Here are the biggest announcements from JPMorgan Chase's annual healthcare conference

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Here are the biggest announcements from JPMorgan Chase's annual healthcare conference

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As executives from health systems and payer, pharma, and genomics companies convened at this year's JPMorgan Chase Healthcare Conference, a common theme emerged: how to adapt to an industry facing disruption on all fronts.

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Forced to confront big tech's march into healthcare, a new reimbursement model, and a fundamental shift in consumer expectations, incumbents touted adopting new business models and partnerships as pathways to success.

Here's a glance at the most notable announcements incumbent executives made at JPMorgan Chase's annual healthcare conference:

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  • Cerner announced a strategic shift to make its electronic health record (EHR) software more valuable to providers. CEO Brent Shafer stated Cerner's transitioning from being an "EHR-centric" company to a "platform" organization, making it easier for developers to build apps into Cerner's software that enables artificial intelligence (AI) to improve physician workflow, per Politico. Cerner likely hopes adding ancillary services to its EHR platforms can boost its software sales, which accounted for 12% of revenue in Q3 2018, down from 17% in Q3 2014.
  • Provider organizations opened up on how digital health can drive growth. Twenty-five CEOs and CFOs of the leading US nonprofit health systems and hospitals, such as Spectrum and Mayo Clinic, shared their thoughts on how digital health can help providers thrive in the tumultuous modern healthcare sector, per Becker's Hospital Review. Executives cited the benefits of using virtual interactions to drive volume, meeting consumer expectations via advanced cost estimates, and forming venture funds to foster innovation.
  • Pharmacy players voiced potential methods to advance value-based care (VBC) in the pharma sector. VBC has taken root in other sectors of healthcare, but it is very much in its infancy when it comes to drug pricing, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) CSIO Maureen Sullivan previously shared with Business Insider Intelligence. Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan and CVS CEO Larry Merlo proposed solutions to help advance VBC in pharma, including establishing an independent organization that determines the value of drugs to bring more clarity to how medications are priced, and taking a greater focus on improving medication adherence, according to MedCity News.
  • Consumer genomics company 23andMe continued its push into healthcare services with a new partnership announcement.23andMe and chronic disease prevention startup Lark are teaming up to incorporate genetic test data into Lark's diabetes prevention software, allowing Lark health coaches to give customers more personalized care recommendations. The collaboration is part of a broader 23andMe pivot from providing consumers ancestry information to producing actionable health insights. In the past year, 23andMe's also scooped up FDA approval for a home cancer test and a test to help consumers identify potentially dangerous medications.

 

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