Seems the “Super Bowl” of healthcare conferences has fired up fans of the industry.
Returning Thursday after four days at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, investors and providers were more bullish about the state of the business than last year.
“If you leave the trade, you get the impression healthcare is about to go off the track. There’s plenty of money there. Healthcare is still viewed as a sector, as well as technology, you can make some bets in. I saw no evidence that people are backing away,” said Paul Keckley, managing director of Navigant Center for Healthcare Research and Policy Analysis. “The deals are there to be had.”
[Also: What providers need to know from the conference]
The conference brought together providers, investors and companies seeking capital, with good presentations driving up stock prices as the event was taking place.
Curt Whelan, managing director of Huron Consulting Group and Huron Healthcare, agreed the mood was upbeat.
“They’ve kind of figured out how to deal with rate compression and the inpatient admission downward trend,” Whelan said. “Financial performances seem to be lifting.”
There’s still concern over the revenue transition from fee-for-service to value-based payment models, but the change isn’t happening as quickly as feared.
“The thought is, it’s not going to accelerate as much as they thought 24 months ago,” Whelan said.
Health system CFOs find a lot of value in what their peers and business partners are doing. - Tweet this
In back-to-back sessions held Monday through Thursday, representatives from 350 companies, both public and private, delivered 30-minute presentations to more than 4,000 investors and a total of 9,000 people.
Keckley called the event a well-run “monster.”
Bio-firms dominated the public agenda while private discussions took place behind the scenes.
“What everybody is doing is taking advantage of the venue,” Whelan said. “They can communicate to virtually everyone who is holding their debt in the market in one fell swoop.”
For hospital CFOs, the event puts them on equal footing with vendors, as well and fellow providers.
“They’re there to speak to the financial markets; why they’re a worthy credit,” he said. “It’s a conference that pretty much plainly lays out where everybody is, whether you’re a supplier, or a GPO or whether you’re a provider. They’re presenting their financials and strategic plan and growth plan. It really gives the health system CFO a lot of value to see what their peers are doing and business partners are doing.”
Twitter: @SusanMorseHFN