I've been attending the HLTH conference since it first started, with the only exception being the "COVID year" when it was held virtually. In my humble opinion, this conference has great content, but that's not why I attend.
HLTH brings together some of the leading innovators across the payer, provider, and pharma/med device verticals. But what about employers and brokers?
I've been working with the HLTH team on how to kick this up a notch. We've made progress, allowing brokers as "hosted buyers" (15-minute meetings with vendors/innovators) and we've invited brokers to attend for the last few years. I still think there's a great deal more we can do. Let's see how HLTH 2024 shapes up!
What sort of themes did I see while at HLTH? With my BenefitPitch hat on (meaning I'm thinking about vendors, employers, and brokers), I think they can be summarized in three main areas: AI, point solution fatigue, and partnership opportunities.
The AI buzz is in full effect.
Just about everywhere I turned there was a session, a vendor's booth, or some chatter about AI and healthcare. How will this affect the employee benefits space? I have no idea. (Were you expecting some intelligent flow of information from me? Oh, your trust has been misplaced! Ok, ok, maybe I'll tackle this in a future blog.)
Point solution fatigue is real.
I heard more than a few folks talk about how there are "so many" or even "too many" vendors to keep up with. With my employer/broker lens, this is important to pay attention to. Why? I will explain more below, but let's first talk about the third theme.
Partnerships are the new black.
This wasn't the conference for vendors to meet brokers and employers. As I noted above, there's work to be done before HLTH is a "must-attend" conference for brokers and employers. Yet, the vendors that sell to this vertical were certainly there! Why? Vendor-to-vendor partnerships, that's why.
V
endors meet with one another and figure out ways to collaborate, jointly market, sell together, etc. See the "point solution fatigue" bullet above. This is not a bad thing if you're an employer or benefits broker. If two vendors figure out a way to sell both services under one contract—one less thing to worry about, right?
Additionally, I noticed a number of conversations related to vendors and health plans. This, too, is related to the point solution fatigue theme. If a vendor can partner with one health plan, they’ll gain access to many more lives potentially. Though the road to health plan partnerships is long, the excess of point solutions may force some vendors to more actively pursue the health plan market.
Why is this important to think about? The repercussions. Specifically, 1) what does this mean for brokers that spend time vetting vendors, and 2) what does this mean from a channel conflict standpoint? If I'm an employer that bought XYZ vendor solutions directly and then switched to ABC Health Plan that has a partnership with XYZ vendor, how does that work?
Food for thought…
Hope you can attend in 2024!
HLTH 2023 didn't disappoint (it seldom ever does) and I hope next year is a much bigger year with the BenefitPitch partnership.
Hope you can attend!