The McGuireWoods Healthcare Private Equity and Finance Conference brings together leading investors, operators and advisers to explore trends shaping the healthcare deal making landscape. With a focus on actionable insights and relationship building, the conference serves as a forum for stakeholders navigating the intersection of healthcare and private equity.
This article series tied to the 21st annual conference — held May 14-15, 2025 — spotlights key sectors and themes influencing investment strategies and operational priorities across the healthcare continuum. This installment focuses on digital health, offering a snapshot of what industry leaders are watching most closely.
Digital Health Today. The COVID-19 pandemic forced advancements in digital health that continue to affect the healthcare system, as patients became accustomed to, and still demand, delivery of care at home and other alternatives. Digital health has improved provider capabilities, including facilitating patient access through telemedicine visits and enabling frequent communication with patients and other providers through secure messaging, further enhancing the care experience for all stakeholders. In behavioral care, remote access can even create better care environments for skeptical patients. Further investment in digital health can improve the patient experience and accelerate investors’ overall return on investment.
AI in Healthcare. AI serves as a valuable support tool in healthcare, assisting with operational tasks and augmenting providers’ diagnostic capabilities. AI also has a noticeable impact in supporting documentation, billing, coding and prescribing tools. Panelists highlighted how AI tools that support administrative tasks can help address labor shortages, but cautioned that healthcare providers implementing AI tools in their workstreams need to consider regulatory compliance.
Efficiency. Digital health tools can help providers be more efficient by fostering diagnostic accuracy, decreasing paperwork and streamlining administrative burdens. Panelists emphasized that achieving providers’ commitment to using the tools is critical to the successful adoption of digital health tools. Demonstrating the digital health tool’s ability to enhance individual experiences of physicians and staff while increasing the practice’s overall efficiency is the best way to ensure providers’ support. Use of peer champions can be another tool to encourage adoption.
Personalized for the Patient Experience. Digital health tools can be designed to make healthcare more consumer- and patient-centric by “meeting consumers where they are” and delivering tailored solutions. Panelists highlighted the value healthcare providers will experience by adopting custom-built data analytic platforms and mobile apps to manage patient care. However, they cautioned that these platforms and apps should be subject to ongoing testing to ensure that the tools are providing the desired value-add and remain updated to incorporate user feedback for long-term success and viability.
Growth Opportunities. The shift toward in-home care, supported by digital health, presents a significant opportunity to improve patient outcomes and quality of life while reducing care costs. Further, digital health tools find success when they help providers connect with patients, incorporate data analytics into their practice and support administrative tasks. Digital health can also offer new innovative solutions to improve the quality of care while limiting costs. Healthcare providers might experience more growth by scaling healthcare technology to fit their operations. Panelists noted that digital health tools that are built with native data provide future growth potential compared to those that are “bolted on” to legacy systems. Investment opportunities lie in solutions that demonstrate clear operational efficiency, talent enablement and patient-centered outcomes.
In the next five years, there is likely to be a desire for more personalized care plans, better data utilization for decision-making and advancements in AI technology to automate certain day-to-day tasks, such as notetaking and prescription ordering. The democratization of software engineering is expected to drive innovation by lowering the cost of capital for new ideas. The regulatory landscape for digital health is also likely to change rapidly, and investors and operators should monitor continuously to ensure compliance. While rapid change is a challenge, it will also create numerous investment opportunities.
As the healthcare private equity space continues to evolve, investors and operators must stay agile. This year’s conference underscored digital health companies’ need to evolve by offering innovative solutions that help operations become more efficient while improving the patient experience. However, this is occurring while the regulatory landscape struggles to catch up to the industry’s advancements. McGuireWoods monitors these developments and advises clients on how best to navigate the changing landscape.
