Says Busta Rhymes. They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and that everything you heard about HLTH Inc. is probably true. Sometimes, fiction is truer than truth.
For what it’s worth, HLTH is criticized for being all pomp and circumstance, all lights and unicorns and no substance. But what I saw at HLTH is real. It’s undeniably, human. Sure, HLTH is an oasis for the wolves, a place where dreams can come true or crash, but it’s also where people face up to the battles they’re fighting, to what they stand by, what they stand for. It’s where founders grapple with the reality of investment, acquisition, and ultimately, consolidation.
I saw it all—tears, spontaneous hugs, high-fives, frowns, and even genuine relief. I saw what happens on stage and off stage, and the magic of the carefully curated sense of serendipity in between. And I think that is what hlth ultimately achieves—the moment when amongst all the glitz, there is gumption, grit, and grace.
As much as investors say that people don’t scale, and that tech does, hlth is everything human that needs to exist alongside the technological future of the industry. It is the ambition of a young entrepreneur schmoozing with an investor; it is the intimate tears of an advocate who sees far beyond the now, and asks bold questions that are not yet answered; it is proof that health tech needs people and that everyone wants to be a part of its future—from Halle Berry and John Legend to venture studio fellows who are just beginning to define their path. It appeared that HLTH is everyone’s chance to lay claim to healthcare’s future.
In one of those surreal Vegas moments, I watched Busta Rhymes spill truth about the work that lies ahead in healthcare between his songs, through the frame of silk flowers, poolside at the Drai nightclub. I saw that everything I had witnessed at hlth was inherently human and true.
There’s nothing disingenuous or ‘fluffy’ about founders trying to embellish their story, there’s nothing fake about investors who speak with conviction and have the integrity to own their reputation. There is nothing fake about how big and loud and sexy it is to be part of the future of healthcare. It’s all real—right down to the silk flowers and Petunia selfies. At HLTH, loud and bold aren’t just buzzwords; they’re part of the DNA. And it works.
After the initial title anxiety that might afflict the average HLTH attendee, titles, roles, hierarchies quickly dissolve. HLTH is, at its core, about connection, about showing up as people first, executives second.
With 13,000 people buzzing around, and a suite of digital tools to support meetings and connections, it certainly feels like a “chance encounter” is unlikely. But at HLTH, everything seems possible. Chance did not elude even the most strategic and intentional of attendees. Nothing about a genuine human connection can be faked and curated, and yet that is exactly the genius of htlh. Between scheduled meetings and evocative presentations, there still was an opportunity to connect at such a deep level and recognize the n of 1. Sitting on the floor charging my iPhone after running out of charge, I sat criss-cross-apple sauce with the creative director of hlth and found that genuine human connection was not only possible it was also by design.
You just had to be there. To save you the FOMO, here’s what stood out for me.
Point solution fatigue was palpable and came up frequently during conversations and happy hours. The scent of consolidation is in the air, as the need for integration becomes impossible to ignore.
There’s a genuine hunger for meaningful advances in children’s health. Sessions like The Kids Are Not Alright: 40 Million Children, Child-Proof Care Models and the KidsX start-up pitches highlighted the numerous directions and opportunities to innovate towards better care. And then, it felt as if a dinosaur roared—the call for “integrated pediatric care” seemed like a revival of the family doctor model, not only for kids but also to check in on postpartum moms. It seemed that ultimately, it is about returning to a kind of care that underscores preventative whole family health, recognizing many of the social determinants of pediatric health.
The conversation around women’s health is expanding, with sessions like The Under-researched, Under-diagnosed and Overlooked Truth about Women's Health calling for action. As facilitator Lucy Perez noted, “Everyone has a role to play,” and Marlena Fejzo added, “Everyone has some skill… please go home and do it.” In Birthing Our Future, the role of doulas was highlighted, but there was an elephant in the room: despite the talk about doulas, none were on stage. A similar theme emerged in sessions about nurses at HLTH--as Jing Wang powerfully put it, “Nurses [and doulas] need to be at the tables where decisions are being made because they are often the end user to a lot of innovation happening today.”
Teal Health submitted its FDA application for an at-home cervical cancer risk test. Bend Health introduced its Rapid Access program for urgent pediatric mental healthcare, and Uber Health is expanding access to rides and grocery delivery for vulnerable populations. Cleveland Clinic is partnering with One Medical to expand primary care in northeast Ohio.
AI’s fingerprints are everywhere—scribes, digital twins, clinical decision support. But the real conversation is about how we “parent” these technologies. And wearables? They’re officially our new health companions, always in touch, always learning, with powerful integrations and data in our ears and at our fingertips.
Dr. Andrea R., Chief Data Officer for the The National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program, reminded us that their mission is to build one of the most diverse health databases in history-- data from surveys, genomic analyses, electronic health records, physical measurements, and wearables to study the full range of factors that influence health and disease-- proof that healthcare’s future depends on everyone.
Dr. Sophia Yen, MD, MPH left us with a haunting question: “I’ve taken an oath—do no harm. Has your CEO or founder taken that oath?” It set the tone for the rest of my experience at HLTH, a reminder of the responsibility we all carry in making healthcare better and more human.
