Innovation

What to expect at the 2020 Lake Nona Impact Forum

The Lake Nona Impact Forum convenes more than 300 thought leaders with a variety of views from business, academia, government and health care, and will kick off on Wednesday, Feb. 26, in Orlando’s Lake Nona Medical City.

One of the main goals of the event is to bring thought leaders together who are driving creative, innovative health and wellness solutions, which in turn encourages thinking about new ways to address health care issues we’re all trying to solve.

From makers of remote patient monitoring tools to creators of interactive software platforms, more than a dozen emerging health-tech innovators with solutions that focus on helping older adults age will present their ideas to investors and health industry experts during a day-long event. On Monday, Feb. 24, GuideWell will host its 2020 Aging in Place innovation showcase at its innovation center in Orlando's Lake Nona Medical City.

This unique one-day event offers entrepreneurs opportunities to present their business models, engage in one-one-one meetings with industry experts, participate in business development workshops and connect with a national network of health-technology investors.

Kirstie McCool, executive director of GuideWell Innovation, said as the population ages, it’s critical to support families and older adults as they age in their homes.

GuideWell Mutual Holding Corporation (GuideWell), the parent to a family of forward-thinking companies focused on transforming health care, has selected four finalists from across the country to participate in the Caring for Caregivers Health Innovation Challenge.

The GuideWell Health Innovation Challenge is designed to provide opportunities for companies or non-profits to develop approaches and solutions that improve the health of people and communities across our country. This year’s competition focuses on easing the burden for at-home family caregivers.

People make decisions about the same information in different ways, depending on how the information is presented. Consider yogurt. You likely chose the one labeled “80% fat free” over the one labeled “contains 20% fat,” although they have the same meaning. Here’s another common preference—we’re more likely to make choices with immediate benefits over those that will pay off in the future.

Last year, we partnered with Professor George Loewenstein, co-director for Behavioral Decision Research at Carnegie Mellon University, to apply behavioral science techniques at GuideWell

As we close out 2019, we reflect not only on our successes this year but also on what GuideWell has accomplished in its first five years as a health solutions company.

When GuideWell entered the market in 2014, we employed approximately 6, 500 people and operated in a handful of states.

Today, GuideWell is made up of more than 13, 000 employees and serves 27 million people across 35 states, plus Washington D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Over the past five years, GuideWell has demonstrated the ability to innovate, collaborate, diversify and respond in the face of unprecedented health care industry transformation while staying true to our mission of helping people and communities achieve better health.

Wearing a headset and using a joystick, Cynthia Schroeder appears to be playing a video game, but what the retired, stay-at-home mom is really doing is taking part in a Virtual Reality (VR) program designed to help her with stress and anxiety.

In the past, she says she’s talked with her physician about treatment but was hesitant to try medication.

“I just exercise now and try to do things natural,” Schroeder said.

But natural methods aren’t always enough to keep Schroeder’s stress at bay. That’s why she was ecstatic to be one of about two dozen invited to take part in a VR pilot through Florida Blue, GuideWell’s health insurance subsidiary.

GuideWell has announced its 2020 scale-up accelerator program, which is focused on solutions that help older adults age in place. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines aging in place as the ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level.

The GuideWell Scale-up Accelerator: Aging in Place is a two-month health technology accelerator program that consists of a two-day kickoff boot camp, weekly mentoring sessions, a virtual workshop curriculum and an investor matchmaking summit to take place on March 9, 2020, at the GuideWell Innovation Center in Orlando’s Lake Nona Medical City.

A Jacksonville farmer and entrepreneur who is turning brownfields in food-desert communities into farms where produce is grown and sold in street-side markets earned first place and a $20K grand prize in the GuideWell Block by Block Food Insecurity Challenge, a statewide competition focused on addressing food insecurity in Florida.

Foodery Farms CEO Angela TenBroeck is a fourth-generation farmer who is passionate about addressing food insecurity, an issue impacting 2.8 million people in Florida alone. TenBroeck says her street-side markets are strategically designed and built in neighborhoods where food is traditionally not grown. Her hope is to expand her markets and environmentally-controlled facilities by adding street-side vending machines stocked with aquaponically-grown produce so consumers can have the ability to purchase fresh produce 24/7.

Twelve Florida organizations dedicated to fighting food insecurity will face off in the GuideWell Block by Block Food Insecurity Challenge state finals on Wed., Oct. 16 at the GuideWell Innovation Center in Lake Nona for an opportunity to win a grand prize of $20,000 in funding to further their efforts to address food insecurity in their respective community. The 12 finalists were selected after pitching their solutions to a panel of judges at one of four regional pitch events held throughout the state in mid-September.

GuideWell issued the statewide challenge to entrepreneurs, nonprofits, innovators and organizations to seek innovative ideas for reducing or eliminating food insecurity – an issue impacting 2.8 million people in Florida alone.

GuideWell Mutual Holding Corporation (GuideWell), the parent to a family of forward-thinking companies focused on transforming health care, is pleased to announce it has received a top honor from the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) as a recipient of the NACD NXTTM award, which recognizes exemplary board leadership practices that promote greater diversity and inclusion.

“Receiving this top honor reaffirms our dedication to diversity, which not only reflects our desire to create and maintain an inclusive environment for team members, but is also seen throughout our business practices, community outreach efforts and in the many lives we touch on a daily basis,” said GuideWell Board Chair John Ramil.