HLTH 2024: Light-it’s Recap of #1 Healthcare Innovation Conference

Get key insights, trends, and learnings from the HLTH 2024 conference. Discover the latest innovations in digital health as we recap the most important takeaways from the HLTH Conference. Don’t miss out on what the future of health brings!

Missed HLTH Conference in Las Vegas? Light-it’s team got you covered.

The scene lived up to the year's hype and theme: “Be bold”. Not only the talks, the panel discussions, the networking sessions, and the show floor (with Light-it’s pavilion at the center)… The conference provided a comprehensive range of over-the-top experiences, such as art galleries highlighting the therapeutic power of art fitness fusion sessions, a zen dome, music concerts, puppy parks, exotic meals, and themed post-conference side events. The #1 healthcare innovation event was huge, and here’s what you need to know: highlights, trends, and upcoming breakthroughs in our industry curated by Light-it’s team.

Bold figures: Why HLTH is the Must-Attend Event in Healthcare

The four-day conference began on Sunday, the 20th, at the Venetian Expo Center in Las Vegas. The event perfectly mirrored its host city, but let us tell you, it was a little more flashy and much louder than some other events.

• 12,000 attendees from all over the sector -and the globe- gathered at HLTH 2024 to map out the future of healthcare innovation.
• More than 400 speakers were spotlighted at HLTH Conference stages and panel discussions.
• 900+ companies are showcasing their latest innovations and services for the future of health.
• More than 2,750 CEOs and senior executives across all healthcare sectors.

New at this year’s HLTH Conference edition

For its 2024 version, HLTH USA Conference delivered new programs and platforms. Let's outline the ones that resonated the most with the Light-it team:

Nurses @HLTH

This year's event included a segment designed to highlight the essential role of nurses and nursing leaders in the healthcare delivery chain. The “Transforming Healthcare Delivery” panel showcased how traditional provider-driven healthcare models are being replaced by more convenient, personalized ones, due to their growing demand. The shift to value-based healthcare, with a stronger focus on coordinated care, is being driven by an aging population, an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases, resource limitations, and a prominent staff shortage.

Nursing care delivery models, which emphasize patient engagement, care coordination, and preventive care, describe how duties are assigned, authority is delegated, and patient care is managed. To support these efforts, nurse leaders are rethinking workflows and implementing new ideas and solutions, establishing the new care team's structure.

"Food as medicine" pavilion HLTH 2024

After its beta launch in 2023, HLTH provided a bigger spotlight on the Food as Medicine movement. This expanded pavilion was a dedicated space where nutrition, care delivery, and wellness merged to demonstrate how food can serve as the foundation for both therapeutic and preventative health measures. Prioritizing these preventive strategies that are changing the medical field can influence not only the spectrum of conditions addressed by providers and payers but also patients’ mental well-being.

Light-it’s Pavilion at HLTH Conference

Okay, so, you may have seen it on our social media channels, but this year, Light-it went big at HLTH. Our first HLTH event in 2021 inspired us to aim higher, taking us from a kiosk to our first leveled-up booth the following year. Light-it’s growth continued, and so did our presence. In 2024, we decided to go all out.

We hosted our first pavilion, where eight different innovative digital health leaders, clients, and partners joined us to showcase the solutions we’ve built together.

• Fridays: a holistic telehealth weight care company dedicated to providing personalized, evidence-based care to individuals seeking to reach and maintain a healthier weight.
• Geviti: a digital health platform that is revolutionizing personalized wellness through advanced diagnostics, custom supplements, and telehealth services.
• Therapy Lab: a modern therapy service that provides personalized therapy plans and psychological assessments for people across the lifespan.
• ABC Kidney: an educational platform dedicated to making kidney physiology approachable and engaging through dynamic, interactive learning tools.
• PsychNow: a Care Delivery Platform that leverages multimodal ML/AI technology to provide clinical decision support to clinicians.
• Puppeteer AI: co-founded by Light-it’s founders Alan Brande, Javier Lempert, and Martín Oppenheimer, Puppeteer creates AI Assistants designed to simplify and manage complex, long-term patient-facing tasks.
• Flourish Care: a B2B, tech-enabled maternal healthcare company that provides reimbursed doula support and wraparound care to improve maternal outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
• Sanctuary Health: a leader in ready-to-use patient health educational content for healthcare and wellness organizations worldwide.

Light-it’s pavilion at HLTH 2024 was filled with conversations around healthcare innovation. We’re proud to confirm it was a resounding success that drew in a large crowd eager to witness firsthand how we’re shaping the future of digital health.

5 Hottest topics and trends at HLTH Conference 2024

1 - Prevention tech: Preventative Strategies for Reduced interventions

Consumer interest in proactive health management is growing, as evidenced by the home-testing business, which is currently valued at $5 billion yearly and is expected to double by 2032, according to the experts from panel discussion. These tests frequently cause controversy regarding their interpretation and effectiveness, blurring the boundaries between medicine and health. Beyond the debate, leading-edge innovators are already creating diagnostic solutions for prevention. CAT scans (computed tomography scan) are used to detect cardiovascular diseases, retinal scans are used to detect dementia, whole-body scans can detect brain aneurysms, and existing blood tests are used to detect cancer predisposition.

Due to the slower reimbursement for preventive interventions, these technologies—which frequently use AI to increase accuracy and efficiency—are beginning to appear on the outskirts of the conventional healthcare system. As data-driven preventive technologies develop and whole-body MRI companies attain economies of scale, these advancements may become more widely available to the general public, potentially changing the face of preventative healthcare for coming generations.

