From functional medicine to data interoperability—Canvas’ Rebecca Lynn, GGV’s Hans Tung, and Fortune’s Clifton Leaf share what they’re closely watching across the digital health ecosystem at Collision 2021

Covid-19 has compelled healthcare companies all over the world to adopt digital solutions, swiftly change business models, and confront new forms of consumer demand. At this year’s Collision conference, seasoned digital health investors Rebecca Lynn (Vida, Doximity, Practice Fusion, Airvet) and Hans Tung (K Health, The Mighty, Color) shared their insights and predictions for the post-Covid investment landscape. “The future for investing in healthcare has never looked better since I’ve been in venture,” notes Lynn. 

Scan the key highlights below and watch the full conversation on the Canvas Ventures YouTube channel. 

‍

[0:35] Look out for the rise of functional medicine platforms that apply scalable analytics toward patient care

“Functional medicine asks: what caused you to be sick in the first place? Was it a behavioral change, an environmental change, or a genetic issue that caused you to actually first get sick? They deal with it from that basis forward.”—Rebecca Lynn

[2:40] Consumers are finding themselves in the driver’s seat of their health; we will continue to see consumer needs and healthcare business intersect

“We’re seeing, with Covid-19, the acceleration of the adoption of digital technology...and a breakdown in the barriers—to have a sort of intersection of IT and healthcare happen at a pace we had never seen before. That gives consumers access.”—Hans Tung

[4:10] Prepare for continued interoperability of data within the healthcare system; it’s slowly improving but we’re still not there

“[A decade ago] there was all this talk about an interoperable health system where data is shared. We haven’t made a ton of progress, but we continue to look for that and we’re getting closer. There’s still a lot of friction points...Accessibility to data allows for more informed decisions.”—Rebecca Lynn

[8:00] Innovation—and the regulations needed to unlock it—has been sparked by crisis 

“We needed a crisis to help spur these changes in legislation, and create urgency that we have…. Now we’re seeing a tremendous evolution in how consumers are taking control of their health.”—Clifton Leaf

[11:45] Treating the physical and the mental as a unit is finally coming to the fore

“As more consumers come online, they need more help, and health has to be more integrated—both the body and the mind need to be treated.”—Hans Tung   

****

Subscribe to Canvas on YouTube to see more content like this, and follow Rebecca, Hans, and Clifton on LinkedIn for more insights.