HLTH Matters: Recent Episodes

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On today’s episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Guillaume de Zwirek, CEO & Co-Founder of Artera. Artera is pioneering a new category in healthcare AI by pairing its agentic platform with dedicated AI Service Squads that build custom solutions directly alongside healthcare providers, solving urgent workflows from day one. With over a decade of experience, 2 billion annual patient interactions, and 1,000+ healthcare organizations served, Artera is proving that the future of healthcare AI isn't just about the technology. It's about having the right builders working directly with providers to strengthen how they communicate and care for patients.

Healthcare organizations are under pressure to improve patient experience while reducing administrative burden and staffing challenges. In this episode of The Beat AI Series, Sandy Vance sits down with Guillaume de Zwirek, CEO and Co-Founder of Artera, to discuss how agentic AI is transforming patient engagement across the healthcare journey.

From scheduling appointments and managing referrals to automating complex patient communications, Guillaume explains why AI is about far more than chatbots. He shares how Artera has evolved over the past decade, why healthcare organizations need a security-first approach to AI, and how intelligent automation is helping providers deliver better patient experiences while improving operational efficiency.

Whether you're a healthcare executive, CIO, digital health leader, or AI innovator, this episode offers practical insights into what it really takes to deploy AI successfully in healthcare.

In this episode, they talk about:* Why patient experience remains one of healthcare's biggest unsolved problems * How agentic AI is changing patient communication beyond simple chatbots * Why healthcare organizations must rethink their entire operating model for AI * The importance of security-first AI in highly regulated industries * How Artera automates scheduling, referrals, billing, and patient engagement * Why AI should augment human expertise instead of replacing it * The role of foundation models in healthcare AI * How customization at scale is becoming possible with AI * Why healthcare leaders should focus on solving domain-specific problems rather than building their own large language models * What separates true AI-native companies from organizations simply adding AI features * How intelligent automation improves both patient satisfaction and operational efficiency

A Little About Guillaume:Guillaume de Zwirek, CEO and co-founder of Artera, is at the forefront of the AI-first revolution in healthcare communications. With a decade of expertise and two billion annual patient communications, Artera is the proven leader in agentic healthcare.

Artera bridges the gap between human staff and AI Agents to fix patient communications across channels – text, phone, and web. The platform is designed to unify the entire patient journey, with the power to streamline everything from initial scheduling to post-visit billing. Trusted by over 1,000 healthcare organizations and federal agencies, Artera drives staff efficiency and improves provider outcomes, ensuring patients get the care they need with simplicity and speed.

Prior to founding Artera in 2015, Guillaume worked at Google and Graphiq.com (acquired by Amazon). He is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Classical Guitar Performance and a B.S. in Business Administration. A six-time Ironman athlete, Guillaume applies the same discipline and dedication to building a future where healthcare communication is intuitive, efficient, and AI-driven.

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Healthcare organizations have more data than ever before, but turning that data into actionable insights remains one of the industry's biggest challenges. In this episode of The Beat AI in Healthcare Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Nabil Jallouli, CEO and co-founder of Rollstack, to discuss how AI-powered reporting is helping healthcare organizations simplify value-based care reporting, improve decision-making, and scale personalized reporting without overwhelming their teams.

Nabil shares why dashboards alone are no longer enough, why executives need trusted narratives instead of raw data, and how healthcare organizations can automate reporting while maintaining governance, security, and accuracy. Whether you work in healthcare leadership, data analytics, customer success, value-based care, or digital transformation, this conversation offers practical insights into using AI responsibly to improve reporting and business outcomes.

In this episode, they talk about:

• Why value-based care requires an entirely different approach to healthcare reporting
• The hidden "last mile" problem between business intelligence dashboards and executive decision-making
• Why healthcare organizations struggle with manual reporting despite major investments in analytics platforms
• How AI can automate repetitive reporting while keeping humans focused on strategy and relationships
• The importance of governance and trusted data in healthcare AI
• Why executives rarely spend more than a few seconds reviewing dashboards
• How personalized reporting improves payer, provider, and customer relationships
• The role of automation in scaling reporting across hundreds of healthcare partners
• Measuring ROI from AI reporting solutions and why reporting automation often delivers significant business value
• Why healthy skepticism around AI is actually helping healthcare adopt better long-term solutions
• How Rollstack protects sensitive healthcare data with enterprise-grade security and zero data retention policies
• What healthcare leaders should prioritize as AI adoption continues to accelerate

A Little About Nabil:Nabil Jallouli is the co-founder and CEO of Rollstack, an enterprise platform helping companies like SoFi, Zillow, and Whirlpool automate their data-driven presentations and documents. Rollstack leverages deep integrations with leading business intelligence tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker, and others) and AI to streamline reporting processes, including business reviews, EHR and HCP reporting, financial reporting, and client presentations. By eliminating manual copy-paste, reducing errors, and ensuring accuracy, Rollstack enables organizations to operate more efficiently and focus on decision-making rather than document preparation. The company is backed by Y Combinator and Insight Partners and is fully SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliant, meeting the highest standards of security and data protection for enterprise and healthcare customers.

Before founding Rollstack, Nabil built his career leading data analytics and revenue strategy teams at Pinterest, Deel, and Groupon. Across these experiences, he observed a common problem: highly skilled professionals spending countless hours preparing slides and reports instead of focusing on high-value work and strategy. This recurring pain point ultimately inspired the creation of Rollstack.

Nabil holds a Master of Engineering and dual Bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science from École Centrale Paris.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Timothy Bennett, the Director of Strategic Healthcare Initiatives at Drummond Group, LLC, for his second appearance on the show. With nearly 20 years at Drummond and deep roots in ONC certification testing dating back to 2010, Tim brings a rare long-view perspective to one of the most important questions facing healthcare interoperability today: how do you actually test whether FHIR works at scale in the real world, not just in a proof-of-concept connectathon? This episode introduces FHIRplace, Drummond's new community-driven testing ecosystem, and digs into why business process rules, not just technical standards, are the real challenge standing between FHIR's promise and its production reality.

In this episode, they talk about:* FHIRplace brings together providers, payers, technology vendors, and intermediaries to test FHIR implementations at real-world scale * Testing conformance to a standard is not the same as proving true interoperability between systems * Business process rules, like what documentation a health plan requires for prior authorization, sit outside the technical standards but are critical to real-world success * Intermediaries are central to FHIRplace's testing model because point-to-point FHIR exchange is not feasible across millions of providers and thousands of health plans * FHIRplace captures raw transaction data flowing through intermediaries to evaluate real-world interoperability issues, not just lab conditions * HIPAA currently requires X12 for prior authorization, meaning a full replacement by FHIR will take years and likely result in a long-term hybrid approach * FHIRplace plans to integrate with conformance tools like Inferno so members can get interoperability testing and standards validation in one place * Drummond intends FHIRplace to be a 20-year testing ecosystem, not a short-term solution built around a single regulatory deadline

A Little About Timothy:Timothy Bennett serves as Drummond’s Director of Strategic Healthcare Initiatives and leads the development of new testing and certification programs to benefit the national healthcare interoperability strategy. As the former director of the firm’s ONC Accredited Test Lab (ATL), he has been involved in testing electronic health records (EHR) systems since the ONC program's inception in September 2010 and has additionally served as the test lab’s lead technical adviser. Prior to healthcare compliance testing, Timothy facilitated numerous interoperability test programs, specifically the design of secure and private exchange of documents and information using internet and security standards. With a degree in nuclear engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, he has been instrumental in developing, architecting, and testing software systems for more than 30 years.

Timothy is a governing board member of Shift, a task force of industry stakeholders working through the barriers of equitable interoperability by addressing the obstacles of privatized patient health data exchange. He is actively developing testing and certification protocols for the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard in order to provide the market with comprehensive FHIR certification across the healthcare ecosystem.

He also actively collaborates with industry leaders in the areas of testing and certifying healthcare compliance of pediatrics, patient safety and usability, FHIR and public health. Finally, Timothy was the principal author of the OASIS AS4 standard, a profile of the ebXML Messaging Services v3.0 specification for secure and private exchange of data using web services.

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In this episode of the AI at ViVE series on The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Rachel Chen, Senior Director of Engineering at Plaud, to discuss how Plaud’s wearable AI note-taking technology helps clinicians reduce documentation burden and stay focused on patient conversations. Rachel also shares how Plaud is scaling its voice intelligence platform for professional and enterprise use cases, including healthcare.

From a real-world story about an orthopedic surgeon bridging communication gaps with patients and families to Plaud’s approach to privacy, security, and workflow integration, this episode offers a grounded look at what responsible AI documentation support can look like in clinical settings.

In this episode, they talk about:

· Clinicians can spend around two hours a day on documentation, adding up to nearly 500 hours a year
· How Plaud’s wearable AI note-taking devices help professionals capture conversations and turn them into structured, actionable information
· How NotePin S supports mobile, in-person, hands-free professional settings
· Plaud features such as medical vocabulary support, speaker differentiation, and SOAP note templates
· Plaud’s approach to privacy and security, including encryption, user control, and a zero-training policy for user data
· How Plaud positions itself as a platform and workflow partner, not just another documentation tool
· A healthcare user story about an orthopedic surgeon using Plaud to help bridge communication gaps with patients and families
· Plaud’s vision to become a trusted AI work companion for 50 million professionals worldwide by 2030
· Why permission, transparency, and intentional data handling are essential when capturing sensitive professional conversations

A Little About Rachel:
Rachel Chen is a technology leader with extensive experience building and scaling consumer and enterprise platforms across fintech, health tech, and e-commerce. She has held engineering leadership roles at GEICO, Ōura, Amazon, and Prudential, and began her career at Yahoo. At Plaud, Rachel leads engineering initiatives to deliver enterprise-ready, AI-powered products, including collaboration tools, device management, and scalable platform services. She is passionate about building strong engineering cultures grounded in ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Brad Schoffstall, Vice President of Health and Compliance Programs at CGI, and Dr. James Peake, Senior Vice President and former Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Army Surgeon General. They have a wide-ranging and practical conversation about what it actually takes to modernize data infrastructure at federal health agencies. With Brad's 35 years at CGI and Dr. Peake's 16 years, this is a conversation grounded in hard-won experience rather than theory. Today’s conversation is a refreshingly honest and deeply practical perspective for anyone working at the intersection of government, healthcare, and AI.

In this episode, they talk about:* Federal health agencies are running some of the largest healthcare operations in the world, with the VA equivalent in size to a Fortune 5 company * Data silos created by contract-by-contract procurement are the primary barrier to AI-ready infrastructure at federal agencies * Federated data platforms allow data to stay in its own repositories while being discoverable, mappable, and usable across the organization * Policy is often the biggest obstacle to data sharing, and changing it requires executive-level support and shared governance * Technology is the third most important factor in transformation; policy and business understanding come first and second * CGI improved NHS Spine performance tenfold while reducing infrastructure to a tenth of its original size, saving a million euros in annual expenses * Improper payments across federal health programs run into billions of dollars annually and represent one of the highest-impact areas for AI-driven improvement * AI for AI's sake is not the answer; start with the business problem and work backward to the data strategy * Start small with two or three systems, demonstrate value, and build from there rather than attempting a massive all-at-once implementation

A Little About Brad and James:Brad Schoffstall has wide-ranging experience, deep knowledge, and skills in information technology. He has led multiple digital transformation efforts. He has 37 years of experience with a diverse set of architectures, operating systems, languages, and technologies. His experience includes enterprise architecture, cloud migration, and hands-on development. He also has significant experience in business development and project management. He has implemented large, complex systems on platforms ranging from mainframes to Microservices. He has successfully performed many solution architecture and SDLC engagements that include characteristics like high-volume processing, DevOps, and automation. He demonstrates expertise in multiple service-based secure architectures utilizing multiple application and enterprise solution sets, e.g., Data Driven, Microservices, Cloud, etc.

Dr. James Peake is an American politician and former lieutenant general who served as the sixth Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 2007 to 2009. In 2004, he retired from a 38-year United States Army career, having served as the 40th Surgeon General of the United States Army. After retiring from the Army, Peake served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Project Hope,[4][5] a non-profit international health foundation operating in more than 30 countries. While at Project HOPE, he helped to orchestrate the use of civilian volunteers aboard the Navy Hospital Ship Mercy as it responded to the tsunami disaster in Indonesia and also as part of the Hurricane Katrina response aboard the Hospital Ship Comfort. Just before he was nominated Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Peake served as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Executive Officer for QTC, one of the largest private providers of government-outsourced occupational health and disability examination services in the nation.

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For years, healthcare organizations focused on securing digital channels while treating phone calls as a trusted service channel. That assumption no longer holds true.

In this episode, Sandy sits with Jason Barr, the Vice President of Strategic Sales for Healthcare at Pindrop, who explains how AI-powered voice cloning, deepfakes, and synthetic identities are transforming the cybersecurity landscape. Jason shares how healthcare organizations can defend against AI-driven fraud, verify identity in real time, and protect patients, providers, and employees in a world where even a familiar voice may not be what it seems.

In this episode, they talk about:* AI has transformed the phone from a trusted service channel into a rapidly growing cybersecurity threat vector for healthcare organizations. * Cybercriminals can now use AI-powered tools to launch thousands of voice-based attacks per day, dramatically increasing the scale and efficiency of fraud attempts. * Many attackers use voice channels not for immediate theft, but for reconnaissance, collecting sensitive information that can later be used to target providers, payers, and patients. * Traditional identity verification methods such as knowledge-based questions and one-time passcodes are becoming increasingly vulnerable to modern fraud tactics. * Continuous identity verification is emerging as a new security model that validates users throughout an interaction rather than only at the point of authentication. * Pindrop analyzes thousands of signals during voice interactions to determine whether a caller is who they claim to be, whether they pose a risk, and whether they are even human. * Healthcare organizations are facing a growing challenge in distinguishing between legitimate automation and malicious AI-powered bots. * Deepfake technology is now sophisticated enough to mimic both voices and video, creating new risks across hiring, workforce management, and patient-facing operations. * Help desks and support centers remain attractive targets because attackers often use social engineering tactics to pressure employees into resetting credentials. * Voice-based security solutions can reduce fraud while simultaneously improving operational efficiency and the customer experience. * One healthcare organization achieved a 90% reduction in fraud after implementing voice authentication and risk detection technology. * Healthcare leaders must begin evaluating voice security as part of their broader cybersecurity strategy, as AI-enabled attacks continue to grow at an unprecedented pace.

A Little About Jason:As a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army Officer, Jason brings the operational rigor, discipline, and leadership foundation of combat-tested command into the boardroom and the GTM arena. He thrives where GTM transformation is mission-critical: aligning strategy to investor outcomes, building high-performing teams, and delivering predictable growth.

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In this episode of the AI at ViVE series on The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance welcomes back Peter Horadan, CEO of Vouched, for a fascinating and forward-looking conversation about one of the most consequential shifts happening in digital identity right now. Digital driver's licenses are no longer a curiosity at TSA checkpoints. They are becoming a global standard, and healthcare is one of the industries that stands to benefit most.

From eliminating duplicate patient records to defending against deepfake fraud to solving the emerging challenge of AI agent identity verification, Peter lays out a clear and compelling vision for what healthcare identity infrastructure needs to look like in the very near future. If you work in telehealth, healthcare IT, compliance, or patient access, this episode will make you think very differently about something most organizations have never considered a strategic priority.

It is believed that about 7% of people in the United States have a digital driver's license today, with estimates reaching 30% adoption by the end of this year and 50% by the end of 2027. If you aren’t having conversations for this shift, learn why it matters and how to incorporate it into your patient intake.

In this episode, they talk about:* Seven US states are currently issuing digital driver's licenses, and over 30 have * announced plans to do so * California has already issued over two million digital driver's licenses, and the EU mandates adoption across all 27 member nations by the end of this year * Digital IDs live in a secure chip on your phone, cannot be copied or forged, and require a live biometric to use * Between 5 and 15% of electronic health records either have duplicate records for the same patient or multiple patients sharing one record, and strong identity verification at intake is the fix * Vouched dramatically reduces patient drop-off rates at the identity verification step, as evidenced by MyStart Health's 40% net business impact * Digital IDs actually enhance privacy because they allow users to share only the specific attributes needed, like confirming age without revealing anything else * AI agents are already showing up in healthcare workflows, and healthcare organizations need to think now about how to verify that an agent is trustworthy, authorized by a real patient, and actually who it claims to be * Vouched released the MCP-I specification a year ago as an open standard for AI agent identity verification, now adopted by the Decentralized Identity Foundation and expanded under the name KYA-OS * By the end of 2026, Vouched predicts 40 to 50% of US adults will have a digital driver's license

A Little About Peter:Peter Horadan is the CEO of Vouched, the AI identity verification platform that’s transforming how leading Healthcare and Financial Services companies onboard and verify people—instantly and securely. Throughout his career, Peter has led the charge in replacing slow, manual workflows with scalable, automated systems that unlock efficiency, reduce costs, and create measurable impact. From digitizing expense reporting at Concur to streamlining sales tax compliance at Avalara, Peter has helped modernize core business processes across industries. His leadership reflects a deep understanding of how automation can drive growth, compliance, and customer experience at scale. Peter has also held leadership positions at Alavara, Scout Analytics, Microsoft, Corillian, and BEA Systems.

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Workforce security in healthcare is no longer just about compliance—it’s about creating a seamless, secure digital experience for employees and patients.

In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Chandramouli Dorai, Chief Evangelist - Cybersecurity Solutions and Digital Signatures at Zoho.com. Today, they will explore how password management, secure browsers, multi-factor authentication (MFA), identity and access management (IAM), and identity verification in document signing all come together to build a zero-trust, future-ready healthcare workforce.

Healthcare organizations are under constant pressure to strengthen cybersecurity without slowing down clinicians and staff.

In this episode, they talk about:* Healthcare organizations face a constant challenge in balancing strong cybersecurity protections with the need for convenience and productivity. * Weak and reused passwords remain one of the most common vulnerabilities across organizations, despite years of awareness efforts. * The 2024 Change Healthcare cyberattack demonstrated how a single account without multi-factor authentication can lead to massive data breaches and operational disruption. * Employees often disable or avoid MFA because they perceive it as adding friction to their daily workflows. * Modern authentication strategies must tightly integrate password management, single sign-on, and MFA to reduce friction while improving security. * Passwordless authentication methods such as passkeys, Face ID, and Touch ID are helping organizations improve both security and user experience. * Organizations adopting passwordless authentication are seeing measurable reductions in login time and increased user adoption. * Identity and access management platforms can enforce role-based and time-based access controls to reduce unnecessary exposure to sensitive systems. * AI-powered behavioral analytics can detect suspicious login activity and help organizations respond more quickly to threats. * Secure onboarding and offboarding processes are critical for protecting healthcare data and preventing unauthorized access. * Many healthcare organizations still operate in complex legacy environments, making interoperability and integration essential for workforce security solutions. * CIOs should approach AI adoption strategically by first understanding their current environment, educating users, and implementing changes in phases.

A Little About Mouli:Chandramouli Dorai (Mouli) is the chief evangelist for cybersecurity solutions and digital signatures at Zoho Corporation. Mouli brings over 12 years of experience leading marketing and product strategy at Zoho. He carries an active interest in topics like workforce productivity, security, trust, and compliance, often sharing his thoughts and expertise on social media platforms like X and LinkedIn.

“The greatest example is the 2024 Change Healthcare breach, which happened because of one compromised account.

That one account lacked multi-factor authentication, which was a loose end, and the attacker was able to get into the network and get away with millions of confidential records.

The major problem is the trade-off between security and convenience.”

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Cybersecurity in healthcare isn’t just about keeping attackers out anymore. It’s about what happens after they get in. In this episode, Chris Boehm, Field CTO of Zero Networks, breaks down how organizations can move toward “Zero Trust” without disrupting clinical operations. From legacy systems and third-party access to the growing risks of AI, Chris shares how visibility, identity-based segmentation, and smarter automation are helping healthcare organizations stay secure while keeping care moving.

As healthcare organizations struggle to secure complex environments and protect sensitive patient data, it’s time to prioritize resilience over reactive strategies. Learn how healthcare teams can proactively reduce attack surfaces and build self-defending networks that keep critical operations running – even during active cyber incidents.

In this episode, they talk about:* Traditional perimeter-based security is no longer enough to protect healthcare organizations from modern cyber threats. * The industry is shifting from a focus on preventing breaches to a focus on containing them once they occur. * “Zero Trust” in practice means continuously verifying identity and controlling access rather than assuming anyone inside the network is safe. * Identity-based segmentation plays a critical role in reducing risk without disrupting day-to-day workflows. * Healthcare organizations face a unique challenge in balancing strong security measures with the need to maintain seamless clinical operations. * Most organizations achieve partial network segmentation, which leaves gaps that attackers can exploit. * Solutions like those from Zero Networks enable full segmentation while still allowing normal business and clinical activities to continue. * AI tools introduce new risks by potentially accessing more data than intended, especially without proper oversight. * A lack of visibility into network activity remains one of the biggest gaps in modern cybersecurity strategies. * Organizations must begin preparing now for upcoming regulatory changes, including evolving HIPAA requirements. * Real-world challenges such as workforce turnover and limited IT resources make implementing and maintaining security even more complex.

A Little About Chris:Chris is the Field Chief Technology Officer at Zero Networks, leading security strategy and revenue alignment globally. He drives enterprise growth by connecting customer realities to product, go-to-market, and executive decision-making across complex, high-value enterprise pursuits.

Specialize in Zero Trust architecture, identity-based microsegmentation, and lateral movement prevention—helping organizations reduce risk while enabling scale and operational resilience.

He’s also held leadership roles at SentinelOne during its post-IPO growth to ~$800M ARR and at Microsoft, contributing to the early adoption and enterprise scaling of security platforms such as Azure Sentinel. Not to mention, Chris has advised CISOs and executive teams on security strategy, risk, and transformation—translating complex challenges into measurable business outcomes.

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AI may be the hottest topic in healthcare, but most organizations still aren’t ready to use it at scale. In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with the CEO of Hart, Dominique Gross. Together, they break down the real barriers holding healthcare back: from fragmented data and legacy EHR systems to inconsistent standards and limited access. Dominique shares how building a semantic data layer is helping organizations unlock their data, scale innovation safely, and move from pilot projects to real enterprise impact.

In this episode, they talk about:* Many healthcare organizations are eager to adopt AI, but they struggle to scale beyond pilot programs due to foundational data challenges. * The most immediate barrier to innovation is simply gaining access to all relevant data across fragmented and legacy systems. * Data quality is just as critical as access, as organizations must normalize and clean their data before it can be used effectively. * Legacy electronic health records often contain valuable historical data, even if organizations are hesitant to use it due to inconsistencies. * Patients ultimately benefit when their full medical history is accessible, rather than only recent encounters. * HART has developed a semantic data layer that acts as a “translation system” across different EHRs, enabling consistent data use. * This approach allows organizations to aggregate, migrate, and stream data more efficiently across dozens of systems. * One health system successfully scaled from connecting a small number of affiliates to centralizing more than 60 data sources over time. * The same organization was able to complete a major EHR migration in under 12 weeks by extracting, normalizing, and preparing data for a new system. * Proprietary data models within EHR systems create significant barriers to interoperability and data portability. * Despite increasing regulation and improved standards, accessing complete and meaningful data remains a challenge across vendors. * Market consolidation is likely to continue, as organizations seek fewer vendors that can handle multiple data needs. * Clinical research remains an underutilized opportunity, with many organizations still relying on manual processes to identify eligible patients. * Improving data accessibility could dramatically accelerate patient recruitment and engagement in clinical trials. * Simple improvements in data completeness and standardization can have immediate impacts on reimbursement, efficiency, and patient care.

A Little About Dominique:As CEO of Hart since 2023, Dominique Gross provides healthcare data leadership, guiding the company’s mission to eliminate healthcare data fragmentation and empower organizations to achieve true interoperability. With more than two decades of experience driving health IT innovation and go-to-market strategies, Dominique has shaped Hart’s focus on making the impossible possible every day, ensuring that every innovation at Hart advances both operational efficiency and equitable patient care.

Prior to joining Hart, Dominique led strategy and growth initiatives at multiple firms, working as one of the industry's prominent healthcare technology executives to launch connected care solutions for veterans and major health systems. Her leadership philosophy centers on collaboration and integrity, guiding Hart to serve as both a technology provider and a trusted partner for healthcare’s most complex data challenges. Dominique is a frequent speaker on the future of healthcare data ecosystems and a strong advocate for patient empowerment through healthcare data accessibility.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Mike Fisher, the CEO of MyFitnessPal, for an exciting and passionate conversation about what happens when twenty years of nutrition data meets modern AI. With over 300 million people impacted worldwide and a brand that has been a household name for two decades, MyFitnessPal is not resting on its laurels.

From an AI coach backed by two decades of behavioral data to a ChatGPT integration that meets users wherever they already are, to the acquisition of Gen Z favorite Calaii, Mike paints a vibrant picture of where consumer nutrition technology is headed.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of consumer behavior, AI personalization, and population health.

In this episode, they talk about:* MyFitnessPal has impacted over 300 million people worldwide and has been building AI into nutrition tools long before LLMs existed * The app's AI flywheel covers three areas: logging, meal planning, and personalized insights * The new AI coach for premium users is backed by twenty years of behavioral data on what actually helps people hit their goals * Users who scan meals are 32% more likely to hit their goals, a data point only possible after two decades of studying user behavior * MyFitnessPal integrated with ChatGPT so users can access its nutrition expertise directly inside the LLM they already use * The company acquired Calaii, built by high school students who scaled it to millions of users in under two years, to reach a younger demographic * A new GLP-1 mode lets users track dosage, side effects, and nutrition in one place * Agentic programming has lowered the barrier to building software, but cannot replicate twenty years of trusted data and behavioral science * Bad data and missing data are just as dangerous as hallucinations, and guardrails around AI nutrition advice are non-negotiable

A Little About Mike:Mike Fisher is the CEO of MyFitnessPal and a member of its board of directors. At MyFitnessPal, he focuses on driving strategic initiatives, enhancing the app’s technological infrastructure, and expanding its impact on global health and nutrition. He brings a wealth of experience from his previous role as Chief Technology Officer at Etsy, where he drove engineering and product innovation, and from Quigo, where he scaled technology infrastructure ahead of its acquisition by AOL.

Co-founder of AKF Partners, Mike has advised numerous tech companies on strategic growth and held pivotal leadership roles at PayPal. A former U.S. Army Captain and pilot, Mike is also an active philanthropist and serves on the boards of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the West Point Association of Graduates. He has co-authored two books on scalability and one on customer misbehavior.

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In this episode of the AI at Health series on The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Venky Ananth, Executive Vice President and Head of Healthcare at Infosys, for a wide-ranging and energizing conversation about what it actually means for AI to transform healthcare at scale. Venky brings a refreshingly honest and structured perspective to a conversation that is often dominated by hype, breaking down why AI is fundamentally different from every other technology wave healthcare has been through, laying out the five areas where Infosys is seeing real traction with payers, providers, and PBMs right now, and sharing the story behind two exciting developments: the acquisition of Optimum Health IT and the Pacesetters podcast and executive leadership community. If you are a healthcare leader trying to figure out where to start or how to think about AI as a whole-enterprise challenge rather than a point solution, this episode is essential listening.

In this episode, they talk about:* AI is not a point solution; it is a new operating system that will touch every function in every organization * Healthcare is broken, fragmented, and frustrating, and AI is the first technology with the potential to fix all three at once * Legacy modernization must come before AI adoption because you cannot layer intelligence on top of broken processes * AI can now reverse engineer legacy systems that used to depend entirely on tribal knowledge * The five pillars of AI transformation are strategy and engineering, legacy modernization, data, process reengineering, and physical AI * Training AI on your own private data is the competitive wedge that separates leaders from followers * Agents are the new team members, and organizations need to rethink how humans and agents orchestrate workflows together * Infosys acquired Optimum Health IT, the number one-ranked Epic implementation partner according to KLAS, to deepen its provider capabilities * Epic now covers an estimated 220 to 230 million distinct patients in the US and is growing internationally * The Pacesetters podcast and annual executive gathering bring together CIOs, CTOs, academics, and analysts for candid, off-the-record dialogue about the future of healthcare

A Little About Venky Ananth:Venky is a technology and transformation executive with deep experience leading a global business unit, scaling high-performance organizations, and delivering large-scale change through AI, cloud, and modern growth operating models.

His career has focused on helping enterprises modernize core systems, improve operational efficiency, and unlock new growth through platform innovation and disciplined execution. He founded and scaled Infosys Helix, a cloud-native platform business that continues to shape payer and health platform modernization. In addition, he has led global teams across engineering, delivery, consulting, and product, giving him a broad view of strategy, technology, operations, and organizational scale.

He operates at the intersection of technology, business model transformation, and leadership development, with a track record of strengthening enterprise performance and building organizations capable of sustained growth.

Beyond his operating role, I host PaceSetters, a CXO leadership platform featuring conversations with leaders from healthcare, academia, private equity, and technology.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Isaiah Granet, co-founder and CEO of Bland, for a sharp and eye-opening conversation about one of the most overlooked bottlenecks in healthcare: the phone call. Bland now handles 3.5 million phone calls a week, has raised over $100 million, including a $40 million Series B, and is backed by Emergence Capital, Scale, and Y Combinator. Isaiah brings a refreshingly honest take on what it actually takes to get voice AI into production in healthcare, why most vendors are just talking about it rather than doing it, and why the security risks hiding in third-party AI dependencies should be keeping every healthcare CIO up at night.

In this episode, they talk about:* Most people call a call center because they are at the end of the line and cannot solve their problem any other way * The best voice AI systems conform to the caller, not the other way around * Intake is the fastest path to ROI for health systems deploying voice AI for the first time * Bland tracks emotional sentiment, call escalation rates, and a unique metric called utterances to measure patient experience quality * Bland does not use OpenAI or any third-party LLM under the hood, meaning PHI never touches an outside vendor * Health systems should demand that calls go live within 30 days and measurable automation within 60 days * A single third-party dependency, three steps removed from a vendor, recently led to a class action lawsuit * Always declare that it is an AI agent on the call; deceptive practices destroy the trust that voice AI depends on * The CIO role is becoming one of the most important in any healthcare organization, as AI decisions multiply

A Little About Isaiah:Isaiah values community, family, and impact above all else. He believes that building for impact is what makes life. In addition to being the cofounder and CEO of Bland, he also sits on the board of the nonprofit he founded, the San Diego Chill.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Patricia Thaine, co-founder and chair of Limina (formerly known as Private AI), for a fascinating conversation about one of the most underappreciated bottlenecks in healthcare AI adoption: the privacy of unstructured data.

With a background in natural language processing and privacy research, Patricia built the company from the ground up to solve a problem most organizations did not even know they had. Today, her platform helps health systems, research organizations, and payers de-identify everything from clinical notes to ambient listening data so they can train models, share data for research, and move their AI initiatives forward without putting patient privacy at risk.

If your AI initiative is stalled because of privacy concerns, this episode is exactly what you need to hear.

In this episode, they talk about:* 80 to 90% of healthcare data is unstructured, and most organizations have no idea what sensitive information is hiding in it * Cloud providers require you to send your data outside your environment, and that alone is a dealbreaker for many health systems * De-identification is not just about removing names; quasi-identifiers like age ranges, locations, and diagnoses all factor into re-identification risk * The goal is to keep re-identification risk below 0.04%, not just strip out obvious fields * Training AI models on real PHI creates a memorization problem where the model can regurgitate patient information in production * Providence Health has used Limina since the early days to train patient and physician-facing chatbots safely * A mature privacy-to-AI operating model requires statisticians, product teams, IT, governance, and legal all at the table * LIMINA rebranded from Private AI because the old name kept attracting requests for on-premise LLMs, which is not what they do

A Little About Patricia:Patricia Thaine is the Co-Founder & Chairwoman of Private AI, a Microsoft-backed startup that raised their Series A led by the BDC. Private AI won the Privacy Innovation Award at PICCASO 2024, was named a 2023 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, and was a Gartner Cool Vendor. Patricia is also the host of The Data Frontier podcast and was on Maclean’s magazine Power List 2024 for being one of the top 100 Canadians shaping the country.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Aaron Patzer, the founder & CEO of Vital.io, for one of the most energizing and candid conversations in the series. Aaron built Mint.com, saved consumers $9 billion in bank fees, and then turned his attention to one of the most anxiety-inducing experiences a person can have: sitting in an emergency room not knowing what is happening.

Vital now guides 7 million patients through ER, inpatient, and urgent care visits in real time at hundreds of health systems, including Ascension, CommonSpirit, Emory, and MedStar. Aaron also shares his work on the AI Care Standard, a growing coalition of health systems and patient advocates building a framework to evaluate AI tools before they go anywhere near a patient. This one is packed with insight, sharp opinions, and genuinely important ideas.

In this episode, they talk about:* Vital sits on top of the EHR and guides patients through their ER or inpatient visit in real time, in plain language * 65 to 70% of patients actively use Vital during their visit, one of the highest adoption rates in health tech * Vital reduces leave without being seen rates by 35 to 50%, and those walkouts are worth $2,000 each, plus readmission penalties * Health systems using Vital have seen up to 48 million dollars in additional top-line revenue across two hospitals * Vital improves Press Ganey and HCAHPS scores by about 10 points and increases system retention by 30% * Before showing any patient their doctor's notes, Vital runs 14 separate safety checks, including flags for new cancer diagnoses, pregnancy loss, and self-harm * The AI Care Standard is a free, dynamic evaluation framework at aicarestandard.com that grades AI tools across 10 patient safety principles * Most consumer-facing AI tools like ChatGPT cite Reddit and pop health blogs, not peer-reviewed clinical sources, and that is a patient safety problem

A Little About Aaron:Aaron Patzer is Founder & CEO of Vital.io (AI-powered patient experience at 100+ hospitals), Mint.com (25m users), and five other startups. He served as Head of Product Innovation and an officer at Intuit. If you've used TurboTax, Quicken, Mint, or QuickBooks, you and 200M other people have used software he's designed. Fortune Magazine named Aaron one of the Top 40 Executives Under 40, has won 5 product design awards, and done over 600 press interviews, at one time appearing as a regular on CNBC, and writing a column for Parade Magazine. He is an angel investor in dozens of startups, including Carbon Health, Radix (now Relatient), HealthTap, and more. He holds degrees in electrical engineering & computer science from Duke, with PhD work at Princeton, and 10 patents as lead inventor, all in algorithms

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance welcomes back Kathryn Ayers Wickenhauser, Chief Strategy Officer at DirectTrust, for her third time on the show. This time the conversation goes deeper than ever, covering three major developments: DirectTrust's role in vetting apps for the new CMS Medicare App Library, the launch of a groundbreaking AI accreditation program built on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, and the urgent but widely misunderstood gap in HIPAA coverage that leaves millions of consumers thinking their health data is protected when it really isn’t. If you work anywhere in the health tech ecosystem, this episode is essential listening.

In this episode, they talk about:* HIPAA only covers covered entities and business associates, meaning most consumer health apps have little obligation to protect your data * The CMS Medicare App Library is a vetted directory of trusted digital health apps, and DirectTrust is helping validate which apps earn a spot in it * When CMS moves, the rest of the industry follows, making this app library a trust signal far beyond Medicare beneficiaries * DirectTrust's AI accreditation program is built on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and assessed by independent third-party reviewers * The program will offer two tiers: a foundational version for organizations early in their AI journey and a comprehensive version for those with greater maturity * The four pillars of the AI accreditation program are governance, management, mapping, and measurement * AI is unlike any other technology implementation because it touches every aspect of an organization simultaneously * DirectTrust's annual conference is October 20th and 21st in Kansas City at the Oracle Innovations Campus

A Little About Kathryn:Kathryn Ayers Wickenhauser, MBA, FACHDM, CHPC, is Chief Strategy Officer at DirectTrust®, the national non-profit alliance and accreditor building trust in healthcare technology and secure information exchange. With nearly two decades of advancing interoperability, identity, privacy, and technical trust, she leads community engagement, communications, and strategic partnerships, shaping national standards and policy. Kathryn is a recognized thought leader featured in outlets like Healthcare IT Today and Health IT Answers, and under her leadership, DirectTrust has earned multiple HITMC awards, including Marketing Team of the Year in 2025. She has been named among the Top 50 Women Chief Strategy Officers and Becker’s 100 Women in Health IT to Know.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Matthew Stern, the CEO at MyStart Health, and

Nick Mortek, Strategic Consultant at Vouched. They have a practical and energizing conversation about one of the most underestimated problems in telehealth: patient identity verification. Matt built MyStart Health to help patients access GLP-1 medications and other telehealth services, only to discover that a clunky ID upload process was costing him nearly 28% of his patients before they ever got started. Nick and the Vouched team solved that problem in under a month and delivered a 40% net impact to the business. If you are building or running a telehealth product and wondering why your funnel is leaking, this episode has the answer.

Telehealth funnels bleed revenue at identity verification. Telehealth provider MyStart Health boosted patient intake through passive identity checks with Vouched identity verification, keeping high-intent buyers on their platform.

In this episode, they talk about:* Up to 40 to 50% of telehealth patients drop out of the funnel at the ID upload step alone * Vouched runs passive identity verification through 3,000 data providers in under 400 milliseconds * MyStart Health saw a 20% increase in front-end conversion and a 20% improvement in backend verification after implementing Vouched * The total impact was a 40% net swing to the bottom line in the first month * Implementation can take as little as a few days for agile teams and no more than two weeks for larger organizations * Patients are more comfortable with low-friction passive verification than with uploading sensitive documents to an unknown system * Trust is the real product in telehealth, and every touchpoint in the patient journey either builds it or destroys it * The future of healthcare is a personalized, data-rich hub connecting blood work, DNA, connected devices, and medications into one patient experience

A Little About Matt and Nick:Matthew Stern is the CEO and founder of MyStart Health, a rapidly growing telehealth company focused on improving patient access, engagement, and long-term health outcomes. A seasoned entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience building and scaling businesses across multiple industries, Matthew brings deep expertise in customer acquisition, brand growth, and digital marketing. At MyStart Health, he is pioneering a more personalized, data-driven healthcare experience—leveraging technology, telehealth, and emerging treatments to help patients take greater control of their health and longevity.

Nick Mortek is a Strategic Consultant at Vouched, where he helps healthcare and digital health organizations implement secure, low-friction identity verification solutions. With a background rooted in financial services and identity technology, Nick specializes in helping companies streamline patient onboarding, reduce fraud, and improve conversion across digital experiences. At Vouched, he works closely with founders and product teams to build trust-driven, HIPAA-compliant verification systems that enhance both security and user experience in the evolving telehealth landscape.

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Healthcare has more data than any industry in the world—but without trust in that data, it’s almost useless. In this episode, Clay Ritchey, Chief Executive Officer of Verato, breaks down why identity is the missing foundation behind interoperability, AI, and better patient experiences. From fragmented records to failed digital transformation promises, Clay shares how solving “who is who” unlocks everything from improved clinical outcomes to lower costs—and why now is the moment healthcare can finally get it right.

In this episode, they talk about:* Why healthcare generates massive amounts of data but struggles to use it effectively * The core problem: lack of trust in data due to poor identity resolution * What it means when one patient exists as 10 different records across systems * How fragmented identity impacts patient experience and clinical outcomes * The connection between clean data and successful AI adoption * Why consumers are driving change with higher expectations for digital experiences * The role of identity in enabling true interoperability across organizations * How Verato creates a single longitudinal view of patients across thousands of data sources * The impact of identity on reducing duplicate tests, costs, and delays in care * Why this moment—AI + regulation + consumer demand—is a tipping point for healthcare

A Little About Clay:Clay Ritchey is the Chief Executive Officer of Verato. Clay brings more than 20 years of experience driving growth and innovation in market-leading healthcare technology organizations to Verato. As CEO, Clay is passionate about working with healthcare, life science, and government organizations across the care continuum to transform the way that consumers and patients engage with them to build deeper relationships resulting in improved outcomes and sustainable growth for our customers.

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What does it really take to get a healthcare AI product past the proof-of-concept stage and into production? In this episode of the AI at ViVE series on the BEAT Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Tushar Puri, CEO of Pegasus One, and Sebastian Ouslis, Co-Founder of ChartR Health, to find out. Together, they pull back the curtain on how ChartR is building an autonomous analytics platform that lets hospitals interrogate their own data across silos in real time, and how Pegasus One's SONG framework is the foundation making it possible. From managing agent drift to the very real stakes of lagging data in sepsis care, this conversation is a masterclass in building healthcare AI that can actually go from pie-in-the-sky to impact you can quantify.

In this episode, they talk about:* Why most healthcare AI projects never reach production * The real meaning behind the SONG framework * How data silos slow down hospital decision-making * Turning weeks of analysis into minutes with AI * The hidden cost of poor workflow integration * Why governance must be built in from day one * The importance of designing for real-world healthcare systems * How ChartR enables continuous analytics across hospital data * What agent drift is and why it matters long term * The role of partnerships in building scalable AI products

A Little About Tushar and Sebastian:Tushar Puri is the Founder and CEO of Pegasus One, where he helps organizations build scalable AI and software products that actually make it to production. With more than 15 years in product engineering, he specializes in bridging the gap between technical innovation and real-world implementation, especially in healthcare.

Sebastian Ouslis

is the Co-Founder of ChartR, an AI-driven healthcare analytics platform focused on turning complex clinical data into real-time insights. His work centers on using AI to help hospitals continuously learn, adapt, and improve patient outcomes.

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What if the biggest barrier to better healthcare outcomes is… the blood draw itself?

In this episode, Web Golinkin, President at Babson Diagnostics, discusses how his company is reinventing blood testing with a patient-friendly, fingertip-based system. He explains why traditional venipuncture drives anxiety and non-adherence, and how BetterWay improves both experience and outcomes. He also shares how automation and simplified workflows reduce operational burden and expand access points for care. Finally, he explores why patient experience is becoming the key competitive differentiator in ambulatory healthcare.

Tune in to learn how rethinking a decades-old process could unlock better care, better business, and better patient engagement.

About Web Golinkin:

Web Golinkin has focused his career on making health information and care more accessible and affordable. He has done this as CEO of five companies over the past 35 years, including three he co-founded.

These companies include the largest cable TV network devoted to health (America’s Health Network), one of the nation’s largest operators of retail-based clinics (RediClinic), a leading population health management company (Health Dialog), and one of the nation’s largest operators of urgent care clinics (FastMed). Web also co- founded the Convenient Care Association and served as its Chair for many years. He has been widely covered in the national media and has spoken at numerous healthcare conferences.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Blood testing drives around 70% of medical decisions but has not fundamentally changed in decades.
• About one-third of patients skip testing due to discomfort or inconvenience.
• BetterWay uses a fingerstick method and requires 90% less blood.
• The system eliminates the need for a phlebotomist, enabling more flexible staffing.
• Automated sample preparation reduces errors and manual workload.
• The approach is backed by extensive validation, including IRB studies and peer-reviewed data.
• With an NPS of 79, compared to negative industry scores, it delivers a significantly better patient experience while supporting ambulatory growth, reducing leakage, and improving chronic disease management.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Web Golinkin on LinkedIn, visit his website, or reach out via email.
• Follow Babson Diagnostics on LinkedIn and explore their website.
• Learn more about BetterWay here.

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The network is no longer just a hidden utility. It is becoming an intelligent engine for safer, smarter healthcare operations.

In this episode, Matt Roberts, Healthcare Business Lead at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, discusses how AI-native networking is changing the role of infrastructure in healthcare. He explains why traditional networks have created operational blind spots, how self-driving network capabilities can improve user experience and security, and why modernizing infrastructure is no longer just about keeping systems running. Matt also shares how the Juniper acquisition expands HPE’s ability to support healthcare providers across data center networking, AI-ready environments, and built-in security, while also opening new possibilities for asset tracking, wayfinding, staff safety, and more proactive IT operations.

Tune in to learn how smarter networking could help healthcare organizations modernize infrastructure without compromising care delivery.

About Matt Roberts:
Matt Roberts is a healthcare industry leader focused on helping provider, payer, and life sciences organizations modernize their networking infrastructure to support better user and operator experiences. His background spans healthcare IT, business development, sales strategy, and digital transformation, with a strong emphasis on making the network a more intelligent and proactive part of healthcare operations.

Before his current role, Matt served in healthcare leadership positions at Juniper Networks, Brocade, and Cerner, where he helped shape go-to-market strategies, lead healthcare business development, support large-scale implementations, and build strategic partner ecosystems across the industry. His work has consistently centered on helping healthcare organizations reduce complexity while improving performance, security, and infrastructure readiness.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI-native networking can help remove blind spots and make the network more proactive, secure, and easier to operate.
• The cost of inaction can be just as risky as the fear of disrupting care during modernization efforts.
• Built-in security and policy-driven infrastructure are becoming essential as healthcare organizations prepare for more digital and AI-powered environments.
• Modern networks can support far more than connectivity, including wayfinding, asset tracking, and staff safety use cases.
• User experience is becoming a central metric for evaluating network performance and value.
• Partner ecosystems remain critical for helping healthcare organizations navigate infrastructure and security transformation.
  Digital twins and virtual network assistants are likely to play a growing role in future IT operating models.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Matt Roberts on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

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In this episode of the AI at Health series on The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Vadiraj Guttal, VP and Business Head for Infosys Helix, for a thoughtful and candid conversation about why health plans are still stuck in batch processing, what it actually means to be cloud native versus just cloud hosted, and how a platform-centric approach is delivering two to three times the improvement that incremental fixes never could. With Helix now six-plus years in the making, Vadiraj brings a grounded, practitioner's perspective to one of the most complex transformation challenges in healthcare today. If you are a health plan executive trying to reduce administrative costs, modernize operations, and prepare for an AI-driven future, this episode is essential listening.

In this episode, they talk about:* Most health plans moved to the cloud without actually taking advantage of what the cloud can do * Batch processing is still the norm in healthcare, and it is the root cause of most administrative delays * Platform-centric thinking means cloud-native architecture, reusable data, event-driven workflows, and composability * Provider credentialing that takes two to three months today could be reduced to one week with the right platform * Helix targets a 40% reduction in IT operations costs and a 50 to 60% reduction in workflow fallouts * True digital-native health plans do not exist yet, and that is exactly the gap Helix is built to close * Tier two and tier three health plans without large digital transformation budgets are the ideal Helix candidates * The next big challenge is using AI at scale in production while keeping outcomes deterministic, not probabilistic

A Little About Vadiraj:Senior Health-tech and IT Consulting professional with 23+ years of experience in software development, project management, sales, and delivery of strategic consulting engagements, product and solution development for the payer segment of US healthcare. He partners with senior executives to address their business and technology needs through innovative solutions, resulting in IT efficiencies and business outcomes.

As Business Head of Platforms at Infosys Healthcare, he is responsible for ideating and developing digital-native, AI- and cloud-run business applications. In this role, he also partners with other healthcare start-ups and academic institutions to industrialize their research and solve problems for large healthcare payers.

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Healthcare doesn’t have a technology problem; it has a workflow problem.

In this episode, Kshitij Jaggi discusses why healthcare’s digital tools have failed to improve efficiency and how agentic AI can transform operations by completing work rather than creating more of it. He explains the critical difference between task automation and system-level orchestration, and why administrative bottlenecks, such as prior authorizations, delay care. He also explores how governance, traceability, and new oversight roles are essential for responsible AI adoption. Finally, he shares how throughput should define ROI and unlock better outcomes across the healthcare system.

Tune in to learn how AI can eliminate friction, improve access to care, and reshape the future of healthcare operations.

About Kshitij Jaggi:

Co-founder and CEO of RISA Labs, Kshitij (KJ) leads the company’s mission to accelerate oncology innovation through data-driven collaboration and transformative technology.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Most healthcare software fails because it adds work for users instead of reducing it, making time the primary barrier to adoption.
• True transformation in healthcare requires system-level orchestration rather than isolated task automation.
• Embedding clinical intelligence into administrative workflows reduces errors, delays, and inefficiencies in care delivery.
• Administrative processes are the biggest source of friction in healthcare systems.
• Integrating agentic AI with EMR systems can significantly increase throughput in a labor-constrained healthcare environment.
• Long-term success depends on platform-based solutions, governance and oversight of AI, and measuring ROI through throughput, timeliness of care, and reduced treatment leakage while enabling more seamless care and faster innovation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kshitij Jaggi on LinkedIn.
• Follow RISA Labs on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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Simplifying the complex world of healthcare reimbursement.

In this episode, Jason Considine, President of Experian Health, discusses shifting the industry's focus from denial management to denial prevention by leveraging AI at the point of registration. He discusses the implementation of the Patient Access Curator, a tool that automates insurance discovery and validation to reduce human error and administrative costs. He also explains how Experian leverages rich data assets, such as employment data, to help providers navigate new regulatory requirements, such as the OBBA. This episode explores the mission of leveraging advanced technology to eliminate administrative waste, enabling resources to be redeployed into direct patient care.

Tune in to start from the start with denial prevention.

About Jason Considine:

Jason Considine is the President of Experian Health, having taken the helm in April 2025. He previously served as the Chief Commercial Officer for more than 3 years, leading sales, marketing, and business development. With nearly 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Jason is dedicated to using data analytics and software solutions to simplify administrative processes for hospitals and medical practices.

Things You'll Learn:

• How Experian Health aims to simplify healthcare by improving the efficiency of how providers are reimbursed by patients and payers.
• The industry shift from costly back-end denial management to proactive denial prevention by leveraging AI at the point of registration.
• How the Patient Access Curator tool automates insurance discovery and updates registration systems in seconds to reduce denials by over 30%.
• The importance of transparency in AI to build trust and unlock the "black box" of decision-making in highly regulated healthcare environments.
• How providers can prepare for the OBBA regulation by using employment data to automate Medicaid qualification decisions.
• Why the AI "arms race" between payers and providers makes adopting intelligent automation essential for an organization to thrive and survive.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jason Considine on LinkedIn.
• Follow Experian Health on LinkedInand explore their website.

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AI is advancing rapidly in healthcare, but speed without governance can create serious clinical, legal, and enterprise-level risks.

In this episode, Peter Bonis, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Wolters Kluwer Health, explores how his team is developing reliable, evidence-based AI tools to support frontline clinicians without compromising trust or safety. He explains why clinicians are adopting AI faster than health systems can govern it, creating risks like the rise of “shadow AI.” Peter highlights the importance of transparency, human oversight, and trusted source material in ensuring safe clinical decision support. He also discusses how even experts can be influenced by faulty AI output and why governance models must evolve with frontline input to keep pace.

Tune in and learn how healthcare leaders can approach AI governance more responsibly while still supporting innovation at the point of care.

About Peter Bonis:

Peter A.L. Bonis, MD, is Chief Medical Officer at Wolters Kluwer Health, where he serves on the executive leadership team and oversees content, informatics, and industry partnerships. He was also part of the founding group at UpToDate, which grew into one of the world’s leading evidence-based clinical knowledge resources.

Dr. Bonis is a physician entrepreneur and academic leader with more than 25 years of experience in healthcare. At Wolters Kluwer Health, he leads teams spanning physicians, pharmacists, engineers, informaticists, and business development professionals focused on clinical content, drug information, and patient engagement solutions. He is also an adjunct professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology at Tufts University School of Medicine and previously served on the faculty at Yale University School of Medicine.

His background also includes healthcare investing, advisory work with venture capital and private equity firms, more than 70 published research articles, and the co-founding of the UpToDate donations program in partnership with Ariadne Labs to expand access in low- and middle-income countries. He earned his AB from Harvard University and his MD from New York University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI in healthcare must be grounded in trusted evidence, transparency, and human oversight to be safe for clinical use.
• Shadow AI is already creating enterprise-level risk as clinicians and staff adopt unvetted tools outside formal governance structures.
• Even experienced specialists may not reliably detect faulty AI-generated clinical information when it appears credible.
• Healthcare leaders need governance models that focus on safety, privacy, compliance, and real clinical value rather than hype.
• Effective AI governance must be iterative and shaped by input from frontline clinicians who understand how these tools affect care delivery.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Peter Bonis on LinkedIn!
• Follow Walters Kluwer Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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What if the biggest opportunity in healthcare reimbursement is finally having a clear view of what “fair” actually looks like?

In this episode, Dilpreet Sahota, CEO and founder of Trek Health, discusses how his company is helping health systems and health plans turn price transparency data into a strategic tool for payer negotiations. He explains why publicly available reimbursement data is still difficult to use in practice, how AI can simplify both massive pricing datasets and highly complex payer contracts, and why providers need a clearer benchmarking strategy as reimbursement pressures continue to shift. He also shares his perspective on trust, validation, and explainability in AI, along with a future vision in which providers negotiate with greater clarity, and patients can better predict the true cost of care before receiving services.

Tune in to learn how better reimbursement intelligence could reduce friction, strengthen negotiation strategy, and increase transparency for both providers and patients.

About Dilpreet Sahota:
Dilpreet Sahota is the CEO and founder of Trek Health, a company focused on building healthcare payment products that help organizations better understand reimbursement, contracts, and market benchmarks. Since founding Trek Health in 2022, he has worked to make price transparency data more usable for healthcare finance leaders and provider organizations navigating payer negotiations.

Before launching Trek Health, Dilpreet held roles across healthcare growth, analytics, operations, and research, including work at Big Health, Health IQ, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Stanford University School of Medicine. He holds an M.Sc. from Stanford University and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Price transparency data is now public, but it is still difficult for providers and payers to access and use strategically.
• AI can help sift through massive pricing datasets and extract key terms from payer contracts in seconds rather than hours.
• Providers need plan-specific reimbursement strategies instead of treating all payer relationships the same way.
• Trust in AI depends on validation, sourcing, auditability, and the ability to trace outputs back to underlying truth.
• Lower-cost outpatient alternatives will likely play a major role in reducing total cost of care over the next decade.
• A more mature transparency ecosystem could help patients predict healthcare costs much more accurately before treatment.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dilpreet Sahota on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Trek Health on LinkedIn and visit the website here.

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Healthcare payments are often discussed as a transparency problem, but the deeper issue is structural fragmentation across contracts, claims, remittances, and workflows.

In this episode, Ted Ferrin, Senior Vice President of Payments Innovation at Zelis, explains how the acquisition of Rivet is bringing provider-facing payment intelligence into Zelis’s broader infrastructure. He discusses why achieving financial clarity between payers and providers has been so difficult due to fragmented systems and legacy technology. Ted highlights that true transparency goes beyond simply displaying data and requires meaningful, actionable insights. He also shares how tools like Claims Insights and Zap Edge embed intelligence into payment workflows to reduce rework, improve visibility, and create a smoother experience for providers, payers, and patients.

Tune in and learn how better payment intelligence could help turn transparency from a buzzword into real operational trust.

About Ted Ferrin:

Ted Ferrin is Senior Vice President of Payments Innovation at Zelis, where he focuses on building solutions that improve healthcare payments and strengthen financial clarity for providers. He joined Zelis through its acquisition of Rivet, the company he founded and led as CEO for more than eight years. Before Rivet, Ted held leadership and sales roles at Canopy, Instructure, and Qualtrics. His work has centered on building organizations, products, and customer-focused growth strategies, with a particular passion for making healthcare more efficient and easier to use for providers. He studied psychology and business management at Brigham Young University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Healthcare payment transparency breaks down when contracts, claims, remittances, and analytics all live in disconnected systems.
• True transparency requires clean, normalized data delivered in real time within workflows, not just static reporting.
• Providers still face a major administrative burden because the old payment infrastructure often forces manual reconciliation and rework.
• Shared financial clarity can improve trust by reducing disputes, errors, delays, and unnecessary administrative effort for both providers and payers.
• Embedding payment intelligence at the point of transaction can help organizations move from passive visibility to more actionable decision-making.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ted Ferrin on LinkedIn.
• Follow Zelis on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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AI in healthcare is moving fast, but what does real, operational impact actually look like? In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Aditya Bansod, CTO and co-founder of Luma Health, and Michelle Winfield-Hanrahan, RN BSN MHA MSN about this very topic. They share how the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is scaling AI beyond the call center and into complex, high-friction workflows like fax processing and patient access. From backfilling missed appointments to transforming referral intake, this conversation dives into what it takes to build trust, move quickly, and turn AI into measurable results across an entire health system.

In this episode, they talk about:* How UAMS identified a high-impact, low-risk entry point for AI in call center workflows * Turning after-hours cancellations into filled appointments and improved patient access * Why trust in the partner matters just as much as trust in the technology * Expanding from AI call handling to backend fax automation * How AI is reducing referral lag time and improving data visibility * The power of an EHR-first strategy and working inside existing workflows * Avoiding “AI sprawl” and the challenge of managing too many point solutions * Real talk on ROI: operational efficiency, revenue lift, and happier patients * Why success builds momentum for scaling AI across departments * Practical advice for health systems navigating the explosion of AI vendors

A Little About Aditya and Michelle:Aditya Bansod is CTO and co-founder of Luma Health. With a lifelong passion for building software, Bansod leads Luma Health’s technical vision and strategic direction for building a Patient Success Platform that empowers healthcare providers to serve their patients better and improve healthcare outcomes. With over 15 years of experience as a product management leader developing mobile solutions at Adobe and Microsoft, and at venture-backed start-ups, Bansod made the transition from B2B software solutions to healthcare in 2015 to have a meaningful and measurable impact on how providers use mobile technologies to engage with and communicate with their patients.

Michelle Winfield-Hanrahan, RN BSN MHA MSN, is a seasoned healthcare clinical operations executive with over 20 years of experience in optimizing patient access, improving patient engagement, and streamlining clinical operations. Throughout her career, Michelle has demonstrated a strong ability to lead cross-functional teams and implement strategic initiatives that enhance the patient experience, increase operational efficiency, and drive sustainable growth.

In her current role as Chief Clinical Access Officer and Associate Vice Chancellor of Access at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Michelle oversees patient access and flow from both the outpatient and inpatient setting, ensuring seamless patient flow and appointment scheduling, reducing wait times, and improving overall patient satisfaction. She has spearheaded innovative solutions that leverage technology to enhance patient communication and engagement, ensuring that patients remain informed, involved, and empowered throughout their healthcare journey.

Michelle is dedicated to driving innovation in healthcare operations and is committed to making quality healthcare more accessible and efficient for all.

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Healthcare is drowning in documentation and fragmented data, but what if the system worked for clinicians rather than against them?

In this episode, Dr. Richa Gupta, Vice President of Care Transformation at Ambience Healthcare, explains how Ambience provides a layer of intelligence on top of electronic medical records to optimize clinician workflow and patient interactions. Ambience’s ambient listening system captures physician-patient interactions, supports documentation, and ensures accurate coding and billing, boosting clinician satisfaction and reducing revenue leakage. ROI is driven by high clinician utilization, validated outcomes, and measurable improvements in documentation burden, coding accuracy, and physician retention. In 2026, Ambience is expanding across the full care continuum, including ambulatory, emergency, and inpatient settings, offering a platform that surfaces real-time insights and enhances patient care.

Tune in to hear how Ambience is transforming physician workflows and delivering real ROI across the care continuum.

