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The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference is upon us, bringing its frenetic meetings, crowded hallways, and hotel rooms so expensive that even the pharmaceutical industry complains about what a free market does to the prices of scarce goods.

This year’s iteration, starting Monday in San Francisco, finds the biotech industry, in particular, in a curious spot. After a volatile 2023 that saw biotech stocks hit five-year lows in the fall, the sector had a bull run in the final weeks of the year, spurred by some high-dollar merger agreements and a prevailing sense that the macroeconomic winds were finally shifting in biotech’s direction.

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Meanwhile, companies selling digital health services like telemedicine, health plans for virtual care, and AI tools for payers face a crucial year as they scramble to make good on profitability projections. Those companies, along with the country’s most powerful health systems, are seriously exploring AI, even ChatGPT, to help them meet financial milestones.

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