Forbes Under 30 Summit Brings Bold Health Care Ideas
Amy Barczy
| 3 min read
Amy Barczy is a former brand journalist who authored content at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Prior to her time at Blue Cross from 2019-2024, she was a statewide news reporter for MLive.com. She has a decade of storytelling experience in local news media markets including Lansing, Grand Rapids, Holland, Ann Arbor and Port Huron.
As thousands of millennial entrepreneurs flooded Detroit to attend the Forbes Under 30 Summit, they brought with them big, bold ideas. Those ideas sounded almost impossible, like regenerating limbs, genetically altering mosquitos to prevent the spread of disease and predicting heart failure using artificial intelligence. But for the entrepreneurs highlighted at the Under 30 Summit, those bold ideas aren’t that unreachable - especially when put into the context of a company like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, which is celebrating its 80th year in business this year and was a sponsor of the Under 30 Summit. “It’s never a better time than the Under 30 Summit to discuss an 80-year-old. This 80-year-old has over half a million social media followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. This 80-year old is an avid Alexa user and also uses AI technology to have virtual chats with people all day long – thousands of people,” said Jason Machasic, director of marketing strategy for Blue Cross, during the opening remarks of the science and healthcare track at the summit Oct. 28. “And that very experienced 80-year-old is Blue Cross.” Whether it’s a start-up company or an institution like Blue Cross, the ability to transform and adapt is inspiring. In some cases, millennial entrepreneurs and 80-year-old Blue Cross are working to fix the same problems. At the Under 30 Summit, Kuldeep Singh Rajput, CEO and founder of Biofourmis, presented the company’s signature product: a smartphone app that helps patients recovering from congestive heart failure to stay on track with their recovery. Their goal is to prevent patients from going back to the hospital after their treatment, in order to improve the value of the care patients receive in the first place. One in four congestive heart failure patients come back to the hospital after treatment, contributing to redundant spending in the health care industry. Rajput presented a solution in his app, Biovitals HF, which includes a 12-week program for recovering congestive heart failure patients that combines data from wearable sensors and a smart phone app. That data is fed to an AI database, which is able to digitally monitor a patient’s health and highlights any problems as they arise. Treatment options are suggested as a result. The goal is to ensure patients receive the right dose of their medication at the right time to make existing treatments more effective. This technological solution works towards the mission of putting value at the forefront of health care instead of volume. Value-based health care is the future of the industry, and Blue Cross is committed to moving away from the traditional fee-for-service model. “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan recognizes the need for constant innovation, which is why it has a stake in Blue Cross Venture Partners, a venture capital fund, which has dedicated nearly $600 million to entrepreneurs and startups to improve health care,” Machasic said. Tapping into talent and innovation of young professionals to disrupt traditional approaches in industries is one of the goals of the Forbes Under 30 Summit. The three-day-long conference, presented by Rocket Mortgage, was held in Detroit for the first time ever this year. Forbes has committed to bring the summit back to Detroit for the next two years. Detroit’s renaissance and the emergence of Southeast Michigan as a tech hub, will continue to catch the attention of leaders, businesses and prospective workers as a result. If you enjoyed this story, you may also like:
- TEDxDetroit to Highlight Sickle Cell Researcher's Innovative Use of Fitbits
- TEDxDetroit to Feature Humanitarian With Surgical Strategy to Lift Women Out of Poverty
- Detroit Welcomes Millennials from Around the World for Detroit Under 30 Summit
Photo credit: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
