Latest / CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered. / From AI to Rx: What's in Store for 2024 | HealthBiz Brief

Transcript

From AI to Rx: What's in Store for 2024 | HealthBiz Brief · CareTalk: Healthcare. Unfiltered.

• 0:00
  I'm Health Business Group President David Williams.
• 0:02
  Last year, I accurately predicted the backlash against Medicare Advantage, explosion of AI, and the imminent struggles of retail primary care clinics.
• 0:11
  Those who listened to my predictions did pretty well.
• 0:14
  Now, get ready to hear about 2024 for pharma, AI, and a whole lot more.
• 0:24
  Prediction number one.
• 0:28
  Pharma companies bypass physicians and pharmacies to sell directly to consumers.
• 0:34
  FDA's ACNU framework, Additional Conditions for Non -Prescription Use, will create a new class of drugs between Rx and OTC, allowing patients to self -prescribe for certain meds.
• 0:45
  Pharma is going to combine that with bold moves like LillieDirect to launch a new direct -to -patient era that cuts down the role of prescribing physicians, traditional pharmacies and PBMs.
• 0:57
  As pricing pressures increase over the coming years with the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, expect pharma to pursue this direct approach to knock out the middlemen and preserve industry profits.
• 1:09
  Number two, AI enables culturally competent care.
• 1:14
  Artificial intelligence often reinforces existing biases due to its training on flawed datasets.
• 1:20
  But in 2024, AI will also be used to remove bias and promote culturally competent interactions in healthcare.
• 1:27
  Healthcare organizations hold a tremendous amount of data about individual patients, but they struggle to turn these insights into empathetic communication to encourage a patient to follow their treatment plan or enroll in a specific clinical trial.
• 1:41
  That can be remedied by translating the data into prompts for large language models.
• 1:46
  Give it a try yourself by inputting what you know about a friend or a colleague and asking Chach -GPT to write an empathetic email to them.
• 1:56
  Number three, digital therapeutics gain traction by proving cost effectiveness.
• 2:02
  Former digital darling, pair therapeutics went bankrupt in 2023, but a new breed of players is learning from pairs' fatal mistakes.
• 2:11
  Companies are using new trial designs that demonstrate the impact of their products on the total cost of care, collecting new data types such as patient -reported outcomes, and moving beyond traditional cost -effectiveness analyses to more nuanced approaches.
• 2:25
  Cost -effectiveness matters a whole lot in a value -based care world.
• 2:30
  If digital therapeutics succeed with this approach, the emphasis on health economics may eventually extend to traditional pharmaceutical products.
• 2:38
  that have historically focused much more on safety and efficacy.
• 2:43
  Number four, providers and payers select AI solutions from established vendors.
• 2:49
  Healthcare systems and providers are ready to implement AI at scale in 2024.
• 2:55
  Startup companies have been investing aggressively, but incumbent health IT and healthcare data providers have significant advantages that will enable them to win if they execute well.
• 3:06
  These advantages include integration into clinical workflows, trusted relationships, scalability, and the ability to maintain data safety and security.
• 3:16
  Patients are nervous about AI and healthcare, so providers and payers know they must be careful.
• 3:22
  But incumbent vendors will need to move relatively quickly because these opportunities will not be out there forever.
• 3:30
  Number five, private equity looks for bolt-on acquisitions.
• 3:34
  Venture capital raising has been especially hard for a couple of years, and even some promising companies are running out of gas and looking for an off ramp.
• 3:42
  Meanwhile, private equity -backed companies are also having trouble exiting at their desired valuations.
• 3:47
  They're cutting costs and looking to expand margins.
• 3:51
  But the weak VC market means PE -backed firms may acquire some of the better startups at reasonable prices.
• 3:57
  This can unlock innovation, and get the smaller companies to scale faster, which should accelerate and expand their impact.
• 4:04
  This will only work with companies that are close to break even and where the synergies are real.
• 4:09
  Overall, I predict a thoroughly exciting and productive year.
• 4:13
  For a more thorough discussion of these predictions, check out our full Care Talk episode or my blog post.
• 4:19
  And if you want to discuss what these predictions mean for your business, contact me, dwilliams at healthbusinessgroup .com.