ORLANDO, Fla. – Health technology startups raked in record-breaking levels of funding in 2021. According to Rock Health, U.S.-based digital health companies raised more than $29 billion last year. CB Insights put the global number at more than $57 billion.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the game and accelerated the pace of change in healthcare, said Alex Fair, managing partner at MedStartr Ventures.

"Terrible, terrible situation, but total change, right? There's so much more adoption of innovation in healthcare. Telemedicine was: 'When is that going to become a thing?' And now it's a thing. And now AI is," he said during a panel discussion at HIMSS22.

Panelists noted several big trends for investment, including tools for health workforce optimization, pharmacy services, aging-in-place tech and digital therapeutics.

Some areas, like remote patient monitoring, have seen explosive growth fueled by pandemic need, said Taylor Whitman, partner at Concord Health Partners.

"I think we're on the front end of a consolidation wave. It's outside of our venture world, but that's kind of the natural progression," he said.

So, will 2022 set funding records, too? Whitman thinks there may be a decline this year to 2018 or 2019 levels.

Yaniv Sadka, an investment associate at aMoon Fund, noted the public markets have been depreciating, so exits won't be as high. That could trickle down to private fundraising rounds.

"I really think it's hard to tell, and I'm not one who tries to predict the future too much in terms of numbers," Sadka said. "I think generally people outside of healthcare are hot on healthcare."

Big tech companies like Google, Amazon and Apple also have big ambitions in health tech. But will they step in to deliver care? Sadka noted that Amazon has already entered this space as it expands Amazon Care, the retail and tech giant's hybrid care service that began with its own employees. 

"The question is, for me at least, what happens on the clinical side of the house? … What does that mean in terms of clinical improvement? Is that changing patient journeys?" he said.

Whitman argued the big tech sector may do patient care through partnerships as there's a limit to what can be moved outside the hospital. There's also an opportunity in catching patients before they go to the emergency room unnecessarily. 

"I think you'll see a more collaborative effort with a customer focus," he said.