EXPERIENCE MATTERS (Edition 32): Key Takeaways from HLTH 2024 in Vegas: Innovate or Get Left Behind

Key Takeaways from HLTH 2024 in Vegas: Innovate or Get Left Behind

This week, I hit the HLTH conference in Las Vegas, and let me tell you — healthcare is shifting fast, and if you’re not paying attention, you’re already behind. From AI breakthroughs to big-name celebrities betting on the future of wellness, it’s clear that everyone is trying to disrupt the game. Here’s what stood out and why it should matter to anyone trying to create meaningful change in the health space. Spoiler alert: If you’re comfortable with the status quo, this article isn’t for you.

Celebrities Doubling Down on Healthcare: It’s Not Just a Gimmick

Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, Halle Berry, Maria Shriver, and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden are getting serious about healthcare. These aren’t just vanity projects — they’re investments and initiatives that reflect a growing trend: healthcare is cool, and it’s personal.

They’re not just attaching their names to random products but aligning with meaningful health movements and bringing their platforms to bear on key issues. Kravitz is diving into mental health; Legend is advocating for equity in care. When celebrities lend their influence to healthcare, it shakes up the industry and invites new energy, perspectives, and urgency. It also humanizes wellness, creating connections between consumers and causes.

Love it or hate it, celebrity power is moving the needle—and if it’s good for the mission, I say bring it on. Healthcare doesn’t need to be boring. It needs to connect.

Women’s Health: Time to Go Beyond the Basics

Women’s health is finally moving to the center of the conversation, with an intense focus on menopause, hormone replacement therapies (HRTs), and cancers. It’s about time. We’ve spent decades ignoring these issues or treating them as afterthoughts. At HLTH, the shift was clear: innovation in women’s health isn’t optional anymore — it’s a priority.

Companies and innovators are stepping up with new solutions tailored to these critical life stages, and it’s thrilling to see that the stigma around menopause and HRT is being obliterated. This isn’t just about selling supplements or slapping a pink ribbon on products — it’s about real, scientific progress that meets women where they are and addresses their needs with nuance.

Take note: If your business isn’t building something to address women’s health, you’re missing out on one of the biggest opportunities in the market right now.

AI: It’s Not a Buzzword Anymore—It’s the Backbone

AI was everywhere at HLTH. Not in a vague “what is AI, really?” kind of way but as a real, tangible tool that’s already driving outcomes. Providers are using it to streamline diagnostics and treatment decisions, payers are building predictive models to get ahead of claims fraud, and pharma is speeding up R&D with machine learning-powered drug discovery. Even non-profits and government entities are leveraging AI to scale their impact. The future is here, and it’s doing more than filling gaps — it’s giving humans superpowers to make better, faster decisions.

The message was clear: If you’re still clinging to old processes, AI is coming to take your lunch. But it’s not just about replacing tasks — it’s about freeing up bandwidth to focus on the work that matters. AI isn’t here to do your job for you. It’s here to help you do more, better. Use it or get left behind.

Community and Relationships: The Most Powerful Currency

Here’s the kicker: Relationships are more important than ever. For all the tech, data, and AI flooding the space, what really stuck with me is how human this whole industry still is. HLTH wasn’t just about cold innovation — it was about building meaningful connections. Whether it’s creating trust between patients and providers, nurturing partnerships between organizations, or rallying communities around better health outcomes, relationships are the game-changer.

Community isn’t just some soft, feel-good concept. It’s a competitive advantage. The companies and innovators who are fostering authentic relationships—whether with customers, partners, or the broader public—are the ones that will win. Trust is hard to build and easy to lose, and the smartest players know that it’s not about transactional interactions but transformative connections.

If you’re not intentionally designing your business, your products, and your experiences around fostering relationships, what are you even doing?

What’s the Play? Disrupt, Innovate, and Create Experiences That Matter

After soaking up all the energy and insight from HLTH, here’s the bottom line: Stop playing it safe. The healthcare industry is changing in real-time, and the window to innovate is shrinking. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a leader in a legacy organization, or just someone who cares about the future of health, this is your moment to push boundaries and break things—for the better.

There’s no more room for half-measures. AI, women’s health, celebrity influence, and community engagement are not passing trends—they’re pillars of the future. You can sit back and wait for change to happen, or you can jump in and be part of the revolution.

What will you create? What will you disrupt? And most importantly, how will you make healthcare real, personal, and transformative?

The clock is ticking. Let’s go.

Todd Unger is a transformational leader for the digital age, with the classic profile of a “productive disruptor.” His approach to digital and business transformation is grounded in a decade of consumer product marketing and advertising, so he never forgets that it’s always, always about the customer.

Combining this experience with the power of digital platforms, products and marketing, He's been able to drive record growth in audience, customers, e-commerce revenue and advertising sales across multiple digital businesses in traditional and start-up environments.

In his current role as Chief Experience Officer at American Medical Association, He leads initiatives that seamlessly integrate product, marketing, commerce, community and service to acquire and retain members and increase the impact of their mission initiatives.

He likes working with and being around others who are motivated by growth, embrace change and love learning.

Follow Todd here on LinkedIn .

Get a copy of his book The 10-Second Customer Journey on Amazon

Lucien has assisted organizations, corporations, and governments worldwide for over 30 years to prepare for healthcare’s future. After a career in acute healthcare, he now bridges vision, strategy, and practice to advise top stakeholders on their innovation and transformation strategies in this dynamic era, and continues to work in healthcare institutions.

As a global public speaker and author on healthcare innovation, digital transformation, and patient empowerment, he shares content, connections, and practical approaches in over 100 sessions annually across continents.He shares his health experience, scars, and bruises with state-of-the-art graphics, humour, and a strong message with over 750,000 followers on his LinkedIn blog, 150,000 subscribers to his newsletter, and in his latest book, "Augmented Health(care)?, the end of the beginning".

As the International Ambassador of Nursing Innovation (Sigma Theta Tau), he strongly advocates for nurses’ inclusion. His goal is to prepare leaders and professionals for tomorrow’s challenges by bringing them to today’s leaders.

Listen to Lucien and mines conversation on The Combustion Chronicles: