ViVE 2023: Final Thoughts from Jared Johnson

Jared Johnson
Twitter: @jaredpiano
LinkedIn: Jared Johnson
Host: Trending NOW and Healthcare Rap
Producer of the Shift Forward Health Channel

Here are my takeaways from ViVE 2023.

1. The reality is that Consumer Transformation doesn’t seem to be a priority right now given everything else that provider organizations need to be addressing … workforce, financial challenges, morale, competition, etc. Which means this is the perfect time to put forth the work and coalesce as an industry to establish shared goals, best practices, and a vision for what the destination looks like.
2. The home health sector is growing and being taken seriously. $265 billion of Medicare services could be delivered in the home by 2025 according to Rasu Shrestha MD MBA and Best Buy Health CEO Deborah Di Sanzo. It’s time to shine a light on what happens after discharge.
3. Regarding health equity, Advisory Board’s Solomon Banjo asked how we can move from acknowledging that bias exists, to actually creaing an environment where we can surface that bias and make it comfortable for people to talk about it. Because if we don’t do that, we incentivize people to hide it and we won’t make the progress that we must in order to move forward as an industry and society.
4. The health tech sector is welcoming VIVE’s direction with open arms. Official attendance of 7,600. Yes, it’s still vendor heavy (some counted a 13:1 vendor-CIO ratio), but that also creates opportunities for synergies and partnerships.
5. A comment about marketing: Seeing hundreds of vendors on an exhibit floor again reminded me of how difficult it is for a health tech brand to become relevant and differentiate itself. Brands that stay the most relevant with buyers take opportunities to create valuable content before and/or during the event. It can be audio, video, or written. But you have a complex story to tell to buyers who have lots of complex problems that need to be solved, so it takes an ongoing effort to find relevance and build trust through strategic storytelling that shows that you understand those challenges. That’s not easy work!