Phillip Dingle Managing Partner HealthEdge Investment Partners
What emerging or continuing trends are you watching in the healthcare sector? There are a few. One is the increasing application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to various aspects of healthcare, almost all of which is designed to do two things. One is to improve the quality of care by providing for better decision-making as it relates to patients. The other use is from a business perspective, which is lowering the cost to administer healthcare. Any proposition that can effectively lower that cost is great for consumers, taxpayers and our businesses. We are also keeping our eye on the unknown, which is the political environment after the election next fall, and subsequently, what decisions will be made that will directly affect the healthcare sector. What are some of the key factors you look at when deciding who to invest in? We are looking at recurring revenue and businesses that have no more than modest capital expenditure needs. We also like good management teams, but that is not necessarily essential to our thesis because we have a roster of operators and leaders who can enter the business and really drive growth, improve the company and its governance, improve sales and marketing and help to differentiate the business from its competition. What is the key to attracting more venture capital and private equity into Tampa Bay? Owners and operators need to think about private equity and venture capital less in terms of how they read about it in national magazines and more in terms of a family office opportunity. We constantly hear negative things about the mega funds and how they treat people, businesses and what their motives and mandates are. This is entirely different from the smaller, middle-market buyout funds or venture investors who really want to build businesses and are less focused on cutting costs than they are on taking a business that might be a Bbusiness and transforming it into an A+ business. 124 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2020 | HEALTHCARE
In the Tampa Bay region, 1 in 6 people suffer from depression, and 1 in 12 suffers from substance abuse disorder perhaps explains why economists say that 260,000 people from low-income households would enroll in an expanded Medicaid program if the state accepted federal funding. This is around 44% of those eligible for the expanded support. The study showed that 75% of those between 46 and 55 would participate in the Medicaid program, if expanded. In June, the St Petersburg city council voted 6-2 in favor of the Medicare for All Act of 2019, with only one person speaking against the initiative at the meeting. At a time when it is difficult to incentivize people to sign up for insurance services, companies such as Tampa-based Health Insurance Innovations are coming along with solutions to help ease the process. It’s online AgileLifeInsurance direct-to-consumer marketplace for life insurance aims to make insurance a little easier to understand. And in a conveniencedriven economy, the idea is working: the marketplace helped its parent generate $381.8 million in revenue in 2019, up 9% on 2018. Public health Health policy in 2019 revolved around a handful of key themes that are important to life in Tampa: opioids, marijuana use and mental health. In 2018, mental health providers in Florida saw an average of 703 patients per year, representing a 5.89% decrease from the previous year. One Senate bill that was passed in Florida in 2019 was Bill 1418 on mental health, which mandates that “psychiatrist(s) … disclose patient communications to the extent necessary to warn law enforcement of a threat of serious bodily injury or death made by a patient or client.” It also rules that law enforcement must inform potential victims of a threat. Florida currently ranks 33rd in access to mental health services. In the Tampa Bay area, one in six
