Rock Health’s Guide to SXSW, Part 1: The Top 6 SXSW Sessions for Health Geeks
Going to Austin next week and your head is spinning? Have no fear, we’ve made it easy for you. Check out six SXSW sessions on health technology that you just can’t miss, below.
Reimagining Health, Technology & Design
Saturday, March 9
12:30 – 1:30 PM
Sheraton Austin, Capitol View North
In the family? Rock Health mentor and digital health thought leader Frank Moss presents alongside Scott Stropkay.
The scoop: Future healthcare innovation success will be defined by the experience delivered to patients, caregivers, and physicians in hospitals, homes and at retail. New technologies such as mobile apps, wearable sensors, and social networks, are converging with new expectations and needs to create new business models for healthcare experiences. But imagine a far more extreme transformation, in which advances in information technology, biology and engineering allow us to move much of health care out of hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices, and into our everyday lives. Inspired by ideas and innovations emerging from university research labs, clinical innovation centers, start-ups and large companies, this panel asks how we can use design and new technologies to bridge the gaps between the research and the delivery of innovative healthcare ideas.
Does Scale Matter in Healthcare?
Sunday, March 10
3:30 – 4:30 PM
Sheraton Austin, Creekside
In the family? Join Rock Health mentor and founder of Health Hero Network Geoff Clapp on this panel along with Sue Siegel, CEO of GE Healthymagination, Aman Bhandari, Senior Advisor to Todd Park at the White House, and Dr. Charles Saunders, CEO of Emerging Business at Aetna.
The scoop: Can the small stuff scale in health? When many of our largest health care issues are systemic or policy driven, what’s needed to truly transform our ecosystem and drive lasting change? Do health start-ups have what it takes? Can they get it? How? It’s gospel with tech start-ups that you should focus on scale first and foremost. In healthcare, it’s the opposite. Traditional drug and medical device companies focus on validating effectiveness, and rely on larger acquirers to take a new technology to scale. This panel will examine what the model for tech companies in health and addresses the question –Should start-ups be focused on scale or effectiveness first and foremost?
Damn the Man! Disrupting Regulated Industries
Monday, March 11
12:30 – 1:30 PM
Four Seasons, Four Seasons Ballroom
In the family? Rock Health’s Dana Rosenberg will be moderating a panel of your favorite disrupters including Joshua Reich, co-founder and CEO of Simple, Ryan Graves of Uber, and Stephanie Tilenius, EIR at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
The scoop: As if building a successful company from scratch wasn’t hard enough, tech startups in certain industries are facing an additional hurdle: government regulation. From product design to launch strategy, pricing to fundraising, regulations pose challenges in every aspect of the startup lifecycle. This panel explores success stories from entrepreneurs in some of the most regulated industries to understand better how to navigate this tricky landscape and position your startup or your portfolio companies for success.
The Rise of the Impact Entrepreneur
Tuesday, March 12
9:30 – 10:30 AM
Four Seasons, San Jacinto Ballroom
In the family? Rock Health CEO Halle Tecco will be presenting alongside Ariel Schwartz of FastCompany, John Lilly of Greylock Partners, and Rachel Barge of Greenstart.
The scoop: We all love sharing photos online, but isn’t there more we can do with technology? Hopefully yes, given our nation’s problems like health care costs outstripping growth of GDP, reliance on fossil fuels & climate change escalating, and government wasting billions of our tax dollars on stone-age software. Startups are unleashing digital technology on some of the world’s biggest problems – and making big money in the process. Meet social impact investors, learn about the technologies and companies poised to tackle our 21st century problems, and witness the growing movement of “tech for good”.
The Future of Personalized Health
Tuesday, March 12
11 AM -12 PM
Sheraton Austin, Capital View North
In the family? Rock Health’s Amy Puliafito will interview Linda Avey in this Core Conversation.
The scoop: Medicine and healthcare are becoming more personalized, shifting away from population-oriented, mass-market approaches that are reactive to tailored strategies and opportunities that are proactive. Amy Puliafito & Linda Avey discuss personalized medicine and health in this Core Conversation outlining the latest developments in, and challenges to, a personalized health marketplace. Topics for discussion include the Quantified Self movement and self-tracking, personal health web and mobile apps, genomics, and key scientific and technological milestones of 2012 that promise a more individualized approach to health.
Out With the Old: Disrupting the Home Care Market
Tuesday, March 12
3:30 – 4:30 PM
Sheraton Austin, Creekside
In the family? V2 alum and CEO of Rock Health portfolio company Care at Hand Andre Ostrovsky joins leaders in the fields of technology and gerontology in this panel discussion.
The scoop? The aging population is rapidly increasing and they are the highest consumers of healthcare in the US. The elderly face many obstacles to healthy aging including unacceptably high readmission rates; uncontrolled costs of healthcare; and loss of independence. For these reasons and many more, there is an increasing shift away from acute care to home care. Many factors impact the efficacy of home care in ensuring healthy aging including the changing healthcare regulatory environment, emerging technologies, and an increasingly tech savvy elderly population. This panels explore the opportunities available to innovate in home care.
In part two, we give you the deets on the best parties in Austin. Stay tuned!