Championing Innovation and ROI in Women's Health Care | Global Conference 2024

Recent Policy & Funding Initiatives

• The White House announced a $100 million initiative to jumpstart investment in women's health research (heart disease, Alzheimer's, menopause).
• SteelSky Ventures facilitated follow-up advocacy resulting in a request for Congress to approve $12 billion for women's health research and innovation.
• The American Heart Association (AHA) supports $500 million annually in research, exceeding the initial White House allocation.
• The AHA is partnering with the Rockefeller Foundation and Kroger on a $250 million "Food is Medicine" research initiative to validate reimbursement models for nutritional interventions.

Health Disparities & Mortality Data

• Women pay an 18% out-of-pocket premium over men for non-pregnancy related care, totaling approximately $15.4 billion extra annually.
• Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S., causing more deaths than all cancers combined.
• 70% of U.S. women over age 20 have at least one risk factor for heart disease; over 50% of women of childbearing age do not start pregnancies in optimal health.
• Maternal mortality rates for Black women in the U.S. are two to three times higher than for white women due to systemic dismissal of symptoms.
• 92% of maternal deaths in Arkansas are preventable, yet the state has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country.
• Less than 5% of participants in disease research studies (cardiovascular, cancer) are Black women, despite their higher mortality rates.
• Cervical cancer kills 3,000 U.S. women annually (one every two hours) but remains preventable; U.S. HPV vaccination rates are lower than Rwanda's.

Systemic Gaps in Care & Clinical Trials

• Women-specific treatment guidelines for heart disease were created by the AHA 20 years ago following "Go Red for Women" due to high rates of misdiagnosis (e.g., symptoms attributed to anxiety).
• 30% of U.S. counties lack a licensed obstetrician; in Arkansas, 60% of counties have zero providers licensed to deliver babies.
• Clinical trials frequently lack diverse representation; a recent major cardiovascular trial presented had fewer than 30% women and under 15% non-Caucasian women on its advisory board.
• The AHA launched "Research Goes Red," a platform leveraging 44.5 million volunteers and 2,400 hospitals (mostly non-academic) to improve trial recruitment diversity.
• 30% of women presenting with MI (heart attack) have unobstructed coronary arteries (MINOCA), a condition traditionally overlooked in women's diagnostics.

Technological & Investment Innovations

• Maven Clinic raised $300 million over 10 years to provide virtual care, employing a culturally competent model that reduced C-section rates by 60% for Black women and 30% for white women via doula support.
• SteelSky Ventures and Ingeborg Investments are actively funding the "full female experience," noting that women-managed funds manage less than 3% of LP dollars despite women controlling ~20% of GDP through health spending.
• Midland Health (menopause), Pelvic Health Solutions (pelvic floor therapy), and Flow Living (cycle-synced diet/hormones) are seeing rapid growth due to pent-up demand in overlooked market segments.
• Maven reported that 60% of women seeking HRT for menopause did not require it, while 40% did, highlighting the need for personalized, non-stereotyped treatment plans.
• Nutrition interventions in Maven's high-risk maternity programs have demonstrated a 14% reduction in per-member costs via reduced preterm births and NICU stays.

Workforce & Structural Barriers

• Provider burnout and fee-for-service models limit patient visits to roughly 9 minutes, hindering "whole person" care and trust-building.
• Only 3% of physical therapists are trained in pelvic floor therapy, a standard of care in Europe/Asia but rarely available in the U.S.
• The "pink tax" and lack of provider representation in rural/minority communities drive distrust, particularly following historical medical malpractice against communities of color.
• Medicaid reimbursement rates for midwives and doulas are often missing or too low to incentivize providers, particularly in states like Arkansas where over 50% of births are Medicaid-funded.

Future Outlook & Strategic Shifts

• Panelists agree that solving for women of color often solves systemic issues for the broader population ("fixing the hardest case fixes all").
• Personalized medicine and genomics are viewed as the future standard, potentially reducing the need for gender-based distinctions in research once diverse genetic data is integrated.
• The "Food is Medicine" paradigm requires behavioral economics approaches to ensure low-income patients actually utilize prescribed nutritional benefits (e.g., SNAP adoption).
• Investors are shifting focus to the "full lifecycle" (menstruation to menopause), driven by the economic argument that healthy women are breadwinners for two-thirds of families.
• Final Sentiment: The consensus action items are "Hope," "Persistence," "Don't accept the status quo," and "Invest in women" to unlock economic and health ROI.