HLTH 2022 is in full swing in Las Vegas, with leaders from across the industry gathered to tackle healthcare’s big challenges. SonarMD’s CEO Beth Houck, Founder and CMO Dr. Larry Kosinski, MD, and Chief Product Officer Ben Stormer are in attendance, gleaning ideas and making connections to further SonarMD’s growth.

Here’s what they are taking away from their first day on the ground.

The collaborative spirit is alive and well. The agenda is filled with intriguing panels and speakers on every stage, but in between presentations, healthcare stakeholders are all busy making connections. In an industry that can often feel divided, at HLTH, there is no “us versus them” mentality. Physicians, health plan leaders, patients, startup founders and more are building bridges that will make a positive impact on the patient and provider experience well
beyond the four-day confines of the event. It is invigorating to be surrounded by this type of energy, and these connections are necessary to make value-based care a reality.

Specialists are critical to the success of value-based care. Many value-based care initiatives are focused on primary care. But as we were reminded during a panel titled “The Risky Business of Value-Based Care,” not every patient sees their primary care doctor as their medical home. For many patients with chronic conditions — like those seeking care for addiction, or Crohn’s disease — their specialist is who they see and trust most. Specialty value-based care arrangements can help those patients, but those specialists need tools, support, and wraparound services for their patients’ well-being in order to feel comfortable taking on risk.

We must stay focused on the end goal. The “Unicorns Aren’t Real” panel reminded us that sustainable growth is the key to success for many healthcare startups. At SonarMD, we make mindful partnerships and ensure any step we take is toward our mission of aligning incentives around the doctor-patient relationship to reimage care for complex chronic diseases.

We’re heading into our second day at HLTH inspired to keep learning and working to coordinate care for patients with chronic, costly GI conditions.