimed to spotlight overlooked and/or inefficiently serviced healthcare market segments. By examining these segments through the lenses of digital innovation, technology, policy, consumer perspectives, and health outcomes, we developed robust business models that support sustainable investments in solutions addressing these gaps.
Key Concepts Explored:
1. Pressure test this hypothesis: “There are significant and financially sustainable untapped digital innovation opportunities focused on addressing equity in healthcare.”
2. Where are the “gap” segments that should be focused on? Where are healthcare consumers not being served or are being served inefficiently? In which of these gap segments can digital innovation play an outsized role to create, deliver, and/or capture value by addressing inequities?
3. What are the barriers to investment in digital solutions for these gap segments (i.e. policy, regulatory, technology, data, unclear ROI or some combination of these and other factors)? Which barriers preclude investment versus deter investment?