2 - Healthy Aging

The focus at HLTH USA 2024 was also on healthy aging, longevity, and senior care. Longevity leaders at the event emphasized the importance of understanding the genetic and environmental factors contributing to exceptional longevity, aiming to extend the healthspan rather than just the lifespan. Sessions covering the "silvertech tsunami" spotlighted unseen models of preventive care, agetech, and digital solutions. Many of these democratize the possibility of tracking your vitals monthly, weekly, or even daily (through biometric data, blood draws, body scans, and more) to prevent future conditions, disorders, or illnesses.

3 - The Silent Revolution of GLP-1s Drugs

Only in 2023, GLP-1 drugs costed the US healthcare system about $50 billion. Its potential to transform healthcare is growing (as our partners from Vital explained in a previous blog post). Companies are at the frontline of a difficult healthcare decision regarding whether to cover these medications, as only 25% of companies currently cover GLP-1s for weight management. Employers must strike a balance between preserving financial sustainability and assessing the benefits of having contented, healthier workers with full health coverage.

Employers are investigating innovative cost-management strategies in response to this dilemma, including value-based price negotiations, implementing focused patient support programs, and incorporating comprehensive wraparound services to preserve treatment effectiveness. The panelists agree that employers must use risk analytics to thoroughly examine long-term safety evaluations and coverage choices while also moving toward proactive, preventive weight control strategies.

4 - Health Equity

Making it easier to access healthcare is the reason keeping many of the speakers and health advocates at HLTH 2024 up at night. The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) and HLTH teams joined forces to address the key challenges related to health fairness.

Over 32 million patients are treated annually by NACHC members, many of whom are from underserved areas, have poor incomes, or belong to underrepresented groups. As a result, NACHC has a "unique lens" into equity issues. Their officials participated in a number of panels and discussions at the conference, and the organization held office hours so that participants could network with representatives from community health centers around the nation. Additionally, they held a "TechQuity Tank" for health equity innovators to present their digital platforms and solutions to assist community health centers.

Kyu Rhee, M.D., president and CEO of NACHC, closed a dissertation with a clear call to action for unity and diversity in healthcare decision-makers: "As we work together to build a better and more equitable health system, it is essential to bring the diverse voices, power of local communities, and the innovations of community health center leaders to the table."

5 - AI and Generative AI

Of course, because it's a conference on healthcare technology, AI was not an outsider. It was, in fact, one of the main topics of discussion at HLTH 2024. Conversations centered on how AI might streamline administrative work and its possible therapeutic applications.

AI is still the talk of the town, and the dramatic impact its technology is having on healthcare was mentioned in almost every Venetian conversation. Payers and providers may be embracing AI, but they must carefully and deliberately craft their plans to satisfy patient/consumer wants and preferences, according to the discussions on the HLTH 2024 floor. And that entails knowing how to make use of data that comes in from a variety of sources, including some really unconventional ones.

However, pay attention: during a panel discussion on "AI washing," which is the practice of exaggerating or hiding AI capabilities, it was demonstrated that investors are becoming more skilled at distinguishing between genuine AI applications and superficial claims. They are approaching these pitches with a more discerning eye.

Among AI's most promising potential, speakers at the conference highlighted its ability to:

• Enhance diagnosis
• Reduce patient wait times
• Boost remote patient monitoring at home
• Relieve part of the workload for medical professionals.
  

The next big challenge is how this will be done responsibly and how to keep the checks and balances on the AI systems as they get implemented.

Celebrities that, surprisingly, took the spotlight at HLTH conference

In addition to health industry leaders, HLTH USA lined up some of Hollywood’s household names for its 2024 edition. We all love movie stars; trust us, seeing them in their role as health fairness advocates made us fall in love with them- again.

• Halle Berry: Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry is now an active advocate of women's health, particularly about menopause. With her company, Repsin, Berry aims to establish the first 360-degree brand for female longevity. The 4 C's, (the 4 pillars of the company) are community, content, commerce, and care. Conversing with other women in a “Community” can help de-stigmatize menopause. Women need educational “Content” to understand their bodies, know what to expect, and how to care for them while dealing with the symptoms of menopause. The company will also launch a “Commerce” for wellness and health products. As part of the “Care” component, a health coach assists women in choosing the best course of care.
  
• Lenny Kravitz: the rock legend participated in a conversation about addressing underprivileged areas and the connection between general care and dental health. Kravitz is the founder of the Let Love Rule Foundation, a global organization that develops programs, raises money, and offers care for a range of problems. In an interview at the main stage of HLTH 2024, he shared how his long-standing collaboration with the Glo Good Foundation has provided the Bahamas' underprivileged with free dental clinics and education.
  
• John Legend: The EGOT-winning singer has become a lecturer on health equity. At the HLTH Conference, he discussed the importance of promoting health justice via accessibility and education. Together with moderator, Vanessa Broadhurst, EVP of Global Corporate Affairs at Johnson & Johnson, they highlighted our collective responsibility across the healthcare ecosystem to collaborate to create access for all.
  

Final thoughts

HLTH 2024 was more than just an event. It was a dynamic platform where the hottest trends in healthcare—preventive technology, advancements in healthy aging, and health equity discussions—took center stage. AI, no longer a newcomer, solidified its presence as a vital player in healthcare transformation and technology-driven solutions enhancement. For us, the Light-it team, sponsoring the event and hosting our first pavilion was both a pleasure and an inspiring experience.

At the conference's opening speech, HLTH’s Founder & CEO, Jon Weiner, invited us to “be bold thinkers, bold innovators and bold risk-takers.” We can assure you that we left Las Vegas with a renewed purpose to continue improving people’s lives through digital health innovation. Also proud to be able to share how we're driving change in the healthcare industry alongside our partners and clients, furthering our mission to empower professionals and improve health outcomes.