It’s been a blur – here are the quick takeaways from the last 3+ days in New Orleans
The new new thing is…
Telehealth. Several entities are either specializing in telehealth, telemedicine, or some aspect thereof. Provider organizations have proprietary applications, independent third parties have theirs (CHC is one I met with), and others are talking about what they’re going to do. Seemed like there was a lot of product development happening on the fly – which is fine – and a good thing. Hearing from lots of stakeholders is always productive.
Blockchain. When asked to name one thing that people aren’t talking about that they should be, I named Blockchain. Here’s what this is – and why you need to know about it. That was actually one of two things I discussed – the other is admin expense – which we’ll dig into next week.
What wasn’t there?
More accurately, who wasn’t there. Young executives in positions of significant responsibility were noticeably rare. BTW “young” is a very relative term in workers’ comp; people who I think of as “young” are 51-52.
In other industries, I’d guess young is rather…younger than that.
As many have been noting, we’ve got a real dearth of young talented professionals in positions of responsibility. That’s pretty damn scary, as the work comp world is in for massive changes over the next decade, and old guys like me aren’t nearly as prepared to anticipate and address these changes as younger people are.
There was also a noticeable lack of insurance folks at the gathering. Im hearing this is due to end-of-the-year cutbacks on travel to make those 2016 financials just a little rosier. TPAs were also a little light on staff this time around.
Deals
While the pace of acquisitions has tapered off significantly, I spoke with several owners who are in the process of working on transactions. Not big ones, but what we’re going to see is more small transactions beefing up a company’s core capabilities or expanding its product lines. Prices are also down, as at least two investors told me the OneCall situation has significantly affected valuations.
The exposition hall looked depressed for foot traffic. I understand that some entities bypassed the large displays and held meetings offsite. For the companies who spent a lot of money on their exhibits, wondering how this affects their decision to come back potentially? Was New Orleans a factor as a location?
You’re on the money with Blockchain, but it’s laughable to think this industry will innovate with finance, healthcare, real estate, commerce, government, you name it. Blockchain won’t appear in WC until well after the all these industries are using it, which appears ~10 years out. That puts our industry at ~20 years to adopt this technology. There probably isn’t a single person in the world building infrastructure for WC/Dis blockchain, yet there are thousands in other industries. If you want to have a serious conversation about blockchain… you’re in the wrong industry, sadly.
David – thanks for the note – and I wholeheartedly (and mostly) agree.
That said, we’ve got to PUSH work comp sometimes – or more accurately, all the time. I’d bet there is at least one organization doing something with blockchain that is related to work comp.
Anyone out there?