Over 20,000 people will gather next week in Chicago for this year’s HIMSS conference.  This nexus of the digital health world is a must-attend event for HCIT vendors.  The attendee list allows us to get a snapshot of how the venture industry is impacting healthcare technology.

VCs should be attracted to improving healthcare delivery.  Big returns come from solving big problems.  The cost, availability and quality of healthcare are big problems.  The Kaiser Foundation reports US healthcare costs have expanded from 7.2% of GDP in 1970 to 20% of GDP in 2015.  Venture returns are created when large existing systems undergo change.  US healthcare is a trillion dollar system with core drivers in place for change.  Many hospitals are operating with tech infrastructure that is a generation behind and implementation of the ACA is disrupting the system in ways both intentional and unexpected.

(more…)