Patients shouldering more of the burden for healthcare costs are the new payers. Payers wielding greater influence over treatment access are the new providers.

And technology startups, as they work to build deeper patient-facing relationships, are edging into the territory held by biopharma and medical device companies. The MM&M Transforming Healthcare Conference, scheduled for May 5 in New York City, will show how these stakeholders are now getting closer together as the industry strives to go beyond the pill.

Emblematic of this trend is opening keynote speaker Sridhar Iyengar. You might recognize two of the companies Iyengar co-founded, wearable fitness tech and connected-home lifestyle company Misfit Wearables (which is now owned by Fossil) and AgaMatrix, the blood glucose monitoring company that made iBGStar—the world’s first medical device connecting directly to the iPhone—and developed partnerships with Apple, Sanofi and Walgreens.

The iBGStar was on the avant garde of a new breed of medical devices designed to give patients an easier way to monitor their chronic disease and share data with their doctors. By offering a more comprehensive solution, this groundbreaking beyond-the-pill partnership showed the way to putting patients at the center of care, something with which industry continues to grapple.

At the conference Iyengar will share lessons learned from the iBGStar experience, explain how innovation applies downstream and upstream and discuss uses for technology in extending the efficacy of a pill, biologic or traditional medical device.

At last year’s inaugural MM&M Transforming Healthcare Conference, about 150 biopharma and device marketers, health-tech CEOs, agencies and health IT execs turned out to discuss ways to overcome challenges involving marketing and business innovation. The Intelligent Connections session allowed diabetes and oncology startups to meet and pitch their business models to biopharma and medical device marketers in a fast-paced, shark-tank-like session.

At the 2015 MM&M Transforming Healthcare Conference startup executives pitched their businesses to biopharma leaders in a shark-tank-style session.

This year we’re taking it to an even higher level. Expect to learn what digital technologies will drive the most value for biopharma at each stage of the product lifecycle, and how some companies built a strategy for digital success. The one-day conference will be followed by a dinner celebrating MM&M’s Top 40 Healthcare Transformers who were featured in the January 2016 issue of the magazine.

You may have noticed conference-related messaging on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Since everyone working in this industry has the power to improve healthcare, we’re building an extended community of Transformers. Join the movement by committing to a change and sharing it on your social channel of choice. Be sure to use the hashtag #MMMTransformHC.

For more information on this event, visit the conference website. Check back to see additional speakers as they’re confirmed.

Health startups interested in participating in the Intelligent Connections program, email Cara Crew. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Doreen Gates.