7 Healthcare Innovation Strategies from Rev Up 2019

Last week Revel hosted our first-ever healthcare innovation conference at the Hewing Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We brought together a diverse group of speakers and forward-thinking healthcare leaders from across the country to talk about the most important topics in healthcare. To sum it up: it rocked.

The keynotes and panels were rich with new ways of thinking and thought-provoking insights. As the day went on, a common thread began to emerge, highlighting the path to the future of healthcare. From all of the incredible conversations, we pulled out 7 healthcare innovation strategies that packed the biggest punch.

1—Digital transformation starts and ends with humans.

Rev Up 2019 started with a bang. Nancy Lyons, CEO and Founder of Clockwork Interactive brought energy, humor, and a fresh perspective to her talk Healthcare Digital Transformation Isn’t Digital After All.

Almost therapeutic in nature, Nancy’s talk focused on the role of people in digital transformation and that it’s not technology that drives us forward, it’s the people behind it that make it all happen. She spoke about leadership, human-centered design, and the power of our mindsets as it relates to change. She was a hit and got the day off to a fantastic start.

2—Just because healthcare consumers may look the same on paper doesn’t mean they are. Let’s recognize that.

Faith Adams, Senior Analyst with Forrester followed with a perfect complement to Nancy’s talk called Moving Healthcare CX From Engagement to Action. She spoke at length about the customer experience, giving incredible insight into the important role of treating all people as individuals.

Faith gave relatable examples, the most eye-opening being a comparison between Ozzy Osbourne and Prince Charles. While the two may look identical on paper (trust me, it’s true!) you can bet they want to be communicated with in completely different ways—driving home the need to take CX a step further.

3—Personalization is key to driving real, meaningful action.

The morning panel, How Next Generation Engagement Gets Personal to Drive Health Action brought together a group of incredible industry leaders with diverse perspectives all with a common message: personalization is king—and key to driving health action. Bruce Thompson, Senior Vice President, Medicare and Retirement Claims Services and Solutions, UnitedHealthcare, Dr. Archelle Georgiou, and Sara Ratner each spoke about the importance of understanding members as individuals.

True personalization is so much more than using someone’s first name—it’s understanding what matters to people, what their life is like, and how they like to receive information in order to communicate in a way that resonates.

4—Defaults drive behavior and ultimately, shape health.

Kelly Brownell, Director of the World Food Policy Center at Duke University led the afternoon charge with his keynote The Global Impact of Behavior Change and Health Action. Kelly talked about defaults and the importance of implementing healthy defaults to prevent obesity and drive healthy behaviors.

Kelly’s most memorable example was an interactive game with the audience to show us that we can identify cartoon cereal mascots in a split second, but we don’t recognize important world figures that are making the world a healthier place. He also used this opportunity to poke fun at Revel CEO Jeff Fritz, including him in the game demonstrating that he’s less recognizable than Cap’n Crunch, resulting in big laughs from the audience.

5—Technology and whole, complete data can have more of a humanizing effect than actual humans.

Rev Up’s afternoon panel featured an empowering group of female leaders talking about How Data Science Actually Humanizes Health Engagement. Dawn Owens, Lisiane Pruinelli, and Sarah Jenson had a lively conversation that tied to the personalization theme of the morning panel, but with a twist of data science.

This group spoke about how we can leverage data not just for reporting, but to dive deeper into an individual’s preferences or health history, effectively allowing us to understand them better and engage them on a more human level.

6—Social determinants of health cannot—and will not—be ignored.

The final speaker of the day needed no introduction—his passion and expertise is well-known in the industry and this talk was no exception. John Gorman’s New Policies and Trends in Social Determinants of Health got right to the heart of SDoH and the incredible opportunity the industry has to make a difference in the lives of those most affected by social determinants.

This talk was rich with facts and insights, as well as actionable next steps for the industry to take, leaving the room feeling motivated as we wrapped up the day.

7—Innovation isn’t about what you know, it’s about what you don’t—and what you’re willing to learn.

Aside from engaging keynotes and panels, Rev Up 2019 featured an Innovation Lab, where Revel’s health action experts offered attendees a creative look into how we create meaningful member experiences. Featuring three booths—data science, behavioral research, and product demos—the Innovation Lab was the place for attendees to pull back the curtain to see the brilliant minds behind the Revel product. We wanted to show that innovation isn’t just deciding to do something different—it’s about the passion to do better, push further, and learn more—all for better health.

We had an incredible time at Rev Up 2019! Get a feel for all the fun and watch our recap video below. We can’t wait to see what 2020 brings.

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