We’ve just wrapped up a successful ViVE and so in customary fashion I’ll give you a breakdown of some of the conversations I had, what I learned, and my general sense from the innovation-focused conference. Look out for a sneak peek
Overall ViVE impressions: I always have a good time at ViVE, and I enjoy being in Nashville. I had a lot of great conversations with folks (as seen below!). This year attendants at ViVE seemed to have a bit more focus around their objectives, which led to fewer folks wandering around and more connections. I think most teams understand what moves the needles at these conferences, and that’s getting in front of the right people. Some folks had to leave early because of the freezing weather moving across the country, which definitely had an impact on Wednesday!
Overall the main theme of ViVE this year was…agentic AI (and you’ll hear more from me on that front tomorrow with Lumeris). It’s absolutely incredible what this technology can do – and the potential cost savings / value add to the healthcare system. That being said, startups building agents will have an uphill battle on messaging to their clients. What makes you different than the other company building a similar agent? How do you win? The AI agent race will only heat up, and players in the space will need to answer these questions.
One Health’s Primary Care goal: If you haven’t heard of One Health, they’re a great company to watch. One Health is a physician-led, physician-governed joint venture between Advocate Health and themselves (50/50) not trying to do value-based care, but simply high VALUE care. They are extremely passionate about fixing primary care in the U.S. and finding a model that works for physicians and clinicians in a flexible way. One Health has expanded quite a bit since launching within the last few years and has done great work in areas like maternal healthcare, addressing deserts in underserved markets.
Oura + Essence on Wearables: I moderated a session between Oura’s Jason Oberfest and and Essence Healthcare’s Dr. Saria Saccocio around the future of wearables and the senior population, which highlighted their partnership (started Jan 1), bringing wearables to MA, and wearable insights embedded into clinical workflows. Long story short: there are some exciting use cases around things like sleep apnea, and the senior population is one Oura’s most engaged segments when it comes to app activity. Expect to see Oura pursue similar partnerships as it moves into the traditional healthcare space.
Navina and Value-Based Care: I had a conversation with Navina’s Dana McCalley around the current state of value-based care, how the industry went through a ‘great reset’ in 2024, but in 2025 and beyond sustainable business models are forging ahead. Dana shared more about Navina’s vision for AI-enabled value-based care across primary care and specialty care – one where physicians and clinicians aren’t saddled with hours of documentation. To date, Navina is up to 7,000+ physicians and clinicians managing 2 million+ patient lives.
Heidi’s Expansion: I met yet another ambient documentation (AKA, AI scribe) player called Heidi that I hadn’t heard of prior to a few weeks ago, when I noticed a physician penning a newsletter about the Aussie-based company. The guys at the booth told me they had 100,000 physicians and clinicians in Australia, another 50,000 in the U.S., and are close to penning a deal with Beth Israel while closing a pilot with Franciscan! Keep an eye on them!
Vonage’s Branding Problem: I meandered past the Vonage booth and they happened to catch my eye. So of course you have to engage in awkward conversation at that point. Anyway, one of the guys there asked me if I knew what they did and I said with confidence, “of course! You guys are the phone guys!” to which they rolled their eyes, because now they are owned by a different company and do some sort of sophisticated API network stuff similar to a Twilio from what I could understand. So if you Vonage guys are reading this, I’m sorry.
My Favorite Booth Activations: SmarterDx’s Etch n Sketch artist along with Symplr’s golf simulator booth took the cake as my favorite activations at the conference. Here’s a video of me sticking a 140 yard shot to 4 feet. First swing of the day, by the way!! Apparently I’d missed the closest to the pin contest the day before. Sigh.