Barry, welcome.
Talk to me, if you would, about the current state of health care
in the US right now.
When I think about the current state of health care in the US,
the words that come to mind for me are cautious optimism.
Optimism because as a health care industry, there's
tremendous unmet needs to get after--whether that's cancer,
whether that's obesity, whether that's,
neurodegenerative disorders.
And I think there's a growing recognition of society of the
critical role that pharmaceutical companies,
medtech companies, doctors, hospitals play in trying to get
after that unmet need.
So optimism around, innovations for clinical value
as well as economic value.
What do you think, with all of that in mind, will be the key
trends and themes of 2025 when it comes to health care?
First thing that comes to mind is M&A.
It feels like we're going to see an uptick in tuck-in M&A
from our pharmaceutical and medtech clients as well as some
openness to more transformative M&A.
I also expect some M&A continued M&A in the payer
and provider sector.
So M&A for sure.
You know a second trend that I think about, I mentioned sort of
innovating for value and I think we're all really comfortable
with clinical value, meaning, like, "I'm going to work to
extend life or to reduce disability."
I think we're seeing a trend around what we will call
economic value, which is: think about workflow.
So not just does this surgery save your life, but can I do
this surgery faster?
Can I do it more efficiently?
Can I do it with less labor?
Can I do it with less resource?
And so I think innovation for both clinical and economic value
is something that we're going to continue to see efforts on in 2025.
What should be top of mind for leaders, industry leaders right
now, do you think?
As BCG, sometimes we'll talk about the head, the heart, and
the hands.
And I feel like that kind of resonates with me, the head
being as a leader, what's your vision?
What's the big rocks that you're trying to go after in 2025?
The heart, really inspiring and empowering your people, both
your employees as well as your customers and the patients that
you're serving.
And then the hands, meaning getting after it and doing it.
So not just being up in the clouds, but actually being at
the rock face where activity is happening with customers.
Barry, thank you so much for your time.