About Dr. Richa Gupta:

Dr. Richa Gupta, Vice President of Care Transformation at Ambience Healthcare. Dr. Gupta partners with hospital leaders to apply AI to the most complex clinical and operational challenges in health systems. She brings more than two decades of experience leading projects and teams at large academic medical centers.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Ambience reduces documentation burden by using ambient listening and chart-aware intelligence.
• Clinician satisfaction drives ROI, with utilization rates reaching up to 80%.
• Accurate coding and diagnosis capture prevent revenue leakage and claim credit for physician work.
• Ambience can improve physician retention, even delaying retirements during labor shortages.
• In 2026, Ambience is expanding beyond ambulatory care to emergency and inpatient settings, providing insights across the patient journey.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Richa Gupta on LinkedIn.
• Follow Ambience Healthcare on LinkedInand visit their website.

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Healthcare technology should quietly remove friction and reduce burden so clinicians can focus on what matters most: caring for patients in a more human way.

In this episode, Lisa Gulker, Chief Nursing Officer at Oracle Health and Life Sciences, discusses how Oracle is rethinking healthcare technology by building AI directly into the foundation of its systems rather than layering it on as an afterthought. She explains how this approach can help clinicians spend less time in the chart, reduce workflow fragmentation, and make technology feel more seamless in the care experience. Lisa also shares how Oracle is applying these capabilities across providers, life sciences, and payers, creating opportunities to accelerate research, improve clinical trial matching, streamline prior authorization, and reduce administrative burden across the ecosystem. Throughout the conversation, she brings a nurse leader’s perspective to a central question in healthcare innovation: how do we use technology to make care feel more human, not less?

Tune in and learn how embedded AI could reshape the healthcare experience for clinicians, staff, researchers, payers, and patients alike.

About Lisa Gulker:

Lisa Gulker is Chief Nursing Officer at Oracle Health, where she helps bring the voice of clinicians into product strategy, innovation, and healthcare transformation. With a background that spans nursing, informatics, analytics, and clinical operations, she has spent her career helping health systems use technology more effectively to improve care delivery and workforce engagement. Before becoming Chief Nursing Officer, Lisa served as Vice President of Product Management and Strategy at Oracle, and previously held senior leadership roles at Cerner, Tenet Healthcare, and Detroit Medical Center, where she focused on clinical transformation, data stewardship, and value realization. She works closely with executive leaders, data science teams, and engineering groups to align innovation with the realities of care delivery. Lisa holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Wayne State University and brings a strong blend of clinical, strategic, and operational expertise to healthcare innovation.

Things You’ll Learn:

• When AI is built into the foundation of healthcare technology, it can reduce the burden more effectively than tools simply bolted onto older systems.
• Seamless technology should help clinicians focus more on patients and less on screens, documentation, and fragmented workflows.
• Life sciences organizations can use AI-enabled systems to accelerate research, improve access to studies, and surface insights more efficiently.
• Payers still rely on slow, labor-intensive administrative processes that AI could help streamline, especially in areas such as pre-authorization and referrals.
• Human-centered innovation depends on listening closely to end users and designing technology that reflects how clinicians actually work.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Lisa Gulker on LinkedIn.
• Follow Oracle Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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As digital change accelerates across healthcare, payors face an urgent need to modernize how they communicate, educate, and engage. The AI-Orchestrated Experiences portfolio from Adobe and IBM represents a new paradigm where data, design, and intelligence work seamlessly together to improve outcomes for every stakeholder.

In this episode of the AI at Health series on The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Melissa Geissler, Partner for Healthcare and Life Sciences Strategy and Transformation at IBM, and Ted Roman, Healthcare and Life Sciences Digital Strategy Principal at Adobe, to unpack one of the most exciting partnerships in healthcare AI right now. Together, IBM and Adobe are building AI-orchestrated experience solutions that help payers deliver personalized, seamless, and scalable member experiences without the white-glove price tag. From helping members find the right health plan to automating prior authorization and appointment booking, this episode is a must-listen for any payer, provider, or health tech leader who wants to understand where consumer experience in healthcare is headed next.

In this episode, they talk about:* Healthcare is data-rich, but still behind every major retailer when it comes to personalized member experiences * IBM and Adobe are combining platform capabilities, agentic AI, and change management into one integrated framework * AI agents can now handle health plan selection, appointment booking, and benefits navigation for members * Brokers serving small and mid-size employers are one of the most underserved audiences in healthcare technology * The best AI strategy starts with defining the business problem first, then building the technology around it * Social determinants of health data can now be integrated into personalized member recommendations * Organizations that feel under-resourced are the ideal candidates for AI-orchestrated experiences * The partnership is already live with clients and expanding into provider and life sciences use cases

A Little About Ted and Melissa:Ted Roman, PhD, brings over a decade of expertise in healthcare and life sciences research, management, technology, operations, and digital strategy to Adobe. He is a principal in the Digital Strategy Group, serving organizations globally pursuing more interconnected experiences. Prior to Adobe, Ted served the needs of Highmark Health and McKinsey & Company's clients. He holds a PhD in Computational Biology from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He also earned bachelor's degrees in computer science and mathematics from Case Western Reserve University.

Melissa Geissle is a Partner at IBM, leading Public Market activities, where she applies experience strategy and service design to solve complex innovation challenges and leads a diverse team of designers, researchers, analysts, and strategists to help organizations create meaningful stakeholder connections while improving market outcomes. Over two decades, she has partnered with healthcare, life sciences, government, and nonprofit organizations to define and execute digital health initiatives, applying data-driven insights and ecosystem platform capabilities to redefine strategic marketing, service, and digital engagement functions. Melissa holds a BA in Economics from Bates College and an MBA from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, and has participated in global corporate citizenship initiatives across the UK, South Africa, and Poland.

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In this episode of the Cybersecurity at Vibe series on The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Shreesh Bhattarai, Director of HITRUST at A-LIGN, for a candid and practical conversation about one of the most misunderstood topics in healthcare cybersecurity. With nearly a decade of experience building one of the highest-volume HITRUST assessment practices in the market, Shreesh breaks down the difference between checking a compliance box and actually being secure, walks through the three levels of HITRUST certification, and shares what organizations need to do right now to prepare for an AI-driven future. Whether you are just starting your compliance journey or managing nine certifications with a team of five, this episode has something for you.

In this episode, they talk about:* Compliance is the baseline, not the finish line, and treating it as a once-a-year exercise is a serious mistake * The biggest risk in compliance is not failing the audit, but passing it while still being insecure * HITRUST has three certification levels: E1 (crawl), I1 (walk), and R2 (marathon) * Organizations should choose the certification that matches their risk profile, not just go for the biggest one * The best audits are boring because everything is already embedded in day-to-day operations * HITRUST's "audit once, report multiple times" approach eliminates duplicative work across frameworks * AI governance plans are no longer optional; shadow AI is a real and growing risk * HITRUST now offers an AI cybersecurity assessment to help organizations put guardrails around AI use

A Little About Shreesh:Shreesh Bhattarai is Director and HITRUST Practice Lead at A-LIGN, where he works at the intersection of cybersecurity assurance, regulatory pressure, and business growth. Since 2017, he has led more than 500 HITRUST certifications and assessments across healthcare, digital health, and high-growth technology organizations. Shreesh partners directly with CEOs, CISOs, and executive teams navigating increasing scrutiny from regulators, customers, and third parties. He is known for challenging the “check-the-box” compliance mindset and reframing HITRUST as a strategic trust mechanism — one that strengthens security posture, accelerates enterprise sales, and reduces third-party risk friction. He leads a national team of security professionals within A-LIGN’s HITRUST practice and regularly speaks on the evolution of compliance in healthcare at forums including ViVE, Health and HITRUST Collaborate. Prior to A-LIGN, he was part of the audit practice at Ernst & Young, focusing on SOX 404 and SOC engagements.

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Consumer healthcare is entering a new phase where patients are no longer just looking for convenience. They are looking for affordability, transparency, and provider relationships that actually feel continuous and personalized.

In this episode, Dr. Myra Ahmad, CEO of Mochi Health, discusses how her company is building a comprehensive care platform that goes well beyond GLP-1s and weight management. She explains how Mochi combines providers, pharmacies, and software infrastructure in a marketplace model that gives patients more treatment visibility, supports tailored care plans, and expands access to affordable medications with or without insurance. Dr. Ahmad also shares why price transparency matters more than ever as more patients move into high-deductible plans, how operational efficiency and AI can help keep care affordable, and why the next chapter of telehealth will belong to solutions that reduce friction while preserving the provider-patient relationship.

Tune in and learn how consumer health platforms can make care more accessible, more transparent, and more aligned with what patients actually want.

About Myra Ahmad:

Dr. Myra Ahmad is the CEO of Mochi Health, a telehealth and digital care platform focused on delivering personalized, accessible, and affordable care through certified providers. She earned her MD from the University of Washington School of Medicine and holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Wellesley College. Before leading Mochi Health, Dr. Ahmad built a strong background in research through roles at UCSF, the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and the MIT Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership. Her experience spans clinical research, consumer behavior, and healthcare innovation, giving her a multidimensional perspective on how to expand access while improving the patient experience.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Patients increasingly want healthcare solutions that combine affordability, transparency, and continuity instead of forcing them through fragmented experiences.
• A marketplace model can give providers more flexibility to tailor treatment plans while giving patients more visibility into medication and pharmacy choices.
• Expanding beyond weight management became a natural step once both providers and patients began looking for broader, ongoing care relationships.
• Operational efficiency, automation, and AI can help healthcare companies reduce administrative costs without sacrificing access or affordability.
• The future of telehealth will likely favor solutions that make pricing clear and help patients understand exactly what they are paying for.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Myra Ahmad on LinkedIn.
• Follow Mochi Health on LinkedInand visit their website.

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In this episode of the Interop Now at Vibe series on The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Adam Luff, VP of Product Solutions at Infor, and Jesse Evans, Product Director for Infor FHIR Services, for a deep and practical conversation about why semantic interoperability is the make-or-break factor for AI in healthcare.

With decades of experience between them, Adam and Jesse explain why organizations that skip the data normalization step are building on a foundation that will eventually collapse. From prior authorization workflows to longitudinal patient records, this episode is essential listening for any healthcare leader who wants to understand what AI-ready infrastructure actually looks like.

In this episode, they talk about:* AI cannot make sense of data that is not semantically normalized * Integration wires things up; interoperability makes the data actually usable * A single patient can exist under multiple names and identifiers across dozens of systems * FHIR is not a replacement for HL7, it is the latest version of the HL7 specification * Poor data quality in EHRs is the rule, not the exception, even at well-resourced organizations * Event-driven architecture enables prior authorization workflows to run with no human intervention * Infor's longitudinal patient record viewer pulls data from up to 70 archival systems into one normalized view * The FHIR server is becoming the source of truth, replacing the EHR as the authoritative record * Bed turnover and discharge workflows are where providers are capturing real, measurable ROI right now * A well-governed, normalized data platform unlocks an almost unlimited number of AI use cases

A Little About Adam and Jesse:Adam Luff has been with Infor for six years and has spent about 20 years in the provider space. Before Infor, he worked at a company that manufactures large MRI and CT machinery. He focuses on business impact with provider organizations.

Jesse Evans has been at Infor for about 10 years, first as a Principal Solutions Architect and now as Product Director for Infor FHIR Services. He has been in the healthcare enterprise industry for about 20 years, with deep expertise in integration engines, interoperability, and FHIR standards.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Dan Shur, Chief Product Officer at Carenet Health, to talk about what it really takes to guide patients and members through one of the most frustratingly fragmented systems in the world. With over 30 years in the healthcare industry spanning payers, providers, and health tech & services companies, Dan brings a grounded, pragmatic perspective to the AI conversation. From the myth that everyone wants to talk to a chatbot to the importance of letting humans be human, their conversation is a must-listen for healthcare leaders who want to use AI to drive real outcomes without losing the empathy that puts the “care” in healthcare.

In this episode, they talk about:* Healthcare is the last industry where friction is still considered normal * Carenet combines nurses, operations, data, and technology to navigate care at scale * AI is best used for flagging risk, prioritizing queues, and gathering context before a human steps in * Chatbots are not good at empathy, and healthcare interactions require a whole-person approach * Not every problem needs AI; sometimes you just need a PDF to open * Payers measure engagement, retention, and closed gaps in care; providers measure acquisition and leakage prevention * Fragmentation is getting worse, not better, and navigation solutions have to account for the whole ecosystem * Proactive, precise outreach beats education-only programs that leave patients to figure it out alone * The clinical and administrative sides of care cannot be separated, and solutions need to address both

Dan Shur leads product strategy and innovation at Carenet Health, where he helps healthcare organizations use smarter technology to improve outcomes.

With over 30 years in healthcare and health tech, Dan has worked across health plans, provider systems, and startups. He is always focused on turning big ideas into practical solutions. Before Carenet, he founded Aloha Value Advisory, helping early-stage companies find their footing, and previously served as Chief Product Officer at Quantum Health, where he helped scale and modernize the business.

Throughout his career, including roles at Cigna, EmblemHealth, Progyny, Cloudbreak Health, and GuideWell’s Venture Group, Dan has built a reputation for driving innovation that delivers results.

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What if doctors could see all patient data in one place while AI handled the busywork?

In this episode, Dr. Shez Partovi talks about the urgent need for integrated diagnostics in healthcare. He explains how fragmented imaging systems create inefficiencies and cognitive overload for clinicians, and how a unified platform can deliver a holistic view of the patient journey. He also explores how AI can automate administrative tasks, reduce burnout, and augment clinical decision-making while keeping humans in the loop.

Tune in to learn how AI and integrated diagnostics are reshaping the future of care delivery and clinician experience.

About Dr. Shez Partovi:

Dr. Shez Partovi is a physician-turned-entrepreneur and Fortune 500 healthcare executive who has built his career at the intersection of clinical care, technology, and business transformation. A five-time founder with multiple successful exits, he has consistently focused on scaling impact—from caring for individual patients to leading large, global healthcare operations.

He currently leads a $1.5 billion global healthcare business spanning the United States, China, Europe, and Latin America. Prior to this, he led and rapidly scaled Amazon Web Services’ healthcare and life sciences division to multi-billion-dollar growth, helping organizations harness cloud and emerging technologies to drive meaningful outcomes.

Partovi brings deep expertise in healthcare delivery, enterprise software, and end-to-end P&L leadership, along with a unique combination of clinical training as a board-certified physician and technical depth in computer science and AI. Known for translating complex technologies into measurable business value, he has built and led high-performing teams across environments ranging from early-stage startups to global enterprises.

At the core of his work is a consistent mission: to improve healthcare access and outcomes for more people at scale.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Healthcare data remains siloed across multiple systems.
• Integrated diagnostics provides a single, unified view of all patient data.
• AI reduces cognitive load and administrative burden, including “pajama time.”
• Clinician burnout is a primary driver of AI adoption in healthcare.
• Innovation must be patient-clinician backward, not technology-forward.
• Responsible AI depends on representative data and effective bias mitigation.
• Human oversight remains essential in current AI applications.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Shez Partovi on LinkedIn.
• Follow Philips on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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What happens when some of healthcare’s most trusted workers are still operating outside the systems that document, reimburse, and scale care?

In this episode, Colby Takeda, Co-Founder & CEO of Pear Suite, joins Saul Marquez live at ViVE to explore why community health workers are becoming a more essential part of the healthcare ecosystem. Drawing from his background in senior living and public health, Colby explains how Pear Suite helps community-based providers move beyond paper and spreadsheets with tools to document care, navigate credentialing and contracting, submit claims, and get paid for the value they deliver.

The conversation also looks at Pear Suite’s broader vision for connecting community-based organizations, health plans, and providers in a more coordinated system of care. Colby shares why AI should reduce administrative burden instead of replacing trusted relationships, how co-design with frontline workers has shaped the platform, and where he sees the biggest opportunity to make community-based care more sustainable and accessible at scale.

Tune in to hear how community health workers are becoming more essential to the healthcare ecosystem, and how better infrastructure and smarter technology can make community-based care more sustainable and scalable.

About the Guest:

Colby Takeda is Co-Founder & CEO of Pear Suite. With a background in public health, senior living, and community-based care, he founded the company to help community health workers and community-based organizations better navigate the operational side of delivering meaningful support. Under his leadership, Pear Suite has built a tech-enabled model that combines workflow tools, reimbursement support, credentialing, contracting, and claims infrastructure to help community-based providers work more effectively with health plans and the broader healthcare system.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Why community health workers are becoming more central to modern, whole-person care models.
• How Pear Suite helps community-based providers document care, manage compliance, and get reimbursed for their work.
• Why policy shifts and Medicaid reimbursement are creating new momentum for community-based care.
• How AI can support community health workers by reducing administrative burden without replacing trust-based relationships.
• Why connecting health plans, providers, and community organizations is key to making community-based care sustainable at scale.

Resources:

• Connect with Colby Takeda on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Pear Suite
• Explore Pear Suite for Providers
• Follow Pear Suite on LinkedIn

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What happens when interoperability stops being a buzzword and starts becoming real infrastructure?

In this episode, Therasa Bell, President & Co-Founder of Kno2, joins Saul Marquez at ViVE to unpack why healthcare communication remains one of the industry’s hardest unsolved problems. Drawing on experience across provider, payer, and technology settings, Therasa explains why connecting the full continuum of care, especially post-acute, behavioral health, EMS, dental, vision, and home-based care, is far more complex than most people realize. She shares how Kno2 is building a communication infrastructure that lets organizations connect once and communicate everywhere, without forcing a massive overhaul of existing technology stacks.

Tune in to hear how policy, infrastructure, and ethical governance are converging to bring more of healthcare online in a secure, practical, and meaningful way.

About the Guest:

Therasa Bell is President & Co-Founder of Kno2. A software engineer by trade, she has spent her career working across multiple healthcare settings, including provider, payer, and health IT environments. That cross-functional perspective led her to focus on one of healthcare’s most persistent challenges: breaking down barriers to communication across the continuum of care. At Kno2, she has helped build infrastructure that supports secure, scalable information exchange across providers, payers, technology vendors, and historically overlooked care settings.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Why healthcare interoperability is far more complex than common comparisons to banking or ATM networks suggest.
• How Kno2’s communication infrastructure helps technology vendors connect once and communicate across the healthcare ecosystem.
• Why post-acute care, behavioral health, dental, vision, EMS, and other overlooked settings are critical to a truly connected continuum.
• Why trust in modern data exchange depends on governance, ethics, and responsible network behavior, not just baseline compliance.
• How federal initiatives, CMS-aligned efforts, and market pressure could accelerate national exchange participation over the next 12 to 24 months.

Resources:

• Connect with Therasa Bell on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Kno2
• Explore the Kno2 Communication API
• Follow Kno2 on LinkedIn

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What if the real power of AI in healthcare isn’t the technology itself, but how we apply it responsibly and intentionally?

In this episode, Ajoy Ranga, Chief Digital Officer of Healthcare at UST Global, and Ashok Chennuru, Chief Data & Digital AI Transformation Officer at the Digital Platforms and Artificial Intelligence Office at Elevance Health/Carelon, discuss how their partnership between UST and Elevance Health is leveraging AI, data, and digital transformation to improve healthcare outcomes and consumer experience. They emphasize that scaling AI responsibly requires strong governance, human oversight, and a clear stance against using AI to deny care. Both highlight that high-quality, actionable data is foundational, but must be practical, cost-effective, and usable even when imperfect. Ultimately, they stress that success in healthcare innovation comes from starting with user experience, rapidly prototyping solutions, and fostering a mindset of continuous learning and experimentation.

Tune in to hear how Elevance Health and UST are balancing innovation with responsibility to unlock AI’s true potential in healthcare.

About Ajoy Ranga:

Ajoy Ranga is the Chief Digital Officer of Healthcare at UST. Ajoy Ranga is a distinguished technology executive with over 20 years of experience driving digital transformation in healthcare. As former Vice President of Product Engineering at Elevance Health, he led the strategy and delivery of all external-facing digital channels, impacting millions of members and partners. Ajoy is known for pioneering industry-first innovations—including AI-powered tools, conversational interfaces, and cloud-native platforms—that improved member engagement and operational efficiency. With deep expertise in product-centric engineering, mobile-first design, and scalable architectures, he has built and led high-performing global teams while advancing enterprise agility, AI adoption, and cloud modernization.

About Ashok Chennuru:

Ashok Chennuru is the Chief Data & Digital AI Transformation Officer at the Digital Platforms and Artificial Intelligence Office at Elevance Health/Carelon. In his role, is responsible for driving healthcare innovation through the transformative power of data and AI across the organization. In recent years, Ashok has led transformational efforts to revolutionize the business, develop foundational AI platforms, enhance operations, drive exceptional experiences, and develop an AI-enabled workforce. Ashok also spearheads much of Elevance Health’s clinical and payer-provider integration efforts, including Health OS - an interoperability platform that connects provider, payer, and member data - as well as value-based platforms, population health management, and provider analytics.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Responsible AI must be governed, monitored, and continuously evaluated.
• AI should augment care decisions, not restrict access to care.
• Actionable, integrated data matters more than perfectly clean data.
• Experience-first design leads to faster alignment and better outcomes.
• Lifelong learning and experimentation are essential for success in modern healthcare technology.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ajoy Ranga on LinkedIn.
• Follow UST Global on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Connect with and follow Ashok Chennuru on LinkedIn.
• Follow Elevance Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance and Andy Fanning, the CEO & Co-founder of Optura.ai, sit down to talk about why so many healthcare organizations are making AI headlines without actually transforming anything. Andy breaks down how Optura helps payers, providers, and life sciences companies move from a scattered list of AI ideas to a prioritized, production-ready roadmap with measurable return on investment. From crowdsourcing use cases across an entire organization to aligning AI investments with executive strategy, this episode is packed with practical insight for any healthcare leader who wants AI to actually move the needle.

In this episode, they talk about:* Most healthcare leaders feel they are not moving fast enough with AI, despite the headlines * Shadow AI is just an unmet need, and governance is the answer * Crowdsourcing AI ideas from the bottom up reveals hotspots that leadership often cannot see * Aligning AI use cases to existing strategic initiatives makes adoption dramatically easier * Point solutions do not share context, and that missing context is where the real value lives * Return on AI investment requires defining what value actually means for your specific organization * Agentic AI is the next big wave, and organizations need to decide where they sit on the risk spectrum * Trust at the frontline is built by showing workers how AI follows their own standard operating procedures * If finance cannot see the ROI, they will conclude that AI does not work

A little about Andy:

Andy is the Co-Founder and CEO of Optura.ai, where he's on a mission to help healthcare organizations stop dabbling in AI and start seeing real returns from it. His team built an AI Orchestration Platform designed from the ground up for healthcare, giving organizations the infrastructure, trust, and clarity to turn AI ambition into measurable ROI.

The platform does it all in one place: spotting high-value AI opportunities, building and deploying custom agents, unlocking data without the ETL headache, auto-generating workflows from existing SOPs, and tracking return on AI investment in real time. No black boxes, no guesswork. Just AI that actually proves its worth.

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Virtual care is no longer just about access. It is now becoming the infrastructure layer that helps health systems reduce fragmentation, strengthen workplace safety, and scale digital care more intelligently.

In this episode, Tammy Cress, Senior Vice President of Clinical Solutions and Innovation at Teladoc Health, discusses how health systems can move beyond fragmented telehealth strategies and start building more sustainable, integrated models of digital care. She explains how Teladoc is layering responsible AI onto its virtual care infrastructure through its Clarity solution, which helps sense, synthesize, and route the right information to the right care team member at the right time. Tammy also shares why workplace safety is one of the most urgent and practical use cases for these tools, how fragmented digital investments continue to drain staff and budgets, and why strategy, governance, and thoughtful alignment matter more than ever as organizations move from pilots to scalable transformation.

Tune in and learn how health systems can rethink virtual care and AI adoption in ways that are more proactive, sustainable, and grounded in what truly matters.

About Tammy Cress:
Tammy Cress, RN, MSN, is Senior Vice President of Clinical Solutions and Innovation at Teladoc Health, where she leads the development of healthcare solutions designed to meet real market needs and support growth across complex care environments. A nurse by training and a military veteran, Tammy brings deep experience in telehealth strategy, operations, and innovation. Before her current role, she held multiple leadership positions at Teladoc, Providence Health & Services, and Swedish, where she helped design, scale, and operationalize telehealth programs across multi-state health systems. Her background spans clinical operations, business operations, governance, product strategy, and service delivery, with a consistent focus on aligning technology investments to patient needs, frontline realities, and long-term organizational success.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Fragmented telehealth investments can create unnecessary strain for care teams, even when individual tools appear to deliver good results.
• Responsible AI can help reduce bedside cognitive burden by sensing what is happening in care environments and sending the right alerts to the right people.
• Workplace safety is a major healthcare challenge, and smarter room-based technology can help organizations become more proactive instead of reactive.
• AI and virtual care programs are more likely to scale when leadership aligns governance structures instead of treating digital tools as separate initiatives.
• Health systems need a clear strategy, stronger alignment, and a fresh look at prior investments if they want to move from pilots to sustainable transformation.

Resources:

• Connect with Tammy Cress on LinkedIn.
• Follow Teladoc Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Gary Salman, CEO and co-founder of Black Talon Security, for a passionate and informative conversation about the growing ransomware crisis in healthcare. With over 30 years in health tech and a background as a part-time law enforcement captain, Gary brings a unique perspective to cybersecurity. He draws parallels between street-level crime and digital attacks.

Whether you lead a large hospital system or a small specialty practice, this episode is packed with practical insights on how to assess your cyber risk, respond to an active breach, and build a culture of leadership accountability before disaster strikes.

In this episode, they talk about:* About 90% of breached healthcare organizations end up paying the ransom * Small practices are just as targeted as large health systems, especially those with strong insurance policies * Lack of visibility across the full attack surface is the most common security blind spot * Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is replacing outdated point-in-time assessments * Known Exploitable Vulnerabilities (KEVs) are a primary attacker entry point, yet most orgs patch them too slowly * AI is helping hackers build malicious tools faster and with less technical skill * During a breach, deciding how quickly to shut down the network is the most critical early call * Most IT providers never deliver a documented risk report to leadership, leaving executives in the dark * Gary's cyber risk grading tool gives non-technical leaders a real-time security score per facility * Documented, improving risk scores can reduce regulatory penalties after a breach * Most ransomware attacks are preventable with proper patching, configuration, and monitoring

A Little About Gary:Gary Salman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Black Talon Security, a leading innovator in cybersecurity solutions for healthcare. With an impressive 32-year career in healthcare technology, Gary is both a seasoned security expert and visionary. In the late 1990s, he developed one of the earliest cloud-based dental practice management systems that was acquired by a publicly traded company in 2002. Gary also has a unique background, as he is still actively involved in law enforcement as a Deputy Sheriff.

Under his leadership, Black Talon monitors and secures approximately 65,000 devices worldwide. The company provides cybersecurity services to a wide range of clients, from small practices to some of the largest healthcare organizations in the United States, including many of the top 20 Dental Service Organizations (DSOs).

As a respected authority in his field, Gary is a frequent lecturer at major national dental association meetings. Black Talon's services are endorsed by numerous state and national associations, affirming his expertise and influence. His work has been highlighted in over 100 prestigious dental and medical publications, reinforcing his status as a thought leader in healthcare cybersecurity. Gary has also trained tens of thousands of healthcare professionals on best practices for securing their practices and clinics.

Beyond preventative measures, Black Talon also specializes in cyberattack remediation, successfully guiding hundreds of healthcare organizations through recovery from security breaches. Their expertise is often enlisted by leading law firms and cyber insurance carriers, underscoring their prominence in the field.

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Healthcare organizations cannot afford to chase every new technology trend without first building the foundation to make those tools effective, scalable, and financially sustainable.

In this episode, Jeff Thomas, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Sentara Health, discusses how his team is approaching cloud transformation, AI readiness, and cost management across a vertically integrated payer-provider organization. He explains why technology decisions must ultimately support better care delivery, how tech debt continues to slow innovation, and why data accessibility is the real prerequisite for meaningful AI adoption. Jeff also shares how Sentara has reduced system sprawl, flattened infrastructure costs while growing, and built a more resilient technology environment that supports both operational efficiency and clinician presence. He closes by emphasizing a point many leaders overlook: no technology transformation succeeds without strong change management.

Tune in and learn how healthcare leaders can build a smarter, more disciplined path to innovation without losing sight of the people they serve.

About Jeff Thomas:

Jeff Thomas is Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Sentara Health, where he leads technology strategy, cloud transformation, and infrastructure modernization for one of the region’s major integrated healthcare organizations. With more than 20 years of experience across global infrastructure, operations, enterprise architecture, and application development, Jeff has led large-scale transformation efforts across healthcare, government, consulting, higher education, and commercial enterprises. Before joining Sentara, he held senior technology leadership roles at Smithfield Foods and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is known for his focus on cloud consolidation, operational efficiency, and the use of technology to improve service delivery while reducing costs. Jeff holds an MBA from The College of William and Mary, a master’s degree from Syracuse University, and a BA from Brigham Young University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Technology investments only create value when they improve care delivery, reduce friction, and help clinicians stay present with patients.
• AI readiness depends less on hype and more on whether organizations can make their data accessible, timely, and usable for real-world inference.
• Reducing tech debt and system sprawl creates the capacity organizations need to innovate without letting infrastructure costs spiral upward.
• Healthcare technology leaders must manage IT like a business, balancing innovation with financial discipline, operational efficiency, and measurable outcomes.
• Successful transformation requires more than new tools, since lasting progress depends on helping people adapt to change thoughtfully.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jeff Thomas on LinkedIn.
• Follow Sentarah Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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Specialty care remains one of the biggest black boxes in healthcare, creating delays, unnecessary referrals, and major frustration for both patients and primary care providers.

In this episode, Reza Sanai, co-CEO and co-founder of PicassoMD, discusses how his team is helping primary care providers access specialist expertise in near-real time while also improving the referral process when specialty care is truly needed. He explains why specialty access often breaks down at the point of care, how fragmented provider data makes navigation more difficult, and why better coordination between primary care and specialists can reduce unnecessary ER visits, improve triage, and speed access to the right care. Reza also shares how PicassoMD is supporting rural and underserved communities, why visibility into the patient journey matters so much, and how thoughtful partnerships are essential to making innovation work in real healthcare settings.

Tune in and learn how smarter specialist access could help close one of healthcare’s most persistent care coordination gaps.

About Reza Sanai:

Reza Sanai, MD, FACC, is the co-CEO and founder of PicassoMD, a platform that gives primary care providers real-time access to a network of value-based specialists across major disciplines. Through curbside consultations and referral support, PicassoMD helps reduce unnecessary referrals and ER visits while improving care transitions, patient experience, and outcomes. In addition to leading PicassoMD, Reza has served in advisory roles with Mighty Health and VIDA Fitness & Aura Spa, and was previously a co-managing partner at Cardiocare LLC. He earned his Doctor of Medicine from The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, where he was a member of the AOA Honor Society.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Specialty care often functions like a black box, making it harder for primary care providers to get timely input and coordinate the next step for patients.
• Real-time access to specialists can help primary care providers make better decisions, reduce unnecessary referrals, and avoid preventable ER visits.
• Referral quality depends on more than specialty type alone, since factors like language, mission fit, geography, and appointment availability all shape patient access.
• Rural and underserved communities benefit when technology connects providers and patients with specialist expertise that may not be available locally.
• Successful healthcare innovation depends not just on the product itself, but on strong partnerships and an iterative approach to implementation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Reza Sanai on LinkedIn or reach out via email.
• Follow PicassoMD on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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Healthcare payments are still far too fragmented, creating friction for both patients and providers at one of the most important moments in the care journey.

In this episode, Katie Whalen, Head of Strategic Partnerships for Merchant Solutions at Fiserv, discusses how Clover PracticePay is helping modernize payment workflows for small and mid-sized healthcare providers. She explains why healthcare remains underserved when it comes to efficient payment infrastructure, how disconnected systems create unnecessary back-office work, and why a better payment experience can also improve transparency, cash flow, and patient satisfaction. Katie also shares how Fiserv is bringing lessons from retail, restaurants, and other service industries into healthcare, using connected payment tools, claims reconciliation, and smarter patient-facing technology to reduce friction across the entire process.

Tune in and learn how better payment experiences could become a powerful driver of transformation in healthcare!

About Katie Whalen:

Katie Whalen is a payments and partnerships leader with deep experience across financial services, digital payments, and merchant solutions. She currently serves as Head of SMB Sales & Partnerships for Merchant Solutions at Fiserv, where she helps drive growth and innovation for businesses navigating an increasingly digital economy. Before stepping into this role, she spent nearly seven years at Fiserv as Senior Vice President for North America Issuer Processing. Her career also includes leadership roles at Citi, where she focused on global digital payments strategy, and at American Express, where she worked in strategy, operations, and business development for enterprise growth and digital partnerships. Earlier in her career, she held product leadership roles at Thomson Reuters and worked in public service through the City of New York and the U.S. Senate. Katie holds a BA from Cornell University and an MBA from NYU Stern, bringing together policy, strategy, and business expertise.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Healthcare payment systems are often fragmented, forcing providers to work across disconnected tools for claims, billing, and collections. This creates unnecessary administrative burden and slows down both staff workflows and payment reconciliation.
• Small and mid-sized healthcare practices have historically lacked access to the kind of payment technology already common in retail and other service industries. Modern platforms can help close that gap by making transactions easier for both practices and patients.
• A better patient payment experience depends on more than just accepting cards or digital payments. Transparency, convenience, and clear financial communication all play a role in helping patients feel more confident and informed.
• When payment collection and payer reconciliation are handled in one connected system, practices can reduce back-office friction and improve operational efficiency. This integration can also support healthier cash flow and a smoother overall workflow.
• Improving healthcare payments is not just about convenience at the point of transaction. It also creates opportunities for stronger information exchange across the broader care ecosystem, helping reduce inefficiencies over time.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Katie Whalen on LinkedIn.
• Follow Fiserve on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Adam Kamor, Co-founder and Head of Engineering at Tonic.ai, to tackle one of the most pressing challenges in healthcare's AI adoption: what to do with sensitive data you legally cannot access.

Adam breaks down how Tonic AI helps healthcare organizations de-identify and synthesize unstructured data so they can train AI models safely, stay HIPAA compliant, and actually unlock the value sitting behind their firewalls.

If your organization is eager to build AI-powered workflows but unsure how to handle patient data responsibly, this episode is a must-listen.

In this episode, they talk about:* Most valuable healthcare data is too sensitive to use for AI training without de-identification * HIPAA is actually an advantage because it gives organizations a clear roadmap for safe data use * Tonic Textual replaces PHI in unstructured documents with realistic synthetic values * Synthetic data must closely mirror real data for AI models to perform well in the field * If a model is trained on PHI, it risks regurgitating patient information in outputs * Privacy compliance should be addressed at the start of an AI project, not as an afterthought * Many organizations do not realize solutions already exist to help them use their data safely

A Little About Adam:Adam manages the team creating Tonic Textual, Tonic.ai's platform for unstructured data redaction and synthesis. He has spent the last 12 years as a leader at the intersection of data privacy, AI, and software engineering.

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Artificial intelligence in healthcare isn’t just about futuristic diagnostics or robots assisting surgeons. It’s also transforming the operational backbone of the healthcare industry.

In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Anand Kumar, Vice President of Healthcare at Genpact, to explore how AI-driven automation is reshaping everything from payer operations to member experience. Together, they unpack how healthcare organizations can cut through the “AI buzz,” identify meaningful use cases, and drive measurable outcomes. From contact center automation to actuarial modeling and prior authorization workflows, this episode dives into the real-world impact of AI and how human expertise and intelligent agents can work together to improve both operational efficiency and patient experience.

If you’re a healthcare leader trying to navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape, this conversation offers practical insights into where the technology is delivering value today and what’s coming next.

In this episode, they talk about:* Healthcare organizations are adopting AI-first strategies to improve efficiency and operational outcomes * Successful AI transformation requires aligning people, processes, and technology * AI tools are helping contact centers resolve patient and member issues faster * Many healthcare organizations are seeing 20–40% improvements in operational efficiency * AI is helping actuaries analyze large datasets and identify trends more quickly * Human experts and intelligent agents are working together to handle complex healthcare decisions * Leaders should prioritize partners who demonstrate proven outcomes and operational expertise

A Little About Anand:Anand Kumar is a distinguished leader in healthcare and technology, combining deep clinical expertise with advanced digital innovation. As Vice President at Genpact, Anand drives transformative strategies that integrate AI-driven solutions, digital platforms, and operational excellence to deliver measurable outcomes for global clients.

Holding degrees as a Medical Doctor (MD), Chartered Accountant (CA), and a Ph.D. in Computing and Artificial Intelligence, Anand brings a unique multidisciplinary perspective to solving complex healthcare challenges. His work spans data engineering, automation, and advanced analytics, enabling payers and providers to reimagine care delivery and optimize patient engagement.

At HLTH USA 2025, Anand is shaping conversations around generative AI in healthcare, population health strategies, and next-gen digital ecosystems. His leadership reflects a commitment to innovation, collaboration, and patient-centric solutions that redefine the future of health.

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In this episode of the Cybersecurity at ViVE series on The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Chad Alessi, Managing Director of Cybersecurity at CTG, for a wide-ranging conversation about what it really takes to protect healthcare organizations in today's threat landscape. With a background spanning chemical engineering, the U.S. Marines, energy sector Operational Technology security, and IT consulting, Chad brings a unique cross-industry perspective to healthcare cybersecurity. From the difference between cybersecurity and cyber resilience to the rise of AI-powered attacks, this episode is packed with practical insights for healthcare leaders who want to stay ahead of what is coming.

In this episode, they talk about how:* Cyber resilience focuses on operational continuity when an attack happens, not just prevention * Breaches resolved within 200 days can save organizations over $1 million * Bad actors often sit idle inside networks for months, collecting data before launching an attack * Baseline requirements are identity-first security, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) and privileged access management * Human-only Security Operations Center (SOC) models are too slow to keep up with today's automated, AI-powered attacks * CTG uses Microsoft's Unified Security Operations (SecOps) platform to eliminate tool sprawl and improve response time * Zero-trust architecture is expanding from department-level to enterprise-wide in healthcare * New HIPAA regulations now require provable network segmentation for legacy medical devices * AI-assisted security operations will continue to grow in the next few years

A Little About Chad:As CTG's Managing Director of Cybersecurity, Chad Alessi leverages decades of experience in technology, cybersecurity, and operational strategy across enterprise and mid-market sectors to meet the evolving cybersecurity needs of clients in the U.S. During his time in IT consulting, Chad was instrumental in driving IT transformation in the company's regulated pipeline and gas processing business units. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering, an MBA from the University of Alabama, an MS in Information Systems with a concentration in Information Security from Syracuse University, and post-graduate certifications in leadership, full stack development, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. Chad is known for his strong work ethic, integrity, resourcefulness, and service-based leadership, which he attributes to his time in the U.S. Marine Corps.

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How can health systems help nurses confidently adopt and trust AI? We’ll explore how nurse-led design, clear guardrails (policy, consent, privacy), and intentional change management strategies help when implementing AI solutions that reduce cognitive burden, elevate the patient experience, and meet frontline expectations for safety, control, and transparency.

In this episode of the AI at ViVE series on the BEAT podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Angie Curry, BSN, RN, CCDS, Chief Nursing Informatics Officer at Microsoft, to discuss how ambient AI is finally giving nurses the technological support they deserve. They chat about everything from the documentation burden nurses face, to the importance of workflow fit in driving adoption, to the critical role of human oversight in building trust with AI. If you're a nurse leader, clinical informatics professional, or healthcare innovator thinking about ambient AI, this episode is a must-listen.

In this episode, they talk about:* Microsoft developed the first ambient AI solution designed specifically for nurses, integrated with Epic's mobile Rover app * Nurses spend roughly 40% of their shift on documentation, making them a prime candidate for ambient technology * The solution captures spoken nurse-patient interactions and converts them into flow sheet-ready documentation for nurse review * Nurses remain in full control, reviewing and approving all AI-generated content before it enters the patient record * Trust in AI adoption is less about the technology itself and more about whether it fits naturally into existing nursing workflows * Ambient listening captures "invisible care" that nurses often skip documenting due to time constraints * Organizations have seen success with piloting on dedicated innovation units before scaling system-wide * Documentation habits and language vary across organizations so designing solutions with nurses rather than for them is critical

A Little About Angie:As a Chief Nursing Informatics Officer at Microsoft, Angie is passionate about transforming the way nurses experience technology. Drawing on years of bedside experience, she understands firsthand the challenges of documentation and the profound impact it has on patient care. Her mission is simple: to help nurses reclaim time for what matters most, caring for patients.

Angie works at the intersection of clinical expertise and innovation, partnering with healthcare leaders to design solutions that feel intuitive, reduce cognitive load, and restore the joy of nursing. From ambient AI to workflow optimization, she believes technology should empower—never overwhelm—the caregivers who keep health systems running.

Two Sentence Summary of Podcast Focus: How can health systems help nurses confidently adopt and trust AI? We’ll explore how nurse-led design, clear guardrails (policy, consent, privacy), and intentional change management strategies can help when implementing AI solutions that reduce cognitive burden, elevate the patient experience, and meet frontline expectations for safety, control, and transparency.

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By 2030, prior authorization as we know it will be unrecognizable. The convergence of CMS-0057, WISeR pilots, and nationwide interoperability mandates—paired with breakthroughs in AI—will transform prior authorization from a costly administrative burden into an intelligent, patient-centered clearance process.

Jeremy Friese, MD, founder and CEO of Humata Health, joins Sandy Vance to talk about one of the most frustrating problems in healthcare: prior authorization. Luckily, AI may finally be the tool that can fix it. Drawing on his experience as a physician and healthcare executive, Jeremy explains how automation, interoperability, and smarter clinical data workflows can reduce denials, improve efficiency, and help patients get care faster. Their chat explores the changing industry, what still needs to happen, and why the future of prior authorization may look very different by the end of the decade.

In this episode, they talk about:* Prior authorization is a major driver of provider burnout and financial loss in healthcare. * Solving the problem requires both interoperability and advanced clinical intelligence. * Real-world interoperability is still messy, often involving portals, APIs, and fax. * AI can now extract the right clinical evidence directly from patient records to improve approvals. * Automation is cutting physician peer-to-peer reviews by about half. * Health systems are seeing strong ROI through denial reduction and efficiency gains. * Getting prior authorization right upfront can recover millions in lost revenue. * Gold card programs exist, but need better automation to work effectively. * The future is mostly automated approvals happening behind the scenes. * By 2030, most prior authorization decisions could be handled by computers, not humans.

A Little About Jeremy:Jeremy Friese, MD is the Founder and CEO of Humata Health, where he leads the development of AI solutions designed to simplify prior authorization and reduce friction across healthcare. A physician by training, he spent nearly two decades at Mayo Clinic as an interventional radiologist and healthcare leader before moving into entrepreneurship, where he has built and scaled multiple healthcare technology companies focused on aligning providers and payers. His work today centers on using automation and AI to help health systems operate more efficiently while improving patient access to care.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Frank Toscano, the new Senior Vice President of Product and Engineering at Amplify. They talk about the continued relevance of fax technology in healthcare, the challenges of interoperability, and how Amplify aims to streamline workflows to improve patient care. Frank highlights the importance of integrating fax technology with modern systems to enhance efficiency and reduce friction.

In this episode, they talk about:* Fax remains an important part of healthcare communication * Many interoperability challenges come down to integration and mapping * Prior authorizations often still depend on fax * How Amplify supports healthcare organizations of all sizes * Streamlined patient referrals can improve care delivery * Healthcare is an interconnected ecosystem that affects outcomes * Maximizing existing technology boosts operational efficiency * AI helps connect data for better decision-making * Effective solutions start with understanding real workflows * Eliminating legacy technology isn’t always the best option * The future blends proven methods with modern technology

A Little About Frank:Frank Toscano is a nationally recognized product and technology leader with more than 20 years of experience modernizing how healthcare organizations exchange documents, automate workflows, and connect systems through AI-driven interoperability. As Senior Vice President of Product & Engineering at Amplify, he serves as the company’s public-facing technology voice and strategic advisor, guiding product innovation, engineering excellence, and enterprise integrations. Previously, as Vice President of Product Management at Consensus Cloud Solutions (eFax Corporate), Frank led the transformation of legacy fax into cloud-native, HIPAA-compliant interoperability services, delivering FHIR integration, TEFCA-aligned exchange, AI-powered document processing, and large-scale workflow automation used by thousands of healthcare organizations. A named inventor with multiple U.S. patents in secure communication and intelligent document workflows, Frank has also held senior leadership roles at Cellebrite, Cleo, and Retarus, consistently bridging deep technical architecture with real-world clinical and operational needs to reduce manual burden and improve care coordination.

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In this episode, Rajkumar Thirunavukkarasu, SVP & Head of Healthcare Provider Business at Tech Mahindra , and LaDonna Sweeten, EHR Practice Lead at The HCI Group, a fully owned subsidiary of Tech Mahindra, discuss how health systems can transform their EHR from a static system of record into a dynamic performance engine.

The conversation also highlights a unique market differentiator: the combined strength of The HCI Group’s deep EHR and provider-focused expertise with Tech Mahindra’s global technology scale, engineering depth, automation capabilities, and innovation track record. Together, this partnership brings end-to-end capabilities—from EHR optimization and managed services to advanced data engineering, AI integration, and enterprise digital transformation—delivered at scale with measurable outcomes.

Listeners will gain insight into how leading organizations are moving beyond implementation toward sustained transformation—leveraging global innovation, cross-industry engineering excellence, and healthcare-specific expertise to drive lasting value.

In this episode, they talk about:* HCI Group grew from staff augmentation to a full solutions provider after the Tech Mahindra acquisition * Many providers aren't fully utilizing EHR systems despite heavy investment * Providers face simultaneous pressure from workforce shortages, shrinking margins, and new regulations * HCI and Tech Mahindra use each org's own data to tailor strategy rather than a one-size-fits-all approach * AI is set to significantly disrupt revenue cycle management * Ambient listening technology is reducing the clinician documentation burden * End-to-end workflow reimagination is recommended over isolated AI pilots * Patients now expect the same seamless experience from healthcare as they get from retailers * Houston Methodist's new campus was cited as a model for automated, frictionless clinical workflows * Value-based care is now mandatory, making urgent AI adoption a necessity not a choice

A Little About Rajkumar and LaDonna:Raj T is a dynamic and accomplished business leader with over two decades of global experience in managing high-impact client relationships and driving growth in the healthcare technology space. Currently, Raj is serving as SVP & Head of Healthcare Provider Business at Tech Mahindra, where he leads strategy, delivery, and innovation for some of the world’s leading healthcare organizations. Raj's collaborative leadership style and results-driven mindset have consistently delivered value to clients, making him a trusted advisor in the healthcare technology ecosystem. Raj is passionate about harnessing technology to improve patient outcomes, streamline provider operations, and enable data-driven decision-making across the care continuum.

LoDonna leads enterprise healthcare technology strategy and delivery for health systems nationwide. She specializes in EHR transformation, workflow optimization, managed services, and digital enablement, partnering with executive leaders to ensure technology investments drive measurable clinical, operational, and financial impact. LaDonna uses data and best-practice benchmarks to identify performance gaps, prioritize high-value opportunities, and design targeted improvement roadmaps. She then applies structured governance and performance monitoring to mitigate risk and ensure intended benefits are realized. Her passion is helping provider organizations transform their EHR from a system of record into a data-informed performance engine that supports fiscal sustainability and provider resilience. She understands that in today’s margin-compressed and highly regulated environment, optimization has to be measurable and sustainable, not just aspirational.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Hari Bala, the Chief Technology Officer for Health Information Systems at Solventum. Together, they explore how healthcare organizations can build trust and confidence around AI adoption, drawing on insights from Solventum’s recent global survey of healthcare professionals.

The research highlights a growing demand for AI alongside concerns that innovation could increase pressure on clinicians. Hari shares practical perspectives on how AI can support rather than overshadow providers, improve efficiency without compromising quality, and help organizations introduce new technologies in ways that feel safe and sustainable. Listen to learn how leaders can ensure clinicians feel comfortable incorporating AI into their daily workflows while improving the overall patient experience.

In this episode, they talk about:* The three key trust factors and why trust is the foundation for AI adoption * Why trust is the currency of successful implementation * The role of AI in improving patient care and clinician efficiency * How speed and quality can improve together rather than compete * Key findings from Solventum’s healthcare AI adoption survey * The cultural and mindset shifts required for successful implementation * The impact of AI on the patient experience * How leaders can evaluate potential technology partners

A Little About Hari:Hari Bala joined Solventum as Chief Technology Officer for Health Information Systems in May 2025. He brings more than 25 years of experience building scalable, distributed systems using generative AI, data science, analytics, and machine learning across healthcare, cloud, and security.

Before Solventum, Hari led AI, data, analytics, and cloud transformation initiatives at GE Healthcare and Oracle Cerner. At Oracle, he helped establish the AI Services organization and led development of the Health Data Intelligence and Analytics platform, a near real-time, cloud-based population health solution, while advancing AI and machine learning tools for clinical use.

Earlier in his career, Hari spent nearly 19 years at Microsoft in leadership roles across Azure and several core enterprise technologies.

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Today, host Sandy Vance sits down with Jeff McCool, the AVP of Healthcare Conversational AI at Amelia. Join a discussion with SoundHound AI, the leader in conversational intelligence, to learn how AI agents are helping healthcare companies overcome challenges like improving patient care and streamlining operations. Hear how the SoundHound Amelia Platform lets you build AI agents that understand, reason, and act so you can create the most seamless conversational experience.

In this episode, they talk about:

• The types of healthcare organizations Amelia partners with
• How Amelia’s platform approach supports health systems in multiple ways beyond a single tool
• Working with clients to establish guardrails for safe and effective AI adoption
• How conversational AI is expected to evolve in the coming years
• Real-world implementation success stories and lessons learned
• What differentiates SoundHound AI’s agents and the broader ecosystem created through partnerships
• Advice for healthcare leaders at provider and payer organizations navigating next steps with AI

A Little About Jeff:Jeff McCool works at the intersection of healthcare and AI, helping organizations use conversational technology to solve real operational challenges. He is AVP of Healthcare Conversational AI at Amelia, where he partners with health systems to deploy AI-powered virtual agents that improve patient and employee experiences while reducing friction in everyday workflows. His focus is on practical AI adoption, what works in production, how teams implement it, and how to scale responsibly.

Previously, Jeff held leadership roles at Ciox and Datavant Health, leading digital growth initiatives centered on interoperability, APIs, and healthcare data exchange. His background combines healthcare operations, technology, and go-to-market strategy. Jeff holds an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and a degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance and Ted Dinsmore discuss the ever-evolving role of AI in healthcare, industry trends, challenges, and solutions. They explore the concept of agentic AI and the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which aims to enhance data integration and efficiency in healthcare systems. They also highlight the importance of building trust in AI solutions, particularly in rural healthcare settings. Listen in to learn how SphereGen is addressing these challenges through innovative AI implementation approaches.

In this episode, they talk about:* Latest AI trend: agentic AI and bots, and MCP in the healthcare industry * MCP allows us to speed up that integration * Trust is a huge issue when you're having an impact on the patient * The benefits of using MCP for hospitals and patients * The concerns about the changes and cuts to rural healthcare * The most common use cases when transitioning: eligibility, prior authorization, and denials management * The effects on how healthcare systems are doing business with EHRs * Next big use cases and what’s coming up next * Solving challenges in rural healthcare over the next few years * How rural healthcare and homecare are tied * At the end of the day, it’s all about how AI can help free up time for people

A Little About Ted:Ted Dinsmore is the President of SphereGen Technologies, located in New Haven, Connecticut, Toronto, Canada, and Pune, India. SphereGen is a software consulting firm that develops and supports custom software solutions for clients in AI and Automation, Application Development, and Extended Reality (AR, VR, MR). His experience in the world of IT spans over 30 years.

When Ted started his first consulting firm, he became invested in developing and supporting Microsoft solutions for large multinational companies. Wanting to stay at the forefront of emerging technologies, his current company, SphereGen, embraces the world of AI/Automation and Mixed Reality (MR). SphereGen focuses on improving processes for healthcare organizations by leveraging innovative technologies, along with partners UiPath and Microsoft, to solve business problems.

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AI is revolutionizing how health information is managed. Utilizing sophisticated algorithms, it can assist professionals in making more informed decisions. For instance, optical character recognition (OCR) can read and interpret medical records, identifying potential compliance issues and ensuring every page represents the correct patient.

In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Anupriyo Chakravarti, the Chief Technology and Product Officer at Verisma, about how healthcare organizations can use intelligent automation to reduce risk and uncover compliance gaps in order to free staff to work at the top of their license.

In this episode, they talk about:* What Verisma can do for healthcare organizations * Use case examples * Some of the risks Verisma mitigates by finding missteps like unauthorized disclosures * AI is taking over the world of informatics * Enabling people to work at the top of their license is critical * People are not anti-AI, they are anti-opacity

A Little About Anupriyo:Anupriyo Chakravarti joined Verisma Systems, Inc. in 2017 as the Senior Vice President of Research and Development. Anupriyo brings 25 years of experience as a highly effective leader in healthcare IT product management and software development for Fortune 500 companies and startups. Anupriyo joined Verisma after serving as vice president of product management and marketing at McKesson, where he led the product management and marketing functions of the Extended Care Services (ECS) business unit. Before McKesson, he worked for 11 years at Surgical Information Systems (SIS), where he led software development, and ultimately product management, to deliver solutions for the surgery and anesthesia departments at health systems and ambulatory surgery centers. Prior to working with SIS, Anupriyo worked for Arthur Andersen, Ryder Dedicated Logistics, IBM and TATA Motors. Anupriyo has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from IIT Roorkee in India.

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Advances in data interoperability, democratized cloud access, and responsible AI governance are reshaping what is possible in healthcare innovation. In this episode, host Sandy Vance welcomes Jim Ducharme, Chief Technology Officer of ClearDATA, to discuss each of these forces impacting healthcare, from improving care through connected data, to empowering teams with greater cloud access, to building the policies and controls required to govern AI responsibly.

Their conversation highlights the importance of secure, scalable infrastructure as healthcare organizations adopt AI and expand data sharing. Jim shares practical insights on balancing innovation with risk management, building trust in cloud environments, and establishing governance frameworks that support compliance.

In this episode, they talk about:* ClearDATA’s vision and the organizations they serve * Technologies and solutions designed to protect sensitive patient data * Understanding the financial and operational risks of cloud security failures * How cloud democratization is making advanced technology more accessible * The role of a secure cloud baseline in healthcare innovation * Best practices for governance in data sharing and interoperability * The relationship between AI and data trustworthiness * How organizations can safely adopt and scale emerging AI capabilities

A Little About Jim:Jim leads ClearDATA’s Engineering, Product Management, and IT teams. He has more than 25 years of experience leading product organizations in the identity, integrated risk, and fraud management markets. Prior to joining ClearDATA, Jim served as Chief Operating Officer of Outseer, an RSA Company, where he served over 10 years in executive leadership roles. Prior to RSA in 2012, he served in executive leadership roles for Aveksa, CA, and Netegrity. Ducharme frequently speaks at industry events and regularly contributes articles to trade publications. Jim also holds several patents and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree from the University of New Hampshire. He and his wife live in Maine in their dream log home, which was featured in Log and Timber Home Living magazine.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Dr. Sean Kelly, the Chief Medical Officer and the SVP of Customer Healthcare Strategy at Imprivata. Together, they unpack how healthcare organizations can strengthen cybersecurity without slowing clinicians down—exploring everything from mobile device security and passwordless authentication to adaptive authentication, risky user behaviors, and the very real implications for patient safety, workflow efficiency, and ROI for healthcare leaders.

In this episode, they talk about:* How cybersecurity can be improved * The impact that Imprivata has on clinicians * Why multi-factor authentication systems aren’t more prevalent in the healthcare industry * The risky behaviors that open up organizations to security risks * The different things that Imprivata offers organizations * The risks of patient harm in cybersecurity and privacy * Advice for CIOs or CFOs: workflow implications, security compliance, security and efficiency ROI, and financial value * Adaptive authentication at Imprivata

A Little About Sean:Dr. Sean Kelly brings a uniquely well-rounded perspective to healthcare, shaped by a career that spans emergency medicine, healthcare leadership, technology, teaching, and entrepreneurship. An emergency physician at Beth Israel Lahey Health in Boston and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School, he is also the Chief Medical Officer and SVP of Customer Healthcare Strategy at Imprivata, where he helps guide product vision, go-to-market strategy, and customer experience after more than a decade with the company from startup through IPO and private equity ownership. He has led high-performing teams in both clinical and executive settings, contributed to care delivery improvements impacting millions of patients, published widely in emergency medicine and medical education, and earned multiple teaching awards. His background includes training at Harvard College, UMass Medical School, and Vanderbilt University, co-founding a concierge medical practice on Martha’s Vineyard, international teaching and humanitarian work, and service in roles ranging from hospital administration to disaster relief—all grounded in a deep commitment to learning, mentorship, and collaboration.

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The data necessary to achieve the promise of precision medicine are now available with low-cost whole-genome sequencing, microbiome analysis, proteomics, and other large datasets. Bioscope has developed a team of AI personas to help clinicians realize that promise in a way that will revolutionize the practice of medicine.

In this episode, Sandy Vance speaks with Don Brown, MD, Founder and CEO of Bioscope, about how AI and large-scale biological data are converging to make precision medicine practical for clinicians. They explore Don’s entrepreneurial journey, the origins of Bioscope, and how a subscription-based, clinician-first approach is shaping the future of personalized care.

In this episode, they talk about:* Don Brown’s unconventional journey from double-wide to CEO of a groundbreaking company * The inspiration behind founding Bioscope and the problem it was created to solve * How Don’s “entrepreneurial bat signal” attracted talent, partners, and early momentum * Why Bioscope began by partnering with concierge medical practices rather than large health systems * How Bioscope’s per-patient, per-year subscription model works in practice * Real-world use cases and early case studies demonstrating clinical impact * What the current early rollout looks like and where Bioscope is headed next

A Little About Don:Don Brown, MD, is a serial software entrepreneur, physician, and leader in precision medicine. Over his career, he has founded and scaled multiple groundbreaking technology companies, including Software Artistry, Interactive Intelligence, LifeOmic, and most recently Bioscope.AI. His companies have collectively generated billions in value through public offerings and acquisitions by organizations such as IBM, Genesys, and Fountain Life. In addition to his entrepreneurial work, Don is an active advisor, investor, and philanthropist, including a $30 million gift that established the Brown Immunotherapy Center at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Don holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in computer science from Indiana University, an MD from Indiana University School of Medicine, and a master’s degree in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University. A lifelong learner, he is fluent in multiple languages, an instrument-rated pilot, an avid outdoorsman, and the author of Understanding Life. He currently serves as Founder and CEO of Bioscope.AI, where he is focused on transforming how clinicians use data to deliver personalized care.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Sophie Cheng, the Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Sinch. They discuss the most common communication pitfalls and share a handful of remedies so you can start sending smarter messages. You’ll walk away with tangible tips on how to:

✔️ switch from omnichannel to optimal channel

✔️ leverage AI to fix your no-show problem

✔️ build patient trust through advanced messaging

In this episode, they talk about:* What Sinch does and how it uses AI to simplify and personalize communication for customers * How AI-driven communication is being applied in healthcare and what leaders need to understand * Why better communication leads to faster interactions, improved patient experiences, and higher conversion rates * How omnichannel communication strategies streamline workflows for healthcare organizations * How Sinch helps organizations identify the right channels and interfaces for their patient populations * What it means to operate at the speed of trust, and why transparency matters * How AI can make patient interactions feel more empathetic and human * Why organizations should never underestimate the impact of their communication strategy

A Little About Sophie:Sophie Cheng is the Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Sinch, the global leader in CPaaS and the company behind the Customer Communications Cloud. With more than 15 years of international marketing experience, Sophie has held strategic roles across Europe, Asia, and North America, partnering closely with Product, Growth, and M&A leaders to manage complex, global portfolios. At Sinch, she leads global product marketing, partner marketing, and analyst relations, helping organizations deliver seamless, trusted communication experiences across messaging, voice, and email.

