The past two years in health tech were a whirlwind of activity. In 2021, the sector saw record-breaking investments in digital health and accelerated adoption of new technologies, even by previously hesitant players. Most dollars were invested in patient and consumer-facing technologies, apps and platforms, with focuses on mental health, alternative care solutions, disease management, and provider operations. Based on investment data from H1, activity in the sector is settling down, but as the market recalibrates, there’s increased pressure across the industry to prove both the value and scalability of health tech solutions. To understand how to best position our clients for success in 2022 and beyond, the Allison+Partners Health practice embarked on a research initiative designed to uncover the implications of these seismic shifts in the industry over the course of the pandemic. The team conducted a meta-analysis of existing trend reports, interviewed health tech founders and executives, and surveyed hundreds of senior and C-Suite leaders in health.
What we heard across the board is that health tech is primed for a pendulum swing. While B2C solutions were the “winners” in 2021, both our survey respondents and our interviewees were aligned that backend, infrastructure solutions that power the patient experience will be the focus in 2022 and beyond. Forty-two (42%) of survey respondents pointed to backend tech as most important in shaping the future of healthcare in the long term; another 35% pointed to a combination of backend and frontend; and just 23% highlighted consumer solutions. The core technologies highlighted were automation, the Internet of Things, telemedicine, and remote patient monitoring/diagnostics. Larger companies like CityBlock, Eleanor Health, and GoodRx, as well as smaller, early-stage companies like Zócalo Health, have garnered tremendous interest and investment, demonstrating the huge potential value of hybrid care models that bring together brick-and-mortar clinics and community-based care with the advanced tech that powers telehealth and remote patient monitoring solutions.
We also saw a much higher level of confidence in the healthcare experience among survey respondents than anticipated, likely due to the progress made in health tech adoption during the pandemic. We believe, based on these findings, that the primary task today is to capitalize on this momentum and ensure that the rapid pace of industry advancement continues, rather than returning to the lower, pre-pandemic levels of tech adoption. Marketing and communications professionals have a vital role to play here. It’s imperative that B2B communicators, who have a reputation for leaning on industry jargon, humanize their solutions. They must embrace storytelling as a mechanism for communicating their differentiated value and downstream impact on the patient experience. For B2C communicators, there’s heightened pressure to prove outcomes and the scalability of solutions as investment dollars decrease and digital health comes under closer scrutiny. Regardless of the end user, we believe that audience-first messaging and multi-channel storytelling are crucial. Download the report for a full discussion of research findings, as well as more detailed recommendations for marketing and PR professionals.
Allison+Partners’ Health practice specializes in partnering with innovative startups, emerging brands and category leaders across B2B, B2B2C and B2C-focused companies. The team leverages the agency’s deep credentials and capabilities across health, technology, corporate, and consumer, to help clients’ breakthrough across fertility, women’s health, healthcare automation, molecular diagnostics, health IT, biopharma, and precision medicine. To learn more about our capabilities in health, visit our Health microsite.
