Thought Leadership + Events
What a meeting! The Bio BootCamp was attended by other former faculty and there were some very animated discussions about funding and what venture capital and medtech angels were looking for in investments. I can't remember who it was that said that “Medtech investors are pursuing statistical outliers”, but it was notable enough that I used it for the title of this article.
Mammoth retailers like Amazon, Walgreens, and even Dollar General, a trusted low-price brand in rural America, are competing for a bite of the healthcare apple, and are reported to be investing billions of dollars and creating significant expansion plans. Their goal: become dominant players in urban areas where they have a dominant footprint and the new battleground; rural America. In a report from Cain, approximately 15% of US patients live in rural areas. Many are at higher risk for cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic respiratory issues and unintentional injuries than metropolitan patients, according to the CDC. Patients in outside of urban areas are also typically older, sicker and more apt to be lower income.
Hospitals, payers, and PE firms have been vying over the past decade to acquire independent physician groups, and COVID accelerated consolidation among physician specialties. Data reported in Cain Brothers Industry Insights¹ shows that 75% of physicians are employed by a larger entity (i.e., nonphysician owned). The hospital and independent segments are self-explanatory but the corporate segment is mix of PE firms, payers, and non provider groups that all want a bite of the healthcare apple.
During COVID, it would have been dangerous to attend JP Morgan (no way to remain 6 feet apart in all those crowded hallways packed with investors trying to get to the next deal… ). This year, the first since 2021, it was the weather where, just outside Union Square, a tree fell on a Muni bus during one of many storms that passed through San Francisco.
There was a lot to learn at AdvaMed, and the CEOs Unplugged panels did not disappoint. The US President of Siemens Healthineers, David Pacitti, talked about how COVID pushed them to new strategies where Siemens Healthineers is working with the hospital C-Suite to sell medical imaging equipment such as fluoroscopy equipment, MRI, X-ray, ultrasound and CT scanners. The Siemens Healthineers 10-year plan focuses “less on the box,” the big iron, and more on the customer journey.
In a Truist survey of 49 US hospital administrators, managing approximately 572 hospitals (63,000 beds), roughly 8% of all US hospitals, one key takeaway was that capital equipment budgets and spending for the next twelve months has declined from the Truist 2Q22 survey, from a slight positive (+0.2%) to a low negative (-1.9%) in 3Q22.
Many say the lifeblood of Medtech Is M&A, so, how goes M&A in 2022?
To support that statement, one of the most well attended sessions at the 3rd annual MedExecWomen meeting was Making Acquisition Strategy Succeed: Perspectives From Each Side Of The Deal; a panel that offered unique perspectives from the acquirer and acquiree. From that panel we learned that a 100% earnout was rare (22%) but there were wise tips and techniques to increase that low percentage from the panelist.
I always like to take a read on the thoughts and opinions of leaders outside of our medtech industry, especially during a period of unrest like we’ve seen during the pandemic. There is much good information in The GLG CEO Survey 2022 report (n=471 CEOs) where CEOs shared their strategies and what they expect will happen next five years, especially about knowledge-based employees that can work from home independently as long as they have well-defined expectations.