Before Sinch, Sophie served as VP of Global Product and Customer Marketing at ZoomInfo and led Product Marketing at Chorus.ai. A true global citizen, she has worked extensively across EMEA, APAC, and the U.S. Sophie holds advanced degrees from the University of St. Gallen and Singapore University and is an active member of the CMO Alliance.

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Enterprise IT is drowning in repeat incidents, slow triage, and reactive firefighting—burning teams out while costs rise and service quality slips. In this episode, Sandy and Umesh Shiknis of Publicis Sapient explore how Sapient Sustain uses AI-driven automation, predictive insights, and self-healing workflows to break the cycle, turning IT operations from constant crisis mode into a resilient, proactive engine that sustains the business. They also discuss how Publicis Sapient is leveraging AI to address challenges in the healthcare sector. They put an importance on modernizing legacy systems while also emphasizing the concept of agentic AI.

Check out more about Sapient Sustain here: https://www.publicissapient.com/sapient-ai/sustain

In this episode, they talk about:* Publicis Sapient focuses on human-centered digital transformation in healthcare * AI can accelerate product development and modernize legacy systems * It's easy to confuse automation with simple elements of machine learning, which are progressively more deterministic * Organizations must establish guardrails for AI implementation because of how powerful agentic AI can be * Sapient Sustain helps healthcare companies manage and stabilize their applications * The end-user experience is crucial in technology deployment * AI can significantly reduce technical debt in healthcare organizations * Healthcare leaders should look at the boring stuff and focus on practical AI applications * Educate your workforce to embrace the future instead of fearing it

A Little About Umesh:Umesh Shiknis is Executive Vice President and Global Chief Growth Officer at Publicis Sapient, a human-centered, product-led digital business transformation firm. He leads global growth and go-to-market strategy, scaling new buying centers, accelerating client impact, and driving transformational revenue across industries. Previously, Umesh held senior leadership roles at Capgemini, Infosys, and ISG. His current focus is on taking the Publicis Sapient AI product suite—Sapient Slingshot, Bodhi, and Sapient Sustain—to market, turning AI innovation into measurable, enterprise-wide outcomes.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Michael Gao, Chief Executive Officer of Smarter Technology, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping revenue cycle operations in healthcare. Together, they dig into Smarter Technology’s vision and the practical ways AI can help provider organizations better capture the full value of the care they deliver. Michael shares why the revenue cycle is overdue for improvement, how moving from physical to digital workflows can unlock meaningful gains, and what real-world ROI looks like when AI is applied thoughtfully.

In this episode, they also talk about:* Smarter Technology’s vision for using AI in healthcare * Why the revenue cycle needs modernization * Moving from manual and physical processes to digital workflows * What ROI looks like when AI is applied to revenue cycle operations * Keeping human oversight where it matters most * Common documentation and workflow challenges Smarter Technology helps address * Advice for CFOs considering AI solutions

A Little About Michael:Mike is CEO of Smarter Technologies. He co-founded SmarterDx after discovering that hospitals were leaving significant revenue and quality opportunities on the table while he was leading AI at New York-Presbyterian. Prior to SmarterDx, Mike was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell and Medical Director for Transformation for New York-Presbyterian. He completed his BS at the University of California, Los Angeles, his MD at the University of Michigan, and his Internal Medicine Residency and Silverman Fellowship for Healthcare Innovation at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.

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About Leandro Boer:

Leandro Boer, MD, PhD, is a seasoned global biopharmaceutical executive and physician specializing in cardiology and cardiovascular pharmacology. Currently serving as Vice President of US Medical, General Medicines at Amgen, he leads medical strategy and execution across cardiovascular, bone, neuroscience, nephrology, and obesity therapeutic areas, overseeing a nationwide organization of over 100 professionals. With more than two decades of experience spanning the United States, Latin America, Canada, Africa, and the Middle East, Dr. Boer has built a distinguished career at leading companies such as Amgen, AstraZeneca, and Novartis.

His leadership has shaped global and regional initiatives in medical affairs, clinical development, real-world evidence generation, regulatory strategy, and implementation science. Clinically, his expertise covers resistant hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and hyperlipidemia. Known for combining scientific rigor with strategic vision, Dr. Boer has directed cross-functional teams supporting drug development, commercialization, and lifecycle management across multiple therapeutic areas.

A medical doctor trained in cardiology with a Ph.D. in cardiovascular pharmacology from Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Dr. Boer has consistently demonstrated a commitment to advancing evidence-based medicine, patient outcomes, and collaborative leadership within the healthcare ecosystem.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The foundation of innovation lies in focusing on what never changes—patients, healthcare providers, and equitable systems of care.
• Amgen’s precision medicine and data-driven strategies prevent “data waste” and ensure every insight contributes to patient outcomes.
• Machine learning tools like Atomic are accelerating clinical trials by predicting successful sites, leading to faster drug development.
• The company’s bold goal to reduce cardiovascular events by 50% by 2030 relies on partnerships, AI, and implementation science.
• Representation in clinical research and decentralized trials is crucial to ensuring equitable access and meaningful outcomes for all populations.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Leandro Boer on LinkedIn.
• Follow Amgen on LinkedIn and explore theirwebsite.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance is joined by Julie Frey, Vice President of Product Management at Wolters Kluwer, for a thoughtful conversation on how artificial intelligence is shaping clinical intelligence across healthcare. Together, they explore how AI is supporting the work organizations are already doing, and how Wolters Kluwer helps teams identify meaningful use cases and turn innovation into real value. From trusted, evidence-based solutions like UpToDate and Lexidrug to the evolving standards around safety, reliability, and trust, this conversation digs into what responsible AI looks like in practice. They also discuss the wide range of healthcare use cases and why organizations need to define their own standards as they move forward with AI adoption.

In this episode, they talk about:* Wolters Kluwer has a range of evidence-based solutions that enable better care, including UpToDate® and Lexidrug * How AI has impacted the services that Wolters Kluwer delivers through its products * Different types of use cases in healthcare * How they set the standard of what is safe, reliable, and trusted * When it comes to AI, organizations need to develop their own set of standards for accuracy and effectiveness * The importance of prompt engineering

A Little About Julie:As the Head of Provider Product, Julie is a crucial support for healthcare providers incorporating market-leading clinical decision support and patient solution technologies, such as UpToDate®. She brings over a decade of experience in corporate and product strategy to her current role, having held various leadership positions within Wolters Kluwer.

Before joining the Health team, she worked in strategy and risk analysis for Red24, now a division of Gardaworld. Originally hailing from South Africa, Julie earned her MBA from IE University.

Julie approaches her role with the understanding that the clinical need for intuitive, personalized, visually compelling, and actionable workflows will only become more critical. She assists providers in meeting their highest-priority use cases.

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Move beyond the hype in this episode as we explore how Agentic AI is actively reshaping clinical research by moving from theoretical concepts to real-world autonomous deployments. Tune in to discover how intelligent agents are accelerating trials today and exactly what this shift means for the future of your work.

In this episode, host Sandy Vance is behind the mic with Michelle Longmire, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Medable. Together they dive into what Medable is actually building and why it matters. They break down real examples of trials happening now, the evolving role of Clinical Research Associates, and how ambient and agentic AI are taking on the repetitive work that slows teams down.

In this episode, they talk about:* Medable’s mission and long-term vision for clinical research * A pilot clinical trial Sandy participated in and what it revealed * Real-world examples of clinical trials Medable is supporting today * The evolving role of Clinical Research Associates in AI-enabled trials * Key use cases where Medable delivers the most impact * How ambient AI handles repetitive operational work * Why humans do their best work when focused on complex, meaningful challenges * Using generative and agentic AI in safe, deterministic ways * Common misconceptions about the risks of generative AI * Emerging clinical research use cases expected in 2026

A Little About Michelle:As the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Medable, Dr. Michelle Longmire is mission-driven to accelerate the development of new therapies for disease. A Stanford-trained physician-scientist, Dr. Longmire witnessed firsthand the critical barriers to drug development – including the time and costs associated with clinical trial participation. She founded Medable to pioneer a new category of clinical trial technologies that remove traditional roadblocks to participation and radically accelerate the research process. Medable is now the industry leader in decentralized and direct-to-patient research, with the ability to serve patients in over 120 languages, 60 countries, and across all therapeutic areas. In addition to having raised over $500M in venture capital and driving Medable to an industry-leading position, Dr. Longmire has received recognition as a leading innovator and businesswoman, including being named as one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company.

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The main obstacle preventing health systems from prioritizing AI over the next 3-5 years is not a lack of AI products in the market, but rather the challenges of integrating the technology into their existing workflows, and the uncertainty in measuring its return on investment (ROI). Newton’s Tree’s end-to-end AI governance platform delivers the necessary transparency and holistic oversight, empowering your multidisciplinary AI Governance Committee to drive confident AI adoption at scale across clinical and operational pathways.

In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits with Haris Shuaib, the CEO of Newton’s Tree, to discuss the speed at which AI is advancing and whether this pace is safe. They unpack what responsible, scalable AI governance really looks like. From hidden risks in data quality to the subtle ways AI behavior can drift over time, Haris breaks down why checks and balances aren’t just a compliance exercise. They’re essential to patient safety and organizational trust.

In this episode, they talk about: How Newton’s Tree helps governance committees confidently scale AI across clinical and operational pathways * Why so many organizations struggle with AI implementation—and where things most often break down * What an effective process looks like for evaluating whether AI oversight is actually working * The three things Newton’s Tree continuously monitors: data quality, AI behavior, and clinical decision risk * Why closing the feedback loop is critical right now * Practical advice for CIOs navigating AI adoption—and how Newton’s Tree supports them * The role of registries and observatories in responsible AI deployment * How to ensure AI systems are safe and effective before* they’re put into real-world use

A Little About Haris:Haris Shuaib is Founder and CEO of Newton’s Tree, a startup dedicated to AI transformation at scale in health and care. He is Director of the Fellowships in Clinical Artificial Intelligence, the first clinical training programme for healthcare professionals to develop practical AI skills. He is also a Consultant Clinical Scientist and former Head of the Clinical Scientific Computing section at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS FT. Finally, he also holds a NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship, where he is leading a national multi-centre trial to see whether AI can improve the treatment of glioblastoma.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Dr. Zayed Yasin, MD, Global Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Writer, for a thoughtful and practical conversation about what AI really means for healthcare today. Drawing on his background as a clinician, Dr. Yasin shares how AI can eliminate the “boring” aspects of the job, allowing teams to focus on what matters most: patients and outcomes. Together, they delve into building effective clinical programs in value-based care, leveraging AI for payers, exploring real-world case studies, and examining why many organizations struggle with implementation. If you’re curious about where AI is delivering real ROI right now (and why the best way to learn is to lean in and start working), this episode is for you.

In this episode, they talk about: Dr. Yasin’s background as a clinician and his interest in AI * AI will help people focus on what’s really important while taking away the boring parts of the job * Building the clinical program at a value-based care organization * How to make these programs work for payers * Writer case studies using this technology * Why organizations struggle with implementing AI * Future big use cases in AI * Lean in hard; you don’t start learning until you start working * ROI can be attained quickly in places with very little risk * Unless you’re an AI company, you’re not an AI company*

A Little About Dr. Yasin:Dr. Yasin runs the Healthcare and Life Sciences group at Writer, the end-to-end platform for enterprises scaling AI. After leaving academic emergency medicine, he built telemedicine and VBC businesses before leading Writer's HCLS AI transformation efforts.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Parminder Bhatia , the Chief AI Officer from GE HealthCare , for a thoughtful, forward-thinking conversation about the rapidly shifting landscape of AI in healthcare. Together, they explore why healthcare is so ready for transformation, the four critical areas where change is most urgent, and how smarter systems can ease some of the industry’s most complex workflows. Sandy and Parminder dig into how foundation models and the rise of agentic AI can finally help healthcare move beyond fragmented solutions.

In this episode, they talk about:* How AI is transforming a healthcare industry that’s long overdue for change * The four key areas where transformation is most needed * Streamlining some of the most complex medical processes * How better communication and information can assist clinicians during labor and delivery * Using foundation models to reduce fragmentation in healthcare AI * Supporting the multi-step workflows of radiologists * Why agentic AI represents the future of healthcare innovation

A Little About Parry:At GE HealthCare, Parry is focused on integrating AI across smart devices, across the patient journey, and at the hospital operations level. The company is a long-time leader in healthcare AI, topping the FDA’s list of AI-enabled devices for four consecutive years with more than 115 authorizations. Parry’s team advances AI within medical devices to improve patient outcomes, and he also serves on the company’s responsible AI committee to ensure new solutions are reliable, scalable, and ethical. His work has earned recognition from Modern Healthcare’s 40 Under 40, the AIM AI 100 Awards, and Constellation Research’s AI 150. Before joining GE HealthCare, Parry was Head of Applied Science at Amazon, contributing to machine learning and generative AI products such as Amazon Comprehend Medical. He previously held AI and machine learning roles at Microsoft and Georgia Tech. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Computational Science and Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

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About Angelo Campano:

Angelo Joseph Campano is a health IT strategist and operator known as The Original EHR Marketer™, with two decades of experience building and optimizing EHR, point-of-care, and CRM-driven commercial programs. As CEO of Flora Health, he helps healthcare companies turn clinical workflows into measurable growth through disciplined strategy, analytics, and execution. He has held senior leadership roles at Ogilvy Health, OptimizeRx, Doximity, and MDCalc, building new EHR and MCM practices and fixing underperforming ones. Angelo is trusted by global healthcare brands for his direct, results-first approach to EHR promotion, cross-channel optimization, and commercial scale.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Getting content in front of physicians only works when it fits naturally into existing EHR workflows rather than disrupting them.
• Collaboration with health systems and technology partners scales impact faster than building standalone tools.
• Market access, not AI hype, is where the biggest opportunity exists to improve patient outcomes.
• Automating forms, prior authorization, and financial assistance removes barriers that prevent patients from starting therapy.
• Measuring success means tracking how many patients get on therapy faster, not just engagement metrics.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Angelo Campano on LinkedIn.
• Follow Flora Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Natalie Ngo, from EliseAI, for a friendly, insightful conversation about how AI is transforming the way healthcare organizations communicate and operate.

EliseAI provides automation tools designed to streamline everyday interactions, reduce administrative burden, and help staff focus on what matters most. Together, Sandy and Natalie explore how EliseAI can empower healthcare teams to do more with greater efficiency.

In this episode, they talk about:* How and where EliseAI got started * The value that AI will bring to your company * How EliseAI is supporting healthcare organizations * What the implementation process will look like * The response of the clinical staff at the providers * AI can scale to fit any size practice * Future main case uses

A Little About Natalie:Natalie Ngo is a Strategy and Operations leader focused on healthcare at EliseAI, where she helps organizations use AI to streamline communication and operate more efficiently. Based in New York, Natalie brings a background in strategy, operations, and analytics, with previous experience at EliseAI and Point72. She holds an Honors Business Administration degree from the Ivey Business School at Western University and is passionate about using technology to support care teams and improve day-to-day workflows in healthcare.

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About Michael Dubrovsky:

Michael Dubrovsky is a founder-operator and applied scientist working at the intersection of materials science, photonics, and real-world impact. He is the co-founder and CEO of SiPhox Health, a Y Combinator (S20), Khosla Ventures, and Intel Capital–backed startup based in Cambridge, building painless at-home blood biomarker testing to help people live healthier, longer lives. Alongside SiPhox, he serves on the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) ILA20 committee and co-hosts 632nm, a technical interview series featuring top scientists and engineers. Previously, he co-founded PoWx, a nonprofit advancing energy-efficient photonic hardware for proof-of-work cryptography, work that is now used commercially to secure billions of dollars in value. Earlier in his career, Michael founded Simply Grid, named by Fast Company as one of the world’s most innovative energy companies, deploying first-of-its-kind curbside EV and food-vendor charging infrastructure in New York City before exiting via acquisition. His background includes advanced research at MIT and Technion in nanofabrication and materials characterization and a BS in Chemistry from SUNY ESF. His personal mantra: no hurry, no pause.

Things You’ll Learn:

• At-home blood testing eliminates major barriers, such as appointments, referrals, and travel, while expanding access to advanced diagnostics. This convenience is driving higher adoption among both consumers and businesses.
• Many critical biomarkers linked to longevity and chronic disease are often ignored in standard primary care testing. Home testing allows patients to proactively monitor what would otherwise go unseen.
• Clinician trust remains a challenge due to early inaccuracies in home testing technologies. FDA clearance is expected to play a major role in broader medical acceptance
• Businesses benefit from home testing by eliminating high-friction steps that stall patient conversion. This leads to better experiences and significantly improved funnel performance.
• Scaling home diagnostics follows a familiar pattern where early adopters subsidize innovation. Over time, costs drop and access expands to broader populations.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Michael Dubrovsky on LinkedIn.
• Follow SiPhox Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Listen to Michael’s podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
• Email Michael directly here.

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About Christopher Sullivan:

Christopher Sullivan is a senior executive with deep leadership experience across health, legal, and regulatory technology, currently serving as Vice President & General Manager of Pharmacy & Health Technology Solutions at Wolters Kluwer Health in New York. He brings over a decade of progressive responsibility within Wolters Kluwer, where he has led large commercial and product portfolios spanning pharmacy, healthcare, legal, transactional, and retirement solutions. His background is heavily strategy-driven, with prior roles overseeing partnerships, pricing, business intelligence, and corporate development, translating data and market insight into scalable growth. Before transitioning fully into executive leadership, he built a strong foundation in operations and logistics at DHL and gained strategic consulting experience at GE Capital. Christopher is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he studied international relations and systems engineering, and holds an MBA in finance and management from Fordham Gabelli, with additional studies at ESADE Business School.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Clinicians face up to 20 complex clinical questions daily, making fast access to trusted evidence essential. Embedding insight directly into workflow reduces delays and decision fatigue.
• Context switching across platforms significantly contributes to clinician burnout. Keeping evidence inside the tools clinicians already use improves efficiency and satisfaction.
• Trusted, expert-reviewed content is becoming more valuable as AI-generated information increases. Confidence in the source has a direct impact on clinical adoption.
• API-based delivery allows evidence to reach clinicians beyond traditional EMR systems. This supports modern, flexible workflows across digital health platforms.
• Partnerships between content experts and technology vendors accelerate innovation. Collaboration keeps solutions aligned with real clinical needs.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Christopher Sullivan on LinkedIn.
• Follow Wolters Kluwer Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance and Hari Balasubramanian, the Chief Technology Officer, Health Information Systems at Solventum, sit down for a deep dive into how AI-driven healthcare technology is reshaping the industry. Together, they explore how Solventum is building innovative products and services that streamline documentation, billing, and coding while improving the patient experience and saving valuable time for healthcare professionals.

From what’s happening at Solventum right now to the company’s move toward fully autonomous coding, this conversation unpacks how healthcare payers and providers can rethink financial performance in the age of artificial intelligence. Hari also shares practical insights for CIOs evaluating these systems and explains how Solventum measures real-world improvements driven by AI.

If you’re interested in healthcare innovation, revenue cycle transformation, or the future of AI in health information systems, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Check out Solventum’s Education Session and Case Study Session that was presented in the AI Zone at HLTH 2025.

In this episode, they talk about:* What’s going on with Solventum right now * How Solventum is serving healthcare payers * Solventum’s move toward complete autonomous coding * The common misconceptions about improving financial performance for providers * How CIOs should evaluate their work when engaging with these systems * Measuring the improvements produced by AI with Solventum’s systems

A Little About Hari:Hari Bala joined Solventum as Chief Technology Officer, Health Information Systems, in May 2025, bringing more than 25 years of experience building large-scale, distributed systems across healthcare, cloud, and security, with deep expertise in GenAI, data science, analytics, and machine learning. Previously, he led AI, data, analytics, and cloud transformation efforts at GE Healthcare and Oracle Cerner, where he helped establish Oracle’s AI Services organization and later led the Health Data Intelligence and Analytics platform following the Cerner acquisition. Earlier, Hari spent nearly 19 years at Microsoft in leadership roles spanning Azure, Search, Cosmos DB, Windows, Office 365, and mobile and browser technologies.

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About Bari Kowal:

Bari Kowal is a senior biopharmaceutical executive with over 30 years of experience leading global operations, clinical development, and strategic portfolio management. As Senior Vice President at Regeneron, she oversees development operations, enterprise-wide portfolio strategy, risk management, and major technology initiatives, helping guide the company’s continued growth and innovation. Her career spans leadership roles at Pfizer, ICON Clinical Research, Valera Pharmaceuticals, PDL BioPharma, GenVec, and Covance, where she built high-performing teams and drove operational excellence across clinical operations and strategic programs. Bari also serves on the Board of Directors of TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., contributing to industry-wide efforts to streamline and strengthen clinical trial execution. She is known for her governance expertise, collaborative leadership style, and ability to deliver organizational transformation at scale. Bari holds a master’s degree in neuroscience from New York University, with additional academic training from the University of Pennsylvania and Binghamton University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Expanding access to clinical trials requires educating both patients and physicians, many of whom are unfamiliar with how to engage in research. Better awareness can dramatically increase participation and diversify trial populations.
• Technology alone will not speed up drug development unless systems are connected end-to-end. Interoperability is the real catalyst for reducing inefficiencies across discovery, development, and regulatory submission.
• Clean, structured data is the foundation of meaningful AI adoption in healthcare. Without it, predictive models and trial optimization tools cannot reach their potential.
• Trial complexity is one of the most significant barriers to faster development timelines. Streamlining procedures, reducing unnecessary tests, and learning from regulatory feedback can significantly accelerate progress.
• Sustainable clinical research requires equipping trial sites with greater capacity and support. Even when the right patients are identified, sites must be capable of enrolling and managing them effectively.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Bari Kowal on LinkedIn.
• Follow Regeneron on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Madhu Pawar:

Madhu Pawar is a board director and cross-disciplinary technology leader operating at the intersection of healthcare, data, and product innovation. She serves on the Board of Directors at Talkspace (NASDAQ: TALK) and is the Chief Product Officer for Optum Insight, where she drives product strategy and platform innovation across UnitedHealth Group’s most critical assets. Prior to Optum, she spent over six years at Google leading the global SMB Ads product ecosystem—overseeing AI-driven insights platforms, multi-billion-dollar revenue lines, and large-scale engineering, product, and operations teams across multiple continents. Madhu also teaches consumer analytics in healthcare as an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Earlier in her career, she was a partner in McKinsey’s Global Healthcare Practice, where she built and scaled technology and services businesses for payers, providers, and fast-growth health companies. She began her career in software engineering at Hewlett-Packard Labs, earning patents in authentication and location-aware computing, followed by roles at PwC in security and technology. Madhu holds graduate degrees from Stanford School of Medicine and Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s in computer engineering from Nanyang Technological University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Real-time data exchange between payers and providers can significantly reduce the confusion, delays, and costs associated with today’s claims processes. AI-enabled reasoning over contracts and encounters improves accuracy from the start.
• Optum Real aims to bridge the transparency gap by connecting stakeholders through a multi-party hub, enabling real-time understanding of coverage and reimbursement. Early pilots show tangible reductions in denials and improved patient clarity.
• The majority of first-time denied claims are avoidable, signaling an industry-wide opportunity to remove unnecessary rework. Solving this problem increases efficiency for providers, payers, and patients.
• Real-time intelligence opens the door for more effective value-based care arrangements. When providers can see financial implications instantly, incentives align more naturally.
• The long-term vision includes real-time payment flows, AI-driven clinical decision support, and improved patient engagement. Breaking down paper-based silos will unlock entirely new use cases at scale.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Madhu Pawar on LinkedIn.
• Follow Optum on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Hadas Bitran, Partner General Manager of Health AI at Microsoft Health & Life Sciences, for a deep dive into the rapidly evolving world of healthcare agents. Together, they explore how agentic technologies are being used across clinical settings, where they’re creating value, and why tailoring these tools to the specific needs of users and audiences is essential for safety and effectiveness. Well-designed healthcare agents can reinforce responsible AI practices (like transparency, accountability, and patient safety) while also helping organizations evaluate emerging solutions with greater clarity and confidence.

In this episode, they talk about:* How agents are used in healthcare and use cases * The risks if a healthcare agent is not tailored to the needs of users and audiences * How healthcare agents support responsible AI practices, such as safety, transparency, and accountability, in clinical settings * Healthcare organizations should look to evaluate healthcare agent solutions * Bridging the gaps in access, equity, and health literacy; empowering underserved populations and democratizing expertise * The impact of AI on medical professionals and the healthcare staff, and how they should prepare for the change?

A Little About Hadas:Hadas Bitran is Partner General Manager, Health AI, at Microsoft Health & Life Sciences. Hadas and her multi-disciplinary R&D organization build AI technologies for health & life sciences, focusing on Generative AI-based services, Agentic AI, and healthcare-adapted safeguards. They shipped multiple products and cloud services for the healthcare industry, which were adopted by thousands of customers worldwide.

In addition to her work at Microsoft, Hadas previously served as a Board Member at SNOMED International, a not-for-profit organization that drives clinical terminology worldwide.

Before Microsoft, Hadas held senior leadership positions managing R&D and Product groups in tech corporations and in start-up companies. Hadas has a B.Sc. in Computer Science from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University in Chicago.

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About Mary Varghese Presti:

Mary Varghese Presti is a transformational healthcare leader with over two decades of experience spanning clinical care, federal reform, biopharma, and health technology. As Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Health & Life Sciences, she drives growth in complex environments by creating clear strategy, aligning organizations, and operationalizing execution with discipline. Her prior roles include leading Nuance’s Dragon Medical business, overseeing IBM Watson Health’s Life Sciences portfolio, incubating new ventures at athenahealth, and driving digital-health transformation at Pfizer. She began her career as a pediatric nurse at Johns Hopkins and later helped shape national health IT and payment reforms at Booz Allen. Known for navigating complexity with optimism and rigor, she consistently turns ambiguity into strategy and strategy into measurable results.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI in healthcare is evolving from simple assistants to agentic services that can independently execute predictable workflows, allowing clinicians to regain time and focus. This shift enables a hybrid workforce where human and digital colleagues work side by side.
• Dragon Copilot for nurses was designed specifically to support the way nurses document care, capturing structured inputs such as vitals, intake/output, and observations through natural speech. By reducing EHR time and ambiently recording bedside interactions, it helps turn “caring out loud” into complete documentation.
• Nurses spend more than a quarter of their 12-hour shifts documenting in the EHR, often feeling emotionally torn between screens and patients. AI that listens in the background can significantly reduce this burden while allowing for more presence at the bedside.
• New tools are starting to expose the “invisible work” nurses perform, from constant micro-assessments to coordination with ancillary departments. Making this work visible is a critical step toward properly valuing nursing labor and improving workforce planning.
• Real-world use cases, such as AI agents assembling data for tumor boards at academic centers, show that agentic workflows can compress decision timelines from weeks to days. These same principles can be extended to many clinical and non-clinical tasks, accelerating care while preserving clinician judgment.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Mary Varghese Presti on LinkedIn.
• Follow Microsoft on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Microsoft and Life Sciences website.
• Listen to Mary’s previous interview on our podcast here.
• Watch Mary’s keynote presentation at the HLTH conference here.

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About Heather Grey:

Heather Grey is a healthcare operator and commercial leader who has spent two decades inside the machinery of pharma, life sciences, and clinical research—seeing firsthand where trials break down and why execution matters more than ideas. As SVP and General Manager of Real-World Data and Clinical Trials at Omega Healthcare, she leads CurateIQ, which focuses on transforming messy, fragmented clinical data into FDA-grade assets that accelerate trials, support AI, and expand research beyond academic centers. Before Omega, she held senior leadership roles at Tempus AI, where she built and scaled clinical trial and RWD commercial operations, and at Optum Life Sciences, driving sales and client development across pharma and health systems. Her career spans everything from operating room work to frontline pharma sales to executive leadership, giving her a rare, end-to-end view of how science, data, and operations collide in the real world, and why clean data and operational discipline, not hype, determine whether innovation actually reaches patients.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Clinical trials fail primarily due to operational breakdowns, such as delayed data entry, poor site readiness, and missed timelines, rather than flawed science.
• Most healthcare data exists in an unstructured and unusable state, making human-led curation essential for generating regulatory-grade insights and training AI.
• AI should amplify clinical expertise, not replace it, because accuracy and trust depend on continuous human quality assurance.
• The lack of infrastructure prevents 88% of health systems and most community centers from offering clinical trials.
• Expanding trials into community settings is crucial for enhancing access, diversity, and the real-world relevance of research.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Heather Grey on LinkedIn.
• Follow Omega Healthcare on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Email Heather directly here.

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About James York:

James York serves as the Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Government Affairs at Molecular Testing Labs, where he leads the company’s mission to expand access to diagnostics and transform patient engagement with their health. With over a decade of leadership experience at the organization, James drives commercial strategy, strategic partnerships, business development, and market education, championing a consumer-centric approach to laboratory medicine. His work focuses on advancing transparency, affordability, and proactive health management by ensuring that individuals, regardless of their circumstances or geography, can benefit from timely diagnostic insights. James’ career spans executive roles across healthcare, including CEO and president positions, as well as senior leadership in sales and business development, providing him with a deep understanding of both clinical and commercial landscapes. Guided by a commitment to equitable access and meaningful innovation, he continues to influence how advanced diagnostics are delivered and adopted across the healthcare ecosystem.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Making diagnostics accessible requires removing economic, geographic, and emotional friction so patients can participate in their own care. At-home self-collection solves barriers that traditional labs cannot.
• Affordability is inseparable from access, and transparent low-cost testing is critical for supporting large populations who are “functionally uninsured.” Most patients avoid care because they cannot predict the financial burden.
• Virtual care has accelerated the need for decentralized diagnostics, as patients who seek care online are unlikely to travel to a physical laboratory. Without accessible testing, virtual clinical pathways break.
• Pioneering new diagnostic models is challenging, costly, and often met with resistance from incumbents and regulators. Yet these challenges highlight the significance of the innovation.
• The greatest opportunity in diagnostics lies not in high-tech breakthroughs but in improving everyday tests that influence most clinical decisions. Access, not technology, is the true innovation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow James York on LinkedIn.
• Follow Molecular Testing Labs on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Beth McCombs:

Elizabeth “Beth” McCombs is the executive vice president and chief technology officer of BD, where she leads the company’s global research and development organization. She oversees the full spectrum of innovation—from early-stage concept development to product launch—and ensures the continued advancement of BD’s existing portfolio. As a member of the BD Executive Leadership Team, she plays a central role in shaping the company’s long-term technology and growth strategy. Beth joined BD in 2019 as Senior Vice President of R&D for the BD Medical segment, co-leading portfolio strategy and major growth initiatives. Before joining BD, she spent over two decades at Johnson & Johnson, including serving as Vice President of R&D for Ethicon, the company’s surgical devices franchise. She holds both a B.S. and an M.S. in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Things You’ll Learn:

• BD approaches innovation by deeply studying clinical workflows and ensuring new technologies solve meaningful, scalable problems. Real-world evidence and clinical validation are built into the process from the start.
• Connected medication management solutions can eliminate waste, prevent errors, and free up clinical resources. Tracking drugs from the central pharmacy to the bedside improves safety and system-level efficiency.
• Vascular access improvements achieved through product design and standardized training dramatically reduced cost, blood exposure, and catheter failure rates. This proves that outcomes hinge on combining the right device with the right practices.
• AI and machine-learning capabilities, such as predicting hypotension during cardiac surgery, aim to reduce complications, costs, and length of stay. These tools evolve by partnering with health systems to measure real-world impact.
• BD Incada represents a shift to cloud-based, interoperable, AI-enabled infrastructure that unifies data across entire health systems. This foundation accelerates the future of personalized care and integrated device ecosystems.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Beth McCombs on LinkedIn.
• Follow BD on LinkedIn and visit theirwebsite.

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About Priya Abani:

Priya Abani is the CEO, president, and a board member at AliveCor, where she leads the company’s mission to advance patient-centric remote cardiac care using cutting-edge AI and machine learning. With over 20 years of experience driving innovation across global technology organizations, she has built and scaled high-performing teams, launched industry-shaping products, and forged strategic partnerships that accelerate growth. Her leadership has earned recognition across the health tech landscape, including being named one of The Healthcare Technology Report’s Top 50 Healthcare Technology CEOs of 2022. Priya also serves on the Board of Directors for Jacobs and the Board of Trustees for TIAA, extending her influence across various sectors and shaping the future of technology, healthcare, and infrastructure.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI-powered cardiac monitoring is enabling earlier detection of subtle abnormalities that patients and clinicians often miss, improving the likelihood of timely intervention. These tools empower patients to monitor their own health without waiting for episodic visits.
• Affordability is crucial for expanding access, enabling individuals in underserved regions to utilize medical-grade ECG technology at home. This reduces unnecessary hospital visits and helps bridge geographical care gaps.
• Portable devices and continuous monitoring shift cardiac care from reactive to proactive. Real-time data sharing creates a tighter feedback loop between patients and clinicians.
• New clinician-facing tools offer advanced diagnostics in a pocket-sized form, enabling high-quality cardiac assessments to be performed anywhere. This supports healthcare workers who lack access to full clinical equipment.
• AI models trained on massive ECG datasets are evolving from simple detection tools into comprehensive health companions for the whole person. They synthesize patterns, prompt actions, and help guide personalized preventive care.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Priya Abani on LinkedIn.
• Follow AliveCor on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Learn more about Kardia 12L here.

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About Web Golinkin:

Web Golinkin is a seasoned healthcare executive, entrepreneur, and author with more than 35 years of leadership experience, including six CEO roles and three companies he co-founded. Over the last two decades, he has focused on expanding access to affordable, basic healthcare, establishing himself as a pioneer in both retail-based clinics and urgent care. His insights into the evolution of consumer-focused healthcare have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Today Show, Fox Business, and numerous industry conferences. Web is also the author of Here Be Dragons, published by Forbes Books in 2024. His career spans leadership positions across healthcare delivery, population health management, medical communications, and consumer health media, including his current role as president of Babson Diagnostics and previous leadership at FastMed Urgent Care, Health Dialog, RediClinic, America’s Health Network, and American Medical Communications. A graduate of Harvard University, Web continues to shape the future of healthcare through innovation, accessibility, and patient-centered design.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Better Way can deliver 67 clinically equivalent tests from a fingertip blood sample, covering more than 80% of common primary care needs. This allows patients to avoid the traditional needle-based blood draw.
• Nearly a decade of validation, including thousands of study participants and hundreds of thousands of tests, demonstrates the scientific rigor behind the technology. This long research runway enabled FDA clearance and strong clinical confidence.
• About one-third of patients avoid blood testing due to needle phobia or inconvenience, contributing to major gaps in preventive care. A more straightforward, painless collection method directly addresses this barrier.
• Health systems can increase patient adherence and reduce reliance on phlebotomists by cross-training staff to use the system within 2.5 hours. This unlocks staffing flexibility and operational efficiency.
• Better Way focuses on reducing friction across the entire testing journey, including simplified, graphic-rich patient result reports. This empowers patients to understand their health without having to decipher complex medical language.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Web Golinkin on LinkedIn.
• Follow Babson Diagnostics on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with someone who has been shaping the future of digital health long before AI became the headline Mike Serbinis, Founder and CEO of League.

League was built on a simple but ambitious idea: if companies like Netflix can instantly understand what we need next, why can’t healthcare do the same? Now, more than a decade into transforming the way people access and experience care, Mike joins Sandy to talk about how his team is helping organizations deliver truly personalized healthcare at scale.

Together, they explore Mike’s path into the world of AI, the early sparks that led to League’s creation, and the lessons learned from 11 years of reimagining patient and member journeys. They delve into how League works alongside existing EHRs and health systems, not replacing anything, but weaving intelligence and interoperability through the cracks that slow down care.

It’s a thoughtful, future-forward discussion with one of the industry’s most seasoned innovators—and a must-listen for anyone curious about where healthcare AI is truly headed.

In this episode, they talk about:* Mike’s journey into AI and the origin story of League * How League integrates with EHRs and other core health technologies * Lessons from 11 years in healthcare—and why speed and scale matter more than ever * If Netflix can recommend your next show, why can’t healthcare do the same * Reducing AI hallucinations and improving reliability for healthcare organizations * How League delivers coverage, oversight, service, and increased productivity * What different countries can teach us about healthcare models * Why we’re entering “pilot season” for AI in healthcare

A Little About Mike:Mike Serbinis is widely recognized as an innovative leader and serial entrepreneur who has built transformative technology platforms across many industries. Serbinis founded and helped build Kobo, Critical Path, DocSpace, and now League.

Founded in 2014, League is a platform technology company powering next-generation healthcare consumer experiences (CX). Payers, providers and consumer health partners build on the League platform to accelerate their digital transformation and deliver high-engagement, personalized healthcare experiences. Millions of people use and love solutions powered by League to access, navigate and pay for care.

Serbinis is also Chair of the Board of Directors for the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, the world’s leading center for scientific research in foundational theoretical physics. He is a founding board member of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, an institution co-founded by Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton.

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About Seth Cohen:

Seth Cohen is a seasoned business leader with a long record of driving growth across healthcare, technology, and finance. As president of Cedar, he leads strategy and execution for a fast-scaling health tech company, building on over a decade of leadership in the industry. He also serves on the boards of Firefly Health and previously served on the board of Castlight Health, reflecting his deep credibility in the healthcare ecosystem. Before joining Cedar, Seth co-founded OODA Health and served as its CEO, introducing innovative payment solutions to the market. His earlier career includes senior commercial roles at Castlight, where he helped large employers adopt modern health benefits, as well as consulting work at McKinsey, focused on healthcare reform and consumerism. Seth began his career in investment banking, private equity, and international development, providing him with a broad strategic and financial foundation. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School, and a BA from Stanford University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Patient out-of-pocket costs have been rising faster than the overall medical trend for two decades, pushing most Americans into high-deductible plans they cannot realistically afford.
• A relatively small percentage of uninsured patients, roughly 5–12% depending on the state, accounts for approximately 35% of the dollars owed to providers.
• The episode challenges providers to rethink the concept of “healing” by asking whether repairing someone’s heart while ruining their credit can truly be considered care.
• Cedar Cover is positioned as a proactive digital coverage safety net that identifies patients in need and connects them to Medicaid, ACA plans, financial assistance, and pharmacy copay programs.
• Looking ahead, the guest expects affordability pressures to intensify and plans to expand into areas such as workers' compensation and Social Security benefits. The goal is to ensure that patients are not forced to choose between groceries and medical bills by making financial support an integral part of the core care experience.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Seth Cohen on LinkedIn.
• Follow Cedar on LinkedIn and discover their website.
• Learn more about Cedar Cover here.
• Email Seth directly here.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits with Adam Siskind from ZS, a global consulting and technology firm known for transforming data, science, and human ingenuity into real-world impact. With more than 13,000 employees across 35+ offices, ZS partners with companies to improve life and how we live it. Sandy and Adam dive into how AI and advanced analytics are reshaping operations, the insights coming out of ZS’s Future of Health Report, and what it will take to overcome lingering distrust in AI across healthcare. From predictions and concerns to practical advice for payers and providers, they explore whether we’re headed toward a tipping point or an AI bubble.

In this episode, they talk about:* How AI is facilitating solutions for ZS * How ZS uses analytics to drive how businesses operate * ZS’s Future of Health Report * Getting past the distrust in AI in healthcare * What a tipping point might look like in the future * Advice for payers and providers * Future implementation predictions and worries * Is there an AI bubble?

A Little About Adam:Adam is a leader in ZS’s provider practice area, helping to transform hospitals and health systems and supporting them from strategy through to execution. He has extensive experience across healthcare with health plans, providers, pharmaceutical, biotech and medtech companies. Adam has also led ZS’s European and North America West regions. Adam’s background is in actuarial science. Before joining ZS, Adam worked with health plans and group insurance at Mercer, helping employer groups achieve high-quality and affordable healthcare.

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About Lynne Nowak:

Lynne Nowak, MD, is a seasoned physician executive and Chief Data and Analytics Officer with deep expertise at the intersection of clinical care, data, and technology. With 15 years of frontline experience as a board-certified internist and a decade leading large-scale data, interoperability, and clinical strategy initiatives, she has built a career transforming how information improves healthcare quality, access, and cost. She has overseen major enterprise investments, driven compliance with national interoperability standards, led advanced analytics and product development teams, and guided provider-focused digital solutions across complex organizations. Known for her high-energy, collaborative leadership style, she is committed to fixing a fragmented healthcare system while empowering patients, providers, and payers through smarter, connected data.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Interoperability between providers, payers, pharmacies, and patients is becoming a powerful driver of access and outcomes. When information flows cleanly, underserved communities benefit the most.
• AI is only valuable when applied to problems that require deeper analysis, not simple workflows. The real gains come from using AI to handle complex record reviews while leaving simpler tasks to traditional automation.
• First-fill abandonment affects 20–30% of prescriptions, and most systems fail to notice because no claim is generated. Having visibility into these “silent failures” allows clinicians and plans to intervene earlier.
• Electronic benefit verification replaces days of manual phone calls with instant eligibility checks for patient assistance programs. This significantly reduces friction for patients attempting to initiate therapy.
• Automating prior authorizations can cut decision times from days to under 30 seconds. That speed directly affects access, adherence, and overall patient health.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Lynne Nowak on LinkedIn.
• Follow Superscripts onLinkedInand visit their website.

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About Ajay Gannerkote:

Ajay Gannerkote is a global healthcare leader with deep experience spanning life sciences, medical devices, and healthcare services. Now serving as president of Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), a Danaher company, he oversees the organization’s growth and strategic direction from Redwood City, California. Before IDT, he led Siemens Healthineers’ global ultrasound business as president and head, steering a complex, vertically integrated operation across more than 30 countries. Under his leadership, the business moved from negative growth and margins to strong, sustainable performance, becoming an industry leader in AI-driven clinical technology.

Prior to that, he served as Director at KKR Capstone, where he co-led healthcare operations, drove large-scale transformations for portfolio companies, and created significant enterprise value across services and medical device sectors. Ajay spent more than a decade at McKinsey & Company as a partner in the Global Medical Products practice, advising Fortune 500 companies on product development, commercialization, operations, growth strategy, and large-scale turnarounds. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Federal-Mogul, Cambridge Technology Partners, and Infosys, building a foundation in operations, technology, and global business integration. He holds an MBA in Corporate Strategy and Marketing from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Mysore.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Genomic technologies, such as NGS and MRD, are enabling earlier cancer detection, sometimes years ahead of traditional diagnostic methods. This early visibility allows clinicians to intervene sooner and build more personalized treatment strategies.
• Precision medicine is rapidly maturing as high-quality genomic data becomes central to diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy planning. The next era of oncology will rely heavily on personalized, data-driven decisions.
• Collaboration across industry, researchers, and regulatory bodies is essential for breakthrough medical innovations. A recent case of a rare disease demonstrates how a coordinated effort can compress the journey from diagnosis to therapy into just a few months.
• Custom manufacturing and high-quality reagents are critical enablers of clinically reliable genomic insights. Tailored solutions allow researchers and clinicians to analyze tumor-specific markers with greater accuracy and confidence.
• Strong leadership in genomics requires trust, transparency, and a willingness to challenge assumptions. Ajay’s “obligation to dissent” principle encourages continuous innovation and pushes teams to think beyond the status quo.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ajay Gannerkote on LinkedIn.
• Follow Integrated DNA Technologies on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Dylan Papa:

Dylan Papa is a seasoned healthcare technology executive with more than a decade of leadership experience at Zelis, where he has played a central role in driving commercial growth, transformation, and data-driven strategy. Now serving as Senior Vice President of Commercial Growth, he brings a strong track record of expanding revenue, shaping organizational direction, and guiding high-impact initiatives across the payments and cost-management ecosystem.

Throughout his tenure, Dylan has held progressive leadership roles spanning growth and transformation, payments transformation, business insights and analytics, and business solutions—each one sharpening his expertise at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and financial operations. His career began in analytics and business development, giving him a grounded, operational understanding of the industry he now helps steer at a strategic level.

Backed by a foundation in finance from Montclair State University, Dylan combines analytical rigor with a forward-looking mindset, making him a trusted leader in navigating complex healthcare challenges and scaling innovative solutions.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Providers increasingly want secure, simple, and expedited transactions supported by actionable data. This shift gives them more control while improving payer efficiency.
• Modernizing payments isn’t just about speed; it's about giving providers a single, transparent view of all transactions across multiple payers. This visibility helps them reduce denials, identify payment discrepancies, and forecast revenue more accurately.
• Consumer expectations for transparency and personalized benefits are pushing healthcare toward more flexible, customized models. Younger generations especially demand clearer information and greater financial control.
• Fragmentation remains the biggest obstacle in modernizing healthcare payments, from legacy tech stacks to inconsistent treasury processes. Harmonizing these systems is essential for building a seamless, end-to-end experience.
• The next frontier is transforming payments from an administrative task into a strategic asset. When speed, transparency, and control converge, every stakeholder—payer, provider, and consumer—wins.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dylan Papa on LinkedIn.
• Follow Zelis on LinkedIn and visit their Website.

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Introduction: In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Joerg Schwarz, Senior Director of Industry Strategy & Solutions for Healthcare Interoperability at Infor, and Adam Luff, a healthcare technology executive and VP of Solution Consulting at Infor. Together, they take a fascinating look at the real-world state of healthcare data. Together, they unpack what AI is actually doing for the industry, why pulling meaningful information from existing systems is so challenging, and how proprietary schemas and non-queryable databases keep organizations stuck with costly “zombie systems.”

They explore the promise of using AI to finally unlock that trapped data, along with the critical measures needed to ensure accuracy, quality, and transparency as new technologies evolve. Make sure to check out this episode if you’ve ever wondered what’s behind the “black box” of healthcare data.

In this episode, they talk about:* What AI does for the healthcare industry * The challenges that come with extracting data * Why the data in current databases isn’t searchable and queryable + Proprietary schemas + Unable to pull one data table at a time + Using AI to extract data from zombie systems * The time and money it takes to keep zombie systems alive * Measures with new tech that need to be taken to ensure accuracy and quality * Transparency and rejecting the “black box” approach

A Little About Joerg and Adam:As a trusted and highly skilled Global Business Strategy Executive and seasoned thought leader in the Healthcare IT domain, Joerg keeps an acute focus on the customer while leading teams, building strategic partnerships, and delivering solutions with measurable outcome improvements. His knowledge runs wide and deep with a 360-degree vantage point through the lenses of Technology, Sales, Marketing, and Academia. He combines the realities of leading key stakeholders and teams through innovation with respect to Healthcare IT and Life Sciences throughout his distinguished career. Joerg is highly motivated towards the evolution of connected managed care, population health, and clinical analytics. Communicating complexity is a signature quality Joerg possesses in service to delivering mutual benefit "win-win-win’s" by successfully navigating complex problems, accelerating brand and product growth, and being a key contributor in go-to-market decisions.

Adam Luff is a healthcare technology executive and VP of Solution Consulting at Infor. With his 25 years in the Healthcare Technology industry, Adam focuses on operational efficiency that leads to providers getting paid faster and simpler.

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About Liana Guzmán:

Liana M. Douillet Guzmán is a seasoned CEO and consumer-tech leader known for driving transformative growth across healthcare, finance, education, and professional services. As CEO of FOLX Health, she has expanded the company’s national reach and service offerings, helping establish it as the leading digital healthcare provider for the LGBTQIA+ community. With nearly two decades of experience scaling disruptive companies, she previously served as CMO at Skillshare and COO at Blockchain, where she played a key role in growing the platform from 4 million to 40 million users and building a globally recognized brand.

Liana also spent nine years shaping Axiom’s international expansion and marketing strategy across the U.S., EMEA, and APAC regions. A Henry Crown Fellow and three-time Fast Company Queer 50 honoree, she is a sought-after speaker at global forums including DAVOS, Fortune Brainstorm, Web Summit, and HLTH. Beyond her executive work, she co-founded The Pink Agenda and serves on the boards of GLAAD and The Elizabeth Park Conservancy. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she brings a global mindset and people-first leadership style to every role.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Whole-person, patient-centered, community-oriented care is the future. When these three pillars align, outcomes improve and trust increases across populations.
• Telehealth is not a compromise; it’s often the safest, most accessible option. For many people, digital care is the only environment where they feel safe, respected, and willing to seek support.
• AI can either transform healthcare or exacerbate and dangerously amplify inequality. Without careful oversight and representative data, large language models can reinforce harmful misinformation.
• Affirming care is a clinical and financial necessity, not a niche service. Avoiding preventive care can lead to dangerous delays and significantly higher system costs.
• Demographic shifts make inclusive care a strategic imperative. With a quarter of Gen Z identifying as LGBTQIA+, employers and payers who invest early will capture long-term loyalty and economic value.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Liana Guzmán on LinkedIn.
• Follow FOLX Health on LinkedIn and Instagram, and visit their website.

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About Ben Forrest:

Ben Forrest is the CEO of Olio, a care coordination technology company focused on improving collaboration among payers, health systems, and post-acute providers for the most complex patients. With a 14-year background in the medical device industry, Ben saw firsthand how fragmented workflows and siloed care settings created barriers to quality and efficiency—an insight that led him to build Olio. Under his leadership, the platform now enables real-time engagement across hundreds of care sites, helping organizations reduce administrative burden, improve outcomes, and better manage medical spend. Ben is dedicated to bringing modern software, thoughtful workflows, and emerging AI capabilities to one of healthcare’s most persistent challenges: truly connected care.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Care coordination is deeply fragmented, especially for complex patients moving across hospitals, skilled nursing, home health, behavioral health, and other community settings.
• Olio’s platform connects payers, health systems, and post-acute providers in one shared workflow, enabling daily engagement and reducing administrative burden.
• Better downstream provider engagement directly improves outcomes and lowers costs, especially in Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, ACO, and bundled payment environments.
• Scaling coordination statewide requires more than EMRs; it requires workflow technology that ensures transparency, accountability, and consistent communication across 100+ care sites.
• Economics drive engagement: care coordination intensity increases where organizations hold risk or face pressure to manage total medical spend.
• The future of AI in care coordination is still emerging, and smart companies will focus on doing one operational problem exceptionally well before expanding.
• Payers will face mounting pressure to reduce medical spend, making true care coordination, not just better authorization practices, a strategic necessity.
• Olio was born from the realization that healthcare excels at delivering care in silos but struggles when patients move between settings, especially under value-based models.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ben Forrest on LinkedIn.
• Follow Olio on LinkedInand discover their website.

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About Trudy McKanna:

Trudy McKanna is an accomplished medical affairs leader with extensive experience across medical education, field medical strategy, and people management. Currently serving as Senior Field Medical Director at GRAIL, she brings more than two decades of expertise spanning oncology, organ health, genetics, and medical ethics. Prior to GRAIL, she spent nine years at Natera in progressively senior roles, including Senior Director of Medical Affairs for Organ Health, where she led medical strategy, built and managed high-performing teams, and shaped national KOL engagement efforts across transplant and renal genetics. Her background includes over a decade as a genetic counselor and supervisor at Spectrum Health, leadership roles in professional organizations such as the Michigan Association of Genetic Counselors, and academic appointments with Michigan State University. As co-founder and vice president of the Rockford Food Allergy Network, she also helped strengthen community education and advocacy around food allergy awareness. Trudy holds a Master of Science in Genetic Counseling from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science in Biology/Biochemistry from Hope College.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Early detection significantly changes survival outcomes; identifying cancer before it metastasizes can quadruple five-year survival rates.
• Multi-cancer early detection utilizes cell-free DNA and methylation patterns to detect signals from over 50 cancers with a simple blood draw.
• Adding this test to standard screening results in seven times more cancers being found, with over half detected at early stages.
• The false-positive rate is exceptionally low at 0.4%, making it viable for population-scale screening.
• Access and equity improve significantly when screening can be conducted in primary care settings, mobile units, employer sites, and underserved communities.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Trudy McKanna on LinkedIn.
• Follow GRAIL on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Learn more about Galleri here.

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About David Cohen:

David Cohen, FACHE, serves as the Chief Product and Technology Officer at Greenway Health, leading the company’s technology and product strategy to drive digital healthcare innovation. Since joining in 2019, he has played a key role in modernizing Greenway’s solutions and driving better outcomes for providers and patients. He also serves on the Board of the CommonWell Health Alliance, promoting interoperability across the healthcare ecosystem.

Previously, David spent over 13 years at Cerner Corporation in leadership roles spanning Cerner Intelligence, Clinical Solutions, and Innovation. He began his career in technology and consulting with Pfizer and ThoughtWorks. David holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA in Integrated Science and Mathematics from Northwestern University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Intelligent automation is central to transforming ambulatory healthcare, enabling providers to reduce administrative tasks and allocate more time to patient care.
• Greenway’s “agentic-first architecture” treats AI not as a tool but as the core product, enabling end-to-end workflow automation across the encounter-to-cash spectrum.
• By working closely with customers and using a “working backwards” approach, Greenway designs solutions that directly address real-world practice challenges.
• Automation in documentation, chart review, and revenue cycle management enhances efficiency and improves care coordination through platforms like AWS HealthLake.
• David emphasizes “time compression,” focusing on delivering innovation within months rather than years to meet the urgent needs of healthcare providers.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow David Cohen on LinkedIn.
• Follow Greenway Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Ariel Garten:

Ariel Garten is a visionary neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and thought leader best known as the co-founder and chief evangelist of Muse, the brain-sensing headband that makes meditation easier through real-time neurofeedback. With a foundation in neuroscience from the University of Toronto, Ariel’s early research at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre focused on Parkinson’s disease and hippocampal neurogenesis. Her work bridges science, art, and mental wellness, a fusion evident in Muse’s elegant design and its mission to help users strengthen their minds through technology.

Before founding InteraXon, the parent company of Muse, in 2009, Ariel worked as a therapist in private practice, helping clients uncover clarity and overcome self-limiting beliefs. Her interest in brain-computer interfaces began in 2003 in Dr. Steve Mann’s lab, where she explored thought-controlled technologies—an experience that later inspired InteraXon’s debut project, Bright Ideas, which allowed participants at the 2010 Winter Olympics to control the lights on the CN Tower and Niagara Falls with their minds.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Daily brain tracking gives individuals and clinicians the kind of insights previously only available in labs, making brain health far more accessible.
• MUSE’s new AI sleep coach and Digital Sleeping Pill adjust audio in real time to help users fall asleep faster and return to sleep when they wake.
• The device’s dual EEG and fNIRS sensors measure electrical activity and blood oxygenation, enabling both sleep analysis and cognitive training.
• Research from the Mayo Clinic indicates that just five minutes of daily use resulted in a 54% reduction in burnout among healthcare professionals.
• Pharmaceutical companies, clinicians, and researchers are turning to MUSE for distributed sleep studies, cognitive data, and medication response tracking.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ariel Garten onLinkedIn.
• Follow MUSE on LinkedInand visit their website.
• Email the MUSE team directly here.

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About Brian Bewley:

Brian Bewley advises healthcare and life sciences companies, as well as their investors, on complex regulatory, transactional, and strategic matters. He assists clients in navigating federal and state compliance issues, managing regulatory due diligence, and responding to government audits and investigations. His clients include pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, hospitals, health systems, digital health companies, managed care organizations, long-term care providers, and private equity firms.

Brian has successfully defended organizations in matters involving the False Claims Act, the Civil Monetary Penalties Law, and audits by HHS OIG and CMS. His experience spans Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law compliance, drug pricing issues, and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. Before entering private practice, Brian served as senior counsel at HHS OIG and as a special assistant U.S. attorney through the Department of Justice Attorney General’s Honors Program.

A frequent national speaker on health care regulatory topics, Brian also served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso, West Africa, where he taught science in French in a rural village.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Technological innovation in healthcare and the life sciences is advancing faster than current U.S. regulatory frameworks can keep pace.
• Shifting federal policies, tariff changes, and agency turnover have created uncertainty and slowed investor activity in the sector.
• New state-level laws are making it more difficult for private equity and venture capital firms to invest in healthcare.
• Private capital remains a vital driver of innovation, funding technologies that improve efficiency, precision, and patient outcomes.
• Investor confidence is beginning to rebound as market conditions stabilize and engagement with policymakers increases heading into 2026.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Brian Bewley on LinkedIn, or reach out via email.
• Follow Reed Smith LLP on LinkedInand visit their website.

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About Ryan Weber:

Ryan Weber is a solutions consultant for TruLookup at TransUnion, where he helps healthcare organizations harness the power of data intelligence to enhance patient access, engagement, and trust. With over eight years of experience at TransUnion’s Specialized Risk Group, Ryan collaborates with clients to integrate non-credit data assets, AI-driven analytics, and automated solutions that streamline the patient journey and enhance financial performance. His expertise lies in connecting complex data systems to real-world healthcare challenges, ensuring that providers can efficiently reach patients, reduce administrative friction, and support equitable care for underserved populations.

Before joining TransUnion, Ryan served as managing partner at Next Level Sailing Chicago, a high-performance sailing experience focused on team building and leadership through competition. He also held account executive roles in technology and trading, developing a strong foundation in business development and client relations. A graduate of Fort Lewis College with a degree in business and marketing, Ryan combines technical insight with a passion for innovation and customer success.

Things You’ll Learn:

• TransUnion utilizes non-credit data sources, including phone and property information, to assist healthcare organizations in updating and verifying patient contact details for enhanced engagement.
• Their data-driven solutions support the entire patient journey, improving scheduling, verification, and financial accessibility to reduce barriers to care.
• AI and automation play a key role in streamlining patient onboarding, minimizing manual data entry, and enhancing the overall care experience.
• The company focuses on inclusive data strategies that ensure historically underserved populations are represented and supported in healthcare innovation.
• Trust and compliance remain central, with strict adherence to HIPAA, FCRA, and ethical data use ensuring patient privacy and transparency.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ryan Weber on LinkedIn.
• Follow TransUnion onLinkedIn and visit their website.
• Email Ryan directly here.

