Stephen has been active in the health and healthcare analytics technology space for more than 15 years. In 2002, he was part of the team leading The Advisory Board Company’s launch of the analytics division that became greater than 50 percent of the firm’s business, spanning Business Intelligence, provider work flow and Enterprise Analytics. It became one of the largest health care technology organizations, establishing a presence in most major health systems nationwide and enabling continued substantial growth in market capitalization. We met when I asked him to meet a company with me at the JPMorgan HealthCare Conference in January and I was super impressed with his perspective on the market and in particular his sense of what types of technologies Providers were really adopting — and why — vs proof of concept work. Market adoption and timing are critical (and often underappreciated) factors to success in the venture investing business, and technology adoption cycles in Healthcare can be particularly opaque.

Recently, Stephen shared his thoughts with me on the digital health space (from a Provider perspective) and the opportunities he sees at NGP.

“I’m excited about the investment approach and commitment at NGP. As an entrepreneur in residence at a VC like NGP, it’s really compelling to adopt their market perspective. I’ve been driven by healthcare transformation since first joining the Advisory Board as an analyst in the mid-90s. Across the past decade this potential has become increasingly digital.

Having focused predominantly in the Provider space, I’ve been thinking more recently about the notion of “Enabling Transformation where it (still) matters most in a Post-EMR world — between Patient and Provider.” Put differently, driving transformational innovation with health care providers will undoubtedly always link back to interactions between patient and provider.

When we asked Stephen about the recent trends and developments he has seen in digital healthcare both in general and more specifically in the US, the answer was very much in line with what we see at NGP

“The past decade has ushered in critical foundational building blocks for massive innovation in health care — Federal mandates (and funding) for Electronic Medical Records, major advances in genomic sequencing and ‘implantable technology’, public and private payer moves to shift from ‘volume’ to ‘value’, rapid adoption of ‘Wearables’, and increases in the patient financial obligation for care (beginning to reverse the current perverse economics of payment for care in our current system). And the list goes on.

While virtually every stakeholder has felt these changes in some way, the largest and most impactful innovation will be driven largely through the most important connection point, the interaction between patient and provider. As we strive for the Triple Aim of accessible, high quality, cost effective care, the holy grail remains out of reach. Of course, improvements have been felt in nearly every corner of our health care environment; however, patients continue to find themselves unaware of critical diagnostic and treatment information, at the same time providers are awash in seemingly infinite data points and potential tests. If you strip away all of the technology, the rules and the regulations, health care is still about Patients receiving Optimal Care from Providers.

From my perspective, now that most health systems have an EMR established, the most effective filter for any health care company’s potential viability and long-term success remains the impact on provider work flow AND differentiated value for the patient. Joining the digital health team at NGP gives me the opportunity to work with a group of knowledgeable and passionate investors, as well as meeting smart and motivated entrepreneurs who are on a path to improving the world for patients, care givers and healthcare systems. Over the next months, I’ll take some deep dives into a few of the many areas of the broader digital health landscape.”

Stephen has been invaluable in our Team NGP inquiries into Accountable Care and Value Based Service; diabetes management; next generation data extraction in healthcare, and precision medicine, among others. Stephen is also an accomplished triathlete who embraces cutting edge tracking technologies in his training regimens — we are rooting him on to a personal best in his next Olympic distance event! Go @shiscott!