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Jon Hill and Jonathan Kiss from TripleTree’s healthcare services team recently attended the Autism Investor Summit in West Hollywood, California. This annual conference “provides a unique opportunity for autism service providers, investors and key stakeholders to meet in a private setting to discuss the autism services landscape, opportunities for investment and to discuss and learn about best practices and innovation in all areas of autism service.” Following their time at the summit, Jon and Jonathan reflected on their observations after spending time with attendees.
Q: What are some of your biggest take-aways from this year’s Autism Investor Summit?
A: TripleTree has been fortunate enough to attend and sponsor the summit for several years now, and each year we’re impressed with the market focus and interest in ABA, the innovation underway, and the continued opportunity to deliver positive outcomes for patients. This year was no exception, and we were excited to see a growing number of new vendor partners and technology solutions in attendance – companies focused on improving how ABA is delivered and increasing efficiency for both providers and patients. For example, we learned about new technology solutions that leverage virtual care (e.g., virtual reality, telehealth, etc.) to help offset clinician shortages in addition to AI and chat box solutions to accelerate and improve the effectiveness of clinician recruiting.
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Q: Measuring outcomes is always an important topic when it comes to healthcare services. What did you hear at the Autism Investor Summit about this topic?
A: This year’s summit affirmed a trend we have been observing in the market: there is a rallying cry to create a more uniform approach to measurement and outcomes for ABA solutions. As the autism industry has continued to gain traction, in large part due to the growth of more local solutions, the broader payer and provider community has been hungry to understand which solutions are driving real outcomes – and, as a result, which companies should be rewarded with the right level of reimbursement. This topic was top-of-mind at this year’s summit and surfaced in many of our conversations with investors and company leaders.
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Q: Each time TripleTree attends an industry gathering we always reflect on what’s next for that sector in healthcare. What did you hear about priorities and opportunities for autism companies and ABA?
A: While we have already mentioned the growing ecosystem of outsourced services and the movement towards more standardized outcomes measurement, they are both worth repeating. Additionally, this is a growing part of healthcare with tremendous opportunity. The demand is infinite, and the supply/demand imbalance experienced in other parts of healthcare is also real for companies focused on autism. The fact that the industry is still ‘storming and norming’ is also important – as the blend of innovative new companies, larger organizations delivering outcomes at greater scale, and the tailwinds driving more standardization and demand create the backdrop for continued momentum, growth, and opportunity for companies, investors, and patients.