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About John Harrison:

John Harrison is a seasoned digital marketing and client experience leader with over 20 years of experience shaping innovative brand, product, and business strategies. As president and general manager at WebMD Health Services, he leads initiatives that help organizations build cultures of well-being, improving health and happiness across millions of lives.

Known for his blend of creative vision and operational discipline, John has led high-performing teams at companies such as WebMD, Webtrends, and Yesmail Interactive, delivering measurable growth and client success for Fortune 1000 organizations. His expertise spans customer experience leadership, P&L management, M&A strategy, and organizational development.

Based in Portland, Oregon, John is recognized for his ability to inspire teams, navigate change with clarity, and translate complex business challenges into purposeful, people-centered solutions. He holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of Oregon, a background that fuels his strong communication and leadership style.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Holistic well-being replaces generic wellness by integrating digital tools with human services to enhance overall well-being. This approach personalizes support to each employee’s goals, risks, and life context.
• Partnerships and interoperability are crucial because employees require a seamless experience. Disjointed handoffs create gaps that cause people to disengage.
• Leadership advocacy and employee champion networks turn initiatives into culture. When leaders participate in and communicate effectively, programs earn trust and adoption.
• Outcomes, not optics, define success. Measuring year-over-year health risk reduction and cost impact separates true results from “check the box” efforts.
• The next leap is AI plus people working in sync. Timely digital nudges paired with human guidance unlock personalization and reach at scale.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow John Harrison on LinkedIn.
• Follow WebMD Health Services on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Nikhil Buduma:

Nikhil Buduma is a San Francisco–based entrepreneur, scientist, and engineer working at the cutting edge of AI and healthcare. He is the co-founder and CEO of Ambience Healthcare, an AI platform built to supercharge every healthcare worker with intelligent automation. Under his leadership, Ambience has grown into one of the most well-funded AI healthcare startups in the world, raising over $343 million from top investors, including a16z, OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, Oak HC/FT, Optum Ventures, and industry pioneers such as Jeff Dean and Pieter Abbeel. Before becoming CEO, Nikhil served as Ambience’s Chief Scientist, leading the development of its core AI systems that streamline documentation, coding, and clinical workflows for healthcare systems, including the Cleveland Clinic and St. Luke’s.

Prior to Ambience, Nikhil co-founded Remedy Health, where he applied machine learning to advance value-based care models, backed by Khosla Ventures and Greylock. He also co-founded Lean On Me, a nonprofit organization that supports mental health and wellness across U.S. college campuses through anonymous peer-to-peer text support networks at institutions such as MIT, Duke, and UC Berkeley.

A graduate and valedictorian of Bellarmine College Preparatory, Nikhil earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science and engineering from MIT. His career reflects a rare blend of technical mastery, compassion, and vision—using AI not to replace clinicians, but to restore the human joy in the practice of medicine.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Health systems often see low real-world usage of ambient tools; when daily adoption crosses most clinicians and visits, the ROI conversation becomes meaningful. This requires solving fundamentals across specialties, not just shipping features.
• If AI generates notes that don’t align with payer rules and codes, organizations incur rework and risk. Integrating HCC, ICD-10, and CPT selection, along with supporting language, at the point of care helps prevent denials.
• Revenue integrity upside: Bringing CDI intelligence forward can reclaim large sums from work already done but not credited. This strengthens both financial sustainability and compliance posture.
• Continuous third-party auditing and domain-specific modeling are essential because general reasoning models often struggle with the nuances of revenue cycles. Independent validation builds organizational trust.
• Patient Summary anticipates questions and data needs before the visit, while Chart Chat answers complex, EHR-aware queries in seconds, helping to democratize top-tier standards of care in rural settings.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Nikhil Buduma on LinkedIn.
• Follow Ambience Healthcare on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Kyle M.K.

Kyle M.K. is an Executive Strategy Advisor, keynote speaker, and best-selling author based in Austin, Texas. As Indeed’s Senior Talent Strategy Advisor, he helps employers navigate the future of work—simplifying complex labor market challenges and inspiring people-focused leadership. His book, The Economics of Emotion, explores how emotional intelligence drives business success. Before Indeed, Kyle founded The Heart Company, where he helped global brands like The Ritz-Carlton, Uber, and Disney elevate brand loyalty through emotionally centered strategies. He also led ventures such as Human Planet and No. 4 St. James, combining data, storytelling, and design to humanize business experiences. With roots at Apple, where he shaped retail training and technology, Kyle’s career centers on one mission: making work more human.

Things You'll Learn:

• Retention begins long before a new hire’s first day, authentic communication and realistic expectations set the foundation for longevity.
• Feeling underappreciated by supervisors is one of the most unique and powerful drivers of burnout in healthcare.
• Leadership empathy directly shapes workplace culture; when senior leaders lack compassion, it cascades down the organization.
• Transparency in job postings and work environments helps reduce turnover by aligning expectations with reality, thereby fostering a more effective work environment.
• Treating healthcare teams as communities rather than machines fosters a sense of belonging, purpose, and ultimately, better patient care.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kyle M.K. on LinkedIn.
• Follow Indeed on LinkedIn.
• Visit Indeed’s website.
• Get a copy of Kyle’s book, The Economics of Emotion, here.
• Read Indeed’s Pulse of Healthcare 2024 here.
• Read Indeed’s Pulse of Healthcare 2025 here.

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In this episode Sandy Vance sits down with Dr. Kenneth Stein, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Medical Officer at Boston Scientific, to explore how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing cardiology from diagnosis to treatment.

Dr. Stein shares how Boston Scientific is tackling one of healthcare’s biggest challenges: too much data and too little insight. From AI-driven heart monitors that detect dangerous rhythms before doctors can see them, to tools that democratize expert-level cardiac imaging, to predictive algorithms that warn clinicians of heart failure weeks before hospitalization. Tune in to hear how AI is not replacing doctors but empowering them, why clinical rigor still matters in the age of algorithms, and what it means for the future of cardiology.

In this episode, they talk about:* What it means to have too much data * Three key use cases for AI in cardiology + Scaling expertise with BeatLogic + Democratizing Expertise with Avigo Plus + Predicting outcomes with Heartlogic * AI transforms raw data into actionable insights that improve patient outcomes. * Radiology and cardiology are examples of how AI enhances (not replaces) medical professionals. * Clinicians who embrace AI will outperform those who don’t. * Ongoing education on AI’s role, limits, and evidence base is crucial for healthcare providers.

A Little About Kenneth:Kenneth Stein is senior vice president and global chief medical officer at Boston Scientific. In this role, he has oversight for the clinical trials, medical safety and medical affairs functions and is responsible for ensuring a cohesive clinical community of practice across the company. Prior to Boston Scientific, Stein held the position of associate director of clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Weill Cornell Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at Cornell University. Stein is a graduate of Harvard College (in economics) and New York University School of Medicine. He is widely published, having authored more than 160 papers in the peer reviewed medical literature.

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About Harpaul Sambhi:

Harpaul Sambhi is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Magical, where he’s building Agentic AI for healthcare to transform how people and systems interact in one of the world’s most vital industries. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Harpaul combines a deep technical background with a passion for human-centered innovation. Before founding Magical in 2020, he built and sold Careerify to LinkedIn, where he later led product initiatives within LinkedIn Talent Solutions and Microsoft, helping shape the future of talent acquisition and HR technology.

Alongside building companies, Harpaul has served as Entrepreneur in Residence at Bain Capital Ventures, Advisor at On Deck, and a Limited Partner in leading VC funds, including Bain Capital Ventures, iNovia Capital, and OnDeck. Earlier in his career, he authored Social HR (published by Thomson-Reuters) and lectured at the Schulich Executive Education Centre on innovation, technology, and the evolving workplace.

At his core, Harpaul is guided by simple principles—striving to be a good human and a dedicated father, husband, son, brother, and friend—while working with great people to build great products that make a difference. A graduate of the University of Waterloo with a degree in electrical engineering, he continues to live by curiosity, humility, and the drive to create technology that serves people, not the other way around.

About Doug Hires:

Douglas Hires is a seasoned healthcare executive, consultant, and entrepreneur with over 35 years of leadership experience across the healthcare and information technology sectors. Based in Dallas, Texas, Douglas has built a distinguished career driving operational excellence, business transformation, and financial performance for some of the nation’s leading healthcare organizations. His expertise spans providers, payers, government, and life sciences, and his track record includes accelerating growth, restructuring operations, and guiding organizations through strategic reinvention.

Currently, Douglas serves as Executive Advisor at Magical, Managing Partner at JD Hires Advisory Group, and Founder & President of New World Wine Designs, where he combines his business acumen with his passion for fine wine and craftsmanship through bespoke wine cellar design and building. He also advises healthcare and sales organizations through roles with Healthcare IT Leaders and SalesSparx LLC, lending his strategic insight to help teams scale with precision and purpose.

Previously, Douglas held multiple senior leadership roles at Optum, including Chief Operating Officer for OptumInsight Provider and COO of the Hospital Services Division, overseeing end-to-end revenue cycle operations for Dignity Health’s 36 hospitals. His earlier career includes executive roles at Santa Rosa Consulting, 3M Health Information Systems, SoftMed Systems, and First Consulting Group, where he earned recognition as a respected thought leader and sought-after industry speaker.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Agentic AI surpasses automation by reasoning, adapting, and executing end-to-end workflows, thereby freeing healthcare workers from repetitive tasks.
• Healthcare organizations are already seeing results, such as doubling prior authorization volume while cutting staff needs and decision times in half.
• The shift from RPA to agentic AI mirrors the evolution from MapQuest to autonomous vehicles, smarter, smoother, and self-correcting.
• Successful AI adoption requires attention to change management and staff reallocation, not just technology deployment.
• Evaluating AI vendors using six key pillars (reasoning, adaptability, interoperability, agility, scalability, and fault tolerance) helps cut through the hype and identify real solutions.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Harpaul Sambhi on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Doug Hires on LinkedIn.
• Follow Magical on LinkedIn.
• Visit Magical’s website.

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About Charlie Harp:

Charlie Harp is the CEO of Clinical Architecture, where he has led the company for over 16 years in its mission to revolutionize healthcare data quality and interoperability. Under his leadership, Clinical Architecture has become the industry’s leading provider of healthcare terminology management solutions, empowering organizations to enhance the accuracy, usability, and value of clinical data across systems. With deep expertise in electronic health records (EHR) and healthcare information systems, Charlie has spearheaded the development of cutting-edge software products and driven major initiatives in process improvement, project management, and data strategy—boosting efficiency and profitability across the organization.

Before founding and growing Clinical Architecture, Charlie held senior technology and leadership roles at First DataBank, Zynx Health, Medi-Span, Covance, and SmithKline Beecham Clinical Labs, where he consistently delivered innovative solutions that advanced healthcare IT infrastructure. Beyond his executive work, Charlie is a healthcare data quality evangelist and host of the Informonster Podcast, where he explores the evolving intersection of healthcare, technology, and data. A graduate of California State Polytechnic University–Pomona and the Hearst Management Institute, Charlie remains deeply committed to enhancing the healthcare ecosystem through improved data and advanced technology.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI in healthcare is only as good as the data it’s trained on; poor data leads to dangerous outcomes and lost trust.
• The Patient Information Quality Improvement Framework (PIQI) aims to measure and improve healthcare data quality through an open-source, industry-wide standard.
• Data quality has a direct impact on everything from reimbursement accuracy to clinical decision-making and patient safety.
• Healthcare’s transformation won’t come from disruption but from gradual, data-driven evolution focused on interoperability and usability.
• Investing in data quality is like adopting a healthy lifestyle; it’s hard work, but the long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term effort.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Charlie Harp on LinkedIn.
• Follow Clinical Architecture on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Clinical Architecture website.
• Listen to Charlie’s previous interview on the podcast here.
• Check out The Informonster Podcast here.

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About Patrick Schinzel:

Patrick Schinzel is the Chief Operations Officer at Strive Pharmacy, where he has been instrumental in driving operational excellence and patient-focused innovation since 2023. With over two decades of experience in pharmacy leadership, Patrick brings a deep understanding of both clinical care and business strategy. Before stepping into his current executive role, he served as a pharmacist at Strive Pharmacy and Walgreens, where he spent nearly 20 years ensuring top-quality patient care and operational efficiency. Beyond pharmacy, Patrick has also demonstrated entrepreneurial drive as the long-time owner of Potential Home Buyers LLC, a real estate venture he has led since 2008. He earned his PharmD and bachelor’s in pharmaceutical sciences from South Dakota State University, following his studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Clarke Community. Based in Mesa, Arizona, Patrick combines his expertise in healthcare and business to advance Strive Pharmacy’s mission of delivering accessible, personalized, and high-quality pharmaceutical care.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Usage analytics revealed five consistently effective testosterone formulations from 370 variations, enabling faster fulfillment, lower prices, and maintained clinical autonomy.
• A thoughtful cash-pay strategy can enhance affordability today, even as broader reimbursement for underserved populations remains a significant industry challenge.
• Proactive potency testing on sterile lines (including GLP-1s) goes beyond basic safety to verify therapeutic effectiveness.
• “Preferred” formulations can coexist with precision medicine, extracting bulk efficiencies without eliminating personalization.
• The next leap is software that coordinates interdepartmental nuance, paving the way for robotics to deliver true “lot size of one” at scale.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Patrick Schinzel on LinkedIn.
• Follow Clinical Architecture on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Email Patrick here.

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About Lori Logan:

Lori Logan is the president and CEO of NASCO, where she leads with a vision to merge innovation with a strong foundation in healthcare. Based in Englewood, Colorado, she brings over two decades of leadership across healthcare’s payer, provider, and technology sectors. Known for her curiosity, analytical mindset, and collaborative leadership, Lori has consistently driven growth, transformation, and measurable impact. Her career includes leading multimillion-dollar projects, overseeing teams of hundreds, and managing large-scale integrations and mergers, and acquisitions (M&A) initiatives. Previously, she held senior roles at athenahealth, Geneia, Paladina Health, TriZetto, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, and McKesson—where she launched groundbreaking products and strategies that improved care coordination and operational efficiency. Recognized for her strategic acumen and results-driven approach, Lori has earned industry accolades, including the TriZetto CEO Pinnacle Award and the Thomson Reuters Healthcare Advantage Award. Her mission remains clear: to reimagine healthcare and create healthier outcomes and lives.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Legacy infrastructure hinders scalability; health plans require a modern administrative “chassis” to package benefits, administer payments, and operationalize innovation. This goes well beyond traditional claims systems.
• Analytics must merge claims, clinical, and engagement data with medical economics precision. Insights then have to reach providers and advocates so care is both effective and reimbursable.
• A significant amount of value now resides outside of claims in disease management, digital tools, and condition management programs. Members need clear navigation and transparency on what they have, where to go, and what it costs.
• Provider enablement is essential for value-based care. Success depends on aligned incentives, shared operations, coaching, and trust between plans and providers.
• Strategic investments should prioritize scalable administration, robust operations, and data pipelines. These foundations let plans attribute value, manage risk, and drive affordability at scale.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Lori Logan on LinkedIn.
• Follow NASCO on LinkedIn and explore their website.

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About Dr. Julie Schulz:

Dr. Julie Schulz, MD, MPH, is a physician executive and product leader based in Los Angeles with a proven track record of driving innovation at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and business. Over the past 15 years, she has built and led teams developing healthcare decision support, analytics, and consumer health products across value-based care, women’s health, and life sciences. As VP of Product at Avalon Healthcare Solutions, she leads strategy for next-generation diagnostics platforms. Previously, at HALO Diagnostics and Doctor Evidence, she guided product and business development efforts that integrated imaging, laboratory, and evidence-based analytics to improve patient and physician experiences. Earlier roles at Lumere and Sg2 honed her expertise in clinical data, product-market fit, and scaling evidence-driven solutions. Published in leading journals, Dr. Schulz combines deep clinical insight with strategic leadership to advance innovations that improve healthcare outcomes and drive measurable business impact.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Diagnostic intelligence can transform diagnostics from a cost center into a strategic asset that improves quality and lowers costs.
• Physicians face overwhelming volumes of new tests and guidelines, and AI-powered decision support can ease their cognitive burden.
• By removing prior authorization barriers, patients can transition from diagnosis to treatment in just 15 days, rather than the typical 60 days.
• Data shows that healthier patients are more likely to receive GLP-1 prescriptions, revealing a need for better risk-adjusted care strategies.
• True innovation in healthcare depends on communication, simplifying complexity and aligning clinicians, payers, and technologists toward shared goals.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Julie Schulz on LinkedIn.
• Follow Avalon Healthcare Solutions on LinkedIn and explore their website.
• Read Avalon Healthcare Solutions’ Annual Lab Trend Report here.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Haris Shuaib, the CEO at Newton's Tree to explore how AI is transforming healthcare. Newton’s Tree partners with leading health systems and AI vendors to make AI adoption safe, effective, and scalable. Haris shares practical insights on where health systems should begin, how to design for agility, and what it takes to evolve alongside rapidly changing technology. Together, they look ahead to the future of AI in healthcare, where innovation and compassion go hand in hand because helping people still remains at the heart of every advancement.

In this episode, they talk about:* The birth of Newton’s Tree * Health systems should start small and design for agility * Technology adoption best practices * Newton’s Tree’s four-step framework to aid health systems through their entire life cycles * Balancing the need to implement quickly and properly at the same time * The future of standards for AI in healthcare * We must evolve with technology

A Little About Haris:Haris Shuaib is Founder and CEO of Newton’s Tree, a startup dedicated to AI transformation at scale in health and care. He is Director of the Fellowships in Clinical Artificial Intelligence, the world’s-first clinical training programme for healthcare professionals to develop practical AI skills. He is also a Consultant Clinical Scientist and former Head of the Clinical Scientific Computing section at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS FT. Finally, he also holds a NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship, where he is leading a national multi-centre trial to see whether AI can improve the treatment of glioblastoma.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Dr. Bilal Naved from Clearstep Health to explore how AI is transforming the patient experience. From improving access and engagement to streamlining provider workflows, Clearstep’s AI agents are helping healthcare organizations deliver care more efficiently and effectively.

It’s a pivotal moment for the industry: AI isn’t here to replace expertise, but to amplify it. When developed responsibly, these tools can become powerful partners by reducing friction for patients, supporting providers, and ensuring care reaches those who need it most.

In this episode, they talk about:* How Clearstep uses AI to balance patient access with provider capacity * What it really means to leverage expert AI systems * Tangible benefits for provider organizations * Cutting call center volume, boosting patient care, and seeing 3–10x ROI * Flexible deployment: from pre-visit automation to call center efficiency to data insights

A Little About Bilal:Dr. Bilal Naved co-founded Clearstep while completing his MD/PhD at Northwestern University. With a passion for blending engineering and medicine, he’s dedicated to pushing the boundaries of how care is delivered. Today, Bilal focuses on using advanced informatics to both optimize healthcare systems and measure real-world outcomes: work that’s making healthcare more efficient, effective, and patient-centered.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits with Derek Lo, CEO and Founder at Medallion, to explore how technology is reshaping one of the most overlooked but critical parts of healthcare: managing provider networks. Derek shares the story behind Medallion, why he set out to tackle the complexities of credentialing, licensing, and provider management, and how his team is using automation and AI to make life easier for both providers and organizations.

Medallion builds software that simplifies the complexity of running a provider network. From credentialing to licensing, the platform helps organizations get providers seeing patients faster while offering greater efficiency, visibility, and control.

In this episode, they talk about:* How Medallion helps accurately manage provider networks with AI automation * The complicated and complex process of credentialing—and why it sparked Derek’s journey * Where Medallion comes into play in recruiting and hiring providers * How this benefits organizations beyond the administrative process * The future of AI management software in healthcare * How Medallion is helping drive transformation across the industry

A Little About Derek:Derek Lo is the CEO and Founder of Medallion, the leading platform for provider network management. Since launching in 2020, he’s grown the company to over 300 customers, built a 150+ person team, and raised $140 million from top investors like Sequoia Capital and Optum Ventures. A second-time founder, Derek previously built and sold Py to Hired.com in 2019. He’s a Yale graduate in Computer Science and Statistics, a two-time Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, and is driving Medallion’s mission to simplify healthcare operations with AI-powered automation.

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In this podcast, Vishal Iyengar, Principal at Deloitte\, and Mike Stimpson, CTO at enGen, discuss the strategic value that AI Agents can unlock to transform healthcare outcomes, operations, and stakeholder experience. They explore the practical use of Agents to answer foundational questions and address requests for information from members and providers that routinely cause abrasion, confusion, and administrative overhead. Vishal and Mike also highlight what is needed for these Agentic solutions to be deployed and adopted for organizations to achieve the expected results – data integrity, cyber security, governance and compliance, and targeted talent.

In this episode, they talk about:* How AI has grown from traditional machine learning to GenAI to today’s Agentic capabilities * A simple 3-layer setup: domain agents (specialists), reasoning agents (the organizer), and an enterprise model (the professor) * Real-life use cases, like “Is this service covered?” or “Why was my claim denied?” * What enGen focuses on to succeed: fresh thinking, outside perspectives, curiosity, a willingness to rebuild, and the right team * enGen’s vision is transforming healthcare by supporting members on their whole health journey and creating seamless experiences * Smarter data with AI-enabled APIs that make information easy to use across different needs * Why speed matters but not at the cost of security and trust

A Little About Vishal and Mike:Vishal brings over 2 decades of technology and business transformation experience in the Health Care industry. He specializes in the infusion and adoption of new-age technologies into today's complex ecosystem that enables Payers and Providers to manage, deliver, and reimburse for care. Most recently, he has focused on real-world use of AI to augment technologists, operators, and business experts to meaningfully change how Health Care systems support their stakeholders.

Mike comes to enGen with over 25 years of experience in technology and operations within both the health care and financial services industries. For the past 20 years, he consulted with health care organizations in transforming their businesses through technology-enabled solutions and large-scale business transformations specifically focused in core administration and service transformation . Mike leads enGen’s person-centric solutions focused on digital, clinical and provider transformation that puts the member and patient at the center of their healthcare journey.

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How much time do care team members spend piecing together a patient’s story—reviewing past visits, tracking what’s changed, and understanding their current needs? The answer is often too much. A large share of clinical energy goes into gathering and analyzing patient data, leaving less time for what matters most: direct care.

That’s where virtual care platforms and AI-driven healthcare solutions come in. By streamlining workflows and surfacing the right insights at the right time, these tools cut the administrative load in half, giving providers more time with patients while reducing the risk of burnout.

In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits with Peter Burns, from SoftServe, and Tim Wright from Teladoc to explore how their organizations are reimagining care team workflows. They discuss practical ways technology can boost efficiency, speed up patient support, and strengthen trust—the foundation for any successful digital health adoption.

In this episode, they talk about:* The vision behind SoftServe and Teladoc Health and how they’re shaping the future of care delivery * The expanding reach of virtual care and what it means for patients and providers * How AI-driven healthcare tools are redefining care team workflows for greater efficiency * Real-world examples of how Teladoc and SoftServe are improving the way care teams collaborate and deliver patient support * The role of smart hospital rooms and what they signal for the next era of connected care * Why the partnership between SoftServe and Teladoc is unlocking new possibilities in digital health innovation

A Little About Peter:Peter Burns brings more than 25 years of healthcare experience to his role as Director of Consulting & Domain Solutions at SoftServe. He’s passionate about bridging the gap between technology and healthcare, helping payers and providers solve complex business challenges with innovative, real-world solutions.

At SoftServe, Peter combines deep industry expertise with cutting-edge technical capabilities to design strategies that improve workflows, enhance patient outcomes, and drive lasting impact across the healthcare ecosystem.

A Little About Tim:

Tim Wright is passionate about using technology to make healthcare more accessible and effective. As Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at Teladoc Health, he helps shape the future of virtual care by building collaborations that improve patient experiences and support care teams.

Before joining Teladoc in 2020, Tim was a founding leader at InTouch Health. Prior to that he held management positions at HCR ManorCare, and even Marriott International, giving him a unique perspective that blends healthcare innovation with customer-centered strategy. He actually started his career in IT as an Information Systems Manager at King Broadcasting Company, a role that sparked his lifelong interest in technology and innovation.

Tim holds an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Washington, and studied at Sciences Po Bordeaux.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance, along with Anand Iyer, discuss Welldoc's core philosophy of responsible innovation, particularly how they are pushing the boundaries of AI while maintaining a strong commitment to safety, compliance, and member trust. Anand reveals how Welldoc is shaping the future of AI in healthcare by collaborating with the FDA, addressing bias, and leading a national effort for interoperability. Discover why responsibility, trust, and consumer empowerment are the keys to turning digital health innovation into safer, more proactive care. Healthcare innovation must be responsible in order to be effective.

In this episode, they talk about:* Healthcare innovation must be responsible. * The four levels of AI and how they are best used * Working with the FDA to advance safe, high-risk features. * Driving interoperability, reducing friction, and encouraging consumer empowerment. * Addressing Bias by using diverse data, garnering trust, and establishing the right guardrails * Governance through consistent standards * Partnerships are the key to growing AI responsibly * Key Takeaways: + Trust, safety, and compliance are non-negotiable foundations of innovation. + Regulators are partners in shaping the future of AI, not barriers. + Responsible AI creates safer, more equitable, and more proactive care

A Little About Anand Iyer:Anand is a respected global digital health innovator and leader, most known for his insights on and experience with technology, strategy, and regulatory policy. Anand has been instrumental in Welldoc’s success and the development of BlueStar®, the first FDA-cleared digital therapeutic for adults with type 2 diabetes. Since joining Welldoc in 2008, he has held core leadership positions that included President and Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer. In 2013, Anand was named “Maryland Healthcare Innovator of the Year” in the field of mobile health. Anand was also recognized as a top AI thought leader globally when he was named to Constellation Research’s prestigious AI 150 list in 2024.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Henry O’Connell, Co-Founder & CEO of Canary Speech, to explore how voice AI is transforming healthcare. Canary Speech is pioneering vocal biomarker technology—using subtle patterns in speech to replace subjective assessments with objective, actionable data.

From measuring pain levels to aiding in the diagnosis of conditions like Anxiety, depression, Huntington's, Parkinson's, MCI, Canary’s tools are designed to improve accuracy and speed in healthcare decision-making. This innovation not only helps patients receive the right care faster, but also supports nurses and clinicians by reducing burnout, improving workplace safety, and streamlining workflows.

If you’re curious about the future of AI in healthcare, digital health innovation, or how speech analysis can change the way we approach diagnostics and patient care, this conversation is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.

In this episode, they talk about:* Addressing the growing challenge of aggression in healthcare settings * Measuring ROI while reducing risk, preventing burnout, and improving employee retention * Using voice AI to assist in diagnosing ADHD, autism, and scaling pain assessments * Upcoming projects at Canary Speech, including collaboration with Microsoft’s Dragon software * Helping providers deliver more empathetic, patient-centered care * Fast implementation! Canary can be deployed in days, not weeks, for new clients

A Little About Henry:Henry O’Connell is the CEO and co-founder of Canary Speech, a leading AI health tech company using real-time vocal biomarkers to screen for mental health and neurological conditions. With over two decades of experience in technology leadership, including roles at Hewlett-Packard, Gilson, and the NIH, he has served on the boards of multiple tech companies globally. A passionate advocate for voice technology in healthcare, O’Connell regularly speaks on the transformative potential of AI and vocal biomarkers to improve disease detection, patient monitoring, and clinical decision-making. He aims to provide health screening that is accessible, objective, and scalable.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits with Jon Shreve, CEO of MCG, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the future of clinical guidelines and decision support. They discuss how MCG is leveraging AI to strengthen its offerings for payer organizations and stakeholders across the healthcare spectrum, why consistent interpretation of guidelines is critical, and how trust plays a central role in the process. The conversation also dives into the question of whether AI standards will ever be unified and gives a sneak peek into the exciting new directions MCG is heading.

In this episode, they talk about:* How healthcare AI is transforming clinical guidelines and MCG’s approach * Clinical decision support solutions for payers and healthcare organizations * Why consistent guideline interpretation matters in healthcare * Building trust in AI-powered clinical decision-making * Will AI standards in healthcare ever be unified? * Future innovations in clinical decision support at MCG

A Little About Jon:Mr. Shreve oversees all facets of MCG Health’s growth and management. He was Chairman of MCG from 2002 to 2009 and became its CEO in 2007. In 2018, Glassdoor recognized him as one of the Top 50 CEOs for Medium and Small Businesses. In 2024, Glassdoor also named MCG a Best Place to Work. Under his leadership, MCG has grown by over 20x. Before MCG’s acquisition by Hearst in 2012, Mr. Shreve had been with Milliman for over 25 years as an Equity Principal and Consulting Actuary. In addition to MCG, Mr. Shreve led or sponsored twenty other practices and was on Milliman’s Board of Directors. Mr. Shreve received his Bachelor of Arts with distinction in Mathematics from Carleton College in Minnesota, and he is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, as well as a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Krishna Bharathala and Isaac Gateño, members of the Agent Development team at Sierra, to explore how companies can confidently take their first steps into the world of artificial intelligence. Sierra helps businesses build better, more human experiences with AI, and this conversation pulls back the curtain on what that really looks like.

If you’ve ever wondered where to begin with AI adoption, how to overcome common barriers, or what kind of impact AI can have on your organization, this episode is packed with insights. Krishna and Isaac share practical strategies, explain how Sierra tackles real-world challenges like interoperability and security, and highlight ways companies can measure AI success.

Whether you’re curious about streamlining manual processes, building customer trust, or simply trying to understand the baseline knowledge your team needs to get started, this episode will give you a clear roadmap for moving forward with AI.

In this episode, they talk about:* How Sierra helps organizations and companies leverage AI to improve customer experiences * Ways the Agent Development team addresses interoperability challenges across systems * The concept of the “agent iceberg” and what it means for building stronger security * Foundational AI knowledge every organization should understand before getting started * Common goals and barriers companies face when adopting AI solutions * How to measure AI success through cost savings, faster operations, and improved member satisfaction * Why the best place to start with AI is the area of your company that requires the most manual time and effort to operate

A Little About Krishna:Krishna Bharathala is an Agent Product Manager at Sierra. Prior to Sierra he was a two-time start-up founder and, before that, was a Product Manager on Google Ads. He holds an MBA from Stanford, and an MS & BS in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

A Little About Isaac:Isaac Gateño is an Agent Engineer at Sierra. He is a hands-on technical leader with over ten years of experience building teams, working with cross-functional stakeholders, and managing complex projects at high-growth companies, including Forward Health, Plaid, and Palantir. He has a BS in computer science from Stanford.

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In this episode, Lorna Borenstein shares how Grokker has evolved into a powerful platform that uses AI to help us stay connected and healthy, why they decided to go with an open system instead of utilizing the directory model they started with, and how Grokker empowers individuals to take ownership of their own wellness. Grokker’s vision is to make your health both accessible and welcoming.

If you’re curious about the future of digital wellbeing, the role of AI in personal health, and how to build tools that truly empower people, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

In this episode, they talk about:* Grokker uses AI to help us stay connected and healthy * Directory models versus open systems in the vendor ecosystem * How Grokker helps empower people to take their wellness into their own hands * The implementation that will help people the most and lead to the most ROI

A Little About Lorna and Grokker:Lorna Borenstein is the CEO and Founder of Grokker, the award-winning innovative engagement engine that powers both life-changing outcomes for employees and the results Fortune 1000 clients demand. Supporting millions of employees in over 135 countries on any device, Grokker is trusted by industry leaders, including Boston Children’s Hospital, CVS Health, Delta Air Lines, Dominos, eBay, G.E., MGM Resorts, Pfizer, Target, and more.

The idea for Grokker came to Lorna Borenstein while on a multi-year sabbatical, traveling the world with her husband and three children. Hoping to use the internet to practice yoga and fitness while on vacation, she became frustrated with the lack of high-quality instructional videos available, as well as the difficulty in finding videos in one place. In 2012, Lorna founded Grokker.com, the on-demand wellbeing solution you can access from anywhere, anytime, on any device.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Sam Schifman from Vantiq. Together, they explore how adaptive automation powered by agentic AI is reshaping healthcare systems to be smarter, more flexible, and more human-centric. Forget rigid, one-size-fits-all automation; Sam explains how intelligent, collaborative AI agents are tackling clinical burdens, learning in real time, and continuously adapting to meet the unique challenges of healthcare.

From understanding the nuances of agentic systems to uncovering what makes a truly successful AI solution, this episode covers it all: elasticity, resilience, and the future of AI in healthcare.

In this episode, they talk about:* Sam’s role at Vantiq * How adaptive automation differs from “traditional” automation * AI comes in many different flavors * How intelligent, collaborative AI agents can relieve clinical burden * What are agentic systems and how they are used in the clinical setting * Vantiq has what is needed to have a successful AI system * Elasticity, resilience, and consistency

A Little About Sam Schifman:Sam Schifman is a seasoned software architect with experience spanning finance, education, HR, cybersecurity, and no-code development. Since 2019, he has led healthcare IT innovation as Chief Architect at Diameter Health, building systems that make clinical data usable for governments, insurers, and health exchanges. A frequent speaker and guest lecturer at institutions like Harvard and WPI, Sam is passionate about AI’s real-world impact. He has contributed to HL7 AI standards, explored NLP for clinical data, and experimented with generative AI to advance healthcare and biomedical research.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Rob Stein of C2 Solutions, a division of Intellias, to explore how smart hospitals and connected device technology are reshaping the future of healthcare—both inside the hospital room and across rural communities.

From defining what makes a hospital truly "smart" to navigating the challenges of interoperability and integration, this conversation offers a clear-eyed look at what it takes to go digital in healthcare today. Rob shares how Intellias is helping healthcare organizations modernize infrastructure, drive better patient outcomes, and expand care delivery beyond hospital walls.

Whether you're a health IT leader, provider, or innovator looking to stay ahead of digital trends, this episode offers insights into the real-world challenges and opportunities of building smarter, more connected care systems.

In this episode, they talk about:* 🧠 What defines a smart hospital in today’s evolving healthcare landscape * ⚙️ The core technologies powering next-generation, digital-first care environments * 🔗 How interoperability of connected devices is transforming patient care and workflows * 🌍 Why smart hospitals are enabling better access to care in rural and remote areas * 🤝 How Intellias collaborates with healthcare organizations during digital transformation * 🔄 What information flow looked like before and after connected tech—and what’s still evolving * 🧩 The complexities of integration and how to overcome them * 🏷️ Why device manufacturers must innovate and differentiate in an increasingly crowded market

A Little About Rob:Rob Stein has 10 years of consulting, advisory, managed services, and staffing experience. Focused on Medical Device and Healthcare technology consulting. C2 Solutions, offers comprehensive consulting services designed to elevate your operations in critical areas:

• Product Engineering: From concept to launch, develop innovative products that stand out in the market.
• Data Strategy and Analytics: Unlock actionable insights and drive smarter decision-making with our data expertise.
• Artificial Intelligence: Harness the power of AI to automate processes, enhance customer experiences, and unlock new opportunities.
• Cloud Application Development: Build custom, scalable, and secure applications tailored to meet your unique business needs.
• Quality Engineering: Ensure your products and services exceed customer expectations with our thorough our robust QE processes.
• Patient Experience (Px): In the healthcare sector, elevate the patient journey through technology that improves care outcomes and satisfaction

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In the latest episode of The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance discusses the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare with Anmol Madan, CEO of RadiantGraph. They talk about how AI and Intelligent Personalization can improve the member experience with health plans. Their conversation also highlights the ongoing challenges in consumer engagement within the healthcare sector. RadiantGraph aims to bridge the gap by utilizing AI and machine learning to enhance consumer engagement for large healthcare organizations, particularly in the realm of health plans.

If you have any questions about RadiantGraph, reach out to Anmol via LinkedIn or email him at anmolmadan@radiantgraph.com.

In this episode, they talk about:* ❤️‍🩹How RadiantGraph improves consumer engagement in healthcare using AI. * ⏲️How quick implementation allows organizations to see results in weeks rather than years. * 🤝How veterans from digital health and health plan organizations bring valuable insights into what works in the industry. * 😊The evolution of digital health and the need for systems that effectively engage consumers at scale. * 🎯Aligning with the business goals of healthcare organizations, they can focus on improving member engagement and satisfaction. * 🧹The need for clean data and effective data architecture to support healthcare initiatives.

A Little About Anmol:Anmol Madan is a healthcare technology innovator with 20+ years of experience using AI, machine learning, and data science to tackle some of the industry’s toughest challenges. He’s led breakthrough innovations in mental health, chronic care, telemedicine, and primary care, shaping the future of patient engagement. He also holds a PhD from MIT Media Lab, has authored 25+ scientific papers, and holds 25+ patents.

As founder of RadiantGraph, Anmol is focused on transforming health engagement through AI-powered personalization, helping health plans and services drive meaningful connections with consumers. Previously, he served as Chief Data Scientist at Teladoc and Livongo and co-founded Ginger (now part of Headspace Health), where he built the first AI-driven tele-psychiatry platform.

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In this episode of The Beat podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Michael Frank, Director of Digital Health at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK), to explore how MSK is teaming up with AWS and leveraging AI to revolutionize cancer care. Michael shares insights into MSK’s mission to end cancer for life, their journey into digital transformation, and how AI technologies (like large language models and advanced data analytics) are streamlining clinical workflows, improving patient interactions, and unlocking new treatment possibilities. They also dive into the real-world impact of AI on back-office operations, the ethical considerations of using data in clinical decision-making, and why collaboration with tech partners is essential to driving meaningful change in healthcare.

In this episode, they talk about:* Memorial Sloan Kettering’s bold mission to end cancer for life * The journey that brought MSK and AWS together in a shared digital health vision * How AI is transforming clinical workflows and enhancing patient interactions * Techniques for extracting and modeling patient data to inform treatment decisions * Using data comparison and analysis to uncover clues that guide oncology care * Leveraging large language models (LLMs) to connect and make sense of scattered patient information * The importance of adapting existing tools rather than reinventing the wheel * Why healthcare leaders should lean into AI and embrace emerging technologies * How AI may reshape the patient–provider relationship in the years to come * What the next wave of AI use cases in healthcare might look like * Potential risks of using data in clinical decision support—and how to navigate them * Opportunities to reduce healthcare costs through AI-powered back-office automation
The critical role of strong partnerships between healthcare institutions and tech innovators

A Little About Michael:Michael Frank is Director of Digital Health at Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Business Development, Strategy, and Innovation Group, where he leads efforts to develop, partner, and commercialize digital technologies including AI and precision oncology platforms. Prior to joining MSK in 2021, he held leadership roles at Pfizer, Booz & Co, PA Consulting, Phosplatin Therapeutics, and CombinatoRx, with over 15 years of experience in life sciences, innovation, and strategy. An entrepreneur at heart, Michael has launched products ranging from kitchen gadgets to medical diagnostics, and enjoys helping others bring ideas to market. He holds degrees in Biology (University of Michigan), Biomedical Engineering (Boston University), and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

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In this episode of The Beat, host Sandy Vance sits down with Solventum’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Travis Bias, to explore how ambient clinician documentation is transforming healthcare. As AI-powered solutions continue to evolve, clinicians are under increasing pressure to deliver high-quality care while managing growing administrative demands. Dr. Bias shares how Solventum is leveraging artificial intelligence to support ambient listening tools that streamline documentation, without replacing the human touch. Together, they discuss the technology’s accuracy, its role in clinical workflows, and why physicians who don’t adapt may find themselves falling behind. Tune in to learn how ambient documentation has evolved, how it's being measured, and what it means for the future of care delivery.

Learn More about Solventum HERE

In this episode, they talk about:* What Solventum is doing with AI these days * How clinicians can use ambient listening for documentation * Clinicians are being asked to do more with less these days * Ambient documentation is a tool, not a replacement * Measuring accuracy by comparison and instances when they are used * The evolution of ambient clinician documentation since its conception * Physicians will find themselves behind if they are not using it

A Little About Travis:Travis Bias, DO, MPH, FAAFP, is a family medicine physician, chief medical officer, and business director of clinician productivity solutions for Solventum's Health Information Systems business. He is also co-director of a Comparative Health Systems course at the University of California, San Francisco Institute of Global Health Sciences.

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In this episode of The Beat, host Sandy Vance sits down with Dr. Heather Bassett, Chief Medical Officer at Xsolis and creator of the proprietary Care Level Score. Together, they explore the future of AI in healthcare and how real-world AI applications are already driving improved operational efficiency, reducing clinician burnout, and enhancing payer-provider collaboration.

Dr. Bassett also shares insights from her recent involvement with CHAI.org, emphasizing why healthcare leaders must take initiative in developing responsible AI—without waiting for government mandates. Tune in to hear how Xsolis is helping health systems move from spreadsheets to smart automation, making data more actionable, and building a more transparent, interoperable ecosystem.

In this episode, they talk about:* How Xsolis is working toward creating a frictionless healthcare system * How Xsolis reduces manual tasks, decreasing clinician burnout, and boosting productivity * Xsolis’ use of data aggregation to minimize redundancy in the healthcare industry * Moving healthcare teams off spreadsheets and into AI-driven solutions * How client collaboration helps maximize the value Xsolis delivers * CMS recognition of the need to eliminate unnecessary steps to accelerate patient care * The role of interoperability in standardizing data exchange and enhancing context * Why transparency is critical when vendors integrate artificial intelligence * Evaluating whether vendors have the people and processes to support AI change management

A Little About Heather:Dr. Heather Bassett is the Chief Medical Officer at Xsolis, an AI-driven health technology company transforming healthcare through a human-centered approach. With over 20 years of experience in clinical care and health IT, she leads Xsolis’ medical and data science teams and co-developed the company’s signature innovation—the Care Level Score, which blends clinical expertise with AI and machine learning to assess patient status in real time.

A board-certified internist and former hospitalist, Dr. Bassett oversees Xsolis’ award-winning physician advisor program, denials management, and AI model development. She’s a frequent speaker at national healthcare conferences, including ACMA and HFMA, and has been featured in Becker’s, MedCity News, and Medical Economics. Recognized as CMO of the Year by the Nashville Business Journal and named one of Becker’s Women in Health IT to Know (2023, 2024), Dr. Bassett is also a member of CHAI.org, advocating for responsible AI in healthcare.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Dr. Will Morris, Chief Medical Officer at Ambience Healthcare, to explore how AI is transforming the healthcare industry. From enhancing clinical documentation to improving patient care and supporting back-office operations, Ambience is creating intelligent solutions tailored for the entire healthcare ecosystem.

Dr. Morris shares insights on how AI, when used as an assistive—not replacement—tool, can help alleviate clinician burnout and empower medical professionals to focus on what matters most: delivering compassionate, human-centered care. Whether you're a healthcare leader, clinician, or innovator, this episode offers practical insights into leveraging AI to drive real value across your organization.

In this episode, they talk about:

● AI should assist—not replace—medical professionals, enabling them to focus on essential human-centered care.

● AI is not a commodity; it must address critical pain points to drive real value.

● Ambient AI must work for all specialties, not just primary care. AI models must be tuned to the nuances of each specialty.

● Reducing burnout is just the start. When coding-aware, Ambient AI greatly improves clinical documentation integrity and provides coding support at the point-of-care, capturing other lost revenue.

● Always measure results, outputs, and processes when implementing new healthcare technologies.

● The effectiveness of any system depends on the quality and consistency of clinical documentation.

● Successful AI adoption requires a unified, enterprise-wide strategy.

A Little About Will:

Will Morris, MD, MBA, is board-certified in Internal Medicine and is a health technology leader, currently serving as Chief Medical Officer at Ambience Healthcare. In this role, he drives the company’s vision for clinical AI, collaborating with leading health systems to transform clinician workflows and improve patient care. Before joining Ambience, Dr. Morris was Chief Medical Information Officer at Google Cloud Healthcare and Life Sciences, contributing to cutting-edge healthcare innovations. He previously held leadership roles at Cleveland Clinic, including Chief Innovation Officer and Associate Chief Information Officer, overseeing clinical IT systems and health IT advancements.

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Gen AI fails without accurate data extraction. Upstage liberates messy healthcare and insurance data with precision to power gen AI applications. Host Sandy Vance gets behind the mic with Galina Fendikevich, US GTM.

In this episode of The Beat Podcast, Galina Fendikevich, US GTM Lead at Upstage, joins host Sandy Vance for a deep dive into the fast-evolving world of AI and large language models (LLMs). From breaking down the key differences between small and large language models to exploring what sets Upstage apart in a crowded AI landscape, the conversation offers valuable insights for tech leaders and innovators alike. They also address critical factors that AI systems need to function effectively. Listen in as Galina and Sandy highlight the remarkable potential of AI in healthcare.

Have a question for Galina or Upstage.ai? Reach out by emailing Galina directly at galena@upstage.ai or hit the Contact Us button on the website.

In this episode, they talk about:* The difference between small and large language models * What makes Upstage AI stand out from other models * Galena’s journey to Upstage and Upstage’s journey to the US * What Upstage AI needs to work well * Why does AI in healthcare work so well? * Overcoming challenges like hallucinations with large language models * What is and how to start the process of bringing in an AI model

A Little About Galina:Galina Fendikevich’s expertise spans product, strategy, engineering, and scaling operations for high-growth companies. With 10+ years of experience in finance, blockchain, and AI, she began her career on Wall Street before co-founding a team acquired by Niantic, creators of Pokémon Go.

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In today’s episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Vijay Venkatesan, Chief Technology Officer, IKS Health. Everyone’s talking about healthcare AI — but not everyone’s doing it the same way. We explain how IKS Health’s approach to technology and digital transformation sets it apart from other players in the space. Sandy and Vijay dive deep into the future of AI in healthcare, IKS Health technology strategies, AI workflow optimization, the blending of AI and human expertise, how AI is transforming healthcare, AI safety in healthcare, and responsible AI implementation.

In this episode, they talk about:* What is AI in healthcare? * Where AI will take healthcare in 2025 and beyond * IKS Health’s differentiators and its approach to technology * The guardrails that IKS Health follows and the opportunities healthcare may have when we evaluate safety and make the right choices when applying AI * Why AI workflows are important * IKS Health defines AI differently from competitors * The importance of the balance between human-in-the-loop and AI * Reducing friction in the healthcare journey

A Little About Vijay:Vijay Venkatesan is the Chief Technology Officer at IKS Health, where he leads the charge in building scalable, future-ready platforms that power efficiency, innovation, and meaningful client impact. With over 15 years in healthcare technology leadership, Vijay is a visionary force behind the deployment of advanced solutions like Generative AI, machine learning, and big data analytics to tackle some of the industry's most complex challenges.

At IKS Health, he drives the company’s end-to-end technology strategy — from evolving the tech stack and aligning engineering with business growth, to fostering a bold culture of innovation. Vijay is passionate about assembling world-class teams, forging strategic partnerships, and ensuring IKS remains on the cutting edge of healthcare transformation.

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In this insightful episode of The Beat Podcast, Sandy Vance is joined by two healthcare experts, Dr. Peter Pronovost and Claudia Douglass from Grant Thornton, to discuss a transformative concept in healthcare: the Intelligent Clinical Environment (ICE). This advanced, technology-driven model is revolutionizing the way healthcare systems are addressing critical issues like clinician burnout, labor shortages, and improving patient care outcomes. If you’re interested in the future of healthcare and technology, this episode offers a deep dive into how digital innovations like the Intelligent Clinical Environment are changing the landscape.

In this episode, they talk about:* The concept of Intelligent Clinical Environment and how it addresses the current clinician labor crisis * The impact on clinician burnout and turnover * The role do advanced technologies like this play in improving patient care, leadership development, and clinician efficiency * How the Intelligent Clinical Environment enhances clinical outcomes and patient safety * How the Intelligent Clinical Environment enhances patient satisfaction * Some of the common challenges health systems face when implementing this digital care transformation model * The ways the Intelligent Clinical Environment helps health systems meet their financial targets and reduce costs

A Little About Claudia and Peter:Claudia Douglass, FACHE, MHSA, PMP, is a Principal and U.S. National Healthcare Growth Leader with 30 years of experience in healthcare strategy and operations. She’s led complex initiatives in strategic growth, digital transformation, operational performance, and population health across large health systems and consulting roles. A recognized thought leader, Claudia regularly speaks and publishes on topics like leadership, virtual care, and value-based care at top industry conferences. Previously, she served as SVP & COO and VP of Strategy in health systems, bringing practical, implementable insights to her clients.

Dr. Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, FCCM, is a leading expert in patient safety and critical care, known for pioneering research that has saved thousands of lives. With over 800 peer-reviewed publications, he gained global recognition for his work using checklists to reduce catheter-related bloodstream infections. His groundbreaking contributions earned him a spot on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people and a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.” As the Chief Quality & Clinical Transformation Officer at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Dr. Pronovost drives innovation in healthcare across a network of 20 hospitals, 50+ health centers, and over 200 physician offices.

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About Adam Mariano:

Adam Mariano is the GM and President of LexisNexis Healthcare. Adam is a technologist, nurse, and attorney, deeply invested in helping healthcare companies build better, more equitable, and unbiased products and services through intentional product development, open interoperability, and reduced health disparities. He brings extensive clinical, technical, and legal experience spanning 20+ years. Adam's legal work is focused on equal access, civil rights, and immigration.

About Sushma Akunuru:

Sushma Akunuru is a strategic technology leader with expertise in healthcare insurance, wealth management, and banking. As CIO at Independence Blue Cross, she drives digital transformation, modernizing business applications and optimizing IT operations. Previously, she held senior leadership roles at Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, leading wealth management technology and automation strategies. With an MBA from Wharton and a background in computer sciences, she excels in IT strategy, product development, and operational excellence, shaping the future of healthcare and financial services through innovation and digital solutions.

Things You’ll Learn:

• 80% of clinical outcomes are influenced by factors outside of traditional medical care, like social determinants of health; therefore, a focus on whole-person care and community support is essential for equitable health.
• No single entity can solve the complex challenges of healthcare disparities. Collaborations between payers, providers, and technology vendors are essential for creating a connected and equitable healthcare ecosystem.
• Digitalization presents both opportunities and risks. While technology can improve access and convenience, the rapid push toward digitalization can exacerbate health disparities if not implemented thoughtfully, especially for vulnerable populations with limited access to technology or health literacy.
• Solving large, systemic problems can be easy; healthcare organizations should prioritize achievable improvements to create positive experiences for members.
• Telehealth is here to stay. The pandemic accelerated its adoption, which now requires careful consideration to ensure that the service remains available to modern consumers. As things return to normal, virtual healthcare or therapy must remain an option.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Adam Mariano on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about LexisNexis Risk Solutions on their LinkedIn, Instagram, and website.
• Follow and connect with Sushma Akunuru on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about Independence Blue Cross on their LinkedIn, Instagram, and website.
• Learn more about this episode's sponsor, UST Health, on their website.

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In this thought-provoking episode of The Beat, host Sandy Vance is joined by Caleb Manscill, the President of Vyne Medical, to dive deep into the rapidly evolving intersection of AI and healthcare. Caleb shares invaluable insights into how AI and automation are reshaping healthcare workflows, improving operational efficiency, and ultimately enhancing patient outcomes.

As AI becomes increasingly pivotal in transforming industries, its impact on healthcare stands out, particularly in overcoming the persistent challenge of data interoperability. With AI's growing role, ethical considerations around data privacy, transparency, and bias are coming to light. Caleb and Sandy discuss these topics in-depth by exploring how healthcare organizations can navigate the complexities of implementing AI responsibly and effectively.

In this episode, you’ll learn:* How AI is transforming healthcare workflows and patient care, making processes faster and more accurate. * The role Vyne Medical is playing in improving operational efficiency through AI-driven automation. * How AI is bridging gaps between healthcare systems, improving data exchange, and supporting better decision-making. * Real-world examples of how AI-driven automation is enhancing operational efficiency and patient outcomes for healthcare providers. * Key challenges in the implementation of AI, and how Vyne Medical is tackling these to ensure ethical and responsible use. * What the next frontier for AI in healthcare looks like, and how it will continue to revolutionize the industry. * How healthcare professionals and organizations can prepare for the AI transformation, and what skills or mindset shifts are necessary to thrive in an AI-powered healthcare environment * Caleb’s perspective on how Vyne Medical is contributing to the future of AI in the healthcare sector.

A Little About Caleb Manscill:Caleb Manscill is the President of Vyne Medical, where he leads efforts to enhance healthcare communication and operational efficiency through AI. With over 15 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Caleb has held key leadership roles, including business development at Weave and co-founder and CEO of DentalRay. His career has provided him with deep insights into both clinical and business perspectives, working closely with doctors, radiologists, and healthcare executives. Caleb is also a board member for LymeDisease.org and holds an MBA from Babson College and a BA from Brigham Young University.

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About Terri Couts:

Terri Couts is the Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at The Guthrie Clinic, an accomplished healthcare technology leader with a passion for driving innovation and clinical care through digital transformation. Terri focuses on creating integrated, patient-centered health systems by leveraging digital health solutions, remote patient monitoring, and telemedicine, particularly in underserved rural communities. With a strategic approach to balancing innovation and sustainability, Terri is dedicated to solving real-world problems and fostering a culture where IT, clinical, and operational leaders co-own transformation initiatives.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The Guthrie Clinic is building a connected, intelligent, and patient-centered health system through innovative care models. Their pulse center allows for real-time patient monitoring and supports virtual nursing and enhanced care transitions.
• Balancing innovation with sustainability involves building internal capabilities and focusing on solving real problems.
• Leadership plays a crucial role in fostering a culture of digital transformation by taking smart risks and collaborating across silos.
• AI and virtual care models are poised to reshape healthcare by improving efficiency, addressing workforce shortages, and enhancing population health management.
• The Guthrie Clinic focuses on internal staffing for virtual care to maintain the connection to its mission and values.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Terri Couts on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about The Guthrie Clinic on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Rahul Lakhanpal:

Rahul Lakhanpal is the Chief of Staff at SpectraMedix. He is focused on driving strategic initiatives and ensuring the company's alignment with market needs in the evolving landscape of value-based care.

About Sean Kelly:

Sean Kelly is the Senior Vice President of Growth and Business Development at SpectraMedix. He is responsible for leading the company's growth strategies and expanding its presence in the healthcare market.

Things You’ll Learn:

• SpectraMedix focuses on delivering a technology solution for value-based contract administration and management for health plans and health systems.
• The organization's platform enables different departments to come together, administer contracts, track performance, and identify opportunities for improvement.
• SpectraMedix differentiates itself by filtering information through the prism of the value-based contract, translating contract terms into actionable activities and measurements for providers.
• The company's technology helps health plans and health systems manage the increasing complexity of value-based contracts and make data-driven decisions.
• SpectraMedix emphasizes provider enablement by providing real-time financial incentives and making it easier for doctors to improve quality and reduce costs.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Rahul Lakhanpal on LinkedIn.
• Follow and connect with Sean Kelly on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about SpectraMedix on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Chris Caramanico:

Chris Caramanico is a growth-oriented CEO, investor, and consultant with a proven track record of driving profitable growth in healthcare technology. With over 20 years of experience, Chris excels in both startups and large corporations, leading successful transformations and delivering results in complex environments. He is adept at anticipating market trends, developing innovative strategies, and building high-performance teams. Chris is a customer-focused strategist with expertise in value-based care and a passion for improving healthcare delivery through intelligence and intervention. Currently, he serves as CEO of Elligint Health, leveraging his expertise to reshape the healthcare landscape.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Elligint Health provides a toolset outside of the electronic medical record to help organizations perform value-based care arrangements.
• Their solution combines data analytics, care management, and communication tools to proactively identify and address patient needs.
• The platform aggregates data from various sources to create prospective work lists, enabling targeted interventions and improved patient outcomes.
• Elligint Health emphasizes patient activation, encouraging patients to take a proactive role in their care to improve health outcomes and address labor shortages.
• The organization is focused on interoperability and is prepared to meet CMS's rulings regarding prior authorization and data exchange.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Chris Caramanico on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Elligint Health on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Kevin Ritter:

Kevin Ritter is the Executive Vice President of CareInMotion at Altera Digital Health, an experienced digital health leader with more than 20 years of experience spanning electronic health records, population health management, consumer health, and data analytics.

Things You’ll Learn:

• CareInMotion at Altera Digital Health focuses on interoperability, data aggregation, and delivering actionable insights at the point of care.
• The organization leverages FHIR, generative AI, and national networks to improve data connectivity and usability.
• AI-enabled search and natural language processing (NLP) are utilized to enhance data retrieval and decision-making.
• Remote patient monitoring, powered by AI, enables better analysis of patient data from wearables and chronic condition devices.
• Altera Digital Health serves health systems, physician organizations, and payers globally, providing high-quality data to clinicians within their existing workflows.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kevin Ritter on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Altera Digital Health on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Dr. Stanley Crittenden:

Dr. Stanley Crittenden is the Chief Medical Officer at Quantum Health. He is a board-certified nephrologist and internal medicine doctor with an unwavering focus on clinical excellence and a deep passion for improving the healthcare system. He has extensive experience in managed care, having held leadership positions at Humana, Anthem, and Evergreen Nephrology prior to joining Quantum Health.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Quantum Health is focused on human-centered navigation, enhanced by AI, to improve member engagement, operational efficiency, and employer value.
• The organization utilizes predictive analytics and real-time intercept technology to proactively intervene and improve clinical outcomes.
• Quantum Health’s premier pharmacy product suite provides pharmacy-trained pharmacists who analyze clinical records to ensure members receive the right care at the right time while being cost-conscious.
• Quantum Health is helping employers navigate the complexities of GLP-1s by taking a holistic approach that considers the whole person, including their health coaching needs, diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes.
• Employers should recognize obesity as a chronic problem and embrace holistic programs that not only control inappropriate utilization but also provide ongoing support for members using GLP-1s.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Stanley Crittenden on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Quantum Health on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Ashish Pamula:

Ashish Pamula is the Growth Lead at Samaritan, where he spearheads partnership efforts with Medicaid plans, Medicare Advantage plans, and health systems to reach more people with stable housing.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Samaritan partners with Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans to provide resources and support to unhoused residents.
• The organization focuses on incentivized behavioral change, flexible funds for strategic needs, and relational support to help people overcome financial barriers and achieve stable housing and health.
• Samaritan helps individuals navigate the complex process of finding housing by providing financial assistance for basic needs like groceries, transportation, and access to housing navigators.
• Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans benefit from partnering with Samaritan through reduced reliance on emergency services and a better understanding of the gaps in addressing social determinants of health.
• Samaritan aims to serve 100,000 unhoused residents in the next five years by expanding partnerships and reaching underserved rural communities.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ashish Pamula on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Samaritan on their LinkedIn and website.
• Email Ashish directly here.

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About Dr. Shafiq Rab:
Dr. Shafiq Rab is the Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Information Officer for Tufts Medicine. He leads the organization's digital transformation efforts and leverages technology to improve patient care and operational efficiency.

