At the J.P. Morgan (JPM) Healthcare Conference earlier this month, the discussion from Echo Health Ventures focused on the basics of diligence, investments, and ROI payback. It was a pleasure to welcome members of the Echo Innovation Alliance to the conference in San Francisco, including representatives from Cambia Health Solutions, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee.

Here are some of our takeaways:

• Transactions are back as the primary focus: JPM 2023 re-emerged as a transaction-focused conference. Counter to the frenetic pace of networking at other conferences, teams in San Francisco focused on fundraising and deeper partnership discussions. Most of the JPM attendees focused on transactions (raising capital or mergers and acquisitions), with fewer large-sales or product executives who may have gravitated to JPM in past years.
• Behavioral health, specialty care, and pharmacy solutions remain key: The entire ecosystem — the innovation economy, sponsors, and larger incumbents — is focused on behavioral health.  This has been a growing trend over the last decade, but the demand was more consistent and apparent than ever this year. New specialty care models (oncology, end-stage renal disease/chronic kidney disease, and cardiology) as well as pharmacy costs also continue to be top of mind.
• Need for immediate return on investment: The innovation ecosystem that sells to payers and providers recognizes the need for immediate and demonstrable ROI from their offerings. In 2023, larger incumbents will be less willing to take risk on novel solutions that can’t offer a clear value proposition backed by results.

We appreciated the deeper conversations at JPM and look forward to an exciting year ahead.