Four unique takeaways from AHIP

The energy was high in Portland, where almost 3,000 people came together to listen, learn, and network. By the end of the three-day conference the Belong team was exhausted, but exhilarated by the conversations. Here are a few of the key takeaways we gained from the conference:

ONE

Member/patient engagement is still a big challenge. Organizations are finding that the technology they have invested are not providing the right levers for member and patient engagement.

Similarly, provider engagement remains a big challenge, and we are now seeing tools being rolled out to create support providers and create impact within the healthcare system.

Whats clear is that technology only gets you so far with any human, whether they be a patient or a provider. Technology is the tool, not the solution. We need to find smarter ways to build humanism - trust, psychology, behavioral science, into our technology tools to truly get the impact we want to see.

TWO

There is a clear fracture between providing value and providing convenience. Retail healthcare was given a center stage many keynotes, but did not address value-based care and how we meet the needs of our most vulnerable populations. Value-based care and social determinants of health were on the lips of many panelists, but there was little discussion on how we make value-based care more accessible and convenient. We will need both to meet the needs of the population. Whoever gets there first (and has the data to prove it) will win.

THREE

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at a tipping point in healthcare and there is potential for major impact in the near future. Whether it’s leveraging advanced algorithms and machine learning, we will soon be able to process and analyze massive amounts of health data. This will help us get more granular in our focus of health needs, but also of health disparities. Zip code level social determinants will soon give way to neighborhood level disparities. What we do with this data is up to all of us.

FOUR

Managing pharmacy costs was a theme through a few of the sessions. Some focused on better managing pharmacy costs by using analytics to identify opportunities for generic substitution and authorization of commonly misused drugs. There was also talk about PBMs being the unnecessary middle men in an opaque generic drug market. On the flip side, there was discussion of the value that can come from clear care coordination between physicians and pharmacies. This seems like just the beginning of this conversation.