About Suman Mishra:

Suman Mishra is the Chief Technology Officer of Healthcare for GS Lab GAVS. He has extensive experience in healthcare technology and is passionate about using technology to solve complex challenges and improve healthcare outcomes.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI, data, interoperability, communication, and transparency are key technologies and trends that will impact healthcare over the next five years.
• Strong governance, change management, and digital workforce development are essential for successful technology implementation in healthcare.
• Partnerships are crucial for healthcare organizations to drive innovation and improve patient care.
• Understanding patient needs and preferences is essential for creating a positive member experience.
• Healthcare organizations face significant economic pressures and must leverage technology and automation to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Shafiq Rab on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Tufts Medicine on their LinkedIn and website.
• Email Dr. Rab here and call him at +1 (609) 304-5342.
• Connect with and follow Suman Mishra on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about GS Lab GAVS on their LinkedIn and website.
• Email Suman directly here.

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About Dr. David Carmouche:

Dr. David Carmouche is the Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at Lumeris. He is a visionary leader in transformational healthcare delivery with a unique blend of provider, payer, retail, and integrated delivery network leadership experience.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Lumeris has launched Tom, an agentic AI solution designed to support primary care teams and extend primary care to more Americans.
• Tom leverages Lumeris's data aggregation capabilities to launch coordinated agents that proactively address patients' needs and improve care coordination.
• There's an estimated two billion-hour gap in primary care in the US, and technology like Tom is essential to bridge this gap and ensure access for all.
• AI can help automate tasks, provide services that aren't currently happening, and upskill the delivery of primary care.
• Lumeris is approaching the deployment of Tom cautiously, with guardrails and thorough testing, to ensure it enhances the provider-patient relationship rather than replacing it.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. David Carmouche on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Lumeris on their LinkedIn and website.
• Email David directly here.

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About James Woods II:

James E. Woods II, is the Head of Enterprise Informatics at Philips North America. With over 20 years of experience in the medtech industry, James leads Philips' healthcare informatics interests, including delivery, device integration, and digital pathology solutions.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Philips focuses on end-to-end client partnership, improved efficiencies and collaboration for clinicians, and delivering actionable insights at the point of care.
• Philips invests heavily in innovation, including AI, to free up clinicians' time and improve patient outcomes. In 2023, the company invested $1.7 billion in innovation.
• The company approaches AI development through a mixed model, including homegrown solutions, collaborations with startups, and partnerships with other industry groups.
• Philips addresses the ethical implications of AI through five key principles: considering the well-being of the patient, augmenting people with human supervision, robustness (do no harm), fairness, and transparency.
• The future of healthcare will be shaped by trends such as personalized medicine, home care, and addressing equity and access to healthcare.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow James E. Woods II on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Philips on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Tammy Cress:

Tammy Cress is the Senior Vice President of Clinical Innovation and Solutions at Teladoc Health. As a nurse by background, Tammy leads a cross-functional team to develop and evolve solutions that enable care transformation at scale while addressing the health systems’ most challenging problems.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Listening to the market and designing technology to fit the needs of health systems is crucial for effective care transformation.
• Hybrid care teams, blending in-person and virtual care, are improving efficiency, patient satisfaction, and return on investment.
• Telehealth adoption is on the rise. Twenty-five percent of care is now delivered virtually, and perceptions of its quality are increasing.
• Enterprise telehealth solutions and the incorporation of AI tools can scale efficiencies and improve care outcomes.
• Care teams will have more time to spend with patients and deliver better-quality care through improved collaboration and technology.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Tammy Cress on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Teladoc on their LinkedIn and website.
• Email Tammy directly here.

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About Travis Dalton:

Travis Dalton is the President and CEO of Clerativ, a healthcare technology, data, and insights company focused on affordability, transparency, and quality. With over 20 years of experience in the health tech space, Travis is passionate about leveraging data and technology to drive positive change in healthcare delivery and cost management.

Things You’ll Learn:

• A company rebrand represents growth and a renewed commitment to solving key issues in the healthcare space.
• Transparency in healthcare can align the interests of payers, providers, and employers, leading to better care and fair pricing for patients.
• AI and cloud-based solutions can automate business processes, reduce costs, and improve the delivery of actionable insights in healthcare.
• Addressing rural healthcare disparities is crucial for ensuring equitable access to care and maintaining the viability of local healthcare services.
• Clerativ's Benefit Insights product helps employers evaluate health plan options and identify opportunities to reduce costs while improving employee benefits.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Travis Dalton on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Claritev on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Jason Oberfest:

Jason Oberfest is Vice President of Healthcare at ŌURA, leading strategy and partnerships to drive early health interventions, improved patient outcomes, and cost reduction. He previously spent five years at Apple, shaping the Health app on iPhone and Apple Watch. As Founder and CEO of Mango Health, Jason built a pioneering mobile health app for chronic condition management, partnering with major healthcare leaders before its acquisition in 2019. Passionate about behavior-driven health innovation, he excels in designing digital solutions that empower consumers and enhance healthcare delivery.

Things You’ll Learn:

• ŌURA focuses on sleep, readiness, and activity tracking, providing comprehensive health insights.
• Wearable health trackers can improve primary care by making it more efficient and personalized.
• The healthcare community is increasingly recognizing the critical role of sleep quality in overall well-being, extending beyond mental health to encompass cardiovascular and metabolic health.
• ŌURA measures various biometrics, including sleep stages, heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and body temperature.
• Wearable technology provides a means for continuous, passive biometric data collection, offering a comprehensive view of a patient's health status. Integrating this data into care plans can personalize treatment and improve patient outcomes.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jason Oberfest on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about ŌURA on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Branden Robinson:

Branden Robinson is the Chief Growth Officer at Sevaro Health, where he leads the organization's growth strategies and initiatives. With over 20 years of healthcare experience, including 15 years focused on digital and virtual healthcare, Branden is dedicated to expanding access to neurological expertise through innovative technology solutions.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Virtual neurology is essential to address the growing shortage of neurologists and the increasing prevalence of neurological disorders, ensuring patients receive timely and specialized care.
• AI triage systems can optimize neurologist time by prioritizing patients based on the acuity of their condition, ensuring the most critical cases receive immediate attention while managing the influx of stroke consults.
• Hospitals can improve revenue, outcomes, and patient satisfaction by using teleneurology services.
• A continuum of care model in virtual neurology, connecting acute care to outpatient teleneurology, is crucial for maintaining patient engagement within the health system and improving long-term health outcomes.
• Mechanical thrombectomies and surgical procedures to remove clots are transforming stroke care. This provides an opportunity for health systems to develop hub-and-spoke models using virtual health to extend access to specialized care.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Branden Robinson on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Sevaro Health on their LinkedIn and website.
• Email Branden directly here.

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About Mark Whittington:

Mark Whittington is the Managing Director at HealthXL, a company focused on improving healthcare outcomes for patients with chronic conditions through chronic care management and remote patient monitoring. Mark is passionate about helping people stay healthy longer and improving their quality of life, especially those in vulnerable stages of their health journey.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Chronic care management and RPM can alleviate the burden on primary care physicians, allowing them to focus on patients who need face-to-face care while managing routine cases remotely.
• Devices used for remote patient monitoring (blood pressure cuffs, pulse oximeters, etc.) should be simple and familiar. Accountability and consistent use are the most critical factors for success.
• Transparency and communication with patients through various channels (devices, texting, apps) will improve patient engagement and access to care.
• AI has the potential to glean insights from patient data, predict health issues, and enable earlier interventions, ultimately improving patient outcomes.
• Chronic care management and RPM are key components of value-based care. They enable providers to proactively manage patient health and prevent costly complications.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Mark Whittington on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about HealthXL on their LinkedIn and website.
• Email Mark directly here.

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About Harpaul Sambhi:

Harpaul Sambhi is the CEO and Co-Founder of Magical and a Limited Partner at Various VC funds. He previously worked as an Advisor at On Deck, an Entrepreneur In Residence at Bain Capital Ventures, and a former Product Manager at Microsoft. Harpaul attended the University of Waterloo.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI is evolving from simple automation to Agentic AI, which can learn, adapt, and make decisions.
• Healthcare workers spend too much time on administrative tasks, but AI can automate these and improve patient care.
• RPA is becoming obsolete, while Agentic AI offers a more flexible and intelligent solution.
• AI in RCM can reduce denials, lower costs, and speed up reimbursements, improving financial performance.
• Successful AI implementation requires clear goals, collaboration, and adaptability.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Harpaul Sambhi on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Magical on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Myron Wallace:

Myron Wallace, the fractional Chief Product Officer at White Label Communications, is a visionary technology executive with 20+ years of entrepreneurial expertise. He excels at driving innovation and launching enterprise customer solutions within SaaS, telehealth, and UCaaS. Myron's focus lies in translating ambitious product goals into reality, accelerating time to market, and maximizing customer adoption. He transforms startups and hyper-growth companies by building seamless customer experiences and driving impactful product development. He excels at crafting innovative products to meet the unique needs of the business customer base.

Things You’ll Learn:

• White Label Communications simplifies telephony by breaking down features into APIs, enabling easier integration with SaaS solutions.
• RCS (Rich Communication Services) can significantly improve telehealth by delivering rich, interactive experiences directly within text messages. This eliminates friction for patients and provides a more seamless engagement.
• The traditional text experience is one-dimensional, while the RCS will provide a multidimensional experience. This will make it easier for patients to get pre-op, post-op, or other needed information.
• By using RCS for patient education and forms, patients no longer have to go through portals and systems.
• Many companies exaggerate their AI capabilities. Myron urges caution and emphasizes the importance of focusing on real solutions and tangible benefits.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Myron Wallace on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about White Label Communications on their LinkedIn and website.
• Discover more about Myron on his website.

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In today’s episode, Sandy chats with Yan Chow, an expert in AI, automation, and healthcare tech, and the global healthcare leader for Automation Anywhere. Healthcare is a target-rich environment that offers opportunities everywhere to make healthcare more sustainable and more valuable for the future. They chat about how AI is being applied to healthcare and how it can benefit both healthcare workers and patients alike. He also talks about how AI doesn’t have to be so scary, but it is important to take AI adoption one step at a time. If you want to hear more about Automation Anywhere, check out their recordings at the ViVe Event website.

In this episode, they talk about:* An overview of Automation Anywhere and what they are doing * The main application of AI today * There is a labor shortage in healthcare even though the demand is increasing * What is agentic automation and how will it help people with healthcare? * Automations are doing the job more effectively than we would be able to do * Cross borders and the difference in regulations and rules * Is AI making patient biases better or worse? * Limiting data to avoid hallucinations and mistakes * It takes time to learn when and where to utilize AI

A Little About Yan:Yan Chow, MD, MBA, is a leader in the AI, automation, and healthcare technology sectors. He joined Automation Anywhere in 2019 to launch its healthcare vertical, leveraging AI to automate routine tasks and enabling healthcare professionals to focus on patient care. Previously, Dr. Chow was Medical Director for Digital Medicine at Amgen, where he integrated digital technologies like wearable sensors and advanced analytics into clinical trials.

Before Amgen, Dr. Chow served as Chief Innovation Officer at Longview Technology Solutions, providing healthcare consulting services to major U.S. government clients. He also led the Innovation & Advanced Technology Group at Kaiser Permanente, overseeing emerging clinical information technologies and managing a significant innovation grant program.

In addition to his corporate roles, Dr. Chow has founded and advised several startups, including a venture-funded NLP analytics company with a successful exit. He holds three U.S. patents and was recognized as one of the top three healthcare innovators in the nation by Healthcare IT News in 2014. Dr. Chow earned his A.B. from Harvard, M.D. from UC San Diego and MBA from UC Berkeley.

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About Jason Reminick:

Jason Reminick, MD, MBA, MS, is the CEO and Founder of Thalamus, a premier cloud-based interview management platform revolutionizing graduate medical education. A Stanford-trained physician with a distinguished academic record, Jason excels in both medicine and entrepreneurship. His innovative approach, highlighted by notable research and awards, bridges clinical practice with transformative technology. Rooted in humanistic values and fueled by relentless curiosity, he inspires future leaders in medicine and beyond, embodying a balanced blend of expertise and compassionate innovation today.

Things You’ll Learn:

• There are 8000 residency and fellowship programs in over 800 institutions that are utilizing Thalamus technology.
• Physician recruitment is expensive, with hospitals spending an average of $250,000 in direct costs per physician hired. It can take six months to fill a role. Because of those 6 months to fill a role, they can lose $2 million in clinical revenue.
• Hospitals are recruiting for their major league teams without knowing who they even have in their minor league systems.
• Medicare spends $16 billion a year to incentivize hospitals to train residents. Thus, retaining those doctors is more cost-effective than recruiting from the open market.
• Thalamus uses AI to standardize and normalize medical school grades, providing a more consistent basis for evaluation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jason Reminick on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Thalamus on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Misty Grambow:

Misty Grambow is a results-driven sales executive with over 26 years at U.S. Bank/Elavon, Inc., specializing in healthcare, higher education, and nonprofit sectors. As VP of Healthcare and Nonprofit, she leads strategic initiatives to drive growth, develop key partnerships, and optimize payment solutions. With deep expertise in lead generation, prospect engagement, and sales negotiations, Misty has a proven track record of expanding client relationships and delivering impactful solutions. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she excels in fostering business success through innovation and collaboration.

About Tom Priedeman:

Tom Priedeman is a seasoned financial executive with over a decade at U.S. Bank, specializing in healthcare corporate banking and capital markets. As Division Manager of Middle Market Healthcare, he leads a team providing corporate finance advisory, capital solutions, and working capital optimization for healthcare firms under $1 billion in revenue. Previously, he held senior roles at J.P. Morgan. With an MBA from Duke University and a background in accounting, Tom excels in strategic financial solutions and client growth.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Financial services are playing a crucial role in driving change in healthcare, particularly by addressing payment challenges and streamlining revenue cycle management. US Bank's commitment to providing capital and innovative payment solutions is making a tangible difference for healthcare providers.
• AI holds immense potential for improving the efficiency and patient experience in healthcare, but it also brings significant cybersecurity implications that must be carefully managed.
• Integrating payment solutions into the healthcare journey is essential for improving patient financial satisfaction and increasing revenue streams for healthcare providers.
• Healthcare systems should prioritize user-friendly payment options, transparent billing practices, and proactive communication with patients about their financial responsibilities.
• Healthcare organizations need comprehensive solutions that address patient and non-patient payment challenges and can be customized to their specific culture and needs.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Misty Grambow on LinkedIn.
• Follow and connect with Tom Priedeman on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about U.S. Bank on their LinkedIn and website.

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In this episode of The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Jeff Taylor from Orbita to explore the intersection of operational efficiencies and enhancing patient experience and engagement in healthcare. At Orbita, the team believes these two areas should evolve in parallel, yet many health systems are struggling with isolated, one-off solutions that fail to address the broader challenges their organizations face.

In this episode, they talk about:* Orbita is transforming the patient experience and improving healthcare interactions. * Empowering patients through more involvement in their healthcare, making them feel both more in control and cared for. * Achieving up to a 30% reduction in staff inefficiencies by integrating Orbita into healthcare workflows. * Breaking down AI concepts, including the difference between machine learning and generative AI, and the importance of safety in implementation. * AI allows you to maximize your resources by allowing you to make decisions about where to allocate your team, time, energy, and money for optimal impact.

A Little About Jeff:Jeff Taylor is the CEO of Orbita.ai, bringing over 20 years of leadership experience in healthcare IT and business solutions. His expertise in driving growth, operational excellence, and organizational transformation is key to leading Orbita through its next phase of innovation and expansion. Orbita powers virtual health assistants that help healthcare organizations engage patients, improve outcomes, and reduce costs.

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About Pranam Ben:

Pranam Ben is a visionary entrepreneur and leader in healthcare technology, known for building and scaling cutting-edge, award-winning software solutions. As the founder of The Garage, he continues to drive innovation in health IT following the successful acquisition of Visions@work by NIIT Technologies in 2011. With extensive global business experience across the UK, Japan, India, and the UAE, Ben has been featured in Fast Company, CBS Money Watch, and MarketWatch. Recognized as an Orlando Business Journal CEO of the Year, he remains a driving force in healthcare innovation and digital transformation.

Things You’ll Learn:

• A digital-first, data-first architecture is essential for scaling value-based care, providing a comprehensive view of the patient's health, and enabling timely interventions.
• AI, particularly machine learning and natural language processing holds immense potential to transform healthcare by driving intelligence from data and creating simplified, personalized user experiences. It can also be applied to various use cases.
• Transitioning to a digital-first, data-first strategy requires a fundamental shift in organizational culture, prioritizing adaptability and a commitment to value-based care principles.
• Data alone is not enough; it must be contextualized and actionable to drive meaningful change in healthcare. This involves cleansing the data, preparing it for analysis, and leveraging technologies like AI to deliver relevant insights to healthcare providers and patients.
• To enable holistic care, a platform should extend its view of the patient beyond the walls of the clinic, providing insight into their community, daily habits, and lifestyle.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Pranam Ben on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about The Garage on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Vijay Verma:

Vijay Verma is a seasoned product leader currently serving as VP of Product Strategy at TeleVox Healthcare in the NYC metro area, where he spearheads AI-driven initiatives and contact center innovation. With 20+ years of experience driving digital transformation, he specializes in creating exceptional customer journeys that drive engagement and business growth. A specialist in Conversational AI and CX, he has pioneered AI-driven engagement platforms, impacting 30M+ users, and led enterprise-scale transformations resulting in significant NPS improvements. Vijay excels at leveraging emerging technologies, data-driven insights, and cross-functional teams to create innovative solutions that resonate with users and deliver measurable business growth.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Good communication is crucial for achieving positive clinical outcomes, necessitating platforms that work for both institutions and patients. TeleVox focuses on bridging communication gaps through patient-centered experiences that improve health outcomes and drive financial success for healthcare providers.
• Generative AI is poised to significantly impact healthcare by alleviating staff shortages and simplifying complex processes.
• A major pain point in healthcare is the friction in communication, often leading to frustrating experiences for patients and staff burnout.
• Omnichannel communication strategies are essential for providing consistent and convenient patient experiences across various channels, including voice, SMS, and mobile apps.
• Generative AI enables the efficient repurposing of healthcare content across different channels and languages.
• Smart Voice combines the empathy of a voice channel with the automation of a virtual agent and the intelligence of a call center.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Vijay Verma on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about TeleVox Healthcare on their LinkedIn and website.

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About PV SubbaRao:

PV SubbaRao is a global technology leader with 25+ years of experience, currently serving as Senior Vice President of Global Healthcare and Life Sciences at Rackspace Technology. He leads a $500M+ portfolio, driving growth and operations across the Americas, with a specific focus on Health IT, Providers, Health Plans, and Life Sciences. PV champions an integrated solutions approach, leveraging Rackspace's full range of cloud services for the healthcare industry. Prior to Rackspace, he held leadership roles at Dell Services/NTT DATA Services, growing the Healthcare Provider business significantly. Based in Orange County, California, PV holds an MBA from Emory University and a graduate degree from IIT Mumbai.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Rackspace offers a unique approach to cloud solutions, positioning itself as a single point of contact for healthcare organizations looking to integrate strategy and execution.
• By offering a "do-with" rather than a "do-for" model, Rackspace acts as an extension of a healthcare organization's existing team, enabling easier integration and collaboration.
• AI and machine learning are poised to revolutionize healthcare by unlocking the potential of vast datasets and improving decision-making.
• Quantum computing holds promise for personalized medicine through drug discovery and individualized care protocols driven by genome profiling.
• Adopting Rackspace's cloud solutions and managed services can potentially achieve significant cost savings, between 18% and 25%, for healthcare organizations. These savings can be reinvested into driving transformation and innovation within the organization.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow PV SubbaRao on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Rackspace Technology on their LinkedIn and website.

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Are organizations harnessing the full potential of their technology investment? Are they ready to adopt AI and integrated successfully, with impact, into their EHRs? Are they addressing technological impacts to care and business model design and adopting appropriate alternative care models to better compete in today’s market? To answer these critical questions, Sandy chats with Asher Perzigian, Managing Director in Accenture’s health Strategy & Consulting business and practice lead of Care Innovation. Asher shares a thoughtful approach to navigating the surge of AI applications and how his team is helping healthcare organizations address the challenges of implementing AI across the healthcare ecosystem. Together, they dive into the crucial role of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) as the digital backbone of healthcare systems, and the advancements needed for AI to achieve true interoperability across platforms.

In this episode, they talk about:

• What Accenture recommends when approaching the tsunami of AI applications
• How AI takes some burden off the care delivery (or any admin) process
• How does AI need to advance to achieve true interoperability
• What is AI’s role in the industry reset?
• Accenture’s latest exciting wins
• EHRs are the digital heartbeats of systems
• The biggest challenges for organizations when implementing AI
• What CIOs need to address to see how AI is necessary

A Little About Asher:

Asher Perzigian is a Managing Director in Accenture’s Strategy & Consulting Health Practice, where he is widely recognized for his expertise in commercializing and scaling innovative business transformation programs. He serves as the practice lead for Accenture’s North America Clinical Innovation practice. Throughout his career, Asher has partnered with top healthcare providers, payers, vendors, and life sciences organizations across North America. He is also responsible for managing Accenture’s relationship with one of the firm’s largest and most complex provider and care delivery clients. Based in Chicago, Asher enjoys live music, hockey, running, and spending quality time with his wife, son, daughter, and their extended family.

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About Shay Perera:

Shay is the co-founder and CTO of Navina, with a decade of experience in elite intelligence units of the Israel Defense Forces, where he applied artificial intelligence from theory to real-world solutions. He contributed heavily to hands-on R&D efforts while assuming significant leadership roles. Armed with a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, specializing in machine learning, from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Shay, alongside Ronen, earned the 2018 National Security Award for their groundbreaking work in AI.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI is not just a futuristic concept but a current necessity for managing the overwhelming amount of healthcare data and streamlining clinical workflows, leading to improved patient outcomes and reduced administrative burdens for providers.
• The administrative burden is a significant pain point in healthcare, but AI can automate repetitive tasks, reduce the burden on providers, and streamline value-based care workflows, ultimately improving both clinical and economic outcomes.
• Emerging AI trends will change how physicians care for patients, saving time and enhancing knowledge of patient health.
• Clinical AI can act as a copilot, streamlining workflows and turning data into actionable insights for healthcare providers at the point of care and in the back office.
• Healthcare organizations should focus on integrating AI solutions that can make physician life easier and ensure clinicians are involved as early as possible to gain trust in the process.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Shay Perera on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Navina on their LinkedIn and website.
• Email Shay directly here.

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Sandy Vance and Jason Warrelmann, the VP of Healthcare & Life Sciences at UiPath, discuss how AI and agentic automation are transforming the healthcare space. Jason also offers customer use cases to expand on real-life digital transformations. UiPath and Jason were at the ViVe event in February; check out the recordings on the ViVE website.

In this episode, they talk about:* The role that automation plays in the healthcare space: + Humans don’t like being interoperability engines. + Automation is a good universal API and it doesn’t hallucinate. * Studies show a high failure rate for AI projects across industries, including healthcare. + A small pilot turns into a big expensive project involving different vendors + Technology changes so quickly + What kind of ROI will CFOs see? * Examples of how UiPath is helping healthcare organizations achieve their goals with AI and automation.

A Little About Jason:Jason Warrelmann leads the Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice at UiPath, which focuses on transforming the healthcare landscape and developing capabilities, integrations, and reusable components that make UiPath a healthcare automation platform, not just a tool that works in healthcare.

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About Kali Arduini Ihde:

Kali Arduini Ihde is a dynamic, results-driven digital transformation leader with 18+ years of experience in advancing healthcare through innovative technologies. As Director of Innovation at Northwestern Medicine, she orchestrates multi-million-dollar portfolios, fosters cross-functional alignment, and implements data-driven strategies to deliver client-centric solutions. She previously oversaw ePMO, scheduling, physician referrals, and operational transitions for Epic, forging strategic partnerships and streamlining organizational workflows. Kali holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Missouri, complementing her robust project management acumen.

Things You’ll Learn:

• It's crucial to ground innovation work in the organization's biggest problems. This ensures that any new technology being explored is directly relevant to improving patient care, workforce experience, or other key challenges.
• Finding real solutions amidst the AI hype requires a rigorous vetting process. Organizations should focus on finding solutions that can make meaningful impacts.
• Scaling AI innovation requires a dedicated team focused on implementation and widespread adoption. Innovation shouldn’t stop at testing it out but be applied and expanded to the whole organization.
• AI is poised to revolutionize healthcare by identifying issues and risks earlier. Coupled with precision medicine, the next generation of AI promises a future where treatment is tailored to the individual. This means that in 5-10 years, healthcare will look vastly different.
• Healthcare is expensive and takes a lot of people to complete. This should be considered when implementing AI solutions and technology.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kali Arduini Ihde on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Northwestern Medicine on their LinkedIn and website.
• Discover more about Northwestern Medicine’s innovations here.

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In this conversation, Dr. Ryan Vega, Chief Health Officer for Vantiq, discusses the transformative role of AI in healthcare, the innovative capabilities of the Vantiq platform, and the importance of personalized healthcare solutions. He shares insights on the transition from the Veterans Health Administration to Vantiq, the use cases for their technology, and how generative AI is enhancing clinical decision-making. Dr. Vega emphasizes the need for transparency, safety, and effective orchestration of AI systems in healthcare, as well as the importance of collaboration with systems integrators and startups to drive innovation.

In this episode , they discuss:

• Dr. Vega emphasizes the importance of workflow customization in healthcare.
• Vantiq's platform allows for low-code, no-code application development.
• Real-time orchestration of complex healthcare systems is crucial.
• Generative AI can significantly enhance clinical decision-making.
• Vantiq focuses on creating transparency and safety in AI workflows.
• The platform is designed to operate securely within healthcare environments.
• AI can augment human capabilities in critical care settings.

A Little about Dr Ryan Vega:

Dr. Ryan Vega serves as the Chief Health Officer for Vantiq and is the former Chief Innovation Officer for the Veterans Health Administration where he led enterprise innovation efforts across the largest integrated health system in the United States.

His work has spanned large-scale digital modernization efforts, design and deployment of innovative care and payment models, and early design and development of healthcare software focused on improving health care delivery and experience for patients and providers.

Dr. Vega also currently sits as the Physician in Residence for the Digital Medicine Society and holds academic appointments as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Administration at Georgetown University as well as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at George Washington University. He is the recipient of many awards for his work in healthcare innovation and has published numerous articles on the topic.

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In this episode, they discuss:

• Building consumer trust in generative AI is essential for its success in health care.
• Deloitte plays a significant role in the health care sector, serving various stakeholders.
• A majority of consumers believe generative AI can reduce wait times and costs.
• Skepticism towards generative AI has increased among consumers over the past year.
• Distrust in AI tools is linked to concerns about bias and privacy.
• Health care data is a high-value target for cyber adversaries.
• Generative AI can enhance the patient-physician relationship if used correctly.
• Transparency and ethics are crucial in the deployment of generative AI.
• Healthcare organizations must educate both patients and clinicians about AI.
• Deloitte assists organizations in navigating the complexities of AI implementation.

Learn more about Deloittes research here :

Building and maintaining health care consumers’ trust in generative AI

https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/health-care/consumer-trust-in-health-care-generative-ai.html

A little about Jen:

Jen Sullivan, Principal, Deloitte & Touche LLP, is a seasoned and innovative cyber strategy leader with 28 years of experience in technology and cybersecurity, with 24 years of deep focus in life sciences and health care. Her technical infrastructure background has expanded throughout her tenure to a range of security areas including cyber strategy, threat detection and response, data protection and privacy, regulatory compliance, and technical resiliency. Jen serves some of the industry’s largest and most complex clients and leads Deloitte’s Cyber Strategy and Transformation practice. Beyond client service, she has held pivotal leadership roles in talent and business transformation and has a deep passion around health equity. Jen serves on Deloitte’s Cyber executive leadership team, is a leader in Women in Cyber and is the Advisory Life Sciences & Health Care Generative AI leader.

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Introduction: In today’s episode, Sandy sits down with Dr. Dipul Patadia, MD, Senior Director, and Industry Advisor at Salesforce. Together, they explore how Salesforce is shaping the future of healthcare through Agentforce, an innovative AI tool designed to streamline healthcare processes and improve customer care.

As AI-powered agents become an everyday part of healthcare, Dr. Patadia addresses common concerns around their implementation for administrative tasks. He also shares insights into how Agentforce ensures smooth operations while maintaining essential safeguards for patient care.

In this episode, they talk about:* How Salesforce ensures safe use of AI agents with human oversight in healthcare * Autonomous AI agents vs. assistive agents: How Salesforce is revolutionizing digital healthcare support * Leveraging Salesforce’s AI expertise to create the most effective agents for healthcare * The story behind Einstein: how Salesforce’s AI can transform healthcare operations

A Little About Dr. Patadia:Dr. Patadia is a practicing emergency medicine physician. He serves as the Head of Health System Strategy and Innovation at Salesforce where he aids in contextualizing health systems’ needs with new and existing technology capabilities. Before joining Salesforce, Dr. Patadia came from Ascension and Advocate Health where he served as a Chief Medical Officer, leading clinical initiatives, and operations for two of its high-acuity hospitals. He has been instrumental in facilitating digital transformation, growing specialty service lines, improving quality outcomes, and designing innovative value-based care strategies.

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In this episode, Sandy Vance speaks to Joseph Hernandez, VP of Channel Sales at BluIP, and Vivek Kuppuswamy, Principal Produce Manager at BluIP. They explore how BluIP’s Conversational AI and Virtual Agent solutions revolutionize healthcare workflows by automating patient interactions, streamlining appointment scheduling, and enhancing the patient experience. They also discuss how AI-driven communication reduces administrative burden, improves operational efficiency, and enables healthcare providers to move past organizational tasks and focus on delivering quality care.

Episode Notes

Beginning with a look at the history of automation in healthcare, Joseph and Vivek explain that the concept behind BluIP’s Conversational AI is not new; it fills a similar role to an automated voice menu. However, BluIP’s Conversational AI does not require callers to use specific language to understand their requests. It can also pick up on context and learn from new interactions. This technology helps to address populations who do not use apps like MyChart and want to interact with someone over the phone while streamlining workflows and reducing churn. Additionally, Joseph, Vivek, and Sandy discuss the future of AI at BlueIP and in health care in general.

In this episode, they discuss:

• How AI is transforming the patient experience
• The opportunities that conversational AI is creating for healthcare providers
• The primary use-cases for BluIP’s Conversational AI in the healthcare space
• How BlueIP works with organizations to integrate conversational AI to meet their individual needs
• The advances in virtual agent technology that solve for patient populations who want to interact over the phone
• The ROI for Conversational AI, which consists of a combination of tangible returns and a less tangible opportunity cost
• How Conversational AI reduces churn, increases patient satisfaction, and increases staff satisfaction
• The future of Conversational AI in healthcare communications
• BluIP’s continued efforts to innovate, including reducing implementation timelines and low-code applications

A little about Joseph and Vivek:

Joseph Hernandez is a patient satisfaction advocate and technologist who specializes in conversational Artificial Intelligence and optimizing healthcare workflows. With a deep understanding of both digital channel contact centers and healthcare technologies, he designs patient-centered healthcare solutions for national health systems and community health centers. Drawing on his experience and understanding of the relationships between payers, providers, patients, and population health initiatives, Joseph helps customers optimize their current technology and adopt innovative solutions for the evolving healthcare landscape.

Joseph is also an executive member of several healthcare organizations with a charter to close the gap in healthcare disparities and introduce technologies that lead to better patient outcomes; acting as a conduit between healthcare professionals and national healthcare organizations. At BluIP, Joseph is the VP of Channel Sales; matching clients with BluIP’s solutions.

Vivek is a Principal Product Manager at BluIP, and is driving the growth of BluIP’s AI product portfolio. Prior to working at BluIP, Vivek spent 14 years building enterprise-grade SaaS products, with expertise in entertainment, CPG, and high-tech industries.

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About Marisa Cruz:

Dr. Marisa Cruz is the Vice President of Global Digital Medicine at AMGEN, a renowned global biotechnology company. An endocrinologist and internist, she continues to practice medicine at UCSF, bringing a clinical perspective to her work in digital health. Dr. Cruz oversees AMGEN’s digital health strategy, focusing on harnessing data and technology to improve patient outcomes and bridge healthcare accessibility gaps.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AMGEN is driving innovation in digital health with initiatives like the LATTICE Consortium, aiming to reduce cardiovascular incidents by 50%.
• AI and machine learning are playing a crucial role in improving clinical trial diversity and accessibility.
• Emerging digital health trends, including implementation science and patient-centered care, are reshaping the future of healthcare.
• AMGEN’s patient engagement platform, PARC, empowers patients to actively participate in their own healthcare journey.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Marisa Cruz on LinkedIn.
• Follow Amgen on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Explore Amgen PARC website
• Discover the LATTICE Consortium website.

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About Kevin Mahoney:

Kevin B. Mahoney is the Chief Executive Officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, a cornerstone of Penn Medicine. Overseeing six hospitals, 13 multispecialty centers, and numerous outpatient facilities across Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, he leads efforts to advance patient care, medical education, and research. Since joining Penn Medicine in 1996, Mahoney has held key leadership roles, becoming CEO in 2019. He has spearheaded major initiatives, including the development of the 1.5-million-square-foot Pavilion and the integration of Penn Medicine’s electronic health records system. A champion of health equity, he established a partnership with Wharton to invest in businesses addressing social determinants of health. Recognized among the most influential figures in healthcare, Mahoney holds an MBA and doctorate from Temple University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The healthcare field faces a critical talent shortage due to retiring baby boomers and a smaller subsequent generation demanding innovative solutions.
• Cultural shifts are crucial to attracting talent to science and medicine, emphasizing the nobility of healthcare professions over purely financial incentives.
• Healthcare organizations must remain agile and adaptable, embracing new regulations and technological advancements while staying focused on what matters most: patient care.
• Artificial intelligence is a crucial tool for achieving precision medicine, enabling proactive healthcare interventions based on individual patient profiles.
• By repairing systems and improving clinical outcomes, healthcare systems can find ways to continue improving the landscape.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kevin Mahoney on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about Penn Medicine’s University of Pennsylvania Health System on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Sasha Tyndale:

Sasha Tyndale is a seasoned leader in the pharmaceutical industry with over 20 years of experience spanning oncology, immunology, neuroscience, and more. As Director of Diversity and Patient Inclusion at AbbVie, she drives patient-centric strategies and innovative clinical operations. With expertise in precision medicine and personalized healthcare, she collaborates cross-functionally to enhance patient engagement and future-proof organizations. Previously, she held key roles at PAREXEL and Johnson & Johnson, specializing in strategic patient recruitment and clinical innovation. Sasha holds a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Rutgers University. Passionate about advancing equitable healthcare, she is committed to transforming research and improving patient outcomes.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AbbVie is making clinical trials more inclusive by ensuring they represent diverse populations affected by the diseases being studied.
• Through programs like ADMIRE, AbbVie is expanding research access by involving underrepresented healthcare providers in clinical research.
• AbbVie is simplifying participation in clinical trials by making study materials clearer and designing studies that minimize patient burden.
• Patient voices are essential in humanizing research, providing valuable insights into real-life disease challenges, and encouraging greater participation in clinical trials.
• AbbVie is taking bold action to challenge traditional research practices, collaborate with community partners, and improve healthcare access and representation.
• Educating individuals about clinical trials empowers communities to make informed decisions about participation in medical research.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Sasha Tyndale on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about AbbVie on their LinkedIn and website.
• Sign up for the ADMIRE program here.
• If you are considering participating in AbbVie’s clinical research program, click here.

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About Dr. Karin Tollefson:

Dr. Karin Tollefson is a highly accomplished pharmaceutical executive with over 30 years of experience dedicated to advancing cancer care. Currently serving as Chief Oncology Medical Officer at Pfizer, she leads the Oncology Global and US Medical Affairs Division. Before joining Pfizer in 2023, Dr. Tollefson held the role of Senior Vice President and Head of Global Medical Affairs at Seagen Inc., where she successfully launched three practice-changing medicines and built a global medical affairs organization. Her extensive career includes significant tenure at Eli Lilly and Company, where she held various leadership roles in clinical operations, development, and medical affairs. Throughout her career, she has contributed to the launch of eight new medicines, impacting patient care across multiple tumor types and therapeutic areas. Dr. Tollefson is an Independent Director on the Board for Verastem Oncology, and has also served on the boards of the American Lung Association and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She is a 2024 Healthcare Businesswomen's Association Luminary Award recipient, and is a strong advocate for women in the oncology field, being a sponsor of both the Oncology Women’s Network and the Pfizer Butterfly Community at Pfizer. She holds a Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Kansas and completed her undergraduate studies at Kansas State University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The incidence of cancer in people under 50 has increased by 79% since 1990, marking a significant and alarming trend that needs immediate attention, especially with colorectal cancer now the leading cause of cancer death in men and second in women younger than 50 years.
• Western lifestyle factors such as poor diet, obesity, sedentary behavior, and exposure to toxins are likely significant contributors to the rise of early-onset cancers, suggesting that shifts in lifestyle and public health initiatives could impact cancer rates.
• Younger cancer patients are often diagnosed at later stages due to a lack of preventative care and symptoms being easily dismissed.
• Increased screening accessibility is crucial for early detection and prevention. This includes molecular testing and colonoscopies, which offer the opportunity to remove precancerous polyps, preventing them from developing into something more serious.
• The battle against cancer requires collaborative efforts between healthcare providers, academic institutions, industry partners, and advocacy organizations. This is not just one organization's fight; collaborative efforts must continue.

Resources:

• Follow Dr. Karin Tollefson, Chief Oncology Medical Officer at Pfizer, on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about Pfizer on their LinkedIn and website.
• Read more on Pfizer in Oncology here.

Patient Resources/Advocacy Links:

• Explore This Is Living With Cancer’s Advocacy Support’s website.
• Visit the Global Colorectal Cancer Alliance’s website here. (Pfizer was one of their sponsors)
• Learn more about the transformative work CancerCare is doing.
• Find CancerCare’s guide on Biomarker Testing here.
• Read the best practices for Biomarker Testing Coverage here. (Pfizer had input and was a sponsor)
• Get AONN Biomarker Navigation here. For the Precision Medicine Toolkit, look here.
• Empower yourself or your patients with essential navigation resources–a site co-created with AONN, to find materials on breast, prostate, health equity, geriatric, and more. (Patient navigators can download and share educational tools for enhanced support.)
• Deepen your understanding of prostate cancer here.

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About Kimbery Powlell:

Kimberly Powell is the Vice President of Healthcare at NVIDIA, overseeing the global healthcare sector. She leads efforts to advance hardware and software platforms for accelerated computing, AI, and visualization, driving innovation in medical imaging, life sciences, drug discovery, and healthcare analytics. Before this role, Kim managed NVIDIA’s higher education and research initiatives, strategic evangelism programs, NVIDIA AI Labs, and the NVIDIA Inception program. Since joining NVIDIA in 2008, she has been instrumental in positioning NVIDIA GPUs as a foundational technology for medical imaging systems.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Generative AI is transforming surgical procedures by supporting all phases of the process, including pre-operative patient education, real-time surgical guidance, and automatic post-surgical documentation, resulting in safer and more efficient operations.
• Privacy and ethical concerns in healthcare AI are being addressed by embedding models directly into medical devices and introducing reasoning layers to ensure safe, responsible, and ethical operation.
• Ethical safeguards, or "guardrails," are essential for reducing AI-related risks by preventing the system from operating in unsafe or untrustworthy ways.
• AI should be seen as a "digital human" teammate in healthcare, enhancing staff efficiency and productivity while improving care quality.
• Evaluating the ROI of AI requires analyzing its ability to reduce costs from rescheduled surgeries and automate tasks, allowing healthcare staff to focus on patients with the greatest need.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kimberly Powell on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about NVIDIA on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Dr. Brian Anderson:

Dr. Brian Anderson is a leading voice in health AI as CEO and Co-Founder of the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), guiding the development of national standards for safe and effective AI in healthcare. Formerly Chief Digital Health Physician at MITRE, he spearheaded crucial research initiatives, including advancements in clinical trials and oncology. An internationally recognized expert, Dr. Anderson speaks frequently on digital health, AI assurance, and interoperability. A Harvard Medical School graduate with an MD (honors) and a BA (cum laude), Dr. Anderson trained at Mass General, practiced at Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, and lives in Boston with his family.

Things You’ll Learn:

• A significant gap exists in the lack of independent labs to evaluate health AI, as these are already standard practice in other sectors with regulated technologies. The proposed national network of certified labs will fill this gap by providing independent assessments of AI models, promoting trust in their use.
• AI model cards are crucial for transparency because they detail the training methodologies and ingredients of AI models. This information helps users, such as physicians, make informed decisions about the tool’s appropriateness for their patients.
• Clinicians need upskilling to critically evaluate AI tools and make informed decisions about their use in patient care.
• Generative AI applications like ambient scribes have the potential to greatly mitigate physician burnout by streamlining administrative tasks. This can give them more time to focus on their patients and improve their work-life balance.
• The creation of quality assurance labs will be a critical first step in AI regulation, helping to bridge the gap between rapidly evolving technology and established safety standards.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Brian Anderson on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Dr. Maria Ryan:

Maria Ryan, DDS, PhD, is the Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Colgate-Palmolive Company, where she oversees the Dental and Dermal Clinical teams, as well as the Knowledge Management and Scientific Communications departments. Before joining Colgate-Palmolive, Dr. Ryan was a Professor and Chair of the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology at Stony Brook University, where she focused on teaching, practicing periodontology, and conducting research. She is the former President of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) and has served on various academic and foundation boards. Dr. Ryan has earned several honors, including NIH National Research Service Awards and a Physician Scientist Award. She was also the recipient of the American Dental Association’s Achievement Award and the Victress Health Award for her contributions to women’s health research. Dr. Ryan is a renowned speaker and author, frequently appearing in media to highlight the connection between oral and overall health.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Oral diseases are a global health crisis affecting 50% of the world's population and significantly impacting overall health.
• There is a critical disconnect between medical and dental care, leading to neglect of oral health's importance in overall well-being.
• Untreated oral diseases, like cavities and gum disease, can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
• The "Oral Health Quotient" (OQ) aims to educate the public on their oral health knowledge and practices. Many people don't realize that cavities and gum disease are chronic inflammatory diseases that require treatment.
• Addressing periodontal disease can lead to reductions in medical costs related to conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
• Preventive measures, like proper brushing, flossing, and limiting sugar, are crucial for avoiding most oral diseases.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Maria Ryan on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about Colgate-Palmolive on LinkedIn and their website.

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About Dr. Carolyn Jasik:

Carolyn is a board-certified physician with a background in health technology startups, multidisciplinary care, education, and research. As Chief Medical Officer at Omada, she uses her diverse expertise to improve user experience and introduce integrated healthcare solutions. Before joining Omada, Carolyn spent 14 years at the University of California as an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical Instructor at San Francisco General Hospital. She also served as Vice President of Medical Outcomes at Mango Health, a digital health startup. Carolyn earned a Bachelor's in Public Policy from Princeton University, a Medical Degree from the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine, and completed her research training at the University of California, San Francisco. She is board-certified in clinical informatics, adolescent medicine, and pediatrics. At Omada, Carolyn supports clinical and research teams, contributing to the development of innovative healthcare solutions.

Things You’ll Learn:

• GLP-1 medications require comprehensive wraparound support, including lifestyle changes, mental health, and physical therapy, for effective and sustainable outcomes. The speed of weight loss, rather than the GLP-1 itself, is often the primary driver of muscle mass reduction.
• Many individuals on GLP-1s aim to eventually discontinue the medication, making long-term lifestyle planning a crucial part of the treatment.
• Stopping GLP-1s abruptly can trigger rebound weight gain due to the body's natural metabolic response.
• AI's role in healthcare should be focused on enhancing human care delivery, not replacing the crucial empathetic connection.
• The future of healthcare will include advanced primary care that addresses the gaps between traditional doctor visits.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Carolyn Jasik on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about Omada Health on LinkedIn and their website.

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About Andrew Adams:

Andrew Adams is the co-founder of Oak HC/FT, established in 2014 to focus exclusively on investing in healthcare and fintech startups. In 2023, the firm was ranked among the top ten venture capital firms globally. With over 25 years of experience, Andrew has been a key investor in numerous high-profile healthcare companies, including One Medical (acquired by Amazon), iHealth Technologies (merged with Connolly), Therapy Brands (acquired by KKR), and PharMEDium Healthcare (acquired by CD&R), among others. He serves on the boards of several healthcare organizations, including August Bioservices, DispatchHealth, and Unified Women's Healthcare. Andrew has been recognized as one of the Top 25 Healthcare Investors of 2024 by GrowthCap. Prior to co-founding Oak HC/FT, he began his career at Alex. Brown & Sons and holds a BA from Princeton University. His extensive track record highlights his deep expertise in healthcare investment and innovation.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Identifying and backing the best entrepreneurs with a strong track record is crucial for achieving impactful scale in healthcare.
• A blend of technology and personalized services is necessary to effectively engage patients and meet their diverse needs.
• Effective patient engagement involves an omnichannel approach, meeting patients where they are, whether virtually, in person, or at home.
• Companies should target specific patient populations with tailored tools, services, and a deep understanding of their needs.
• The future of healthcare investment lies in companies that deliver real value by addressing cost, quality, and the consumer experience across the healthcare continuum.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Andrew Adams on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about OAK HC/FT on LinkedIn and their website.

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About Joyce Tung:

Joyce Tung, Ph.D., is the Vice President of Research at 23andMe, where she has been since 2007. She leads the research team responsible for consumer health and ancestry research, academic and industry collaborations, computational analyses for therapeutics, and the development of new research methods and tools. Prior to her work at 23andMe, Joyce was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, where she focused on the genetics of mouse and human pigmentation. She earned her Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of California, San Francisco, where she was also a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow. Joyce's leadership at 23andMe has been instrumental in advancing genetic research and innovation in both consumer health and scientific development.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Current genetic research heavily favors people of European ancestry, hindering the application of findings to other populations.
• Large-scale genetic studies, driven by consumer participation, are revealing previously unknown health associations.
• Empowering consumers with their genetic information shifts the power dynamic in healthcare towards individual control.
• Genetic research findings are not universally applicable, making diverse participation critical for accuracy and benefit.
• Consumer participation in research provides individuals with a way to fight back against diseases and contribute to future advancements.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Joyce Tung on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about 23andMe on LinkedIn and their website.
• Read 23andMe’s depression report here.
• Learn more about 23andMe’s article on sickle cell trait here.

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AI and automation in healthcare isn’t just efficient – it can improve patient and worker satisfaction. In this interview, Sandy Vance discusses AI and automation in healthcare with Ted Dinsmore, the Managing Director of SphereGen Technologies. Ted explains that while the concept of AI has recently exploded as it has seen widespread adoption on the consumer side, the technology that it is based on has existed for years and can help automate mundane processes in hospitals. It can also improve worker retention by removing unfulfilling and repetitive work, freeing up time to focus on higher-value aspects of their roles. Sandy and Ted also cover the downsides of waiting to adopt AI and automation technology, which are mostly related to stagnation and a loss of opportunity.

In this episode, they discuss:

• Using AI automation to fill staffing shortages and increase job satisfaction by taking over mundane tasks
• Automating prior authorization, eligibility, and denial disputes while increasing patient satisfaction through human interaction
• Helping clients customize their automation and integration to match their workflow
• Use cases and ROI seen from organizations who adopt SphereGen automation
• Creating intelligent document processes to extract data from PDFs
• The downsides of waiting to adopt AI automation, which mostly relate to a loss of opportunity

A little about Dinsmore:

Ted Dinsmore is the President of SphereGen. The software consulting firm drives digital transformation in the healthcare ecosystem by using AI and automation to make systems more efficient and effective. He helps clients in the US and Europe with automation, software development, and extended reality technology.

When Ted founded his first consulting firm, he became invested in supporting Microsoft solutions for large multinational companies. Striving to stay ahead of new technology, Dinsmore embraced artificial intelligence and extended realities with a focus on improving healthcare processes.

Under Dinsmore’s leadership since its inception, SphereGen has received multiple awards for its services, including the GNHCC Innovation Award and the Most Promising AR/VR Solutions Provider Award in 2023 from CIOReview. SphereGen guides clients throughout the US and Europe as they begin adopting AI, automation, and expanded realities; customizing technology to meet client needs.

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About Maria Torroella Carney:

Dr. Maria Torroella Carney is a highly respected internist, geriatrician, and palliative care physician with a robust background in public health. She is the Chief of the Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine and an Associate Professor of Medicine. She also holds the position of Chief of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine for Northwell Health. As the first geriatrician to serve as a health department commissioner in New York State, Dr. Carney has made significant contributions to the field of longevity promotion and the care of vulnerable populations. Her research focuses on advanced care planning, shared decision-making, elder abuse, and capacity assessment. She has received numerous awards for her outstanding community service and leadership.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Hospice is a model of care focused on quality of life, not just end-of-life, and includes comprehensive support services. It's underutilized due to a lack of understanding and difficult decisions required regarding foregoing certain treatments.
• Patients should be able to explore hospice without feeling obligated to stop other care immediately.
• Family caregivers are an "invisible workforce" that requires more support, education, and resources. They are integral to the healthcare team yet often overlooked.
• Elder orphans, those aging without family support, are a growing concern and need early identification and tailored support.
• Geriatric medicine and palliative care are in their infancy and require more attention and specialists to meet their increasing needs. There's an insufficient number of professionals in these fields.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Maria Torroella Carney on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about Northwell Health on LinkedIn and their website.
• Buy Maria Torroella Carney’s The Aging Revolution here.

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About Dr. Richard Milani:

Dr. Milani serves as the Chief Clinical Innovation Officer, at Sutter Health. His background and research focus on population health with a special interest in chronic disease, medical informatics, preventive medicine, and healthcare technology. After receiving his Internal Medicine training at the University of Florida, Dr. Milani completed fellowships in Critical Care Medicine at the University of Florida, Preventive Medicine, and Clinical Epidemiology at Harvard University (Massachusetts General Hospital), and Cardiovascular Diseases at Ochsner Clinic Foundation. He has authored over 500 medical publications, is on the editorial board for several medical journals, and serves as a frequent lecturer for healthcare systems and Fortune 500 companies as well as an advisor to venture capital firms and emerging healthcare technology companies.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI and scribe companies are being used to reduce clinician documentation time, and reduce 'pajama time'.
• AI models can predict patient deterioration, such as cardiac arrest, and allow for early intervention, reducing cardiac arrests by 44%.
• AI should act as an assistant, with a human clinician always in the loop for evaluation and decision-making.
• Technology should point clinicians toward patients most in need, optimizing care and resource allocation.
• Digital tools that can monitor the activities of daily living unobtrusively are the future of patient care, especially for elderly patients living alone.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Richard Milani on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about Sutter Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this conversation, Dr. David Carmouche discusses the critical transition from fee-for-service to value-based care in the healthcare industry, emphasizing the role of AI in enhancing primary care and improving patient outcomes. He highlights the financial pressures on health systems and the importance of aligning incentives to achieve sustainability. The discussion also covers the innovative solutions offered by Lumeris and the transformative potential of AI in automating care processes and improving patient engagement. Finally, Dr. Carmouche addresses the need for regulatory guardrails as AI becomes more integrated into healthcare delivery.

In this episode , they discuss:

• The shift from fee-for-service to value-based care is essential for financial sustainability.
• AI is poised to transform primary care delivery and patient engagement.
• Healthcare costs have been deemed unsustainable for decades, necessitating change.
• Aligning incentives is crucial for improving patient outcomes in healthcare.
• Lumeris has a decade-long history of partnering with health systems for value-based care.
• AI can automate and standardize care processes, enhancing efficiency.
• Data availability and interoperability are key to successful value-based care models.
• Generative AI can proactively engage patients and improve care delivery.
• Training clinicians to effectively use AI is vital for its successful integration.
• Regulatory guardrails will be necessary as AI becomes more prevalent in healthcare.

A little about Dr David Carmouche:

David Carmouche, MD, is the Executive Vice President & Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at Lumeris. Dr. Carmouche is a visionary leader in transformational healthcare delivery, with a unique blend of provider, payer, retail, and integrated delivery network leadership experience.

Prior to joining Lumeris, Dr. Carmouche served as Walmart’s Senior Vice President of Healthcare Delivery, where he led the fleet of Walmart Health centers, Walmart Health Virtual Care, a value-based care partnership with Optum, and Walmart’s work to address Social Determinants of Health. Dr. Carmouche has also held significant leadership roles with Ochsner Health, the largest nonprofit academic healthcare system in the Gulf South, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, where he introduced the company’s first value-based care contracts. Earlier in his career, he built and led a multidisciplinary internal medicine and preventive cardiology practice.

Dr. Carmouche attended Tulane University and LSU Medical School in New Orleans. Board-certified in Internal Medicine, he completed his residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he later served as Chief Resident. He serves as President of the Board of the Consortium for Southeastern Healthcare Quality and on the advisory board at Stellar Health. He has served on the board of the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations.

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About Chris Moniz: Chris Moniz is a Managing Director at HSBC Holdings. Previously, he was a Managing Director and Market Manager at SVB Financial Group, leading Northwest & Northeast HealthTech & Medical Devices. A contributing author to HSBC Innovation Banking's 1H 2023 Venture Healthcare Report, Chris offers expertise and actionable insights to healthcare companies and investors.

About Kristin Apple: Kristin Apple is President of LINUS, guiding leaders in health, wellness, and life sciences through transformative decisions. With 20+ years of experience advising major healthcare, pharmaceutical, and CPG companies, she's passionate about healthcare innovation. Previously, she led the healthcare vertical at Egg Strategy. Her background includes nearly six years at Eli Lilly, launching blockbuster drugs. Kristin holds an MBA from the University of Colorado and a degree from Indiana University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• There is a growing concern among young physicians that patient trust is eroding, coupled with a mirroring lack of trust in patients.
• Young physicians are eager to incorporate AI into their practices for diagnosis and therapeutic decision-making while maintaining the human connection as an essential aspect of the patient-physician relationship.
• Technology should be used to enhance patient connection and streamline administrative tasks, not to replace human interaction.
• The future of healthcare involves a community-centric approach, with care delivered where people are, integrating their support systems.
• The healthcare industry must embrace and shape inevitable changes rather than be overtaken by them.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Chris Moniz on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about HSBC on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Follow and connect with Kristin Apple on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about LINUS on their LinkedIn and website.
• Check out the Health 2035 Report here.

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Sandy and Craig discuss how Wellsheet achieves high clinician satisfaction, how it improves over time, and how it has earned the trust of hospitals across the country. Craig Limoli co-founded Wellsheet as a solution to the frustrations he noticed clinicians had with existing technologies, particularly around accessing patient data in a user-friendly format. Wellsheet’s patient summaries are preferred by 94% of clinicians for chart review, reducing chart review time by 50% and length of stay by 16.3%. Sandy and Craig also discuss Wellsheet’s recent partnership with UpToDate, allowing clinicians to access contextually relevant data faster.

In this episode, they discuss:

• How Wellsheet contextualizes data to give clinicians the most relevant information to make treatment decisions
• Wellsheet’s impact on the inpatient side of healthcare, delivering ROI on clinician satisfaction and burnout while increasing productivity
• How Wellsheet addresses workflow bottlenecks at hospitals
• The money hospitals are saving by implementing Wellsheet’s AI solution, which mainly comes from reducing the patient length-of-stays
• The breadth of adoption across healthcare systems that differentiates Wellsheet as an AI solution
• Different use-cases for Wellsheet throughout healthcare practices
• Wellsheet’s partnership with UpToDate, allowing for integration and seamless workflows

A little about Craig:

Craig Limoli founded Wellsheet after seeing the frustration that clinicians faced with existing technologies while he worked at IBM in their Watson Health division. He left his MBA program at Wharton to found Wellsheet with a mission to create a better experience for physicians and care teams.

Aligning his solutions with the problems clinicians identified, Craig built Wellsheet’s AI solution to help clinicians access relevant patient information in a contextualized, user-friendly format. In 2017, Craig brought Wellsheet to the market, primarily serving small practices. Since then, Wellsheet's AI solution has been deployed to hundreds of hospitals across some of the largest health systems in the country and has delivered vast improvements in clinician productivity and experience.

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About Mark Gee:

Mark Gee is the Chief Growth Officer at Medecision, driving the expansion of Aerial™, a cloud-based healthcare solution that improves health outcomes, reduces costs, and enhances engagement for value-based care organizations. With extensive experience in healthcare leadership, including roles at WellSky, Ciox/Datavant, and ERT, Gee has launched innovative care solutions and spearheaded data-driven strategies to optimize operations. Holding an M.S. in Instructional Design and Lean Systems Management, he excels in disruptive innovation and strategic growth, positioning Medecision as a leader in transforming healthcare delivery and operational efficiencies.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Medecision's platform, Ariel, is designed to accept any data format and process it in real time, a crucial factor for unlocking potential use cases and overcoming the limitations of rigid systems.
• Traditional care management is failing because it focuses on the sickest 20% of patients, overlooking rising-risk individuals.
• Medecision's core goal is to deliver proactive care and act as a safety net for patients by identifying problems earlier.
• Many healthcare organizations have rigid data schemas that slow down implementations and limit the use of valuable data.
• Medecision created hyper-personalized care journeys with micro cohorts that adapt and learn from each individual's conditions. This approach allows the system to surface needs and provide appropriate resources in real time.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Mark Gee on LinkedIn.
• Follow Medecision on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this episode, Sandy Vance is speaking with Dr. Rob Fraser, founding CEO and current Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and President, of Molecular You, a comprehensive AI-supported blood biomarker analysis platform. It empowers clinicians to harness the power of molecular medicine and artificial intelligence to maximize patient health outcomes. Molecular You uses AI tools to provide the most up-to-date and research-backed data to clinicians.

Episode Notes

Molecular You uses proteomics and metabolomics to measure and track over 250 biomarkers and generate risk profiles for more than 26 health conditions. By providing visibility into the underlying biochemical pathways that drive disease, clinicians can identify and treat dysfunction before it progresses to disease. In this conversation, Sandy Vance speaks with Dr. Rob Fraser about the potential of AI in disease identification and prevention; as well as its potential in extracting valuable research to provide doctors with detailed data. From comorbidity support to giving patients a more active role in their health, Molecular You is driving change in healthcare.

In this episode, they discuss:

• How Molecular You identifies diseases at the earliest possible point to give patients access to early treatment
• Successful use cases for Molecular You’s detection insights
• How Molecular You supports women with early breast cancer identification
• The research curation processes used by Molecular You, which use LLMs and automation
• The patient benefits of Molecular You, and how it helps patients live longer and healthier lives
• Fact-checking and cross-referencing systems Molecular You has created to verify LLM-extracted information
• Molecular You delivers personalized lifestyle, diet, and supplement recommendations to support longevity, chronic disease management, and early disease prevention
• How Molecular You uses AI tools to make sense of the data extracted from blood samples, and how they plan to continue implementing AI as the technology improves

A little about Dr. Fraser:

Rob was the founding CEO and is the current President and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Molecular You Corporation. Backed by his expertise in molecular diagnostics, molecularly targeted drug discovery and development, biochemistry, and regulatory compliance, Rob Fraser drives the innovation behind Molecular You’s multi-biomarker analytics.

At Molecular You, Rob Fraser implemented a method of measuring hundreds of biomarkers from a single blood sample. This allows Molecular You to provide practitioners with detailed insights on patients, from early diagnoses to comorbidity support to diet personalization. Molecular You contextualizes this data establishing an LLM model, incorporating the world’s leading scientific literature.

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About Julie Ebert:

Julie Betts Ebert is Managing Director of Silicon Valley Bank’s National Life Science & Healthcare team, supporting life science companies in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast with banking services, debt financing, and strategic growth advice. Previously, she led SVB’s Strategic Advisory effort, managing client engagements and advisory projects. Julie’s prior experience includes 10 years at Greenhill & Co., advising on M&A and restructuring, and roles at Prudential Securities and J.P. Morgan. She holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. in finance from the University of Virginia.

Things You’ll Learn:

• There's been an increase in the number of deals being made in the health tech space, signaling a positive shift in the market despite funding not growing as drastically as there's a slight uptick.
• A significant portion of health tech companies, roughly a third that have raised money, are integrating AI into their products or services, demonstrating the growing importance of AI in healthcare innovation.
• Silicon Valley Bank's reports aim to create transparency in the market. They give companies access to critical information about venture capital trends and investment patterns, helping to level the playing field for these companies.
• The 2024 Future of Healthtech report also shows that investors are becoming more pragmatic about valuations, with fewer up rounds and an increase in flat or down rounds or deals where the terms are not disclosed at all.
• By offering its insights, being creative in its financing, and supporting companies with the knowledge to help move their businesses forward, Silicon Valley Bank shows that it is a bold leader who is playing a crucial role in transforming the healthcare industry and fostering innovation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Julie Ebert on LinkedIn.
• Follow Silicon Valley Bank on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Read this year’s SVB’s Future of Healthtech report here.

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About Frank Harvey:

Frank Harvey is the CEO of Surescripts, a company aiming to we convene healthcare organizations nationwide to simplify how health intelligence is shared. Frank is an experienced chief executive and investor and has held numerous senior leadership roles during his more than 35-year career in the healthcare technology, pharmacy and pharmaceutical sectors. His leadership philosophy is to treat every person with respect, keep communication honest, and always have a bias for action. When Frank isn’t working, he and his wife support their local Boys & Girls Clubs. They are also passionate defenders of clean water, working with local organizations to address the significant issue of toxic algae in local rivers.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Electronic prescribing has significantly reduced medication errors, administrative costs, and physician/pharmacist callbacks, with an estimated annual savings of $140 billion for the US healthcare system.
• Interoperability allows for better clinical decisions by making a comprehensive patient history accessible, improving health outcomes.
• The nation is facing a shortage of primary care providers, so pharmacists are in the perfect position to be integrated into the care team, making better medicine treatment and delivery.
• Surescripts is part of the Healthcare community and has partnerships with pharmacies, PBMs, EHRs, and health systems, all working together to improve the process of healthcare.
• Implementing real-time prescription benefits can reduce healthcare costs by helping physicians select more cost-effective treatment options.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Frank Harvey on LinkedIn.
• Follow Surescripts on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Zane Burke:

Zane Burke is the CEO of Quantum Health, where he leads efforts to revolutionize healthcare navigation through innovative solutions that combine technology with a human touch. With a background in both healthcare IT and executive leadership, Zane brings a wealth of experience to his role. Prior to joining Quantum Health, he served as CEO of Livongo Health, Inc., and as President of Cerner Corporation, where he drove significant advancements in healthcare technology. Zane is known for his commitment to improving healthcare delivery and making it more efficient and patient-centered. He holds both an undergraduate degree and an MBA from Kansas State University. Passionate about creating great healthcare experiences and addressing societal imbalances, Zane is a visionary leader dedicated to driving sustainable innovation in the healthcare industry.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. The integration of advanced technology with personalized human interaction significantly enhances healthcare experiences.
2. Quantum Health's pharmacy navigation solution helps reduce pharmacy costs, especially for specialty medications, by providing cost-effective alternatives at the point of care.
3. Streamlining healthcare processes makes them more efficient and less cumbersome for both patients and providers.
4. Similar navigation solutions could be applied to other areas of healthcare, such as surgery and oncology, to improve outcomes and manage costs.
5. Quantum Health's commitment to leveraging artificial intelligence creates seamless consumer experiences and drives down healthcare costs.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Zane Burke on LinkedIn and X.
• Follow Quantum Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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Sandy Vance and Peter Horadan, CEO of Vouched, discuss how Vouched uses AI and automation to verify identities in Telehealth. When you go to a doctor’s office, the receptionist checks your ID. As healthcare providers continue to conduct appointments virtually, how can they verify their patients’ identities digitally? Vouched uses artificial intelligence and automation to check the validity of patient IDs and verify that the person on the virtual appointment matches that identity. They discuss applications, success stories, and more.

In this episode, they discuss:

• How Vouched helps doctors and hospitals deal with challenges and identification requirements unique to healthcare
• How Vouched removes friction in the Telehealth space
• The steps Vouched takes to ensure that documents are real and match the patient
• How Vouched helps healthcare organizations stay compliant with HIPAA and other healthcare compliance requirements
• The role Vouched plays in cybersecurity, and how Vouched protects itself from attacks
• The emergence of AI agents in 2025
• Real-world success stories from Vouched’s customers

A little about Horadan:

Peter Horadan is the CEO of Vouched, a provider of AI-powered identity verification in the healthcare space. He founded Lockstep, developed the first connected accounting platform, and led its successful acquisition by The Sage Group.

Previously, Peter drove Avalara's growth towards its IPO and held technology leadership roles at Concur Technologies and Microsoft. His expertise in SaaS and his strategic vision fuels Vouched’s innovation in digital verification.

Vouched is a rapidly growing company, and was recognized in Inc. 5000’s Fastest Growing-Companies List. It also made the Deloitte Fast 500 in 2024. As healthcare providers continue to use Telehealth to make appointments more convenient, Vouched fills an important role in identity verification, patient satisfaction, and compliance.

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About Srinivas Velamoor:

Srinivas (Sri) Velamoor is a senior executive with expertise in healthcare, technology, and financial services. He currently serves as President and COO of NextGen Healthcare, overseeing operations in the U.S. and India. Previously, he was Chief Growth and strategy Officer there. Sri has extensive experience driving growth for tech and SaaS companies, aligning strategy with execution. He has held leadership roles at McKinsey, PwC, and Diamond Management, where he helped scale digital health and healthcare technology initiatives.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Healthcare providers must recognize that patients are also consumers with lives outside of healthcare.
• AI in healthcare is being applied to both administrative and clinical areas but the admin areas have a clearer path to immediate ROI.
• There's a trend towards digital front doors, which replace older patient portals, and bring the patient experience directly to their mobile devices. This shift is driven by the need for better accessibility and patient convenience.
• AI can enhance the revenue cycle process by predicting payment likelihood and reducing submission errors, ultimately increasing cash flow.
• Collaboration, and not competition, is vital in the health tech space to create better outcomes.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Srinivas Velamoor on LinkedIn.
• Follow NextGen Healthcare on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About David Stein:

David Stein is the former global head of strategy and president of molecular diagnostics for Siemens Healthineers. His previous roles include CEO of Siemens' point of care business, head of strategy for the Diagnostics division, and global vice president of engineering within the Diagnostics division. Working alongside Eric Olson, he was instrumental in incubating Babson Diagnostics in the company’s earliest days. David is also the Board Chairman of PixCell Medical, Israel.

Dr. Stein earned his Ph.D. in Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Babson Diagnostics' BetterWay Blood Testing service allows for routine and specialty testing from a finger prick sample. It is available at convenient locations like pharmacies and community events, which is ideal for people who are afraid of needles or are busy.
• The service is designed to be affordable, addressing a major barrier for those without insurance or who are underinsured, allowing broader access to vital health information and empowering them with better clinical outcomes.
• The company actively seeks to partner with local businesses, community groups, and healthcare providers, offering diverse locations and extended hours to serve a wide range of people and impact diverse communities.
• Blood testing is very personal, and many have stories, good or bad, and a significant percentage don’t get their doctor-ordered blood testing done unless they have a trigger event.
• Partnering with clinicians is a fundamental human right.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow David Stein on LinkedIn.
• Follow Babson Diagnostics on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Learn more about BetterWay Blood Testing here!

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About Dr. Theo Koury:

Theo Koury, MD, is the President of Vituity. Across his 25-year leadership career, Dr. Koury has focused on empowering front-line clinicians to improve care by prioritizing patient outcomes and maximizing quality and efficiency. In addition to his executive duties, he is a practicing emergency physician in the San Francisco Bay Area. As President of Vituity since 2017, Dr. Koury oversees the company’s financial and infrastructure strategies to fulfill the enterprise’s mission of empowering healthcare providers to deliver exceptional care across more than 500 service locations nationwide. Dr. Koury holds a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Southern California and a medical degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School and is an American College of Emergency Physicians Fellow. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at the Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine, where he served as Chief Resident, was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, and received the John P. McDade Award for Research in Emergency Medical Care.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Creating a culture of innovation starts with open communication and collaborative teamwork that encourages team members, followed by dedicated resources for frontline staff to develop their ideas.
• Solutions developed from the ground up, with frontline provider involvement, are more likely to succeed and provide better patient outcomes than top-down, less-informed approaches.
• AI-driven tools can go beyond basic automation to serve as a physician-partner, offering decision support, differential diagnoses, and a more thorough patient analysis than physicians alone can do.
• Integrating frontline providers in technology implementation leads to better results and avoids the negative impacts often seen when rolling out technology without their input.
• Healthcare organizations can build an in-house innovation lab and dedicate an innovation budget to bring forward the ideas their physicians and nurses have to offer and implement them quickly.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Theo Koury on LinkedIn.
• Follow Vituity on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Erin Weber:

Erin Richter Weber is a healthcare leader with 14 years at CAQH. She oversees CAQH CORE, advancing healthcare automation, and CAQH Insights, producing the annual Index report. Erin unites stakeholders to address industry challenges through data-driven innovation. Previously, she consulted for PwC and led research at the Advisory Board Company. She holds a Master’s from Harvard and a Bachelor’s from Cornell, making her a pivotal voice in healthcare standards and policy.

About Don Rucker:

Dr. Donald Rucker is the Chief Strategy Officer of 1upHealth and former National Coordinator for Health IT at HHS (2017–2021). He led the ONC’s 21st Century Cures Act Interoperability Rule, enabling secure patient access to health data via standardized FHIR APIs. A board-certified physician with clinical informatics expertise, he co-developed the first Windows-based electronic medical record. Dr. Rucker holds degrees from Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford, blending medicine, technology, and leadership.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Provider data is the backbone of the healthcare system, powering everything from patient care to billing, and requires standardization to ensure accuracy.
• The healthcare industry needs to learn from the internet and establish a system similar to domain name services to reduce friction.
• Data quality is paramount for interoperability, requiring standardized definitions of data elements like location. To improve data, AI should be included.
• AI can be used to standardize the multiple sources of provider data by merging them and enhancing the quality of that data.
• The healthcare industry is behind other industries, and boldness comes from adopting solutions that have already been implemented elsewhere.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Erin Weber on LinkedIn.
• Follow CAQH on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Connect with and follow Don Rucker on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about 1upHealth on their LinkedIn and website.
• Check out the latest annual CAQH Index Report here.

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About Shawn Nason:

Shawn Nason is an Experience Evangelist and Experience Ecosystem™ designer, passionate about dismantling outdated systems and building human-first, aligned approaches. With a background as Chief Experience Officer at Healthways and Chief Innovation Officer at Xavier University, Shawn also spent six years as an Imagineer for The Walt Disney Company. He founded MOFI in 2016 and recently served as Interim CEO of OFFOR Health, revolutionizing healthcare access. Now the Chief Experience & Innovation Officer at PatientPoint, Shawn is dedicated to creating heart-centered designs that honor all voices. A top CX influencer, he’s also a speaker, author, and podcast host.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Understanding individual patient needs and personalizing their experience can make a significant difference, from surprise moments to making the healthcare journey easier.
• Content can be a powerful tool for educating and influencing patient behavior, making healthcare experiences more accessible and impactful.
• Healthcare can benefit from creating unexpected, positive experiences that go beyond standard care and help patients feel valued and supported.
• Patient literacy and education, particularly around complex health issues, are essential for improving patient outcomes and empowering individuals to take control of their health.
• While digital solutions are essential, maintaining personal, human connections with care providers is crucial for patient satisfaction and overall health.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Shawn Nason on LinkedIn.
• Follow PatientPoint on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this interview, Sandy Vance discusses AI imaging and multimodal data with Ryan Tarzy, CEO of Avandra Imaging. Ryan explains the problems that medical researchers face related to accessing imaging data, and how Avandra is dealing with these challenges. The conversation explores the benefits and challenges working with imaging data and the use cases for Avandra’s datasets. Tarzy argues that healthcare is not innovating at the pace of other industries, and that access to imaging data can drive new innovations.

In this episode, they discuss:

• Avandra Imaging, which offers access to a rich library of data backed by expert support and robust security.
• Tarzy explains imaging data’s advantages in medical research.
• The barriers to accessing and distributing data are related to file sizes, a patchwork of organizations collecting the data, and categorization difficulties.
• Healthcare has not kept pace with other industries in terms of its innovation.
• Multimodal data are datasets with different verticals of data such as EMR, imaging, and claims.
• Avandra Imaging is focused on highly curated and difficult to find datasets by collecting data across sources.
• There are many use cases for imaging data, with one particularly exciting case being the early detection of diseases like pancreatic cancer.

A little about Tarzy:

Ryan Tarzy is the Founder and CEO of Avandra Imaging, a company focused on advancing health research and innovation by unlocking imaging and multi-modal data. With over 20 years of experience as an executive and founding roles at six startups, Ryan has a passion for problem-solving and data.

As an investor, coach, and advisor, Ryan has made eight investments in early-stage companies led by first-time founders, focusing on Digital Health, AI/ML, and eSports. His entrepreneurial journey includes co-founding and leading three startups, contributing to a cumulative $1.4 billion exit.

Under Tarzy's leadership, Avandra Imaging has become the world's largest federated network for medical imaging and clinical data, aiming to unlock and organize global medical images and create a data ecosystem for research and innovation. Tarzy is driving forward a future of impactful medical innovation by making access to critical healthcare data simple and dependable with Avandra.

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About Geoff Cook:

Geoff Cook is a seasoned entrepreneur and the CEO of Noom, with a proven track record of driving innovation and growth. As the former CEO of The Meet Group, he led the NASDAQ-listed company to a $500 million acquisition in 2020, building a live-streaming and creator economy revenue stream exceeding $200 million annually. Geoff spearheaded industry consolidation by acquiring and integrating four companies into a cohesive, efficient culture. A Harvard Economics graduate, he has deep expertise in scaling platforms, leveraging technology to enhance user experiences, and creating enterprise solutions like Livebox, which powers top-grossing social apps globally.

About Cody Fair:

As Head of Employer Sales at Noom, Cody Fair leads a team focused on helping brokers, consultants, and enterprise employers transform lives through Noom’s blend of psychology, technology, and coaching. Passionate about continuous improvement, Cody emphasizes the importance of refining sales and leadership skills through ongoing learning and development. By fostering a growth mindset within the team, he ensures a focus on controllable factors to drive success. There’s nothing more fulfilling to Cody than inspiring others to embrace this mentality and achieve their personal and professional goals.

Things You’ll Learn:

• New programs provide employers with cost-effective ways to offer GLP-1 medications, reducing financial barriers for both employers and employees.
• GLP-1 medications work best when paired with lifestyle adjustments, such as protein tracking and exercise, to prevent muscle loss and long-term health risks.
• Employers can now provide affordable weight management programs through supplemental benefits or employee-paid paths.
• AI-powered tools simplify food tracking, letting users log meals by taking a picture of their plates.
• By focusing on cost-effectiveness and impactful results, these initiatives aim to disrupt high-priced healthcare models.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Geoff Cook on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Cody Fair on LinkedIn.
• Follow Noom on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About James Kirby:

James Kirby is a dedicated and innovative leader in the healthcare industry, currently serving as the Chief Commercial Officer at Kroger Health. With a PharmD and a board certification in pharmacotherapy, James is committed to integrating health services into retail environments to enhance consumer health outcomes. At Kroger Health, he spearheads the Food as Medicine strategy, promoting a holistic approach that aligns food, pharmacy, and healthcare. His personal journey and professional expertise drive his passion for creating a comprehensive healthcare ecosystem that addresses the overall health needs of individuals. James is also an adjunct professor, and a Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association, and actively contributes to advancing healthcare through strategic partnerships and industry collaboration.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. Discover how Kroger Health is leveraging its extensive network of stores, including pharmacies and convenient care clinics, to integrate health services into retail environments.
2. Learn about the importance of aligning food, pharmacy, and healthcare services to enhance consumer health outcomes through a holistic approach.
3. Gain insights from Jim Kirby's personal story, which underscores the need to understand a patient's overall health needs, including dietary habits, for better health management.
4. Find out how Kroger Health is implementing strategies like a food health score to guide customers toward healthier food choices and potentially reduce healthcare costs.
5. Explore the potential for a national nutrition security measure, involving both health and retail sectors, to improve health outcomes on a national level.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jim Kirby on LinkedIn and contact him at jim.kirby@kroger.com.
• Follow Kroger Health on LinkedIn and Instagram and visit their website.
• Visit the Nourishing Change Conference on their website.

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About Amar Kendale:

Amar Kendale is the co-founder and president of Homeward Health. With a strong background in technology and healthcare innovation, Amar is committed to transforming access to healthcare in rural America. His vision is to leverage technology to improve patient outcomes and health equity across underserved communities.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Rural Americans face unique healthcare challenges that impact access, quality, and affordability of care.
• A value-based care model brings significant benefits to underserved areas, improving outcomes and making healthcare more accessible.
• Technology, including AI and telemedicine, plays a critical role in supporting healthcare delivery in rural settings.
• Local healthcare workers and pharmacists are essential to enhancing healthcare quality and accessibility in rural communities.
• Collaboration among payers, providers, and innovators is essential to creating a sustainable, impactful healthcare system in rural areas.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Amar Kendale on LinkedIn.
• Follow Homeward Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Gabe Castaneda:

Gabe Castaneda is the Chief Revenue Officer at FlyteHealth, bringing over 25 years of experience in sales, marketing, and customer success in both business-to-business and direct-to-consumer markets. He has held significant roles at Omada Health, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and UnitedHealth Group. Gabe holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Minnesota, a law degree from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. His expertise lies in developing strategic sales and marketing organizations, reducing costs, improving health outcomes, and increasing member engagement.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. Innovative obesity management combines lifestyle strategies with clinical medication management using a patented algorithm for personalized care.
2. Significant weight loss results, averaging 15.8% with non-GLP-1s, reduce costs and minimize side effects.
3. Avoiding compound prescriptions is a critical focus in effective obesity management.
4. Efforts center on building state-level partnerships with healthcare systems and expanding collaborations with payers, consultants, and employer groups.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Gabe Castaneda on LinkedIn.
• Follow FlyteHealth on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Preeti Kaur:

Preeti Kaur is the Executive Vice President and Head of Engineering and Data at Honor Technology. With a background in engineering leadership roles at Adobe and Carta, Preeti combines technical expertise with a mission-driven focus on improving patient care through innovation.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. Honor Technology is reshaping in-home care for older adults by blending technology and human compassion.
2. Insights into the challenges and solutions for providing specialized care, such as dementia support, in-home settings.
3. The role of AI and machine learning in enhancing care matching and creating predictive health models.
4. Advice for women and minorities in tech to confidently bring their perspectives to the table.
5. Bold moves Honor is making in healthcare, including the concept of “care bots” for real-time patient monitoring.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Preeti Kaur on LinkedIn.
• Follow Honor Technology on LinkedIn and discover their website.

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About Chris Benecchi:
Chris Benecchi is the Chief Operating Officer at Sage Therapeutics, where he leads global commercial strategy, medical affairs, and business operations. With a passion for public health and personal experience with postpartum depression, Chris is dedicated to driving impactful change in maternal mental health.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Reframing conversations around maternal mental health is essential for addressing this critical issue.
• Postpartum depression remains prevalent, highlighting the need for innovation in addressing maternal mental health needs.
• Collaboration and grassroots efforts can play a pivotal role in helping to drive change within the healthcare ecosystem.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Chris Benecchi on LinkedIn.
• Follow Sage Therapeutics on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X, and visit their website.

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About Dr. Rick Newell:

Dr. Rick Newell is a practicing physician and a visionary leader in healthcare innovation. As CEO of Inflect and Chief Transformation Officer of Vituity, he brings a unique perspective from the front lines of patient care to the boardroom. Dr. Newell focuses on creating inflection points in healthcare by fostering collaboration and investing in groundbreaking technologies that solve real-world problems.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Inflect invests in early-stage healthcare startups, incubates ideas, and provides expert advisory services.
• Aligning healthcare innovations with clinician workflows and real-world needs is crucial for their success.
• AI has a significant impact in reducing administrative burdens, enhancing imaging diagnostics, and enabling precision medicine.
• There are critical barriers to innovation adoption in healthcare, and strategies exist to overcome them.
• Entrepreneurs can navigate the complexities of healthcare innovation by following practical advice and strategies.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Rick Newell on LinkedIn.
• Follow Vituity on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Follow Inflect on LinkedIn and explore their website.
• Reach out to inflect at hello@inflect.health

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About Malekeh Amini:

Malekeh Amini is the CEO and founder of Trayt Health, with extensive experience in healthcare innovation. She is dedicated to enhancing mental and behavioral health through data-driven solutions and comprehensive social determinants. Her leadership in the industry is marked by her strategic vision and commitment to transformative healthcare practices.

About Rebecca Messing Haigler:

Rebecca ‘Becky’ Messing Haigler, MPH, MBA, is a seasoned healthcare executive, entrepreneur, and strategist. As CEO of Noe Strategic Advisors, she guides health tech portfolio companies, startups, and VC firms in developing health economics fundamentals and commercialization models. With experience as Health Economics Lead at Verily Life Sciences and roles in organizations like Blue Shield of CA and the Chartis Group, Rebecca has a proven track record in healthcare innovation. She holds degrees from UC Berkeley and the University of Michigan and enjoys family time in the Bay Area.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. Trayt Health uses comprehensive social determinants data to redefine high-quality symptom definitions in mental health
2. A systemic approach to behavioral health involves integrating physical and social health considerations
3. Updated payment models are necessary to shift from crisis intervention to prevention and evidence-based care in mental health.
4. Partnerships and collaborations are crucial for achieving ambitious goals in transforming mental healthcare.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Malekeh Amini on LinkedIn.
• Follow Trayt on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Connect with and follow Rebecca Messing Haigler on LinkedIn.
• Follow The Kennedy Forum on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Jamie Coleman:

Jamie Coleman is an inspirational leader who drives large, diverse teams to exceed expectations. With over 20 years of pharmaceutical experience, Jamie has a proven track record in marketing, consulting, and sales. Known for delivering outstanding results, Jamie has managed commercialization efforts for a variety of brands, overseeing over $5B in annual revenue. With extensive international experience, Jamie is adept at navigating complex partnerships and leading through change. Acknowledged for inclusive leadership, Jamie excels in strategic planning, fostering team engagement, and achieving high-performance outcomes.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. A new image gallery created by Lilly and the Obesity Action Coalition seeks to combat obesity-related stigma.
2. Obesity is discussed as a complex, progressive chronic disease, often misunderstood as merely a lifestyle choice.
3. Weight bias negatively affects access to care, discouraging people from seeking medical help.
4. It is important to use people-first language and create awareness to reduce stigma and promote comprehensive care.
5. Weight discrimination is a significant human rights issue, and global recognition and action are imperative.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jamie Coleman on LinkedIn.
• Follow Eli Lilly and Company on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Learn about the Stop Weight Bias campaign.
• Check out the OAC Bias-Free Image Gallery.

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About Ari Brenner:

Ari Brenner is a career-long devotee to improving healthcare delivery and payment models. With a deep track record of recruiting operationally excellent teams, he excels in building digital health products with clear value propositions. Ari has extensive experience navigating the complexities of selling into the US healthcare system, ensuring that his innovations align seamlessly with industry needs and drive meaningful improvements.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. In-House Health uses an automation platform to improve clinical scheduling and healthcare outcomes
2. The company aims to reduce nurse burnout by providing predictability and flexibility in nursing schedules
3. By enhancing schedule accuracy and reducing the time managers spend on scheduling, In-House Health creates organizational efficiencies
4. Better scheduling leads to improved nurse work-life balance, which in turn enhances patient care
5. There is a vision to extend these efficiencies to overall workforce management, optimizing operations across facilities

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ari Brenner on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Sergey Vasilenko on LinkedIn.
• Follow In-House Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this conversation, Sandy Vance interviews Waleed Nasr, CEO of Medely, a healthcare staffing platform that utilizes data and AI to optimize workforce management in healthcare facilities. Waleed shares his background in technology and the semiconductor industry, leading to the creation of Medely to address staffing challenges in healthcare. The discussion covers the impact of AI on healthcare staffing, the benefits of using Medely for facilities, and what sets it apart from competitors. Waleed emphasizes the importance of integrating workforce solutions and the future applications of AI in healthcare.

In this episode , they discuss:

• Medely connects healthcare facilities with professionals using data and AI.
• Waleed's background in technology led to the creation of Medely.
• AI can optimize staffing and improve patient outcomes.
• Healthcare facilities can schedule resources faster to see more patients with Medely's platform.
• Medely reduces staffing costs compared to traditional agencies.
• The platform helps reduce staff burnout and increase retention.
• Medely integrates total workforce management and scheduling into one solution.
• Flexibility in staffing solutions is crucial for healthcare organizations.
• Automating credentialing processes saves time and resources.
• Medely supports a wide range of healthcare facilities.

A little about Waleed:

Waleed Nasr is the CEO of Medely, a healthcare staffing platform that connects healthcare facilities to manage their entire extended workforce and connects them with experienced independent healthcare contractors. With a strong background in technology and business, Waleed has led Medely to become one of the leading platforms in the healthcare staffing industry, revolutionizing how healthcare facilities and professionals connect in an increasingly gig-oriented economy.

Waleed earned a Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the California State University, Northridge. Before joining Medely, he gained extensive experience in leadership roles as founder of two semiconductor companies, focusing on scaling operations and driving innovation. His expertise in building tech-driven solutions has been instrumental in Medely’s growth, enabling the company to streamline the staffing process and improve the quality of care in healthcare facilities.

Under Waleed’s leadership, Medely has expanded its services nationwide, providing healthcare professionals greater flexibility and opportunities while ensuring that healthcare facilities can efficiently meet their staffing needs. Waleed is passionate about using technology to create meaningful impacts in the healthcare sector, continuously pushing for advancements that benefit healthcare professionals, facilities, and patients.

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About Shaun Noorian:

Shaun Noorian is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of Empower Pharmacy, a leader in the compounding pharmaceutical industry. Under Shaun’s leadership, Empower Pharmacy has become the largest compounding pharmacy in the U.S., dedicated to making high-quality, affordable, personalized medications accessible to everyone.

Things You'll Learn:

• Personalized medications can harness the power of compounding to achieve better health outcomes at a lower cost.
• Telemedicine and compounding pharmacies enhance healthcare accessibility and transparency.
• The traditional retail pharmacy model is shifting toward centralized compounding facilities that distribute medications directly to patients.
• Empower Pharmacy’s investments in infrastructure, automation, and scaling are improving patient access to personalized therapies.

Resources

• Connect with and follow Shaun Noorian on LinkedIn.
• Follow Empower Pharmacy on LinkedIn and explore their website.

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About Andrea Daniels:

She is the Director of Clinical Services at Strive Pharmacy, where she oversees patient care initiatives and collaborates with healthcare providers to optimize treatment plans.

About Kaleo Alo:

He is the VP of Business Development at Strive Pharmacy, working to build partnerships and expand Strive's impact in the personalized healthcare space.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Compounding and personalized care are essential elements of modern healthcare.
• Telehealth improves access to personalized treatment and enhances patient satisfaction.
• Education empowers patients to understand and manage their compounded medications effectively.
• Strive Pharmacy is dedicated to advocating for functional medicine and promoting patient wellness.
• Strive Pharmacy envisions a future of transforming patient care through innovative approaches and continuous growth.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Andrea Daniels on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Kaleo Alo on LinkedIn.
• Follow Strive Pharmacy on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Rob MacNaughton:

Rob MacNaughton is the CEO of Calibrate and a leader in weight and obesity management. With a strong background in operations, strategic planning, and product development, Rob has focused on innovative solutions to manage obesity using a combination of anti-obesity medications and lifestyle interventions.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Calibrate combines anti-obesity medications and lifestyle interventions to achieve sustainable weight loss.
• Real-world results demonstrate how Calibrate enables individuals to maintain weight loss even after stopping medication.
• Clinical integrity and data-driven solutions are essential in addressing obesity effectively.
• Self-insured employers are increasingly promoting sustainable health outcomes through corporate wellness programs.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Rob MacNaughton on LinkedIn.
• Follow Calibrate on LinkedIn and explore their website!

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About Peri Avitan:

Peri Avitan is a dynamic leader with a proven track record in the healthcare technology sector. As the CEO of Clinii (formerly LiveCare), he has been instrumental in developing a web and mobile solution designed to streamline care team management and workflow efficiency. His efforts have focused on automating time-consuming tasks, optimizing practice efficiency, and boosting revenue through virtualizing both administrative and clinical operations. Peri's leadership extends to his role as Managing Partner at Vision USA Investments, where he continues to drive innovation and growth in the healthcare industry.

With a strong background in healthcare technology, Peri is dedicated to transforming complex care management and transitioning to value-based care. His work at Clinii has garnered significant attention, positioning the company as a leader in leveraging AI and digital tools to enhance patient care and operational efficiency. Peri's commitment to innovation and his strategic vision have made him a key figure in the ongoing evolution of healthcare technology.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. Clinii leverages AI and digital tools to enhance healthcare efficiency and improve patient outcomes.
2. The company integrates with approximately 19 electronic medical records (EMRs), streamlining data processes and optimizing care management workflows.
3. Clinii addresses the challenge of limited internal resources by making healthcare staff more efficient, reducing non-care tasks, and saving costs.
4. The Clinii AI tools help monitor patient care plans, automate task recommendations, and alert care gaps, reducing the risk of hospitalizations.
5. Clinii maintains a strong customer focus, engaging with clients weekly to tailor services and explore hybrid care models blending fee-for-service with value-based care.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Peri Avitan on LinkedIn.
• Follow Clinii on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Leo Barella:

Leo Barella is a results-driven technology leader with a passion for leveraging cutting-edge solutions to transform the healthcare industry. As the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Takeda, Leo is dedicated to driving innovation and digital transformation to improve patient quality of life and enhance operational efficiency.

Throughout his career, Leo has successfully led cross-functional teams and delivered strategic initiatives. His expertise lies in developing and implementing technology strategies, driving digital innovation, and optimizing processes, people, data, and technology to support business growth. Leo has spearheaded the adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics to drive insights and improve decision-making processes.

Deeply committed to fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation, Leo empowers teams to think creatively and embrace change. By cultivating strong partnerships with internal stakeholders, external partners, and industry experts, he has successfully implemented transformative technology solutions that have significantly impacted patient care and business outcomes.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. The role of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is evolving to focus on driving enterprise strategy and maximizing ROI.
2. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are transforming industries, particularly healthcare.
3. Leading Takeda's cloud program, Leo provides insights into the benefits and challenges of cloud transitions.
4. CTOs play a crucial role in making strategic decisions that increase ROI and promote organizational growth.
5. Optimizing organizational structure varies for services-based and product-based companies.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Leo Barella on LinkedIn.
• Follow Takeda on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Colleen Lindholz:

Colleen Lindholz is a visionary leader and advocate for integrating innovative healthcare approaches with a community-first mindset. With a career spanning decades in healthcare, Colleen champions initiatives such as "Food as Medicine" to address chronic disease prevention and improve population health. She brings a wealth of experience in pharmacy innovation and community outreach, bridging the gap between healthcare access and everyday well-being. As a passionate advocate, Colleen focuses on leveraging the trusted relationship between pharmacists and patients to drive impactful change.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The concept of "Food as Medicine" plays a vital role in preventing chronic diseases.
• Pharmacists hold a unique position to significantly improve community health outcomes.
• Building healthcare systems rooted in accessibility and trust is essential for better patient care.
• Fostering collaboration between community health initiatives and healthcare providers enhances health outcomes.
• Addressing social determinants of health leads to meaningful and impactful change, as demonstrated by real-world examples.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Colleen Lindholz on LinkedIn.
• Follow Kroger Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Mark Edwards:

Mark Edwards is the co-founder and CEO of Upstream USA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding access to contraceptive care in primary healthcare settings. Raised with a strong sense of opportunity, Mark's journey began with local anti-poverty work and the launch of a preschool program for homeless children. His commitment to social change led him to found Opportunity Nation, a bipartisan coalition focused on expanding economic mobility through federal policy reform. Inspired by the challenges faced by young people due to unplanned pregnancies, Mark co-founded Upstream USA to ensure that all women have same-day access to their preferred contraceptive methods. He is also a Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation entrepreneur, an Ashoka Fellow, and serves on multiple nonprofit boards, including the Barr Foundation.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. Upstream's mission is to integrate high-quality contraceptive care into primary healthcare, ensuring accessibility, particularly in underserved areas.
2. The organization addresses "contraceptive deserts" and supports clinicians in challenging reproductive health environments through tailored digital and in-person training.
3. Upstream provides customized training to fit the needs of individual healthcare organizations, enhancing their ability to offer contraceptive services.
4. Success stories highlight how healthcare organizations in states with restricted abortion access have expanded contraceptive offerings.
5. Upstream aims to expand nationwide, with a goal of providing services to health centers serving up to 5 million patients, encouraging organizations to prioritize this essential care.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Mark Edwards on LinkedIn.
• Follow Upstream USA on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Contact Upstream USA at info@upstream.org

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About Dan Mendelson:

Dan Mendelson is the CEO of Morgan Health, a healthcare innovation and investment arm focused on improving employer-sponsored healthcare. With a robust background in healthcare policy, Mendelson has been instrumental in bridging the gap between business needs and health equity. His leadership centers on developing impactful strategies emphasizing quality, equity, and affordability.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Employers play an essential role in driving the adoption of value-based care.
• A successful primary care pilot program has demonstrated the ability to improve health outcomes.
• Practical approaches can be used to address healthcare disparities in employer-sponsored plans.
• Small businesses can implement cost-effective, quality-driven healthcare solutions.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dan Mendelson on LinkedIn.
• Follow Morgan Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Timshel Tarbet:

Timshel Tarbet is the Chief Healthcare Experience and Equity Officer at Providence Health Plan. She leads initiatives focused on healthcare equity, diversity, and inclusion, fostering a culture that puts members and caregivers at the center of the healthcare experience. With her extensive background in health equity, Timshel champions efforts to ensure that community partnerships and social determinants of health are prioritized, enabling Providence to deliver more accessible, empathetic, and effective care.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Providence Health Plan integrates equity, diversity, and inclusion to build a more supportive culture.
• Community partnerships are crucial in advancing health equity.
• Addressing social determinants of health can create more equitable healthcare outcomes.
• Healthcare providers must break down internal silos to improve community health.
• Providence's Health for All Initiative is reshaping healthcare access in underserved communities.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Timshel Tarbet on LinkedIn.
• Follow Providence Health Plan on LinkedIn and Instagram and visit their website!

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In this conversation, Yaw Fellin, Vice President of Product and Solutions for Clinical Effectiveness at Wolters Kluwer Health, discusses the integration of AI in healthcare, focusing on clinical decision support, partnerships, and the importance of responsible AI practices. He shares insights from the HLTH 2024 conference, highlighting the enthusiasm for AI technologies and the need for improvements in provider workflows. The discussion also covers significant partnerships aimed at enhancing clinical care and the evolving role of AI in reducing provider burden.

In this episode they discuss:

• The focus is on helping clinicians make the best decisions.
• Small time increments in workflows can lead to significant improvements.
• There's genuine enthusiasm for AI's tangible benefits in healthcare.
• Responsible approaches to AI are crucial to eliminate bias.
• Partnerships are essential for advancing healthcare technology.
• AI can significantly reduce provider burnout and improve workflows.
• The integration of AI in clinical settings is a powerful opportunity.
• Investing in responsible AI practices is a priority for healthcare organizations.
• Collaboration across care teams can enhance patient care.
• The future of AI in healthcare is promising but requires careful navigation.

A little bit about Yaw :

Yaw Fellin brings more than 20 years of experience as a healthcare executive, with proven results leading cross-functional teams, generating value and revenue growth.

Prior to joining Wolters Kluwer Health, Yaw spent 3 years at Optum, a global healthcare IT company. Before that, Yaw spent over 15 years at the Advisory Board, a leading healthcare research, consulting and technology firm, where he led multiple high growth SaaS business lines. He received a BS in Healthcare Administration from Penn State University.

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About Mark Bertolini:

Mark Bertolini is a pioneer in the healthcare industry and currently serves as the CEO of Oscar Health, a tech-driven health insurance company. With an illustrious career spanning several decades, Mark has held key executive positions at renowned organizations such as Cigna, NYLCare Health Plans, and SelectCare, Inc. Notably, he served as Chairman and CEO of Aetna from 2010 to 2018, where he led the company's transformation into a consumer-oriented healthcare entity, culminating in its $69 billion acquisition by CVS Health. His leadership at Aetna was marked by a focus on delivering integrated care and improving healthcare accessibility and affordability.

Beyond his professional roles, Mark is a respected thought leader in the national healthcare landscape, advocating for the integration of mental health services within standard insurance offerings. He brings a personal touch to his work, often sharing his own experiences of overcoming chronic pain with cognitive behavioral therapy. Mark's commitment to philanthropy is evident through his involvement with organizations like the FIDELCO Guide Dog Foundation and The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. His journey from being a paramedic to becoming a top executive underscores his dedication to advancing healthcare for all.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. Mark Bertolini presents an innovative vision for disrupting the health insurance industry, using the metaphor of a pirate ship to describe Oscar Health’s approach to challenging established insurers.
2. Tailoring individual insurance markets through the creation of consumer health reimbursement accounts can enhance consumer choice and potentially cover 110 million lives.
3. Integrating mental health services into standard insurance offerings is essential, with cognitive behavioral therapy serving as a valuable tool in overcoming chronic pain.
4. Value-based contracts are critiqued in favor of high-performing networks that naturally deliver better care without disrupting existing provider-patient relationships.
5. AI and data can improve administrative efficiency, reduce costs, and address biases in clinical data while utilizing mechanisms to expand consumer choice despite political challenges.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Mark Bertolini on LinkedIn.
• Follow Oscar Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Bernardo Tavares:

Bernardo Tavares is the Chief Technology & Data Officer for Kenvue, where he oversees the Information Technology and Data Science groups. As a key enabler of innovation and growth, he leads the data and technology agenda by scaling digital capabilities to better serve customers and consumers.

With extensive experience in business technology life-cycle management and value creation, IT transformation and optimization, Bernardo has worked across consumer, healthcare, and technology industries. His expertise spans sales, digital marketing and analytics, strategic and solutions architecture, organization design and management, IT governance and risk management, program and portfolio optimization, application services, business analysis, and talent development.

Passionate about commercial innovation, digital transformation, precision marketing, and digital solution development, Bernardo believes that technology, science, data, and design can unlock value for customers while improving sustainability, health, and well-being for the communities served by Kenvue.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. AI and data are being leveraged to personalize consumer experiences, reduce operational friction, and support growth in the healthcare sector.
2. Maintaining privacy and building trust with consumers is crucial for the successful implementation of AI and data-driven solutions.
3. Kenvue is committed to sustainability, ensuring clean data and innovation that aligns with its ESG goals.
4. Kenvue has launched a digital menopause platform designed to break societal taboos and provide comprehensive care.
5. A mindset of continuous learning, trust, and curiosity would responsibly harness the power of technology and drive innovation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Bernardo Tavares on LinkedIn.
• Follow Kenvue on LinkedIn and Instagram and visit their website.

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About Bart Geerts:

Bart Geerts is the founder of Health.Plus.AI, leveraging AI to predict and manage post-surgical infections. A former physician, he now focuses on creating impactful healthcare solutions through innovation.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Healthcare delivery varies significantly between Europe and the United States, influenced by differences in funding models, regulatory environments, and cultural approaches to care.
• Liability and risk management play a critical role in shaping clinical decisions, often impacting the balance between innovation and patient safety.
• Artificial intelligence has the potential to predict and prevent infections.
• Building trust in AI solutions is essential for their adoption in clinical practice.
• Companies entering new healthcare markets must adopt a strategic approach to succeed.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Bart Geerts on LinkedIn.
• Follow HealthPlus.ai on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Ricardo Berrios:

Ricardo C. Berrios is a seasoned entrepreneur and senior executive with over 25 years of experience building and leading businesses in technology, healthcare, manufacturing, e-commerce, and retail. As the founding CEO of Adhera Health, he is pioneering digital solutions for families managing pediatric chronic conditions. Ricardo's expertise lies in leveraging technology to improve the patient experience, demonstrated by his leadership in developing Adhera's AI-powered digital companion platform. He has a proven track record in operational management, including team building, business development, and strategic marketing. Ricardo's global perspective, honed through cross-border initiatives in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific, informs his innovative approach to healthcare.

About Luis Fernandez:

Dr. Luis Fernandez is a digital health innovator with over 20 years of experience, driven by a personal commitment to improving healthcare access and equity. As Chief Scientific Officer at Adhera Health, he leads the development of their AI-powered digital companion platform, focusing on supporting families of children with chronic conditions. Luis combines expertise in AI and behavioral science to create inclusive and responsible solutions. His extensive research background, including work in mobile health, wearables, and gamification, informs his approach to personalized healthcare. Luis's global experience spans various countries, including Spain, Norway, Qatar, and the US, providing him with a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in digital health.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Healthcare innovation often faces implementation challenges due to slow processes and monolithic systems in countries with strong public healthcare.
• While European healthcare systems provide broad access, disparities exist and often receive less attention than in the US.
• A key difference between the US and Europe regarding healthcare innovation lies in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• Data privacy regulations, particularly in Europe, can create challenges for AI development.
• Transparency and user experience are vital in healthcare technology. Explainable AI and streamlined consent processes are crucial for building trust and empowering families.

Resources:

• Connect with and learn more about Ricardo Berrios on LinkedIn.
• Follow and connect with Luis Fernandez on LinkedIn.
• Discover more about Adhera Health on their LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Daniel Kraft:

Dr. Daniel Kraft is a Stanford and Harvard-trained physician-scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in clinical practice, biomedical research, and healthcare innovation. He holds a BA in Biochemistry from Brown University and an MD from Stanford University School of Medicine, followed by a Harvard residency and fellowships at Stanford in hematology, oncology, and bone marrow transplantation. As faculty chair for Medicine at Singularity University, Dr. Kraft founded NextMed Health, a leading program exploring emerging technologies in biomedicine. He is also a managing partner at Continuum Health Ventures and serves on the boards of Digital.Health and Healthy.io. An expert in stem cell biology, regenerative medicine, and digital health, he holds multiple patents and has published in top journals like Nature and Science. A passionate innovator, Dr. Kraft is also an avid pilot, former flight surgeon, and NASA research contributor. He is a member of the Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellowship.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI has the potential to revolutionize healthcare by upskilling individuals and enabling personalized care.
• Clinicians need to be involved in the design and implementation of new technologies to ensure usability and avoid burnout.
• The "self-driving health" concept envisions a future where healthcare is personalized, proactive, and integrated.
• Moving from quantified self to quantified health requires integrating data from various sources into actionable insights.
• The future of healthcare will likely involve a combination of human clinicians and advanced technologies like robotics. This integration can improve efficiency and address the growing shortage of healthcare professionals.

Resources:

• Connect with and learn more about Daniel Kraft on LinkedIn and his website.
• Follow NextMed Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Discover more about Digital. Health on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Mark Del Monte:

Mark Del Monte, serves as the CEO and Executive Vice President of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). With an extensive background in law and advocacy, Mark has been instrumental in advancing pediatric health and well-being since joining the AAP in 2005. Under his leadership, the AAP supports 67,000 pediatricians and pediatric specialists, ensuring they have the necessary resources and guidance to provide top-notch care for children. His work is driven by a deep commitment to addressing various issues impacting children's health, such as mental health, equity, environmental health, and public policy. Mark is also a vocal advocate for policies supporting comprehensive healthcare coverage for children, particularly through programs like Medicaid and CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program).

Beyond his policy advocacy, Mark is dedicated to combating misinformation, especially around vaccine trust. He focuses on providing pediatricians with accurate information and reliable resources to build trust between healthcare providers and families. Mark believes in the power of the clinician-patient relationship in promoting healthy behaviors and informed decision-making. His combination of legal expertise and passion for child health advocacy makes him a leading voice in shaping the future of pediatric healthcare, striving to ensure that all children have the opportunity to thrive.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)'s comprehensive approach to addressing diverse issues affecting children's health, including mental health, equity, and environmental health.
2. The critical roles that Medicaid and CHIP play in providing essential healthcare coverage for children.
3. The AAP's strategies to counteract vaccine mistrust and other misinformation, empowering pediatricians with accurate information.
4. Insights into the advocacy for merging Medicaid and CHIP into a national program to ensure consistent healthcare for all children.
5. The importance of the clinician-patient relationship in promoting healthy behaviors and delivering reliable information.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Mark Del Monte on LinkedIn.
• Follow AAP on LinkedIn and visit their website
• Visit healthychildren.org to get valuable info for your family.

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About Dr. John Martin:

Dr. John Martin is a highly accomplished leader-physician with a diverse background spanning various roles, including surgeon, software company founder, medical device inventor, and Chief Medical Officer of a digital health company. He has successfully built organizations, teams, and products, transforming healthcare practices and driving innovation. Known for his ability to inspire and command audiences, Dr. Martin has extensive experience in strategic planning and fiscal management, making significant impacts both personally and through the programs and companies he develops.

About Dr. Michael Rotondo:

Dr. Michael F. Rotondo is a distinguished leader in healthcare, currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the University of Rochester Medical Faculty Group (URMFG). With a rich background in trauma surgery and healthcare administration, he has significantly contributed to transforming URMFG into a unified, high-functioning care delivery system. Under his leadership, the group has seen substantial growth in clinical volumes and revenues, while emphasizing physician wellness and health equity. Dr. Rotondo's commitment to innovative solutions and patient-centric practices continues to drive excellence in healthcare delivery.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. Handheld ultrasound technology is transforming point-of-care testing, making diagnoses more immediate and accurate.
2. Integrating handheld ultrasound technology within a health system demonstrates practical benefits, enhancing workflow and patient care.
3. Seamless integration with electronic health records is crucial in order to improve overall efficiency and reduce treatment times.
4. It is very important to overcome challenges in adopting new healthcare technologies like resource allocation and organizational change.
5. Collaborations between academic institutions and tech innovators are essential for driving meaningful advancements in healthcare, promoting trust and confidence in new solutions.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Michael Rotondo on LinkedIn.
• Follow the University of Rochester Medical Center on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Connect with and follow Dr. John Martin on LinkedIn.
• Follow Butterfly Network, Inc. on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Dr. Taha Kass-Hout:

Dr. Taha Kass-Hout is the Global Chief Science and Technology Officer at GE Healthcare, where he drives advancements in AI-based medical imaging and diagnostics. With a background in interventional cardiology and machine learning, he previously served as Vice President of Machine Learning and Chief Medical Officer at Amazon, leading pivotal health tech projects like Amazon HealthLake and Amazon Comprehend Medical1. Dr. Kass-Hout also held key roles in the Obama Administration, including the FDA’s first Chief Health Informatics Officer and Director of Information Science and Informatics at the CDC. His work focuses on leveraging AI and cloud computing to improve global healthcare access and reduce disparities.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. AI and cloud computing are being used to reduce global healthcare disparities and improve patient care.
2. CareIntellect is an AI-driven platform for oncology that simplifies access to complex data and expedites patient care processes.
3. The Health Companion project employs agentic AI to optimize patient treatment plans and alleviate clinician burnout.
4. Technological advancements are streamlining workflows and enhancing operational efficiencies.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Taha Kass-Hout on LinkedIn.
• Follow GE Healthcare on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Steve Sutherland:

Steve has been with CERIS since 1996 and has always been driven by his passion for making a difference for our clients and positively impacting healthcare and patients. Steve enjoys being challenged with the opportunity to build and create. As CERIS has grown over Steve’s 28-year tenure, he has consistently risen to the challenge of the organization’s growing needs. He is proactive in building efficiencies and leveraging technology to keep CERIS ahead of the curve, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to the organization.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. CERIS is leveraging AI and machine learning to improve payment integrity, reduce administrative costs, and enhance accuracy in claims adjudication.
2. Automating payment processes can significantly reduce administrative burdens and improve overall efficiency in healthcare.
3. Implementing AI tools requires a strong emphasis on security, compliance, and quality data to build trust and ensure privacy.
4. Building trust and gaining buy-in from healthcare professionals is essential, as AI is often met with skepticism due to data governance and privacy concerns.
5. CERIS encourages bold adoption of cutting-edge technologies and collaboration with partners to drive innovative solutions, emphasizing pilot projects and proof of concept for building confidence.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Steve Sutherland on LinkedIn.
• Follow CERIS on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In this episode, Sandy Vance interviews Parminder “Parry” Bhatia, Chief AI Officer at GE Healthcare, about the integration of generative AI and machine learning in healthcare. They discuss the transformative potential of these technologies in improving clinical efficiency, reducing burnout, and enhancing patient care. Parminder shares insights on recent innovations, the concept of agentic AI, and the importance of responsible AI practices in ensuring safe and effective healthcare solutions. The discussion highlights GE Healthcare's commitment to advancing AI technologies while maintaining a focus on ethical considerations and collaboration with clinical partners.

In this Episode they discuss:

• GE Healthcare is leading in AI and machine learning integration.
• Generative AI is set to revolutionize healthcare data management.
• AI technologies can significantly reduce clinical burnout.
• The Care Intellect application enhances oncology care efficiency.
• Agentic AI offers proactive solutions in complex healthcare scenarios.
• Responsible AI practices are crucial for building trust in technology.
• AI can streamline workflows and improve patient experiences.
• Collaboration with clinical partners is essential for innovation.
• The AI Innovation Lab fosters early-stage research and development.
• GE Healthcare aims to enhance healthcare delivery for over a billion patients.

About Parminder "Parry" Bhatia:

At GE HealthCare, Parminder is focused on integrating AI across areas including smart devices, across the patient journey, and at the hospital operation level.

GE HealthCare has a long track record innovating in AI, and has topped the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) list of AI-enabled medica devices for three years in a row, with 80+ AI-enabled medical device authorizations. Parminder leads a team that is helping to advance AI integration within medical devices at GE HealthCare, with the ultimate goal of enhancing patient outcomes and creating a world where healthcare has no limits. Parry is part of the company’s internal committee on responsible AI to help ensure that new AI applications are reliable, scalable, and ethically sound. He has been recognized by the AIM “AI 100” 2024 Awards and Constellation Research's Artificial Intelligence 150 “AI 150” list.

Previously, Parminder was Head of Science for Generative AI at Amazon, where he led the development of machine learning and generative AI products including Amazon Comprehend Medical for analyzing medical record data at scale, Amazon Q for developer productivity, and Amazon Bedrock for democratizing access to Large Language Model technologies globally.

He has held previous roles in AI and machine learning at Microsoft and Georgia Tech.

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About Hamilton Bennett:

Hamilton Bennett is a seasoned public health professional with over 15 years of experience, currently serving as the Senior Director of Vaccine Access and Partnerships at Moderna. She played a pivotal role in leading the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine development program, contributing significantly to one of the earliest vaccines against the pandemic. With a strong dedication to equitable vaccine development and distribution, Hamilton collaborates closely with governments and stakeholders to build resilient health systems capable of responding swiftly to pandemics and vaccine-preventable diseases.

Hamilton is passionate about fostering innovation through Moderna's "mRNA Access Program," which enables academic researchers to use Moderna's platform to improve emergency disease responsiveness. Her educational background includes graduate degrees in Environmental Health and Microbiology from the University of Washington, along with a certificate in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Hamilton's commitment to cutting-edge research and global health equity continues to drive her efforts in transforming the vaccine landscape.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. Moderna's innovative mRNA technology has the potential to revolutionize the vaccine landscape.
2. The importance of equitable vaccine development and distribution to ensure all communities have access to life-saving vaccines.
3. Collaboration with governments and stakeholders is crucial for building resilient health systems capable of responding to pandemics and vaccine-preventable diseases.
4. Moderna's mRNA Access Program enables academic researchers to use their platform, fostering innovation and improving emergency disease responsiveness.
5. The necessity of strategizing for both current healthcare needs and future challenges, emphasizing the importance of collaboration, cutting-edge research, and global health equity.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Hamilton Bennett on LinkedIn.
• Follow Moderna on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Allison Stalla:

Allison Stalla is a distinguished leader in the realm of healthcare technology, currently holding the position of Director of Clinical Applications at Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare. With a robust focus on reducing the documentation burdens faced by nursing clinicians, Allison utilizes cutting-edge AI technologies to enhance patient care and mitigate nurse burnout. Her comprehensive background includes significant contributions at Nuance Communications as the Principal of Client Insights, where she influenced healthcare strategy and client engagement. Allison is dedicated to advancing clinical applications that prioritize user-centric design, integrating AI into healthcare workflows, and driving digital transformation in healthcare settings.

In her role at Microsoft, Allison emphasizes the importance of change management and data literacy for successful AI adoption in healthcare. She is deeply committed to fostering a collaborative environment where healthcare professionals can thrive. Her efforts are particularly concentrated on creating nurse-centered technologies, ensuring that the tools developed are not only innovative but also practical and beneficial for everyday clinical use. Through strategic partnerships and pilot programs, Allison's work at Microsoft continues to push the boundaries of what's possible in healthcare technology, ultimately aiming to improve patient outcomes and streamline clinical processes.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. AI is significantly reducing documentation burdens for nurses, allowing them to focus more on patient care and reducing burnout.
2. Despite concerns about AI replacing jobs, there's broad willingness across various age groups to adopt AI in nursing.
3. Successful AI adoption in healthcare requires strong leadership support, effective change management, and enhanced data literacy among healthcare professionals.
4. Involving nurses in the development and design process of AI tools is crucial for building trust and ensuring these tools meet their needs.
5. Microsoft's collaboration with Nuance and nine development partners focuses on creating nurse-centered technologies, including piloting ambient voice technology to aid bedside documentation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Allison Stalla on LinkedIn.
• Follow Microsoft on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare website and check out their blogs.

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In this episode of AI @ HLTH on The Beat, Sandy Vance speaks with Dr. Benjamin Nguyen from Transcarent about the innovative Wayfinding platform, which integrates AI to enhance healthcare navigation for employees. They discuss the challenges of healthcare engagement, the importance of personalized experiences, and the role of AI and LLMs in transforming healthcare delivery. Dr. Nguyen emphasizes the need for privacy and security in healthcare AI solutions and shares insights on the future of AI in the industry.

In this Episode they discuss:

• Employees deserve benefits that empower them with guidance.
• Transcarent aims to simplify healthcare navigation.
• Wayfinding connects various healthcare solutions in one platform.
• Healthcare complexity leads to disengagement among employees.
• AI can provide personalized healthcare experiences.
• LLMs enhance engagement by tailoring responses to individuals.
• Privacy and security are paramount in healthcare AI.
• Transcarent does not train LLMs on customer data.
• The future of healthcare will see more subtle AI integration.
• Investing in innovative solutions is key for employers.

A little about Dr. Benjamin Nguyen:

Dr. Benjamin (Ben) Nguyen, M.D. is a healthcare and AI product leader. At Transcarent, Dr. Nguyen currently leads the Transcarent AI team which is tasked with expanding Transcarent’s suite of AI products while maintaining the highest standards for patient safety. Throughout his career, Dr. Nguyen has led multiple teams building AI products ranging from hospital AI deployment platforms, radiology AI safety applications, chatbots for patients, and AI tools for clinicians. Dr. Nguyen is known as an expert on AI in healthcare, and was recently called to testify before Congress on the subject, educating lawmakers and the public about the potential and safety risks of AI. He is also a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California, where he teaches about AI fundamentals and safety in healthcare. Dr. Nguyen received his Doctor of Medicine degree at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, as well as graduate specialization certificates from the Marshall School of Business and the Viterbi School of Engineering. He is a Bay Area native and lives in San Francisco, California.

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About Paul Markovich:

Paul Markovich is the president and CEO of Blue Shield of California, a nonprofit health plan generating $24 billion in annual revenue and serving 4.8 million members across various markets in California. With over 25 years of experience at Blue Shield, Paul has driven numerous innovative initiatives, including funding a statewide provider directory, supporting the development of a statewide health information network for holistic patient care, and partnering with the California Medical Association to pilot new care delivery models. His leadership focuses on reimagining healthcare by leveraging technology and creating a system that is both affordable and high-quality.

Previously, Paul served as the chief operating officer, overseeing crucial areas such as healthcare services, network management, marketing, and customer operations. He has a history of introducing groundbreaking products and services, including the first California Health Maintenance Organization to allow self-referrals to specialists and online access to member benefits. Paul serves on the boards of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans. A North Dakota native and Rhodes Scholar, he holds a master's degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Political Economy from Colorado College, where he also played Division I hockey.

Things You’ll Learn:

1. Blue Shield of California's collaboration with Salesforce aims to digitize the prior authorization process, making it as seamless as credit card transactions and eliminating the need for outdated fax machines.
2. Rather than making incremental improvements, Blue Shield focuses on creating a new, functional healthcare system with comprehensive digital health records.
3. Successful healthcare innovation requires strong collaborations, as exemplified by the partnership with Salesforce for real-time data integration.
4. Paul emphasizes the importance of learning from failures and aligning with skilled partners to drive meaningful innovations.
5. Blue Shield's nonprofit mission centers on providing affordable, stress-free healthcare access and improving patient care through advanced digital solutions.

Resources:

1. Connect with and follow Paul Markovich on LinkedIn.
2. Follow Blue Shield of California on LinkedIn and visit their website

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance talks with Bill Miller, CEO of WellSky, about the evolving role of analytics in healthcare and its impact on patient care. Bill emphasizes that the healthcare industry must invest in AI solutions to tackle pressing challenges, such as the home-based care staffing crisis, reducing clinician "pajama time," ensuring smoother transitions from hospital to post-acute care and streamlining workflows within existing electronic health record systems. These advancements will enable clinicians to focus on what truly matters—providing human-centered care. Bill also discusses WellSky's collaboration with Google to develop AI tools designed to support, not replace, clinicians.

In this episode, they talk about:* What WellSky does for the healthcare industry, specifically in direct care * How WellSky helps clinicians deliver optimal patient care * WellSky's balanced approach to AI in healthcare * The importance of proactive versus reactive strategies * Supporting clients in and out of hospital settings * Accelerating the referral process with AI solutions * The rationale behind WellSky’s partnership with Google * The future of WellSky and AI in healthcare

A Little About Bill:Bill Miller is the CEO of WellSky and a recognized leader in the healthcare industry. He has a rich background including more than 25 years of groundbreaking growth strategies and technological innovation in the healthcare marketplace and a proven track record of launching and leading highly successful healthcare IT companies. Under Bill’s leadership, WellSky has become one of America’s largest and most innovative healthcare technology companies, serving more than 20,000 clients across acute, post-acute, and community care.

He has overseen the strategic acquisition of more than 14 companies to the WellSky portfolio, helped establish the WellSky Foundation, and guided the company into new marketplaces with innovative technology and services shaping the industry. Before joining WellSky in 2017, Bill served as the CEO of OptumInsight, a division of Optum, which is the health services platform of UnitedHealth Group. Under Bill’s direction, OptumInsight experienced unprecedented revenue growth, expanded margins, and claimed a transformative position in the health services market.

He led the evolution of Optum into the leader in healthcare analytics and launched several tech-enabled business platforms. Before OptumInsight, Bill served as senior vice president of technologies at Cerner Corporation, where he had global responsibility for the company’s managed services, outsourcing, and technology services business units. Bill currently sits on the board of directors for Lyric and Lifestance, both in the healthcare sector and the WellSky Foundation. A graduate of the University of Kansas, Bill earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in urban planning and public policy. He enjoys spending time with his three children Ellie, 24, Belle, 21, and Matthew, 20.

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Host Sandy Vance is behind the mic in this episode with Chris Chang, CEO and Co-Founder at GradientAI. Have any questions for Chris? Reach out via email or check out their website.

They explore why GradientAI focuses specifically on the healthcare industry and how its innovative solutions are enhancing patient care and operational efficiency. They also address common concerns surrounding AI adoption and share exciting use cases and future developments. Listen in as Sandy and Chris navigate the intersection of GradientAI and AI in healthcare, revealing the potential to reshape the future of medicine.

GradientAI enables enterprises to automate their complex data workflows using its AI-powered data-reasoning platform. They work with many integrated care providers and health tech companies to power processes across the organization, from medical note auditing to the improvement of care to patients, benefit management, claims processing, and data reconciliation.

Enterprise AI automation in healthcare, powered by Nightingale - a domain-specific model designed specifically for healthcare.

In this episode, they talk about:* Why GradientAI Focuses on Healthcare and the Benefits of AI in Healthcare * How GradientAI Helps the Healthcare Industry * Pros and Cons of Workflow Tools That Limit Information in Healthcare * The Transformative Technology of AI in the Healthcare Industry * Use Cases, Trials, and Development of AI in Healthcare * Addressing Concerns of Those Wary About AI in Healthcare * The Future of GradientAI and AI in Healthcare

A Little About Chris:Chris is the Co-Founder and CEO at Gradient, who most recently led Studio AI at Netflix and was an architect of early domain expert LLMs for content production and intelligence. Prior to joining Netflix, Chris held a variety of leadership roles at Pinterest, Opendoor, and Meta. Chris started his career in finance and holds a dual bachelor's degree in computer science and business and a master's degree in computer science from UPenn.

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In this conversation, Sandy Vance speaks with Pratap Khedkar, CEO of ZS, about the pressing issues in healthcare, particularly the scarcity of providers and the potential of AI to create healthcare abundance. They discuss the gaps in the current healthcare system, the global provider shortage, and the role of AI in addressing these challenges. Khedkar emphasizes the importance of trust in AI, the need for regulatory frameworks, and shares real-world use cases of AI improving patient care and clinical trials. The conversation concludes with a look ahead to ZS's vision for the future of healthcare and the integration of AI.

In This Episode, they talk about :

• ZS aims to improve life through healthcare innovation.
• Healthcare gaps are widening, leading to patient dissatisfaction.
• AI can help bridge the gap between data and human capability.
• The US faces a significant shortage of healthcare providers.
• Trust in AI is a major barrier to its adoption in healthcare.
• AI can predict patient drop-off rates for medications.
• Regulatory frameworks are needed for AI in healthcare.
• Collaboration between public and private sectors is essential for AI standards.
• AI tools can enhance the patient experience and reduce burnout.
• The future of healthcare will involve a synergy between humans and AI.

A little about Pratap:

Pratap was elected CEO of ZS in July 2021. Prior to this, he led the firm’s global pharmaceuticals practice for nine years, as well as a practice focused on the dynamics of healthcare ecosystems. He founded and led its advanced data science capability track, which focuses on AI.

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In order to deep dive into these topics, Sandy chats with Tariq Khan from Reteta about the new possibilities for AI in improving care visibility and advancing diagnostics and therapeutics. Tariq talks about AI for clinical documentation and revenue management, AI in wearable sensors/digital biomarkers and digital therapeutics design (including validation studies), pharmacovigilance automation, and ai-driven EHR and real-world health data processing.

In this episode, they talk about:* Reteta is an AI platform and app that integrates with EHR and automates patient charting and notes * Care delivery processes and back office processes * In what ways can AI enhance patient outcomes while simultaneously lowering costs * Examples of AI applications that have successfully improved care visibility * AI is pushing the boundaries of diagnostics and therapeutics in both healthcare and life sciences * The role of AI will evolve in the next 5 years within these fields * Examples of AI applications that have successfully improved care visibility and patient management * How AI is pushing the boundaries of diagnostics and therapeutics in healthcare and life sciences * The significant contributions of AI to advancing health equity in diverse populations * Predictions on how AI will evolve over the next five years in healthcare and life sciences. * Case studies where AI has significantly transformed specific aspects of healthcare and life sciences

A Little About Tariq:Tariq Khan is an enterprise strategist for AI transformation working with C-suite clients to realize the re-invention of business using AI. He has cofounded GenAI product startups to lead the transformation of healthcare and life sciences from the front. He serves as the Chief Technology and Chief AI Officer at Reteta.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance is chatting with CTO & Co-Founder Mark Stoehr, and Jack Ryan, Chief Product Officer, both from XSELL, the leader in conversational AI for contact centers. They’re here to discuss their innovative eXpert Language Model (XLM), designed for real-time dialogue. They will explore the key challenges facing the industry, the benefits of AI in enhancing agent efficiency and customer satisfaction, and gain valuable insights into the future of AI in contact centers. Whether you’re a tech enthusiast or a healthcare professional, this conversation promises to shed light on how generative AI is reshaping the landscape.

In this episode, they talk about:* XSELL’s Journey into the Healthcare Space * The Benefits of Generative AI's Adaptability * Feedback, Reviews, and Use Cases for XSELL * The Role of AI in Contact Centers * Delivering High Value to Organizations with Low Investment * How Insurance Companies Are Using and Considering Generative AI * The Importance of Respecting Domain Experts * XSELL’s Vision for the Future of Generative AI in Healthcare

A Little About Jack and Mark:Jack Ryan is Chief Product Officer at XSELL. Jack comes to XSELL from a job leading user-facing products at Google Meet, AWS (Amazon Connect), and Qualtrics. As a technical lead, Jack worked across engineering, product, and UX to drive innovation and deliver exceptional user experiences.

Mark Stoehr is the CTO and technical Co-Founder of XSELL Technologies. While he was pursuing PhD in Computer Science from University of Chicago, he met co-founder Matt Coughlin and developed the vision of an AI that is trained to replicate great performance by a company's agents. Prior to that, during his PhD program, he had spent some time working on Google Home and consulted for several start-ups.

If you want to reach out to XSELL with questions or comments, email their marketing team at marketing@xselltechnologies.com

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Raleigh Murch (the Managing Director of AI for HCLS at NTT DATA) and Dr. John Frownfelter (the Healthcare Industry Consulting Director at NTT DATA).

Join Sandy, Raleigh, and John as they explore the evolution and future of NTT DATA in healthcare innovation, highlighting key promising areas for AI integration. The discussion will also cover how organizations can grow and mature in their AI awareness, the importance of establishing robust governance structures, and the ongoing concerns within the healthcare community regarding AI solutions.

Raleigh and John also explain how NTT DATA is transforming healthcare and the importance of foundational processes when using GenAI. It will also showcase how we implement various GenAI solutions for our healthcare clients today. Discover more about NTT DATA's and GenAI's impact on Healthcare in this podcast at HLTH 2024. Don't miss this insightful conversation that could shape the future of healthcare!

In this episode, they talk about:* The Evolution and Future of NTT DATA in Healthcare Innovation * Key Promising Areas for AI Integration in Healthcare * Organizational Growth and Maturity in the Era of AI Awareness * Establishing Governance Structures and Enhancing Data Maturity for Healthcare * Addressing Concerns: The Healthcare Community's Hesitation Towards AI Solutions

A Little About Raleigh:Raleigh Murch is a Managing Director for AI supporting NTTDATA’s Healthcare and Life Sciences vertical. Raleigh led the Technology organization for Slalom for the South-Central Region and was a regional SME for GenAI. Before Slalom, Raleigh was a leader within AWS’s Global Specialty Practice for AI/ML with a deep focus on computer vision and edge IoT solutions. His past roles include being a Silicon Valley founder for a maritime engine analytics company, embedded hardware prototype consultant, and a long career in the industry as a product and engineering org leader. Raleigh has been working in emerging technologies for most of his career and works hands-on with company leaders to help define the art of the possible in the industry.

A Little About John:John Frownfelter, MD, FACP Healthcare Industry Consulting Director- Lead for Data-Driven Health, NTT DATA. Dr. Frownfelter brings more than 20 years of physician leadership experience to bear on the challenges in healthcare today. His HealthIT leadership roles in the c-suites of large provider organizations including Henry Ford Health, UnityPoint Health, and Trinity Health, are augmented by more recent work in consulting and with healthcare startups. He has a broad range of expertise in organizational care transformation, change management with health IT, strategic planning, and leveraging analytics to empower organizations at all levels. At NTT DATA Dr. Frownfelter is leading several initiatives including digital transformation through virtual care at home and Generative AI for healthcare.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Sharmin Nasrullah, the GM of Life Sciences Clinical. In this insightful conversation, they explore how AI and data are revolutionizing the landscape of clinical trials, paving the way for holistic and personalized approaches in the pharmaceutical industry. Tune in to discover the innovations shaping next-generation trials and how organizations are leveraging technology to enhance patient experiences and outcomes.

In this episode, they talk about:* The birth of Salesforce’s Life Science Cloud platform * What Salesforce is doing in the clinical trial space * Understanding recruitment processes in clinical trials * How Salesforce eases the research burdens for sponsors and sites * Patient information transfer from providers to Salesforce Life Science Cloud Platform * The impact of AI advancements on the clinical trial process * Systems replaced by Salesforce’s cloud application * How the cloud system matches patients with clinical trials

A Little About Sharmin:Sharmin Nasrullah is the GM of Life Sciences, Clinical at Salesforce. As General Manager, Sharmin leads the overall product strategy and go-to-market strategy for the R&D clinical suite of applications and products on Life Sciences Cloud, leveraging the best of the Salesforce platform and ushering in a new wave of innovations in clinical development.

Before Salesforce, Sharmin held several leadership positions across the industry including leading digital health enterprise architecture at AstraZeneca, leading product and sales strategy in clinical data management at Veeva Systems, and leading clinical operations at Stanford University’s academic research organization.

Sharmin holds a Master of Science in Bioengineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

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In this episode of The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Sam Dorison, Co-Founder and CEO of ReflexAI, to explore the transformative role of AI technology in healthcare. From its origins at the Trevor Project to its groundbreaking applications today, ReflexAI is revolutionizing patient care through advanced AI-driven simulations. Join us as Sam delves into how ReflexAI’s innovative solutions are addressing critical challenges in the healthcare industry, enhancing patient support, and improving training environments. Discover the impact of ReflexAI’s technology and get an insider’s look at how it’s shaping the future of healthcare.

ReflexAI helps maximize training and quality assurance platforms using AI in order to help cut costs and increase efficiency. You can email questions and reach out to Sam at contact@reflexai.com.

In this episode, they talk about:* The evolution of ReflexAI from its inception at the Trevor Project. * How ReflexAI leverages AI technology to tackle challenges in the healthcare industry. * Creating Healthcare Flight Simulator for front line clinicians * Specific use cases where ReflexAI’s AI-driven simulations have been particularly impactful in healthcare settings. * How ReflexAI’s AI-driven simulations enhance patient support and training across various healthcare environments. * An overview of the mechanics behind ReflexAI and its impact on improving patient care.

A Little About Sam:Sam Dorison is the Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer at ReflexAI. An expert in artificial intelligence strategy and product deployment, Dorison has been involved with AI-powered products in industries ranging from mental health to cybersecurity to smart cities.

Before launching ReflexAI, he served as Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people. There, he published five peer-reviewed articles on mental health and oversaw teams including crisis services, training, research, technology, and finance. Dorison previously worked at McKinsey & Company and Harvard Kennedy School. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. He also holds an LL.M. from Cambridge University and a master’s degree from University College London, both as a Marshall Scholar. Beyond ReflexAI, Dorison is heavily involved in causes that support families impacted by cancer. Dorison lives in New York City with his husband.

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In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Optomed Managing Director David Frasch about how AI can augment physicians' abilities and daily responsibilities in this space. Optomed is a handheld fundus camera manufacturer based in Finland and has been in operation for the last 20 years.

In this episode, David will shed light on how Optomed cameras harness the power of AI to enhance the diagnosis and management of diabetic retinopathy. They explore the development of cutting-edge algorithms for medical diagnostics, the challenges of creating clinical algorithms without standardization, and the broad applications of AI across the healthcare sector. Stay tuned for a fascinating discussion on the transformative impact of AI in healthcare!

In this episode, they talk about:* How Optomed leverages AI to improve diagnosis and treatment of diabetic retinopathy * Developing advanced algorithms for medical diagnostics * Challenges in creating optimal clinical algorithms without standardization * Applications of AI across various sectors in the healthcare industry * Addressing ethical and privacy concerns in AI-driven healthcare solutions * Emerging trends in the application of AI in medicine and healthcare * The strategic partnership between AI Health and Optomed * Future collaborative opportunities between AI Health and physicians

A Little About David:With a decade of experience in medical sales within ophthalmology, David has recently excelled in building high-performance sales teams at BioTissue. As a director there, he successfully transformed the team's performance from worst to first, a process that was both challenging and rewarding. In his new role at Optomed, David aims to replicate this success by focusing on team development and growth. He is committed to growing the team in a controlled manner and laying a strong foundation for building a powerful and resilient organization.

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Today, Host Sandy Vance is talking with Robert Dwyer, PhD EVP, Chief Data Scientist at Certilytics about AI and healthcare. Dr. Dwyer is here to help demystify and readiness of generative AI. They delve into the transformative impact of generative AI on healthcare data and its revolutionary potential for the industry. Join us as we explore Certilytics, a company dedicated to creating a user-friendly interface for interacting with healthcare data, and their role in empowering healthcare organizations to enhance their efficiency with AI.

AI's role in healthcare is now presenting new opportunities for healthcare data and analytics to go beyond just Large Language Models (LLMs) and deliver business intelligence that can impact healthcare administration strategies and help accelerate improved outcomes & efficiency in healthcare.

In this episode, they talk about:

• Dr. Dwyer’s background in generative AI and his journey to Certilytics
• How generative AI is transforming the insights that healthcare leaders and organizations can derive from their data
• The impact of data availability on the use and effectiveness of AI in healthcare
• Certilytics’ goal to develop a user-friendly interface that enhances how users interact with healthcare data
• The current surge in AI technology and its implications for the industry
• The latest advancements and innovations in large language models
• The influence of federal regulations on the adoption and application of AI in healthcare
• How healthcare organizations are leveraging AI-enriched data to improve outcomes and efficiency

A Little About Dr. Robert Dwyer:Dr. Dwyer joined Certilytics in 2014, bringing over a decade of mathematical modeling and machine learning experience in both the private sector and academia, where he worked on problems ranging from the quantification of medical and financial risk to predictive genomics. He is responsible for overseeing the design and pathing of new ML/AI products. Dr. Dwyer graduated from the University of Virginia in 2009 with a B.S. in Biology. He then obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in computational biology from Princeton University, where he developed variations of maximum entropy algorithms to predict three-dimensional protein folding patterns by mining genomic sequence data. Prior to Certilytics, he worked with a number of startups and think tanks to develop algorithms to predict student loan repayment rates and to track Defense Department allocations.

Do you have any questions for Robert Dwyer? Reach out by emailing him at robert.dwyer@certilytics.com.

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About Ezra Melhman:

Ezra Melhman is a seasoned healthcare investor and business leader with a rich background in providing strategic guidance to hospitals, healthcare systems, and healthcare companies. He joined Health Enterprise Partners (HEP) in 2010, as a Managing Partner, bringing with him a wealth of experience in consulting and research services for the healthcare industry.

Before joining HEP, Ezra served as a Senior Analyst at the Advisory Board Company (NASDAQ: ABCO), where he offered best-practice consulting and research services to hospitals and health systems. Following his tenure at the Advisory Board Company, he further honed his expertise as a Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, focusing on engagements in the provider space.

Currently, Ezra holds positions on the board of directors of several prominent healthcare companies, including The Intermed Group, Wildflower Health, Kno2, Proven Behavior Solutions, Family First Adolescent Services, and Aware Recovery Care. He has a proven track record of successful board engagements, having previously served on the boards of AxiaMed, Applied Pathways, CenterPointe Behavioral Health System, InDemand Interpreting, Jvion, and Twistle, all of which were acquired by leading healthcare entities.

In addition to his board roles, Ezra contributes to academia as a member of the faculty at Columbia Business School and serves on the Health Policy and Management Executive Council at Harvard School of Public Health. He holds a BA cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis and earned his MBA from Columbia Business School. With his extensive experience and dedication to advancing healthcare, Ezra continues to make significant contributions to the industry.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Profitability is now being highly rewarded among healthcare companies.
• The focus is shifting towards essential technologies and services in the healthcare sector.
• Stable healthcare services companies are garnering more interest amidst market uncertainties.
• A surge in M&A activity is anticipated, driven by private equity firms and strategic buyers.
• Specialization in a specific area can differentiate oneself in the venture capital space.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ezra on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Health Enterprise Partners on LinkedIn and their website.

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About Lynne Chou O'Keefe:

Lynne Chou O’Keefe is the Founder and Managing Partner of Define Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm focused on investing in digital health companies redefining healthcare. Define Ventures focuses on incubation, seed, Series A, and Series B-stage digital health startups (www.definevc.com). Lynne has partnered with entrepreneurs to help them build category-defining digital health companies, such as Livongo (NASDAQ: LVGO), HIMS (NASDAQ: HIMS), Unite Us, etc. Previous to Define Ventures, Lynne’s experience includes both healthcare operating, investing, and finance roles. Previously, she was a Senior Partner at Kleiner Perkins, focused on digital health and connected devices early-stage investing. Before joining Kleiner Perkins, Lynne worked at Abbott Vascular and Guidant in multiple roles, launching over ten product families in the US and internationally. Lynne was responsible for building the global commercial strategy and therapy development, as well as playing a key role in the clinical, reimbursement, and operational strategy for these therapies. Earlier in her career, Lynne worked at Apax Partners with a focus on software venture capital investing. In addition, Lynne worked at Goldman Sachs in the Mergers and Acquisitions group and worked on multiple multi-billion dollar acquisitions and sell-side transactions in various industries. Lynne has been named WSJ’s Women in Venture Capital to Watch in 2020. Lynne earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Define Ventures leverages a founder-centric approach to provide strategic insights and partnerships that empower their portfolio companies with an unfair advantage in the digital health market.
• With $800 million in AUM and partnerships with about 24 companies to date, Define Ventures has become a significant player in the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem, emphasizing strategic insights and a deep understanding of the healthcare industry.
• It is important to be a supportive and empathetic partner to founders.
• Define Ventures offers strategic insights and an 'unfair advantage' by leveraging partnerships with providers, payers, and employers to transform the industry and support founders on their journeys.
• The striking a balance between growth and profitability with portfolio companies and believes the next 48 months will be dynamic for healthcare ventures.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Lynne on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Define Ventures on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Scott Barclay:

Scott Barclay is a Managing Director at Insight Partners based in Palo Alto. His Computational Care thesis envisions the future of US and global healthcare built at the intersection of empathy and scalable technology. Scott’s early career traversed capital markets with Banc of America Securities in Europe and the US, The Boston Consulting Group, and CVS Health. At CVS and then after, Scott helped create and scale the nation’s e-prescribing ecosystem, running iScribe (acq Allscripts) and as Chief Strategy Officer of Surescripts. Prior to Insight, Scott built his investing career as a healthcare angel investor and advisor (NaviHealth, Doximity, Elation) and, from 2015 – 2020, as a Partner at DCVC, a world-class early-stage deep tech venture capital firm, where he was a director or observer on the Boards of companies like Carbon Health, Freenome, SafelyYou, and many others.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The three big themes that are set to revolutionize healthcare investment.
• The art and science behind Insight Partners' long-term investment and operational support strategies.
• Navigating valuation adjustments in turbulent markets and fostering founder relationships.
• The investment wisdom in an era of market recalibration—what it really takes to write the check.
• Sustainability and profitability: Scott’s forecast on public exits for health tech startups.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Lynne on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Insight Partners on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Ian Wijaya:

Ian Wijaya is the Co-Head of Lazard’s North America Healthcare practice. Ian joined Lazard in 2011 and co-founded the Firm’s healthcare services practice, with a focus on M&A, strategic advisory, and recapitalization advisory for managed care insurance payers, providers across the continuum of care (e.g., acute care hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, post-acute care, etc.), PBMs, distributors, payor and provider services companies, HCIT, and digital health companies.

Ian is a member of Lazard’s Opinion Committee and the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Healthcare, as well as a Corporate Leader on the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ian has advised on more than $250 billion of corporate finance transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, financial restructurings and reorganizations, joint ventures, and other matters, and has advised on several of the largest and most transformative M&A transactions in healthcare, including three of the largest in recent history.

Prior to joining Lazard, Ian was an investment banker at Greenhill & Co. in New York, where he focused on healthcare M&A but also provided M&A advice to companies in the technology and retail sectors. Prior to Greenhill & Co., he worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs & Co. and the financial restructuring group of Houlihan Lokey in New York.

Ian has an M.B.A. in Finance and Strategy from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a B.A. (cum laude) from Dartmouth College.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The candid examination of market barriers and what it takes to finalize deals in turbulent times.
• The healthcare tech market demands investments in businesses with sustainable unit economics and the potential for operating leverage, promoting a balance between profit and growth.
• Strategic buyers and private equity are looking for healthcare services that can enhance supply chain visibility, manage costs efficiently, and improve patient outcomes through tech-enabled solutions.
• AI stands poised to revolutionize healthcare across several domains, with an emphasis on clinical decision support, population health management, and automation of administrative tasks.
• AI in healthcare will likely boom in 3 areas: clinical support, population health management, and operational automation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ian Wijaya on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Lazard on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Omkar Kulkarni:

Omkar P. Kulkarni is the first chief innovation officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. In his role, Kulkarni is responsible for fostering innovation across Children’s Hospital Los Angeles's clinical and research enterprises – including launching an enterprise virtual care program, incubating and implementing new digital health tools and medical devices, and rallying communities inside and outside of the hospital to solve problems in the field of pediatrics – all with the goal of enhancing the experience and outcomes for the children and families Children’s Hospital Los Angeles serves. Kulkarni is also the founder and managing director of KidsX, a consortium-based digital health accelerator that is comprised of over fifteen leading pediatric hospitals from around the world.

Prior to joining Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Kulkarni served as executive director of the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator powered by Techstars, where he helped build and launch the accelerator program. In that role, he evaluated over 3,000 healthcare start-ups and provided extensive mentoring, serving as the main liaison between the start-up community and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Kulkarni also led the performance improvement department at Cedars-Sinai for many years and has experience in financial process redesign at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Kulkarni has a master’s degree in public health and health care management from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from George Washington University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI can predict patient no-shows and optimize scheduling, freeing up crucial appointment slots and ensuring resources are optimally allocated.
• Adopting new solutions not only streamlines processes but boosts staff engagement and patient satisfaction by refocusing skilled labor on patient care rather than auxiliary tasks.
• Beyond financial health, measuring access, clinical outcomes, and patient/family engagement provides a more comprehensive view of organizational success.
• The challenge of serving a diverse, multilingual patient population, many of whom are under the poverty line.
• How CHLA manages to provide top-tier clinical care, groundbreaking research, and education, all while "defying gravity" in the face of financial struggles.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Omkar Kulkarni on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Children's Hospital Los Angeles on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Dr. Eve Cunningham:

Eve Cunningham, MD MBA, the Chief of Virtual Care and Digital Health at Providence, and an active member of the HIMSS community. Throughout her career, she's balanced surgical skills as a gynecologist with incubating and scaling digital assistant products for providers at Providence.

Balancing career with spouse and three children has been her biggest challenge. She advises working mothers to customize their balance based on beliefs, resources, and support. As a leader, she's sensitive to her team's challenges, balancing work and life.

Her future challenge is navigating healthcare transformation and integrating AI/ML technology into clinical workflows, advocating for clinician involvement to ensure responsible use.

Cunningham believes the future of health information and technology for women is bright, with more entering the field and changing gender ratios emphasizing value and competency.

Motivated by mentorship, she resonates with Steve Jobs' quotes on teamwork and revolutionary change. Cunningham is proud to serve on HIMSS committees and recently participated in the CMIO Panel at HIMSS22, focusing on innovations to address burnout and administrative burden.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Innovation in healthcare is not just about technology; it's about solving real challenges like workforce shortages and care fragmentation.
• Virtual care isn't just for minor issues; it spans from primary care to post-acute services, improving access and outcomes.
• Omnichannel healthcare aims to provide seamless care across different platforms, but regulatory hurdles and privacy concerns remain significant barriers.
• Collaboration between clinicians and tech experts is essential for meaningful innovation in healthcare.
• Successful healthcare transformation requires a holistic approach, considering both clinical outcomes and financial sustainability.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Eve on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Providence on LinkedIn and their website.

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About Ken Washington:

Ken Washington serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Medtronic, leading the charge in accelerating innovation through strategic product development and technology initiatives. With a wealth of experience spanning various industries including robotics, consumer products, automotive, and space, Ken joined Medtronic in 2023, bringing deep expertise in technology development and execution.

As a visionary leader, Ken inspires and motivates teams to push the boundaries of invention and innovation, driving positive market disruptions. He collaborates closely with teams and leaders across Medtronic to ensure the continuous advancement of products and therapies in alignment with the company's mission to better serve patients and customers.

Prior to his role at Medtronic, Ken held notable positions including Vice President and General Manager of Consumer Robotics at Amazon and Chief Technology Officer at Ford Motor Company, where he oversaw the development of technology strategies and next-generation vehicle architectures. With seven years at Lockheed Martin, Ken held various leadership roles, including Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of the Advanced Technology Center.

Ken is internationally recognized as a thought leader in technology and innovation, with accolades including induction into the National Academy of Engineering in 2020 and the Black Engineer Hall of Fame in 2023. He holds a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Science, and a PhD in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Medtronic impacts two patients every second, showcasing the scale of their influence in healthcare.
• Innovation is key for Medtronic, as they continuously strive to engineer the extraordinary.
• Staying focused on its mission helps Medtronic differentiate its products in a competitive market.
• Medtronic's AI Center of Excellence accelerates the development of AI-enabled therapies for better patient care.
• Medtronic's mission is to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life through innovative therapies.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ken on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Medtronic on LinkedIn and their website.
• Discover more about Medtronic’s GI Genius here.

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About Max Cohen:

Max Cohen serves as the CEO and Co-founder of Sprinter Health, headquartered in California. The company deploys W-2 employees, dubbed "Sprinters," equipped with the medical assistant, phlebotomy, and Community Health Worker expertise, directly into households to engage patient populations that may otherwise be disengaged. Sprinter collaborates with health plans and health systems, offering preventive services with no copay or deductible. Prior to launching Sprinter Health, Max held the position of VP of Mobile at Oculus, and following the acquisition by Facebook continued to oversee various initiatives including Mobile VR, Mobile and Platform Products, and Media. Before his tenure at Oculus, Max contributed to the Product team at Google in Los Angeles and gained experience at McKinsey and Company, as well as Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. Max holds a BSE in Electrical Engineering and a BS in Physics from Duke University, supplemented by an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Sprinter Health revolutionizes healthcare delivery by deploying W-2 "Sprinters" with diverse medical skills into homes, targeting under-engaged patient populations and bridging care gaps.
• By partnering directly with health plans and systems, Sprinter Health offers preventive services with no financial barriers, promoting accessibility and proactive care.
• Max Cohen's background at Oculus and Google informs Sprinter Health's innovative approach, prioritizing patient engagement and efficient execution.
• Sprinter Health's commitment to quality care is reflected in its high patient satisfaction ratings, demonstrating the effectiveness of in-home healthcare solutions.
• Strategic expansion plans aim to maximize market impact by prioritizing regions with existing business partnerships and potential for growth.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Max Cohen on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Sprinter Health on LinkedIn and their website.

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About Yuechen Zhao :

Yuechen is a Partner at GSR Ventures, where he focuses on early-stage investments in enterprise software and consumer platforms. Prior to GSR Ventures, Yuechen founded a personalized travel startup and built products at Google, Uber, and Meixin (fintech). Yuechen received his BA in Computer Science from Harvard University.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Despite public and private market fluctuations, a steady, long-view approach in investment strategy remains central, with a focus on substantive innovations with enduring value.
• Emerging AI technologies offer transformative potential in healthcare accessibility and patient empowerment.
• Successful investing is anchored in a decade-long commitment and the intimate support between founders and investors that goes beyond mere financial transactions.
• As investment climates shift and the health tech scene faces valuation declines, GSR Ventures strategizes to remain steadfast, resourceful, and committed to its portfolio companies.
• Entrepreneurs need market momentum and passion for problem-solving to sustainable business models that promise scalability and defensibility.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Yuechen Zhao on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about GSR Ventures on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Novlet Mattis :

Novlet Mattis, Senior Vice President, Chief Digital and Information Officer, As Orlando Health’s chief digital and information officer, Novlet provides executive leadership for information technology, digital capability supply chain, and systems that advance clinical and business strategies, digitally engage patients, providers, and businesses, and optimize operational processes.

Before joining Orlando Health in 2018, she was with Ascension Health in St. Louis, where she served as vice president of information technology, supporting more than 125 hospitals across the U.S. and international joint ventures.

Novlet was also vice president of IT and chief information officer at UNC Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, North Carolina, and has held leadership positions at Dell Global Services, Lucent Technologies, and AT&T.

She earned a bachelor’s in business administration from Howard University and an MBA from George Washington University, both in Washington, D.C. She is a Certified Healthcare CIO through the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME).

Things You’ll Learn:

• Orlando Health strikes a crucial balance between managing finances and innovating, particularly by adopting a unified EMR system and ventures into AI to improve patient care.
• The organization is not just expanding its physical footprint but also investing in data and digital platforms for future growth.
• Orlando Health’s response to COVID-19 and push towards digital innovations like virtual sitters demonstrate resilience and forward thinking.
• By centralizing their data, the organization is paving the way to monetize information while ensuring enhanced patient care.
• Orlando Health stands out because of physician loyalty, strong economies, and unparalleled patient care.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Novlet Mattis on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Orlando Health on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Jayme Strauss:

Jayme Strauss is the Chief Clinical Officer of Viz.ai. Jayme has over 10 years of experience as a healthcare executive building clinical service lines in the areas of Neuroscience and Oncology. Jayme previously was the Executive Director of Neuroscience at Piedmont Healthcare in Georgia and Assistant Vice President of Neuroscience and Oncology at Baptist Health South Florida. Jayme is passionate about evolving the way that healthcare is delivered globally, ensuring patients have access to life-saving therapies, and moving science forward through research.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Leveraging a wealth of healthcare data, AI is applied by Viz.ai to enhance early patient identification for treatment, potentially revolutionizing patient outcomes, specifically in stroke care and cardiac monitoring.
• Commitment to rigorous clinical evidence and real-world application signifies an impactful step away from AI speculation to tangible, measurable improvements, demonstrating decreased hospital stays and faster treatment times by Viz.ai.
• Successfully navigating complex healthcare systems to deliver personalized, impactful AI solutions, Viz.ai intricately involves diverse care teams in product design and focuses on scalability.
• Engaging with everyone from physicians to clinic schedulers, tailored AI tools addressing the intricate needs of patient care are created by Viz.ai.
• Getting through to the complex web of healthcare stakeholders isn't easy, and that's where Viz.ai’s bespoke solutions shine.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jayme Strauss on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Viz.ai on their LinkedIn and website.

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Historically, the FDA was used to approving material health products and medical devices.

But with the rise of health technology, including generative AI, the department must approach regulations differently to ensure that digital products remain safe and effective once they’re on the market.

So, how does the FDA think about monitoring digital health products and diagnostics? How do they assess the risks associated with innovations in the healthcare space?

Troy Tazbaz is Director of the Digital Health Center of Excellence at the FDA, where he's responsible for envisioning a future of safe and effective healthcare delivery with a focus on advancing public health goals with the use of technology.

On this episode of The Beat, Troy joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the role of the FDA in the regulatory oversight and safety of digital health products and diagnostics.

Troy explains how losing his wife to cancer informs his work and shares the risk management framework the FDA uses to keep up with the speed of health innovation.

Listen in for Troy’s insight on prioritizing technology that addresses labor shortages that delay care and learn how the FDA develops policy around emerging technologies in healthcare.

Topics Covered

• Troy’s 4 areas of focus as Director of Digital Health at the FDA
• How losing his wife to cancer informs Troy’s approach to innovation and regulations in healthcare
• How not being a doctor or lawyer gives Troy a different perspective on digital health regulations
• The risk management framework the FDA uses to keep up with the speed of innovation
• Why it’s the health system’s decision whether to integrate digital health products based on the level of risk they’re comfortable with
• How Troy thinks about mental health concerns that might arise from generative AI products
• Prioritizing technology that addresses labor shortages that delay care
• Who should be responsible for identifying when things go wrong in digital health products
• The potential to exacerbate the digital divide when health systems must monitor digital health products and diagnostics on their own
• Why prevention is the best way to deal with chronic conditions
• What Troy is most excited about when it comes to innovation in healthcare
• What federal agencies can do to build trust with the public

Connect with Troy Tazbaz

• FDA Digital Health Center of Excellence
• Troy on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• The Continuum Diaries

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About Maneesh Goyal:

Maneesh leads operations, strategy, and financial performance for Mayo Clinic's Platform initiative

He brings a cross-disciplinary background in finance, investing, product development and engineering. Prior to joining Welltok, Maneesh was a Managing Director with Miramar Venture Partners, a leading early-stage investor focusing on the information technology space. With Miramar, Maneesh led investments and was an advisor and board member for several health and consumer Internet companies. Before entering the venture world, Maneesh was an early employee with Broadcom, a Fortune 500 Company, leading product development and engineering efforts in more than a dozen communications technology solutions.

Maneesh earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI is utilized for early disease detection and precision medicine, revolutionizing patient outcomes while significantly reducing costs compared to traditional methods.
• The Mayo Clinic Platform integrates technology to facilitate a seamless convergence of providers, innovators, and healthcare institutions, emphasizing its holistic approach beyond mere technological advancements.
• Mayo Clinic's collaborations drive healthcare progress, facilitating global accessibility to clinically validated tools and highlighting their dedication to integrated medicine.
• The Mayo Clinic platform seeks to overhaul the healthcare system, aiming for reduced infection risks and more efficient home care, thereby modernizing hospitals that have remained largely unchanged for 150 years.
• Through seamless partnerships, the Mayo Clinic platform utilizes technology to deliver healthcare services in unprecedented ways, prioritizing innovation and efficiency.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Maneesh Goyal on LinkedIn.
• Follow the Mayo Clinic on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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What are patients looking for in a health care provider?

Zocdoc has been in business for 17 years, and in that time, the platform has collected a significant amount of data regarding what patients want from their health care.

And you may be surprised to learn what matters most to consumers in the process of choosing a provider, be it a primary care doctor or specialist.

Dr. Oliver Kharraz is Founder and CEO of Zocdoc, the leading healthcare marketplace in the US. Millions of patients visit Zocdoc monthly to find quality, in-network doctors and book appointments for in-person or virtual care.

In his wide-ranging career, Dr. Kharraz has gained comprehensive experience in building efficiency and affecting change in large scale health organizations using information technology.

On this episode of The Beat, Dr. Kharraz joins host Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the latest research and insights on patient and physician engagement from Zocdoc’s 2023 Report: What Patients Want.

Dr. Kharraz discusses the pros and cons of offering patients a suite of choices for access to care and shares Zocdoc’s guided search experience for selecting the right provider.

Listen in to understand how Zocdoc uses machine learning and AI to serve consumers and clinicians and learn the top three things patients consider as they choose a health care provider.

Topics Covered

• The pros and cons of offering a suite of choices for patients to access care
• How often Zocdoc patients go back to the same provider (once the initial choice is made)
• How Zocdoc functions as the interoperability layer for logistics in the healthcare system
• Categorizing the different types of access to care from a patient’s perspective
• Healthcare technologies that the consumer isn’t ready for vs. healthcare technologies that haven’t figured out their business model
• Zocdoc’s guided search experience for choosing between telehealth and in-person visits
• The challenges Zocdoc faces in publishing prices for different care options
• How Zodoc uses machine learning and AI to serve consumers and clinicians
• Dr. Kharraz’s vision for using the blockchain to solve for trust in healthcare information
• Dr. Kharraz’s top 3 key takeaways from Zocdoc’s What Patients Want Report
• Why the needle hasn’t moved on the primary issues in healthcare despite significant advancements in technology

Connect with Dr. Oliver Kharraz

• Dr. Kharraz at Zocdoc
• Dr. Kharraz on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• Zocdoc Practice Solutions
• Zocdoc 2023 Report on What Patients Want
• Atul Gawande’s 2017 Piece on Incremental Care

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We know that diverse founders only receive a fraction of VC funding. And that healthcare inequality is exacerbated by the lack of diverse perspectives and solutions in healthcare tech.

But what if there was a venture fund that focused on diverse founders building healthcare technology for the communities they come from?

Justin Williams is Principal at Seae Ventures, an investment firm specializing in early-stage healthcare technology companies founded by diverse entrepreneurs.

In his role at Seae, Justin leads portfolio sourcing, deal due diligence, financial modeling and portfolio management.

On this episode of The Beat, Justin joins host Dr. Jessica Shepherd to discuss healthcare portfolios that focus on diversity and disadvantaged communities.

Justin shares examples of Seae’s portfolio companies, explaining how Functional Fluidics serves patients with sickle cell disease and Kiyatec helps cancer patients make personalized therapy decisions.

Listen in for insight on implementing new innovations in diverse patient populations and learn how Seae is moving the needle on health equity by investing in diverse founders of healthcare tech.

Topics Covered

• What inspired Justin’s transition from finance to healthcare investing
• How its mission to advance equity through opportunity drew Justin to Seae
• How Functional Fluidics serves patients with sickle cell disease
• The benefit of founders being a part of the communities they serve
• Justin’s passion for investing in diverse founders who help underserved communities
• How Kiyatec helps cancer patients make personalized treatment decisions
• Identifying how certain communities, ethnicities and genders respond to cancer therapies
• Seae’s strategies for finding new portfolio companies
• The diversity among Seae’s team and the company’s group of founders
• How Seae works with FQHCs to implement tech solutions in diverse patient populations
• Justin’s advice for aspiring VCs from diverse communities

Connect with Justin Williams

• Seae Ventures
• Justin on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• Functional Fluidics
• Kiyatec
• Seae’s Partnership with EBNHC

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About Russ Richmond:

Russ Richmond has diverse work experience spanning various industries and roles. Russ is the CEO and Co-founder of Laudio, a healthcare leadership company that improves frontline actions. Russ has also served as a Member of the Innovation Growth Board at Mass General Brigham. In addition, they have held positions such as Executive Chairman and Independent Board Director at Validic, Member of the Board of Directors at BioDigital, and CEO and Board Director at Advanced Practice Strategies (APS), where they successfully restructured the company and facilitated its acquisition. Russ has also worked at Explorys, an IBM company, as an Independent Board Director. Prior to that, they were the CEO and co-founder of Objective Health, a startup within McKinsey & Company, where they played a significant role in establishing the company and leading its performance insights efforts. Russ had earlier worked as a Consultant and Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company. Russ also has experience as the Executive Vice President of Verisk Health and as a resident physician at the University of Michigan Health System.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Laudio redefines healthcare management by empowering frontline leaders with integrated, AI-powered workflows, addressing issues like burnout and turnover.
• Laudio's strategy of publishing data-driven insights fosters a culture of informed leadership and drives the spread of Laudio's solutions.
• Laudio accelerates market adoption despite the typically slow healthcare sales cycle, building a teamwork-based approach to engage multiple executive stakeholders for impactful collaboration.
• The platform's AI-driven approach to automating managerial tasks can save up to 6 hours a week for health managers.
• The strategies that Laudio employs to foster customer acquisition, scaling effectively in an industry known for long sales cycles.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Russ Richmond on LinkedIn.
• Follow Laudio on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Nasim Afsar:

Nasim Afsar is relentlessly focused on advancing the health and care of the world through Healthy People, Healthy Workforce, and Healthy Business. As Chief Health Officer, Dr. Afsar leads Product Strategy, Global Market Strategy, and Entry and Third Party Partnerships. Last year, her team delivered higher quality care for over 2 million people (Healthy People), saved physicians and nurses nearly 200,000 hours (Healthy Workforce), and positively impacted the financial performance of clients (Healthy Business). She leads Oracle Health’s Steering Committees on AI/ML in Healthcare, Retail in Healthcare, and Payers. Her team has a focus on health equity, working closely with key stakeholders globally. She also works on building the larger ecosystem of healthcare, including working closely with payers, retail, pharma food and beverage, and public health agencies.

Previously, Dr. Afsar served as Chief Operating Officer for UCI (University of California, Irvine) Health. She led inpatient and ambulatory operations, including ambulatory care, inpatient progression efforts, clinical support services, ancillary services, public safety, building and construction, and emergency management. She led health system contracting, working closely with payers to bring new products to market. Her work led to historically high ambulatory growth, inpatient volumes, surgeries, and tertiary care transfers to the institution. During her tenure at UCI Health, Dr. Afsar spearheaded and co-led innovative programs, such as telehealth, hospital-at-home, and strategic partnerships, to help provide value for patients and communities. After the onset of COVID-19, Dr. Afsar created a mobile field hospital, led the licensure of ambulatory spaces, created drive-thru COVID-19 testing centers, and led a large-scale COVID-19 vaccination program.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Oracle Health is committed to advancing healthcare by combining best-in-class technology with clinical, operational, and financial outcomes.
• The potential of Oracle's health data intelligence platform is groundbreaking as it brings together various healthcare entities.
• Oracle integrates data from numerous sources and applies intelligence to potentially lost data crucial for precision medicine.
• Oracle's aim is to empower healthcare providers in different roles.
• Current digital innovations should be designed to reduce administrative burden and enhance decision-making processes for healthcare providers, ultimately enriching patient care and potentially revolutionizing the industry.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Nasim Afsar on LinkedIn.
• Follow Oracle on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In 2009, David Goldhill’s father died of a hospital-acquired infection. And he realized that preventing medical errors was not an economic imperative in the American healthcare system.

In fact, our third-party payment system creates a misalignment of incentives, making insurers and governments the customer rather than the patients themselves.

So, David wrote a cover story for The Atlantic entitled ‘How American Health Care Killed My Father’ which expanded into a book, Catastrophic Care: Why Everything We Think We Know about Health Care Is Wrong.

Since then, David has become a leading voice for healthcare advocacy and founded Sesame, a company that is revolutionizing healthcare with a direct-pay marketplace that delivers high quality healthcare at half the price.

On this episode of The Beat, David joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to explain who uses the marketplace and how competition drives down prices on Sesame without compromising quality of care.

David discusses what attracts providers to the Sesame model and describes the criteria for joining the platform as well as its rigorous rating system.

Listen in for insight on maintaining continuity of care in telehealth and learn how David is bringing a revolution of consumerism to healthcare in the US and around the world.

Topics Covered

• How Sesame eliminates the third-party payment system from healthcare
• The breakdown of who uses Sesame’s direct pay marketplace
• How competition drives down prices on Sesame without compromising quality of care
• The personal experience that inspired David’s healthcare advocacy
• How the third-party payment system causes a misalignment of incentives in healthcare
• Why insurance- and safety net-based healthcare systems are outdated
• What attracts healthcare providers to the Sesame model
• The criteria for providers to join Sesame and the platform’s rigorous rating system
• How David thinks about maintaining continuity of care in telehealth
• How Sesame handles the transference of health records and information
• What David admires about the current healthcare system in America
• David’s vision for bringing a revolution of consumerism to the healthcare industry

Connect with David Goldhill

• Sesame
• David at Sesame
• David on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• ‘How American Health Care Killed My Father’ in The Atlantic
• Catastrophic Care: Why Everything We Think We Know about Health Care Is Wrong by David Goldhill
• Atul Gawande
• ‘The Cost Conundrum’ in The New Yorker
• ‘The Heroism of Incremental Care’ in The New Yorker
• ‘In Health Care, America Is the World’s Indispensable Nation’ in
• The Washington Post

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WebMD is the most trusted online platform for health education. But as we know, information does not equal transformation.

So, how do we engage people throughout their health journey? How do we encourage them to apply what they’ve learned about good health and implement the behavior changes necessary for long-term health?

Can AI and other emerging technologies support this kind of patient engagement?

Dr. John Whyte is Chief Medical Officer at WebMD, where he leads the development of strategic partnerships that create meaningful change around important public health issues.

Dr. Whyte has written extensively, creating award-winning health content for TV and the web, and developed numerous initiatives addressing diversity in clinical trials.

On this episode of The Beat, Dr. Whyte joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss how WebMD has evolved over the last 27 years and describe WebMD Ignite’s solutions for engaging patients throughout their healthcare journey.

Dr. Whyte shares his vision for democratizing access to health technology tools and resources—and then using that personalized data to provide better care.

Listen in for insight on connecting good habits with independent living later in life and learn how to bridge the gap between health information and habit change for long-term health transformation.

Topics Covered

• Why WebMD is the most trusted online platform for health education
• How WebMD has evolved in its aim of empowering people with information over 27 years
• What physicians can do to engage with patients who’ve done their own health research
• WebMD Ignite’s solutions for every stage of the healthcare journey
• Leveraging technology to engage patients and reduce healthcare disparities
• Innovating around existing behaviors vs. trying to get patients to change their behavior
• Dr. Whyte’s vision for democratizing access to health technology tools and resources (and then using that personalized data to provide better care)
• Strategies for engaging patients and encouraging incremental habit change
• How our systems reinforce bad behavior in the context of health
• Dr. Gulati’s future press release exercise of inspiring people to focus on their health
• Connecting simple exercises with independent living later in life

Connect with Dr. John Whyte

• Dr. Whyte at WebMD
• Dr. Whyte’s Website

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• Medscape
• WebMD Ignite
• Same as Ever by Morgan Housel
• Hara Hachi Bu

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Did you know that there is a team of techies who serve the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services or CMS?

What is their role in this federal agency? How is CMS changing with emerging technologies?

And how might software engineers, project managers and other tech professionals help innovate from the inside to reform the complicated healthcare system in the US?

Andrea Fletcher is the first Chief Digital Strategy Officer and Executive Director of Digital Services at CMS, where she is responsible for leading digital modernization efforts and promoting interoperability and public access to health data.

On this episode of The Beat, Andrea joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to explain how her team responds to tech emergencies and plans big strategic plays for CMS.

Andrea discusses the potential for the federal government to be a leader in AI adoption and shares her open-source software initiative to reuse tech stacks within and across federal departments and agencies.

Listen in for Andrea’s insight on leveraging data to rethink how we pay for and deliver care and learn how CMS is looking to evolve with ‘Jetson’s era’ technologies and improve the experience of healthcare for individual Americans.

Topics Covered

• What Andrea’s team of techies does as the Digital Service at CMS
• How Andrea’s team responds to tech emergencies and plans big strategic plays for the agency
• How Andrea’s team collaborates with other federal departments and agencies
• Andrea’s hope that the federal government will be a leader in the adoption AI (and what that might look like)
• What differentiates leading in government from the private sector
• Opportunities to innovate within the complicated Medicare and Medicaid systems
• Andrea’s open-source software initiative to reuse tech stacks across federal departments and agencies
• Andrea’s human-centered approach to leveraging AI in healthcare
• Rethinking how we pay for and deliver care in a world of advanced technology
• What we can learn from the VA’s diabetes prevention research and outcomes-based care model
• Andrea’s predictions re: how clinics will change in the future and what roles AI might replace
• How to participate in shaping Americans’ healthcare experience

Connect with Andrea Fletcher

• The Digital Service at CMS
• Andrea at CMS
• Andrea on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• US Digital Service
• FindSupport.gov
• White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research
• Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency
• VA Research on Diabetes
• DigitalVA

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About Stephanie Trunzo:

Stephanie Trunzo is senior vice president for Oracle Health & Industries. While Stephanie is a tech geek across cloud, AI, and emerging tech, she is also a storyteller committed to usability and design thinking. This is reflected in the mission of Oracle Health: to create a human-centric healthcare experience powered by unified global data. Stephanie helped lead the launch of Oracle Health and was part of the core acquisition team working closely with Cerner, now part of Oracle Health.

Stephanie’s diversely skilled team continues to define Oracle Health’s market presence, broadening the aperture of the traditional health landscape to a much richer and more holistic portfolio. That same holistic, unified model will be the pattern she will apply across other Oracle Industries.

Previously, Stephanie applied her digital and experience disciplines to create and deploy Oracle’s global, value-based approach for multi-cloud, hybrid customer strategies.

Stephanie joined Oracle from IBM, where she was the global head of IBM Cloud Garage, a network of more than one dozen innovation hubs purpose-built to meld industry practices, startup culture, and IBM's expertise. Prior to that, she founded and led her digital transformation startup through a public acquisition of Globant.

Stephanie was affectionately dubbed “the prototype” for the chief digital officer role by the CDO Club. She is an active board advisor, giving back to nonprofits and early startups, including Valeos, Oracle Health Foundation, International Science Reserve, and InsureLife.

Her writing can be found in publications such as Fast Company, Forbes, and HuffPost.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Oracle Health's focus is on putting humans at the center of all decisions, with initiatives to streamline patient interactions and provide a more intuitive, seamless patient journey.
• Oracle is working on solutions to reduce the administrative burden for clinicians, empowering them to focus on care rather than data entry.
• The industry can facilitate tighter and more impactful collaborations by offering data sharing in an anonymized manner and bringing partners together. This approach ultimately drives innovation.
• While AI has been present for some time, Oracle Health is now leveraging it to create transformative impacts, which involve improving efficiency, streamlining workflows, and enabling intelligent, patient-focused interactions.
• Oracle is exploring the potential of large language models and Gen AI for novel disease prediction and personalized medicine.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Stephanie Trunzo on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Oracle Health on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Diana Gelston:

Diana Gelston is the chief commercial officer of Best Buy Health for Best Buy Co. Inc. In her role, she is responsible for building and strengthening the company’s commercial relationships that aim to enable care at home for everyone.

Diana leads a large, diverse team in creating and executing high-impact, go-to-market strategies that support the company’s mission to enrich and save lives through technology and meaningful connections. At Best Buy Health, she is focused on developing integrated technology services and offerings that support consumers wherever they are on their health journey and improve the care-at-home experience.

Previously, Diana has successfully launched and developed more than a dozen sales and marketing teams in tech, medical devices, digital health, and healthcare information systems at Amazon Business Healthcare, Fresenius Medical Care, Philips Healthcare, and other innovative start-ups.

Diana earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and a certificate in Leadership Development and Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School.

About Carrie Shaw:

Carrie Shaw, CEO and founder of Embodied Labs, works at the intersection of storytelling, immersive experience design, and caregiver education. She holds both a bachelor’s degree in Global Public Health and a master’s in Biomedical Visualization. After returning from the Dominican Republic, where she served as a Peace Corps Health Educator, Carrie became the primary caregiver to her mother, who was living with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. This opened Carrie’s eyes to the needs of the aging services workforce. Carrie speaks to global audiences about her personal journey as a young adult caregiver and her experience as an entrepreneur building a venture-backed digital healthcare company that is revolutionizing the way healthcare providers, caregivers, and patients learn about human health through immersive experiences.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Embodying the experiences of others through immersive training has proven to be a game-changer for Best Buy Health.
• Connecting on a personal level, whether it's with a patient, caregiver, or consumer, has revolutionized the approach to care and technology support.
• Individuals retain and internalize knowledge in a way traditional training methods can't offer through immersive experiences.
• An empathy approach is particularly impactful for the healthcare and technology sectors, making training more effective and memorable for employees.
• Building a world focused on empathy and thoughtfulness is critical for meeting the diverse needs of individuals as they age.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Carrie Shaw on LinkedIn.
• Follow Embodied Labs on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Connect with and follow Diana Gelston on LinkedIn.
• Follow Best Buy on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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AI has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, from predictive analytics to operations management to remote patient monitoring.

But with so many possibilities, where do we begin? And how do we use AI responsibly with our health information?

Harjinder Sandhu is CTO of Health and Life Sciences Platforms and Solutions at Microsoft, where he helps chart Microsoft strategy around the application of large language models in healthcare.

Harjinder has founded and cofounded several successful startups centered around AI and healthcare, including Saykara, Twistle and MedRemote.

On this episode of The Beat, Harjinder joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the impact and implications of AI on our health information.

Harjinder describes some of the administrative and clinical use cases of AI in healthcare, highlighting what Microsoft’s DAX Copilot can do for clinicians and why he predicts its quick adoption.

Listen in for Harjinder’s insight into using artificial intelligence responsibly and learn about generative AI’s potential to improve the patient experience and ‘bring the joy back to medicine’ for clinicians.

Topics Covered

• Harjinder’s important role in crafting AI strategy at Microsoft
• How Microsoft thinks about the possibilities of AI in the context of healthcare
• Administrative and clinical use cases for generative AI in health
• Harjinder’s approach to reducing redundancy in the patient journey
• The potential for AI to ‘bring the joy back to medicine’
• What Microsoft’s AI DAX Copilot can do for clinicians and why Harjinder predicts quick adoption
• Introducing new tech to single physician practices and rural hospitals
• AI uses cases we should approach with caution vs. relatively risk-free applications
• The frameworks Microsoft uses to think rationally about responsible AI
• Why Microsoft encourages customers to implement AI solutions with human oversight
• The potential for AI to help reduce human bias in healthcare

Connect with Harjinder Sandhu

• Microsoft Health & Life Sciences
• Harjinder on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• Ambient Clinical Intelligence

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About Malekeh Amini:

Malekeh Amini is the Founder and CEO of Trayt, a healthcare software company dedicated to improving diagnosis and treatments in brain-based disorders, including Autism, ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, substance use, and Alzheimer's, among others. Prior to Trayt, Malekeh was the Senior Vice President of Products & Business Development at Base Health, where she provided the vision connecting new breakthroughs in medical science to the needs of healthcare organizations and consumers. A former consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and the Parthenon Group, Malekeh has provided strategic, operational, and fundraising advice to healthcare and education organizations globally. Malekeh served on the fundraising Board of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Wings Learning Center in Redwood City. Malekeh has an M.B.A. from Harvard University. She earned her bachelor’s degrees in Communication Sciences (Cognitive Science) and computer science and her master’s in Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California.

About Nancy Byatt:

Dr. Byatt is a perinatal psychiatrist and physician-scientist focused on improving systems of care to promote the mental health of parents and children. Her passion for her work is deeply rooted in her experiences as a clinician, researcher, daughter, and mother. She is a Professor with Tenure of Psychiatry, OB/GYN, and Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School. She developed the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program (MCPAP) for Moms. MCPAP for Moms is a statewide program that has 1) increased access to mental health care for thousands of perinatal individuals, 2) become a national model for perinatal mental health care, and 3) impacted state and national policies and funding. She is the Founding Executive Director of the Lifeline for Families Center and Lifeline for Moms Program at UMass Chan Medical School. The Center’s activities include capacity building, consultation, and research. Dr. Byatt’s research uses implementation science methods to design, implement, and evaluate scalable approaches for improving parental and child mental health services and outcomes. With over ten years of continuous federal funding for her research, Dr. Byatt’s achievements have led to over 90 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, over 250 presentations, and numerous national awards. Her love is her family, especially her two teenage boys. Her passion is increasing access to and the quality of mental health care. Her mission is to redefine perinatal and family healthcare to include mental healthcare.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Progress at both the state and federal levels demonstrates significant support for maternal mental health initiatives.
• Federal funding and grants are readily available for perinatal psychiatry access programs, with 29 programs currently operational nationwide.
• Technology plays a crucial role in streamlining workflows, analyzing data, and offering valuable insights into program effectiveness within maternal mental health initiatives.
• Technology serves as a catalyst for accelerating care delivery, measuring outcomes, and establishing benchmarks for high-quality maternal mental health services.
• The healthcare industry possesses the means to accelerate advancements in maternal mental healthcare, emphasizing the critical need to prioritize prevention and support for families to mitigate the intergenerational impact of mental health challenges.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Nancy Byatt on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Malekeh Amini on LinkedIn.
• Follow Trayt Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Follow UMass Chan Medical School on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Rajeev Ronanki:

Rajeev Ronanki has over 25 years of experience in innovation-driven industry and social change across healthcare and technology. As the CEO of Lyric, his leadership is marked by a commitment to reimagine healthcare through the lens of artificial intelligence to reduce complexity and help simplify the business of care.

Previously, Raj spearheaded the transformation of Elevance Health into a digital health platform as President of Carelon Digital Platforms. Prior to that, he established and led Deloitte’s life sciences and healthcare advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and innovation practices.

A best-selling author and an authority on AI in healthcare, Raj is a coveted speaker, recently headlining the inaugural TED AI conference. He champions responsible AI, advocating for human-centric approaches, fairness, and bias reduction in technology. His career is a testament to his visionary leadership, constantly pushing the boundaries of healthcare technology.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Digital transformation in healthcare requires a platform-based approach for seamless integration of data and workflows.
• Health plans should embrace a platform mindset, invest in ecosystem partnerships, and prioritize the simplification of processes.
• Predictive analytics can anticipate and prevent diseases, shifting healthcare from reactive to proactive and personalized approaches.
• Collaboration between stakeholders and technology partners is key to driving transformative change in healthcare.
• AI should augment human intelligence, not replace it, by automating routine tasks and enabling informed decision-making.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Rajeev on LinkedIn.
• Follow Lryic AI on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In traditional journalism, reporters work to present information in an unbiased way.

And if you ask Sony Salzman, it’s not difficult to maintain those same standards in creating content for social media.

What is difficult is competing with a hyperbolic, fearmongering post designed to go viral.

So, how do we know who to trust when it comes to health and medical news? Whose responsibility is it to vet the information we’re consuming?

Sony is an Emmy award-winning journalist covering science and medicine and coordinating producer of ABC’s Medical Unit, where she directs health, science and medical coverage across ABCs platforms.

Sony supports broadcast streaming and digital content at Good Morning America, GMA3, World News Tonight, Nightline, ABC news.com and ABC News Live.

On this episode of The Beat, Sony joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the rapidly evolving media landscape, an environment that is increasingly riddled with misinformation.

Sony walks us through the complex process of producing health news, explaining ABC’s principle of reporting information without bias and her approach to stories based on preprints.

Listen in for insight on distilling complex health information in a way people can understand and learn how to discern well-balanced medical news from one-sided content designed for virality.

Topics Covered

• What encompasses the medical and health beat for a reporter
• Sony’s role as Coordinating Producer at the ABC News’ Medical Unit
• The infinitely complex process of producing health news
• ABC’s principle of reporting information without bias and why it’s crucial
• Maintaining the same standards of accuracy on social media
• Narrative techniques for drawing people into stories that aren’t inherently interesting
• How health reporting has changed since the pandemic
• Sony’s approach to reporting on a study published as a preprint
• Why it’s the network’s responsibility to vet the health information it reports
• Distilling complex health information in a way people can understand
• What AI can and cannot do when it comes to health reporting
• Losing the public’s trust in an industry where perfection is the standard
• The process of correcting information when a reporter makes a mistake
• Sony’s challenge to listeners to subscribe to their local paper

Connect with Sony Salzman

• Sony at ABC News
• Sony on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

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About Justin Dearborn:

Justin Dearborn is a seasoned executive with a proven track record of leadership in the healthcare and technology sectors. Currently serving as the CEO of Praia Health, based in the Greater Chicago Area, Justin brings extensive experience in driving innovation and strategic growth initiatives.

With a background in digital healthcare, Justin has been instrumental in the development and commercialization of cutting-edge solutions aimed at revolutionizing patient engagement and healthcare delivery. As the CEO of Praia Health, he leads the company in its mission to provide a unified platform for seamless patient interaction, leveraging his expertise to bridge the gap between healthcare providers and consumers.

In addition to his role at Praia Health, Justin serves as an Executive in Residence at Providence Digital Innovation Group, where he plays a key role in driving innovation and shaping the future of healthcare technology.

Justin's commitment to advancing healthcare extends beyond his executive roles. He serves on the board of several prominent organizations, including Gateway Foundation, Exponential AI, and Curio Digital Therapeutics Inc., where he contributes his strategic insights and industry expertise.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Inertia and reluctance to be early adopters often hinder healthcare's rate of change.
• Digital transformation presents numerous opportunities, particularly in AI-driven automation, enabling health systems to leverage previous investments effectively.
• The pandemic both hindered attention to newer healthcare solutions and accelerated the adoption of digital health services, especially in underserved or rural communities.
• Transitioning from patient to consumer identity facilitates a proactive healthcare approach, emphasizing preventive care and holistic wellness.
• Progress in digital health can enhance healthcare accessibility and equity, providing significant benefits to traditionally underserved communities.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Justin on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Praia Health on their LinkedIn and website.
• Discover more about Providence on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Ken Washington:

Ken Washington brings over three decades of experience in leading technical endeavors for Fortune 100 companies, government contractors, and research laboratories. His leadership roles have involved team-building and shaping strategic visions for large organizations. Notably, he was honored as the 2012 Black Engineer of the Year in Research Leadership and later inducted into both the National Academy of Engineers and the Black Engineers Hall of Fame.

Currently serving as the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology & Innovation Officer at Medtronic, Ken also holds board positions at McKesson Corporation and SAE International, where he serves as the Automotive Sector VP. He's been a pivotal member of the Internet Ecosystem Innovation Committee and actively engages in strategic collaborations with universities, notably as a member of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board and former chair of the University of Michigan Leadership Advisory Board.

Ken's expertise spans diverse domains, from automotive research and space science to information privacy and high-performance computing technologies. He excels in program and project management, guiding new facility projects, and fostering collaborative system development. His track record includes successful executive-level presentations, business plan developments, and resource optimization strategies, making him a sought-after leader in both the public and private sectors.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Robotics in surgery enhance precision, consistency, and ergonomics, ultimately improving patient outcomes.
• AI revolutionizes surgery with personalized pre-procedure planning and real-time guidance for surgeons.
• The future of surgery lies in the combination of robotics, AI, and digital platforms for personalized care.
• AI algorithms guide surgeons during surgery, enhancing accuracy and precision in procedures.
• Medtronic is committed to the future of surgery and healthcare with robotics and AI technologies.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ken on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Medtronic on their LinkedIn and website.

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The US scores low on healthcare quality compared to other developed countries due in large part to inequities in the system.

But how do we address the needs of underserved communities and improve outcomes for BIPOC populations?

And what do we do when the data doesn’t tell the whole story?

Jackie Ejuwa is Vice President of Health Transformation at Blue Shield of California, where she leads piloting, evaluation and scaling of new and innovative strategies in support of Blue Shield’s Health Reimagined strategy.

A healthcare futurist with a master’s in healthcare leadership, Jackie brings her deep and varied experience in the industry to her role as a health equity champion.

On this episode of The Beat, Jackie joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to explain what’s behind the health disparities in underserved populations.

Jackie shares how she makes decisions around where to start working toward health equity, discussing Blue Shield of California’s most successful programs to address SDOH in underserved communities.

Listen in for Jackie’s insight on recognizing when the data is mismatched from reality and learn how to leverage data-informed decision making to work toward health equity.

Topics Covered

• Jackie’s role as VP of Health Transformation at Blue Shield of California
• Why the US scores low on healthcare quality compared to other developed countries
• Top contributing factors to health disparities in underserved populations
• How Jackie makes decisions re: where to start working toward health equity
• Strategies for building trust between underserved communities and health professionals
• Seeing data from multiple perspectives when it seems mismatched from reality
• How to imbed health equity in operations across a health organization
• Jackie’s most successful pilot programs to address SDOH and reduce health disparities
• Improvements in culturally inclusive dietary recommendations
• What’s behind the lack of awareness around colon cancer in BIPOC communities
• Shifting the medical education process to expand cultural competence

Connect with Jackie Ejuwa

• Blue Shield of California
• Jackie at Blue Shield of California
• Jackie on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• Cafecito, Cumbia and Salud
• California Assembly Bill 904

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About Steve Cagle:

Steve Cagle is CEO and a board member of Clearwater, a leading cybersecurity and compliance partner to organizations across the healthcare ecosystem. He assumed the CEO position at Clearwater in May 2018, bringing extensive experience leading, innovating, and scaling healthcare and technology businesses, including having guided a number of companies through critical transformation periods.

Formerly, Mr. Cagle was president and CEO of Moberg Pharma North America, a subsidiary of Moberg Pharma AB (OMX:MOB), a publicly traded Swedish pharmaceutical company. Prior to its acquisition by Moberg AB, Mr. Cagle was president and CEO of Alterna LLC, a consumer healthcare products company.

Prior to joining Alterna, Mr. Cagle was a principal and executive team member of Sparta Systems, Inc., a software company that provides enterprise quality and compliance management software to pharmaceutical and medical device companies. During his nine-year tenure with the company, he served in numerous leadership positions, including marketing, sales, operations, and product innovation, and was responsible for sales and marketing programs, which contributed to Sparta’s leadership position in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries and to its 100-fold sales growth.

Mr. Cagle serves as the executive chairman of CMP Pharma, and he has guided its transformation to an institutionally owned specialty pharmaceutical company. He also serves on the board of the Association of Executives in Healthcare Information Security, one of the leading organizations advancing cybersecurity best practices across the industry. Mr. Cagle holds a Master of Business Administration from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from Rutgers Business School in New Brunswick, N.J.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Cyberattacks are not just about data; they can disrupt critical healthcare services.
• Establishing a culture of cybersecurity is essential, with boards and executives being accountable.
• The healthcare ecosystem requires a shared responsibility for cybersecurity.
• Continuous risk analysis is essential to ensure organizations remain secure amid evolving threats.
• Federal initiatives, like the HHS cybersecurity strategy, indicate an increased focus on healthcare cybersecurity.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Steve on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Clearwater on their LinkedIn and website.

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About Syam Adusumilli:

Syam is a seasoned healthcare leader and strategist, with deep product and strategy expertise across all business lines in Healthcare Payor Organizations. He has deep expertise in cutting-edge technologies, including Data Science and AI, Blockchain, Medical IOT, Voice Biometrics, Computational Epidemiology, Digital Therapeutics, Human Centric Design, Behavioral Nudge, and Care Plan Personalization. Syam has 30+ years of experience in technology and business strategy in healthcare, especially when it comes to managing IT operations, defining vision, strategic planning, partner ecosystems, and product engineering and management in the payor domain. He is seasoned in transforming organizations and driving innovations by leveraging digital and AI. As the current Chief Strategy Officer for GroundGame.Health, he is focused on go-to-market strategy, overall business strategy, and public policy. He is a Masters in Public Health candidate at Brown University and was previously the Chief Transformation Officer for Healthcare at UST Global. He serves as a mentor for several startups in HealthTech and beyond in the US, Israel, and India.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Digital transformation in healthcare is about focusing on the underserved population, bridging the gap in digital literacy, and addressing unmet needs.
• Technology should be a tool to empower social workers and community organizations, not replace human connection and empathy.
• Predictive AI should target the root causes of healthcare issues, not merely treat symptoms.
• Interoperability is crucial for providing comprehensive care, ensuring healthcare providers have access to patient's social and economic contexts.
• Empowering community-based organizations with technology and unrestricted funds has the potential to drive impactful change in underserved communities.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Syam on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about GroundGame Health on their LinkedIn and website.

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How do you know if a particular medicine is working?

Traditionally, it takes guesswork on the physician’s part and time to find a drug that works for any given patient.

But what if we could leverage digital biomarkers to measure the efficacy of a medication very quickly and course correct as needed?

Rich Carter serves as Chief Digital Officer at Eli Lilly, where he oversees the teams focused on innovation, user-centered design and digital health.

On this episode of The Beat, Rich joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the future of drug development and clinical trials.

Rich describes what digital transformation means in the context of life sciences, explaining how technology can improve drug discovery and accelerate the timeline from discovery to market.

Listen in for examples of the 35 digital biomarkers in development at Lilly and learn how Rich’s team thinks about partnering with both physicians and patients to roll out these new digital resources.

Topics Covered

• 3 elements of Rich’s role at Lilly—innovation, design and digital health
• What digital transformation means in the context of life sciences
• How Lilly Direct is working to simplify the patient experience
• What we do historically in life sciences that doesn’t make sense anymore (given the technology we have today)
• The potential for AI to remove bias in the drug discovery space
• Rich’s insight on accelerating the discovery-to-market process in life sciences
• How Rich’s team uses ‘old data’ to train predictive AI models and why access to data is one of the biggest challenges in life sciences
• Using digital biomarkers to measure the efficacy of a medicine with diverse populations
• How Rich is inspired by the impact his work has on families
• The 35 biomarkers in different stages of development at Lilly and what that process look like
• How Lilly’s internal incubation lab partners with other innovators in the healthcare ecosystem
• Partnering with both patients and physicians to roll out digital resources

Connect with Rich Carter

• Eli Lilly
• Rich on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• Lilly Direct

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About Mary Varghese Presti:

As GM of Dragon Medical, an AI-powered voice assistant used by clinicians to document in the EHR, Mary Varghese Presti leads the development of AI-based clinical workflows for Microsoft Healthcare & Life Sciences. Mary is a seasoned healthcare executive whose career spans nursing, policy, pharma, and tech.

Things You’ll Learn:

• How the influx of new nurses due to the pandemic was followed by burnout, leading many to leave the profession.
• Why the development of AI solutions tailored to nurses’ specific needs should focus on hands-free, eyes-free documentation, allowing nurses to prioritize patient care, personalized to their workflow.
• How exciting technological innovations like virtual nursing and AI promise significant improvements in patient care and outcomes by transforming care delivery, supporting providers, and enhancing the patient experience.
• Why it’s important to ensure that nursing technology with AI is implemented responsibly, prioritizing inclusiveness, fairness, transparency, security, and privacy.
• How artificial intelligence and machine learning could have a tangible impact on healthcare providers and patients, with the potential to augment and enhance the work of healthcare professionals.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Mary on LinkedIn.
• Follow Nuance Communications on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Zane Burke:

Zane Burke is an internationally recognized healthcare IT leader. Burke has a clear, forward-looking vision for digital healthcare, a unique understanding of the challenges in global healthcare delivery, and a vision for how Quantum Health navigation can better the experience.

Burke is focused on creating great healthcare experiences for all and addressing the imbalances in healthcare delivery. At Quantum Health, he leads the consumer healthcare navigation and care coordination company in transforming the healthcare journey by “managing the hard stuff” for employee members and delivering validated claims savings for self-insured employer clients. His leadership drives more awareness of navigation and reaches new markets, ultimately serving more members and improving more lives.

Prior to joining Quantum Health, Burke served as chief executive officer of Silicon Valley-based Livongo Health, Inc., a leading software as a service (SaaS) consumer digital health company. He also spent more than two decades at Cerner Corporation, where he concluded his service as the company’s president. He serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Quantum Health's collaboration with Vanderbilt and the affiliated network is setting a new standard for healthcare navigation with a mission to revolutionize healthcare outcomes and provide high-quality networks and navigation solutions for self-insured employers.
• Digital transformation is reshaping healthcare delivery in 2024, with a focus on providing better member experiences and driving cost control to ensure better clinical outcomes and financial results.
• Quantum Health's commitment to using AI and ML technologies to improve the member experience and streamline processes, such as real-time intercept, to engage with members at crucial moments, leading to better engagement and rapport.
• Quantum Health acts as the connective tissue between a clicks and mortar world, amplifying the impact of value-based care.
• From leveraging health signals for real-time intercept to streamlining pre-authorizations, Quantum Health is using innovative tech to enhance the member experience and drive quality outcomes.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Zane on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Quantum Health on their LinkedIn and website.

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The healthcare system has lost its way in large part due to technological advancements, pulling clinicians away from patients to read electronic health records at a computer terminal.

But Dr. David Feinberg believes that technology has the potential to solve the problems it created and put doctors and nurses back in front of the people they serve.

So, what is Dr. Feinberg’s vision for the future of EHRs? How can we leverage patient data to improve quality of care for individual patients and the healthcare system in general?

Dr. David Feinberg is Chairman of Oracle Health, where he is committed to making healthcare more accessible, affordable and equitable.

Dr. Feinberg's work advances thought leadership and strategy related to unleashing the healing power of data through an open and connected healthcare ecosystem.

On this episode of The Beat, Dr. Feinberg joins host Dr. Gautam Gulati to explain how we might use advanced technologies to ‘get people to care about each other again.’

Dr. Feinberg explains why he measures time spent with patients versus time saved by technology and describes how to use the predictive capability of EHR data for better patient engagement.

Listen in for insight on leveraging social determinant information in EHRs to improve care and learn how Oracle is reimagining electronic health records to put clinicians back in front of their patients.

Topics Covered

• Dr. Feinberg’s goals around making healthcare systems easier to navigate
• What Dr. Feinberg learned from running health systems at UCLA, Geisinger and Google
• How Dr. Feinberg brings a commonsense approach to his role at Oracle
• Why Dr. Feinberg measures time with patients vs. time saved with technology
• What inspired Dr. Feinberg’s idea to eliminate the waiting room and why it didn’t work
• How investing in communities decreases the burden on our healthcare system
• How clinicians might use the social determinant information in Oracle’s EHR
• Using the predictive capability of data in EHRs for better patient engagement
• Dr. Feinberg’s open and connected approach to sharing data sets (with appropriate privacy measures and cybersecurity in place)
• How Dr. Feinberg thinks about mitigating the risks of someone misusing patient data
• Dr. Feinberg’s fear that we’ll use technology to worsen inequities in healthcare
• Leveraging advanced technologies to ‘get people to care about each other again’

Connect with Dr. David Feinberg

• Oracle Health

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• Oracle Clinical Digital Assistant

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About Scott Schell:

Dr. Schell is an accomplished senior executive, surgeon, and healthcare futurist with over 30 years of experience spanning the healthcare, biotech, and technology sectors both in the US and globally. His leadership roles have included CEO, CMO, Chair, Director, and Executive Consultant, and he brings an extensive background that includes healthcare delivery and operations, pharma, medical devices, clinical trials, and data science.

In his leadership roles, Dr. Schell has a proven track record of driving growth, improving operational performance, and creating transforming innovation, through a variety of diverse healthcare contexts. He leads the development and implementation of large-scale population health and predictive analytics platforms at organizations like Alere, the Cleveland Clinic, and UPMC. A serial entrepreneur, he has founded and exited five healthcare startups and served as Managing Partner for a private equity firm with a portfolio of digital health assets.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Healthcare is undergoing a digital revolution, prioritizing patient experience, efficient call center operations, streamlined financial services, and enhanced access.
• AI and machine learning are pivotal in healthcare, boosting patient experiences, expediting authorizations, and optimizing operations.
• The healthcare industry must start digital transformation projects by identifying key solutions, embracing change management, and establishing an accountable leadership team.
• Dr. Scott warns against AI pitfalls like hallucination, offering tips for a robust transformation start.
• Dr. Scott stresses tech solutions, change management, and proactive leadership for successful automation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Scott Schell on LinkedIn.
• Follow Cognizant on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Ann Louise Puopolo:

Ann Louise is an accomplished and highly respected safety professional and has held many prestigious positions, including Vice President of Enterprise Patient Safety and the Enterprise PSO LLC at CVS Health (until her retirement in 2020) and Vice President of Patient Safety for CRICO (Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions). More recently, she has been serving as the Chair of the RLDatix Customer Advisory Board since 2022.

She calls Boston, MA, home and is an active board member of many local healthcare organizations, including the Tufts Medicine Board of Directors’ Committee on the Quality of Care (since June 2021), Vice-chair at Tufts Medical Center Board of Directors’ Committee on the Quality of Care (since 2018), and the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety - the trade organization to PSOs (since 2013).

Ann Louise has been a long-time collaborator with RLDatix. The relationship began while she was at CRICO, supporting the Harvard Medical School-affiliated institutions with their programs to mitigate risk and improve safety. When Ann Louise moved to CVS Health, she built out their patient safety program. She brought in RL6 to support their retail pharmacy, mail, specialty, infusion, long-term care pharmacies, and MinuteClinic needs.

Ann Louise received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Vanderbilt University and practiced as a critical care nurse at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the healthcare staffing crisis, but its roots go much deeper.
• Nurses, the backbone of the healthcare system, often take on more than necessary and are underutilized, contributing to burnout.
• Ann Louise underscores the potential of technology and data analytics to optimize workforce utilization and enhance patient outcomes.
• Ann Louise stresses the importance of integrating systems to improve efficiency, highlighting the critical role of data insights in informed decision-making for providers and healthcare organizations.
• Recognizing the significance of involving frontline healthcare professionals like nurses in decision-making, we can foster a culture of innovation and problem-solving within healthcare organizations by giving them a voice and acknowledging their contributions.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ann Louise on LinkedIn.
• Follow RLDatix on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Reach out to Ann at Ann.Puopolo@RLDatix.com

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Innovation in healthcare exploded during the pandemic.

But many hospitals don’t have the infrastructure to take advantage of this emergent technology. And many people don’t have the devices or connectivity they need to manage their care.

So, how do we promote technological equity (also known as techquity)? How do we bridge the digital gap for underserved populations?

Gary Lynch is Global Practice Lead & CTO for Healthcare and Life Sciences at Verizon Business, where he manages a team of innovation principals, healthcare strategists and solution architects across the healthcare ecosystem.

Gary has over 20 years of experience leading transformation within the healthcare space, with a focus on accountable care, population health, revenue cycle, operations and business development.

On this episode of The Beat, recorded live at ViVE 2024, Gary joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss how telecom companies like Verizon will play a crucial role in the future of healthcare delivery.

Gary shares strategies for leveraging purpose-built technology to make healthcare more proactive and improve patient engagement in the process.

Listen in for Gary’s insight on providing access to care in non-traditional settings and learn how Verizon is partnering with UC Davis Health to improve health outcomes via tech equity!

Topics Covered

• Why telecom companies will play a big part in the future of healthcare delivery
• Gary’s quadruple aim of improving health outcomes, lowering costs and improving the patient and clinician experience
• How Gary thinks about keeping pace with expanding points of access to healthcare
• Gary’s take on the third-party payment system in healthcare
• Verizon’s partnership with UC Davis to promote health equity via digital inclusion
• Gary’s strategies for leveraging technology to make healthcare proactive
• How Verizon is improving access to care through purpose-built tech
• Improving the patient experience and engagement by way of gamification
• How innovation in the healthcare space accelerated during COVID
• Verizon’s aim to help hospitals build the infrastructure to take advantage of emergent tech

Connect with Gary Lynch

• Health Care IT & Digital Solutions at Verizon
• Gary on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• ViVE
• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• Heartbreak in the Heartland
• Verizon’s Partnership with UC Davis Health
• Affordable Connectivity Program
• Medivis

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About Dave Sohigian:

Dave Sohigian is the CTO at Large at Workday and is tasked with helping customers get the most out of Workday. He is part of the Global Office of the CTO, responsible for communicating Workday’s strategy to customers and prospects, and informing the development organization about market needs to influence future innovation. Dave joined Workday 14 years ago and most recently served as Global CTO. Prior to joining Workday, he held a number of development and technical consulting roles and joined the organization as Principal Enterprise Architect. Dave holds a BSc degree in Fermentation Science from the University of California, Davis.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI and ML are key in reshaping healthcare delivery in 2024, with the potential to improve patient care and outcomes significantly.
• Organizations must address critical issues of data security and privacy by emphasizing transparency, regular reviews of data usage, and a human-in-the-loop approach to AI and ML.
• Workday's dedication to incorporating a human element in AI and ML applications ensures that judgment remains a vital component in decision-making processes.
• Workday focuses on delivering solutions that benefit their customers in specific areas like human resources, financials, and payroll, all powered by AI rather than focusing solely on direct AI sales.
• Dave stresses the importance of establishing a clear goal and strategy for digital transformation in healthcare delivery rather than being solely driven by fear or competition.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow David on LinkedIn.
• Follow Workday on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Jonathan Machado:

Jonathan Machado is the Managing Director of Samsung Next, which is Samsung Electronics' venture capital arm. He is in charge of making investments in health tech. He has helped Samsung Next participate in many businesses, such as BigHealth, Healthy.io, Huma Therapeutics, Lark, Elvie, and DayTwo.

Jonathan worked as an investor and partner at Jerusalem Venture Partners for five years before joining Samsung Next in 2018. There, he focused on early-stage Israeli startups. Besides that, he has an MBA from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Jonathan was born and raised in Jerusalem. He and his family just moved to the New York metropolitan area.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Samsung Next adopts a unique VC model with "no proof," fostering a collaborative environment with entrepreneurs.
• Success stories like LoopPay and SmartThings demonstrate Samsung NEXT's strategic investments that align with long-term corporate goals.
• Samsung's healthcare vision involves enabling users to own their health records, creating a paradigm shift in personal healthcare management.
• Soon, Samsung Health’s tens of millions of users will be able to own their records and begin a journey of owning their health care through these records.
• Samsung Next measures success through regular VC metrics, emphasizing ROI and influencing strategic decisions within the company.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jonathan Machado on LinkedIn.
• Follow Samsung Next on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Mark Frank:

Mark Frank is the CEO and Co-founder of SonderMind, leading a rapidly expanding and compassionate team dedicated to reshaping behavioral health. His mission is to enhance access, broaden utilization, and elevate clinical outcomes in this field. Mark believes in transparent, empathetic, and courageous leadership, aspiring to build an organization that leaves a positive and transformative impact on behavioral health and the broader healthcare ecosystem.

Before founding SonderMind in 2015, Mark played a pivotal role in establishing three other successful ventures, including Next Oncology, TermScout, and SafeImageMD. His entrepreneurial journey follows a background in healthcare investment banking at Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, and CDI Global, coupled with military service as an officer in the US Army.

With degrees in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, Engineering Management, and an MBA in Finance and Operations, Mark's commitment stems from personal experiences, witnessing the challenges faced by friends and colleagues in accessing mental health care after military deployments.

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI helps personalize care pathways for patients and assists providers in delivering the highest quality care efficiently.
• The world is in a mental health crisis. Competition and innovation are crucial to solving this massive problem.
• Mental health care is not discretionary. It has an immense impact on physical health and overall well-being.
• Engage patients through various channels, including employers, health systems, payers, and consumers.
• SonderMind serves as a mental health home, providing comprehensive digital tools for sustained well-being.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Mark Frank on LinkedIn.
• Follow SonderMind on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Vijay Kedar:

Vijay Kedar, co-founder and CEO of Tomorrow Health, was raised in a family of physicians, often joking that he was “pre-med coming out of the womb.” However, it wasn’t until he took on managing his mother's care through stage III colorectal cancer and acute respiratory distress syndrome that the idea for Tomorrow Health was born. In this episode, Kedar speaks with host Steve Krupa about using technology to coordinate high-quality home-based care for patients and families who find securing such care increasingly difficult to navigate.

Kedar also discusses how home-based care improves health outcomes, alleviates the administrative and healthcare burden for providers, and is often the most economical option for patients requiring long-term treatment. He says, “Treating a patient with the same conditions at home can be one-tenth the cost of doing so in a hospital-based setting and one-third the cost of doing so in a post-acute setting like a skilled nursing facility.” Kedar goes on to outline how Tomorrow Health’s launch during the pandemic essentially changed how home-based care was ordered, delivered, and purchased to meet an ever-growing demand.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Tomorrow Health emphasizes the use of technology and strategic partnerships to enhance the efficiency of coordinating and delivering home-based healthcare.
• Tomorrow Health’s commitment aims to provide patients and families across the nation with more dependable and higher-quality care.
• Vijay highlighted the significance of tackling distinct challenges faced by different stakeholders in the home-based care ecosystem.
• Through aligning incentives and consistently offering value propositions, Tomorrow Health is expediting the acquisition, engagement, and retention of stakeholders. This strategic approach is paving the way for widespread market adoption.
• Tomorrow Health is utilizing the capabilities of artificial intelligence to automate operational processes, diminish manual workload, and expedite the delivery of home-based care to patients.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Vijay Kedar on LinkedIn.
• Follow Tomorrow Health on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Tomorrow Health website here.

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Research has shown that less than 10% of longevity is based on genetics and 90% hinges on your lifestyle choices.

But if you don’t have Bryan Johnson’s resources, how do you identify the gap between your chorological age versus your real age?

And more importantly, how do you use that information to design a plan that will truly move the needle on helping you live healthier, longer?

Melanie Goldey is CEO of Tally Health, a biotech company developing science-backed tools for consumers to increase health span and extend longevity.

Melanie has an extensive background in technology and healthcare startups, and she is passionate about making longevity science accessible to consumers.

On this episode of The Beat, Melanie joins host Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the future of diagnostic markers and testing to optimize for the extension of both lifespan and health span.

Melanie explains how Tally Health differs from prior iterations of real age measurement and describes how her team uses DNA methylation to develop personalized recommendations for its members.

Listen in to understand the benefits of Tally Helth’s pro-longevity supplements and learn how to enhance longevity with small improvements to your diet, fitness, sleep, mental health and habits!

Topics Covered

• How Tally Health is working to help consumers live healthier, longer
• The 3 components of Tally Health’s consumer longevity offering
• What differentiates Tally from prior iterations of real age measurement
• How Tally uses DNA methylation to develop personalized recommendations
• David Sinclair’s research on epigenetics and his information theory of aging
• How much of longevity is based on genetics vs. lifestyle choices
• How Melanie thinks about quick fixes vs. small lifestyle adjustments
• The benefits of Tally Health’s pro-longevity supplements
• How machine learning can improve specificity of Tally’s recommendations
• The connections among diet, fitness, sleep, mental health and habits
• What we might learn from Bryan Johnson’s biohacking experiences
• Other markers Tally Health is studying (beyond DNA methylation)

Connect with Melanie Goldey

• Tally Health
• Melanie on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on X
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on X
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• Harvard Aging Lab
• David Sinclair’s Landmark Study on Longevity in Nature
• Bryan Johnson

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In this groundbreaking era of healthcare, the opportunity to revolutionize cancer outcomes has never been more promising. With cutting-edge testing techniques, early detection strategies, and the power of AI, the landscape of cancer care is evolving to save lives and enhance patient well-being like never before.

In this episode of The Beat, Dr. Gautam Gulati sits down with Dr. Megan Hall to discuss the future of cancer detection and prevention through early genetic testing.

Dr. Megan Hall is the Vice President of Corporate Affairs at GRAIL. With a Ph.D. in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics she is dedicated to making early cancer detection and prevention accessible on a population scale.

As Dr. Hall says, “I was enamored of the mission to detect cancer early when it can be cured. That's a huge problem that we have to be frank have not made great headway on in the 50 years that we've been waging this war on cancer.”

Now she shares how GRAIL's flagship product, Galleri, is using advanced technology, including DNA methylation analysis and artificial intelligence (AI), to detect and predict cancer in a non-invasive way.

Listen in as we explore the potential cost savings and improved outcomes with early cancer detection, and GRAIL's efforts to make this transformative technology accessible to a broader population.

Topics Covered

• The significance of early detection in cancer care
• The role of DNA methylation in cancer detection
• The importance of evaluating the accuracy of cancer screening and the power of positive predictive value
• The need for education across the cancer care continuum
• The potential for healthcare cost savings with early cancer detection
• The role of AI and machine learning in cancer detection
• GRAIL's focus on expanding access to cancer screening and its plans for future products

Connect with Dr. Megan Hall

• Dr. Hall on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• HLTH
• Dr. Gulati on X
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn
• Dr. Jessica Shepherd MD
• Dr. Shepherd on X

Resources

• GRAIL
• Galleri Test - GRAIL

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How can we transform healthcare delivery to better serve ALL people and communities?

In today's episode of The Beat, host Dr. Gautam Gulati welcomes special guest Dr. Marc Harrison, a Partner at General Catalyst and the Founding Partner of the new company owned by General Catalyst called Health Assurance Transformation Corporation, HATCo.

Dr. Marc Harrison is a distinguished healthcare leader with a career dedicated to improving health equity. His journey spans from a pediatric intensivist to an entrepreneurial path. Dr. Harrison's latest venture, HATCo focuses on reshaping healthcare systems to embrace digital, value-based care while preserving local community identity.

Dr. Harrison walks listeners through how the pandemic exacerbated the fragility of the healthcare system, and why NOW is the time to address the social determinants of health and holistic patient care. He also discusses HATCo's unique approach, advisory services, and its ecosystem of partner health systems.

Listen in to explore the challenges and opportunities in transitioning from a volume-based healthcare system to one that truly values patient outcomes and health equity and how HATCo's insights and innovative solutions could reshape the healthcare landscape.

Topics Covered

• The importance of addressing social determinants of health
• The shift from volume-based care to value-based care
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare system and the need for healthcare systems to become more resilient and adaptable
• The role of innovation and digital tools in healthcare transformation
• HATCo's mission to create a better healthcare system and improve public health outcomes
• The challenges and opportunities in modernizing healthcare delivery

Connect with Dr. Marc Harrison

• Dr. Marc Harrison on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• HLTH
• Dr. Gulati on X
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn
• Dr. Jessica Shepherd MD
• Dr. Shepherd on X

Resources

• General Catalyst
• The Future of Health: A Bold Leap Forward | General Catalyst

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About Kelly Bliss:

Kelly Bliss is president of U.S. Group Health. She oversees sales, client management, and client and commercial operations for the business.

Ms. Bliss has strong expertise in creating cohesive client-focused organizations. Most recently, she held the position of chief client officer at Teladoc Health. Under her leadership, client services achieved record growth and retention through a focus on delivering value and a best-in-class experience to our clients. Ms. Bliss also built and managed high-functioning, global teams at companies such as Best Doctors and InterSystems. At Best Doctors, she served as chief of staff, leading the organization's key strategic growth initiatives until the eventual acquisition by Teladoc Health in 2017.

Ms. Bliss was recognized as one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare Software of 2020 by The Healthcare Technology Report and serves as executive sponsor for the Teladoc Health Women's Network. She holds a bachelor's degree in industrial psychology from Nichols College.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Teladoc places a priority on well-rounded growth, giving significant attention to both revenue and profitability.
• This commitment is supported by a robust balance sheet and substantial investments in research and development.
• The growing significance of hyper-personalized member experiences and the utilization of multiple artificial intelligence models to enhance outcomes for clients and members.
• Kelly Bliss's professional odyssey as a "code breaker" involves challenging norms and assembling unconventional teams to optimize and create high-performance team dynamics.
• The surge of virtual care is evident, with Teladoc's research indicating a growing trend among employers investing in comprehensive virtual care providers.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kelly Bliss on LinkedIn.
• Follow Teladoc on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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How do you inspire a community to take ownership of their health?

If you ask Kristen Cerf, the secret lies in hiring staff from the community you serve and connecting people with the resources they need to improve their health.

Kristen is President and CEO of Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan, where she is responsible for ensuring access to quality care for Blue Shield Promise’s 530,000 Medi-Cal members in Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

Under Kristen’s guidance, Blue Shield Promise has delivered several initiatives improving access to and availability of person-centered care to California's underinsured, low income and medically underserved populations.

On this episode of The Beat, Kristen joins host Dr. Jessica Shepherd to discuss the future of grassroots efforts to promote health care in the community.

Kristen explains how Blue Shield Promise helps members navigate the complexities of the Medi-Cal system, leveraging community health advocates to build health literacy and improve patient outcomes.

Listen in for insight using data to provide support based on need and learn how Kristen’s team works with providers, community-based organizations and other nonprofits to better serve Blue Shield Promise members.

Topics Covered

• How being a nonprofit organization benefits Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan
• Why a grassroots approach inspires communities to take ownership of their health
• How Blue Shield Promise helps members navigate the complexities of the Medi-Cal system
• How Blue Shield Promise’s community health advocates work with providers to improve outcomes
• Why so few grassroots community health programs exist in the US
• How Kristen’s team uses data to deliver support based on need
• How Kristen thinks about translating information obtained from Blue Shield Promise members into data
• How Kristen’s team gets feedback from providers re: Blue Shield Promise patient outcomes
• Why Kristen sites the Blue Shield Promise street medicine program among her greatest accomplishments

Connect with Kristen Cerf

• Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan
• Kristen on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on X
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on X
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• California Advancing & Innovating Medi-Cal
• California Primary Care Association Annual Conference
• Blue Shield Promise Community Health Centers

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In a landscape where resources are scarce, the consequences ripple through healthcare, leading to physician burnout, a crumbling trust between patients and their caregivers, and misinformation and disinformation in the healthcare system.

Today's guest, a former Chief Medical Officer at Salesforce, adeptly bridges clinical medicine, business, and digital health, making her a vital advocate in the fight against health misinformation.

Join hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jessica Shepherd as they welcome Dr. Geeta Nayyar or Dr. G, a distinguished rheumatologist, and a recognized leader in health information technology. Her book,"Dead Wrong," delves into healthcare misinformation, drawing from her wealth of experience.

Tune in as Dr. Nayyar uncovers the historical roots of misinformation and disinformation in the healthcare realm, shedding light on the evolution of this pervasive issue and the need for regulation during this age of digital technology. Plus, the transformative role of artificial intelligence in the patient-physician relationship.

Topics Covered

• Dr. Nayyar discusses the prevalence of misinformation and disinformation in the digital age and its impact on healthcare
• The significance of trust in the patient-physician relationship and the challenges associated with building and maintaining trust in the healthcare system
• How AI is impacting the patient-physician relationship
• Why there needs to be standardization in healthcare practices to improve patient outcomes
• How a lack of resources is leading to physician burnout and broken trust with patients.
• Dr. Nayyar provides insights into the historical context of misinformation and disinformation in healthcare
• The critical need for regulation in the healthcare industry in the era of digital technology to combat misinformation and disinformation

Connect with Dr. Geeta Nayyar (Dr. G)

• Dr. Geeta Nayyar
• Dr. G on Instagram
• Dr. G on X
• Dr. Geeta Nayyar on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• HLTH
• Dr. Gulati on X
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn
• Dr. Jessica Shepherd MD
• Dr. Shepherd on X

Resources

• 'DEAD WRONG'
• by Dr. Geeta Nayyar

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With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, inequities in access to reproductive, sexual health and abortion care have grown.

How might telemedicine solve this problem?

Kiki Freedman is CEO of Hey Jane, a digital health platform for women she cofounded while at Harvard Business School.

Prior to business school, Kiki was an early employee at Uber, where she led the company’s Kenya launch and spearheaded strategy and expansion for Uber Eats in the Middle East and Africa.

On this episode of The Beat, Kiki joins host Dr. Gautam Gulati to explain her digital clinic addresses women’s most initial health needs.

Kiki walks us through the reproductive and sexual health services Hey Jane offers, describing how patients are paired with a clinician and what the platform does to maintain their privacy and anonymity.

Listen in for Kiki’s insight on working in a space that’s under attack and learn about her vision for achieving national protection for abortion access.

Topics Covered

• How Kiki’s experience with scaling Uber translates to Hey Jane
• Hey Jane’s role as a digital health clinic for women’s most intimate health needs
• How COVID and the overturn of Roe v. Wade affected Kiki’s business
• The other women’s health services Hey Jane offers (beyond abortion care)
• Kiki’s insight on inequities in access to reproductive and sexual health care
• How Hey Jane patients are paired with a clinician and support team
• What Hey Jane does to maintain patient privacy and anonymity
• How Hey Jane patients pay for services through insurance, nonprofit financial assistance and cash on a sliding scale
• How Kiki stays on top of legislation and forthcoming regulations
• How Hey Jane educates women about the telemedicine services it offers
• Kiki’s vision around achieving national protection for abortion access
• Recent approval of over-the-counter progestin-only birth control

Connect with Kiki Freedman

• Hey Jane
• Hey Jane Health on TikTok

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on X
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on X
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• National Network of Abortion Funds
• Women’s Health Protection Act

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About Kathleen Mitford:

Kathleen Mitford spent her career crafting strategies and empowering employees to ensure top-notch customer experiences. As the CVP of Global Industry Marketing at Microsoft, she’s proud to work alongside their partner ecosystem to help customers in all industries create the future with solutions across the Microsoft Cloud designed to solve their industry's unique challenges and unlock opportunities. Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more aligns with her own purpose, and she’s thrilled to be part of a company that values inclusivity, empathy, and a growth mindset. She’s a passionate advocate for advancing diversity and equity and promoting greater inclusion of women in science and technology by encouraging diverse perspectives, embracing our differences, and supporting a sense of belonging for all. In her free time, you’ll find her gardening, running, and adventuring with her husband and two kids.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Microsoft is focused on empowering healthcare organizations with the tools and technologies to unlock the potential of their data and harness the power of AI to drive better operational insights and patient care.
• Microsoft stands apart through its foundation of trust with customers.
• By prioritizing customer data ownership, security, and privacy, and offering comprehensive solutions, Microsoft is committed to being a trusted advisor in healthcare transformation.
• Microsoft emphasizes responsible AI practices and supports customers in developing a strong data strategy, foundation, and responsible AI implementation.
• The power of data in healthcare is unparalleled. Kathleen Mitford highlights how Microsoft's cloud and AI solutions are driving operational insights and improving patient experiences.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kathleen Mitford on LinkedIn.
• Follow Microsoft on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Bonny Morris:

Bonny Morris is currently the Senior Director for Patient Navigation at the American Cancer Society (ACS). Specifically, she is leading the development and implementation of ACS CARES, the first national cancer navigation support program. She’s also in charge of developing ACS LION, their new nonclinical navigation credentialing program, and the enterprise strategy for patient navigation at the American Cancer Society.

Bonny uses her diverse skills to approach program development and research from different angles. As an epidemiologist, she focuses on designing and analyzing studies meticulously. Additionally, she embraces the perspective of a social and behavioral scientist, recognizing the impact of community-level social factors and individual-level factors on the cancer experience.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The American Cancer Society excels by smoothly combining research, patient support, and advocacy worldwide, focusing on the needs of people at risk or diagnosed with cancer, as well as their caregivers and families.
• The ACS has successfully influenced policymakers to recognize the importance of patient navigation, with a recent win in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
• The ACS CARES app, available on iOS and Android, offers personalized cancer support, including a 24/7 helpline and a volunteer component for peer support.
• The ACS CARES app has already surpassed first-quarter goals, reaching users with over 60 different cancer types and demonstrating its effectiveness in catering to a diverse range of people with unique needs.
• In January, a Spanish version of the ACS CARES app will be launched to support Spanish-speaking individuals facing cancer.
• Dr. Morris emphasizes the importance of collaboration, inviting partners to engage in conversations to optimize cancer care delivery, and keeping programs cutting edge and relevant to the population served.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Bonny Morris on LinkedIn.
• Follow the American Cancer Society on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Learn more about the ACS CARES App here.
• Download the ACS CARES App on the App Store here or on the Google Play Store here.

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About Harlan Levine:

Harlan Levine, M.D., is president of health innovation and policy. He also serves as the chair of the board of AccessHope™, a spinout company from the City of Hope that is focused on serving the employer market and making leading-edge cancer care available to all, regardless of geographical location.

Prior to the City of Hope, Dr. Levine held executive roles at UnitedHealth Group, Towers Watson, and Anthem Inc. He currently serves as a board member and secretary for BioScienceLA, as a member of the Keck Graduate Institute’s Board of Trustees, and as a board member for Vida Health, Active Life Scientific, and Reimagine Care. He is on the advisory board for Innovaccer and Laguna Health. For 10 years, he has been a strategic advisor to the founder/chairman of the board of Quantum Health, and now chairs its external clinical advisory board. In addition, he is a member of the Accessibility and Affordability Working Group for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and a senior fellow for Health Evolution Forum’s New Models of Care Delivery.

He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and licensed by the Medical Board of California. He earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his medical degree from the University of California San Francisco. He interned at Mount Zion Hospital and Medical Center in San Francisco and completed his residency in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Health System in Los Angeles.

Things You’ll Learn:

• City of Hope's Distinctive Strategy: Integrating state-of-the-art research with patient-centric care. Their outreach to underrepresented markets and the introduction of a mobile van for prevention and screening empower communities with NCI-level care accessibility.
• Dr. Harlan emphasized how social determinants of health, including the cost of care, transportation challenges, and insufficient culturally relevant education, contribute to inequalities in cancer care.
• The importance of collaboration, policy adjustments, and the integration of community and academic oncologists.
• The initiatives at City of Hope, including the affiliated company Access Hope, aim to provide expert opinions and cutting-edge cancer care to diverse populations.
• Gain an understanding of the obstacles that create barriers for patients to access the latest advancements in cancer treatment and assess the effects of limited networks on fair access to care.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Harlan on LinkedIn.
• Follow City of Hope on LinkedIn.
• Visit the City of Hope website here.

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Would you rather wait in line at the ER? Or have urgent care come to you?

There is a growing interest in the hospital-at-home model of care. But how do its outcomes compare to care delivered in a traditional setting?

Erin Denholm is Chief Nursing Officer of DispatchHealth, a company that brings the power of the hospital to the comfort of your home.

In her role, Erin works to develop and refine the organization's robust care coordination models, focusing on health equity, social determinants of health and virtual care strategies.

On this episode of The Beat, Erin joins host Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the future of hospital-at-home care delivery models.

Erin describes the ecosystem of care DispatchHealth provides and explains why the hospital-at-home model boasts better outcomes and higher patient satisfaction than the traditional healthcare system.

Listen in for Erin’s insight on the cost of hospital-at-home care and learn how the DispatchHealth team identifies and closes gaps in social determinants of health for its patients.

Topics Covered

• What’s behind the growing interest in delivering care outside the traditional healthcare system
• The ecosystem of care DispatchHealth provides (including urgent care, diagnostics and risk population support)
• How patients are referred to DispatchHealth and what the patient journey looks like
• How DispatchHealth partners with hospitals and why it’s not a threat to a hospital’s business model
• Why the cost of hospital-at-home care is at least 20% lower than care delivered in hospitals
• Erin’s take on why hospital-at-home care boasts better outcomes and higher patient satisfaction
• How the DispatchHealth team closes gaps in terms of social determinants of health
• The role AI might play in keeping people out of the hospital system
• Highlights from the recent DispatchHealth study on the benefits of hospital-at-home care
• Satisfaction ratings among caregivers and family members whose loved ones receive hospital-at-home care

Connect with Erin Denholm

• DispatchHealth
• Erin on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on X
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on X
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• CMS Waiver Program
• Research by Dr. Bruce Leff
• DispatchHealth’s Advanced Care White Paper

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About Andreas Mang:

Andreas Mang serves as the CEO of Equity Healthcare, where he oversees the management of medical benefits spending across Blackstone's portfolio. With two decades of experience in healthcare, Mr. Mang has worked in various capacities in healthcare finance, operations, and strategy.

Before joining Blackstone, he was the Vice-President responsible for national provider network operations at CareCentrix, a prominent home health benefit-management company backed by private equity. Earlier, at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, he played a leadership role in identifying and implementing cost-saving measures across the organization and played a key role in designing a new corporate business model. Mr. Mang also worked at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care as the Manager of Strategic Financial Planning and served as a Senior Consultant with Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Operations group in Boston.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Healthcare is notably unhealthy in the US.
• It will take a considerable amount of time for value-based care to be distributed at scale.
• No problem is too big to solve.
• Tangible outcomes include lower readmission rates and improved care management for employees going through treatments like chemotherapy.
• The ease of getting carrier partners on board is attributed to Blackstone's size, scale, and growth trajectory, creating a win-win situation.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Andreas Mang on LinkedIn.
• Follow Blackstone on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About David Rhew:

Since August 2019, David has served as Chief Medical Officer & VP of Healthcare for Microsoft's Worldwide Commercial Business (WCB). David and his team's main goal is to demonstrate how a large-scale data-driven approach can lead to smarter decision-making, more proactive care, and improved health outcomes, as well as lower costs for patients and populations.

Additionally, David is an adjunct professor at the Department of Medicine, Division of Primary Care and Population Health at Stanford University.

About Marcella Dalrymple:

Marcella is the Associate Director of Strategic Development and Business Partnerships at Duke AI Health. Her goal is to operationalize novel ideas by using big data to achieve the most meaningful results, leading to improved clinical practices.

Prior to that role, she was the Commercial Leadership Associate in the marketing sector for AstraZeneca and a project manager for Duke Clinical Research Institute.

About Michael Pencina:

Michael Pencina, PhD, is Duke Health's Chief Data Scientist and serves as Vice Dean for Data Science, Director of Duke AI Health, and Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at the Duke University School of Medicine. He develops and implements quantitative science strategies for the School of Medicine, co-chairs Duke Health’s Algorithm-Based Clinical Decision Support (ABCDS) Oversight Committee, and co-directs Duke’s Collaborative to Advance Clinical Health Equity (CACHE).

Things You’ll Learn:

• AI's potential to revolutionize healthcare requires a focus on responsible and trustworthy implementation.
• The collaboration between Microsoft and Duke Health aims to create a Center of Excellence for trustworthy AI.
• The four principles for trustworthy AI are: prioritize the human person, define use cases, anticipate consequences, and establish governance.
• Public mistrust of AI in healthcare highlights the need for community engagement and bidirectional communication.
• Automation in governance processes can streamline AI integration and reduce friction in workflows.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow David Rhew on LinkedIn.
• Follow Microsoft on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Connect with and follow Marcella Dalrymple on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Michael Pencina on LinkedIn.
• Follow Duke Health AI on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Seema Kumar:

Seema Kumar is the Chief Executive Officer of Cure, a 300,000-square-foot facility aiming to advance healthcare through the development of cutting-edge solutions across medical devices, digital technologies, healthcare services, and bio-therapeutics. As the Global Head of Office of Innovation, Global Health, and Scientific Engagement, Seema leads global efforts to enhance public engagement with science and public health policy.

Prior to that role, Seema was responsible for Johnson & Johnson's overall innovation reputation, positioning the R&D pipeline, and leading COVID vaccine communications and external affairs efforts. Overall, she is a passionate advocate for science and women's empowerment, and serves on several boards and advisory committees.

Things You’ll Learn:

• No individual or specific organization can drive substantive change alone; it takes collaboration across the entire healthcare ecosystem.
• AI holds promise for healthcare, and leveraging its power requires large, representative, and complete datasets.
• Entrepreneurs are restless with the status quo; they want to take risks and represent the leading edge of future healthcare.
• The future of healthcare lies in sustained collaboration, AI-driven insights, and innovative solutions that address real-world challenges.
• Storytelling, science, and technology combined can engage individuals in their own health and the health of the ecosystem.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Seema Kumar on LinkedIn.
• Follow Cure on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Learn more about Cure’s challenge here!*

*The submissions closed on October of 2023.

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About Warner Thomas:

Warner Thomas serves as the president and CEO of Sutter Health, a non-profit health system based in Northern California. Leading a team of over 50,000 employees, 12,000 physicians, and 2,000 advanced practice clinicians, Thomas oversees an integrated delivery system covering hospitals, outpatient care centers, home health, hospice care, labs, pharmacies, and research facilities. Before joining Sutter Health, he spent a decade as the president and CEO of Ochsner Health in Louisiana, where he focused on population health and initiated innovationOchsner, a lab for healthcare advancements

Thomas is a member of the American Hospital Association (AHA) Board of Trustees, a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and has contributed to healthcare policy by advising Congress. Recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare in 2022 and 2023, he also earned distinctions such as being named to Becker's Healthcare's list of Top Hospital and Health System CEOs to Know in 2023. Beyond his professional achievements, Thomas has received honors like the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Boy Scouts of America and the A.I. Botnick Torch of Liberty Award from the Anti-Defamation League.

Things You’ll Learn:

• You have to be willing to take calculated risks.
• If you sit back and wait for things to be perfect, it's never going to happen, and you'll miss opportunities.
• You must be willing to take on a new challenge and move outside your comfort zone.
• You can't shrink your way to greatness.
• When you do a great job taking care of patients daily, why wouldn't you want to expand and serve even more people?

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Warner Thomas on LinkedIn.
• Follow Sutter Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Check out the Sutter Health app here.

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Even those of us who are motivated to improve our health have a hard time getting answers from the traditional healthcare system.

Clinicians are trained to diagnose and treat disease but have little experience in preventative medicine.

So, where do we go to assess our current level of health and start making choices that will improve both quality and length of life?

Dugal Bain is Cofounder and CEO of Lifeforce, a proactive health and longevity platform that empowers people to think clearer, feel stronger and live longer.

Dugal has built a career around using technology to open access to better quality health care, holding leadership positions in finance, management consulting and health tech across three continents.

On this episode of The Beat, Dugal joins hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jessica Shepherdto discuss the future of longevity and disease prevention.

Dugal describes the connection between lifestyle and health span and explains how the Lifeforce team identifies appropriate behavior changes and keeps members motivated for the long term.

Listen in for insight on training clinicians in longevity medicine and learn Dugal’s top three not-so-obvious strategies for improving your health.

Topics Covered

• How becoming a parent inspired Dugal to build Lifeforce
• How identifying a deeper purpose behind your health goals drives behavior change
• Understanding the connection between lifestyle and health span
• How Dugal thinks about educating clinicians on the benefits of functional medicine
• What to expect when you become a member of Lifeforce
• How the Lifeforce team keeps members motivated for the long term
• How Dugal’s team differentiates among longevity therapies that are hype, hope or reality
• Dugal’s top 3 not-so-obvious strategies for improving your health
• How we might get unmotivated people to engage with services like Lifeforce
• Lifeforce’s efforts to train practitioners on proactive care and longevity medicine
• Dugal’s insight around stem cells and contrast therapy

Connect with Dugal Bain

• Lifeforce

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

• HLTH
• Dr. Shepherd on X
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Gulati on X
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

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About Murray Brozinsky:

Murray Brozinsky is Chief Strategy Officer of Amwell, a leader in hybrid care enablement. He was formerly the CEO of Conversa Health, which Amwell acquired in 2021. Murray is a creative entrepreneur who has started, run, and served as a senior executive at numerous companies. He has broad experience in leadership and strategy, bringing new products to market, generating revenue, building strategic relationships, and M&A. Murray is also a Board member and advisor to other promising technology start-ups in various industries. His main goal in healthcare is to put patients at the center of their care.

Things You’ll Learn:

• By leveraging technology, healthcare can enhance patient experiences, reduce provider burnout, and bend the cost curve.
• Transforming healthcare begins by putting the patient at the center, focusing on prevention and wellness.
• Proactive care relies on early patient data collection, using technology to predict and intervene before health issues escalate.
• Implementing AI requires caution to avoid eroding trust
• Optimizing care delivery involves leveraging technology to identify patients needing immediate attention, and prevent unnecessary visits and calls.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Murray Brozinsky on LinkedIn.
• Follow Amwell on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Amir Azarbad:

Amir Azarbad is the Managing Director of 10Pearls Healthcare Practice, focusing on strategic and technology solutions. He has over 20 years of healthcare experience and has helped organizations transform their legacy solutions to reduce administrative costs while increasing automation and enabling business configurable solutions.

Prior to his current role, he was the founder of Inspirant Group, which was acquired by 10Pearls in March of 2023. Amir was also executive director of Strategy and Technology Innovation for Health Care Services Corporation (Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL, TX, NM, OK, and MT) and was responsible for transforming care and utilization management for more than 15 million members through innovative data-centered process management platforms that resulted in significant operational savings.

About Frank Webster:

Frank Webster is the ChiefMedicalOfficerof Health Care Service Corporation(BlueCross Blue Shield of IL, TX, NM, OK, and MT), focusing on clinical data management, improving access to behavioral health services, and the overall measurement, improvement, and integration of behavioral with medical services. He has over 25 years of invaluable clinical and leadership experience, dedicated to improving and implementing large-scale system-wide reorganizations.

Prior to joining HCSC, Dr. Webster was responsible for Dallas area Psychiatric Emergency Services. He has extensive background in Managed Behavioral Healthcare, including commercial and government contracts and ASOs. Dr. Webster holds an MD from The University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, andisanAdjunctProfessor for Health InformaticsattheUniversity of Texas at Tyler

Things You’ll Learn:

• The importance of understanding the limitations of your data and its implications.
• There is a critical need for critical thinking and not blindly accepting AI recommendations without understanding what the data can and cannot reveal.
• The a need to start with the end in mind and work backward when navigating healthcare transformation.
• It is important to challenge questions upfront to ensure that the focus is on thoughtful, practical solutions rather than simply being swayed by flashy but impractical ideas.
• The need to reach out and engage in discussions about practical solutions for healthcare, encouraging listeners to take proactive steps toward change.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Amir Azarbad on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Frank Webster on LinkedIn.
• Follow 10Pearls on LinkedIn.
• Visit the 10Pearls website here.
• Follow HCSC on LinkedIn.
• Visit the HCSC website here.

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About Rekha Kumar:

Dr. Rekha Kumar is a globally recognized leader in the field of Obesity Medicine, currently holding the position of Chief Medical Officer at Found, a weight care platform. With a past role as the medical director of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, Dr. Kumar has shared her insights on the international stage regarding the medical evaluation and treatment of obesity.

Contributing significantly to her field, she has authored various papers and textbook chapters and serves as an Associate Editor for the Obesity Journal. Her expertise extends to diverse topics, including the clinical assessment of patients with obesity and metabolic syndrome, the impact of obesity on reproductive health and fertility, and thyroid disease.

Beyond her clinical work, Dr. Kumar has actively participated in global health initiatives, exploring the landscape of metabolic diseases in countries like India, China, and Tanzania. She is a valued member of the board of advisors for the Duke Global Health Institute and holds Board Certifications in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism, and Obesity Medicine.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Obesity is a heterogeneous disease. What works for one person may not work for another.
• Found's outcomes boast a 90% success rate, with patients achieving a 10% body weight loss in one year.
• Research says 40% of adults and 20% of children have obesity. The US obesity treatment market is about $15 billion. The US weight loss market is about 160 billion.
• There’s a biological component to obesity; it’s not just willpower, diet, and exercise.
• The root cause of each person’s weight gain can be vastly different.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Rekha Kumar on LinkedIn.
• Follow Found on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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There’s a lot of fear around applying artificial intelligence to the life sciences.

And while Diogo Rau concedes that there are risks associated with using AI, the biggest risk is that we won’t use it.

Diogo Rau is EVP and Chief Information and Digital Officer of Eli Lilly & Company, where he leads their information technology, cybersecurity, digital health, advanced analytics and data science functions.

Prior to joining Lilly, Diogo served as Head of Engineering for Apple Retail and Partner at McKinsey & Company.

On this episode of The Beat, Diogo joins host Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the use of AI to facilitate clinical trials and drug discovery in a patient-first world.

Diogo explains how he is bringing Apple’s focus on the end user to life sciences, sharing his vision of what an Apple-like healthcare experience looks like and how to create a culture of innovation at Lilly.

Listen in for Diogo’s insight on using tech to inspire behavior change in patients and learn how we might leverage AI to generate new medicines, improve clinical trials and facilitate personalized medicine.

Topics Covered

• How Diogo is bringing Apple’s focus on the end user to life sciences
• Diogo’s take on what differentiates customers from patients
• What inspired Diogo’s transition from Apple to his current role at Lilly
• Leveraging artificial intelligence to facilitate personalized medicine
• Why Lilly is prioritizing AI-designed and generated medicines
• How to discern when we can innovate fast in the life sciences space
• Building a culture of innovation in a large company like Lilly
• How Diogo thinks about Lilly’s role in the healthcare ecosystem
• Diogo’s vision of what an Apple-like healthcare experience looks like
• Using technology to facilitate prevention through behavior change
• Why Lilly is working on both insulin drugs and diabetes prevention
• Diogo’s mission to impact the way medicine gets to patients

Connect with Diogo Rau

Eli Lilly & Company

Diogo on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on X

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Dr. Gulati on X

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

Clay Christensen’s Model of Disruptive Innovation

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Wait But Why Blog

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About Kate Renwick-Espinosa:

Kate Renwick-Espinosa is the dedicated President of VSP Vision Care, the nation's largest healthcare organization by membership, offering vision benefits to 1-in-4 people in the U.S. With over 85 million members globally, 63,000 clients, and a vast network of 41,000 providers, Kate passionately wakes up every day with the mission of helping people see their best vision. Specifically, she oversees operations and strategic direction for various channels, including employer-based benefits, health plan alliances, benefits brokers, and direct-to-consumer.

With a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of California, Davis, and an MBA from California State University-Sacramento, Kate's journey reflects a commitment to transforming healthcare accessibility and experience for individuals and communities alike.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Vision care is a healthcare secret weapon, offering a gateway to detecting over 270 health conditions through eye exams.
• The eyes provide a unique perspective into the body, allowing for early detection of conditions like pre-diabetes and markers for heart attacks or strokes.
• Healthy eyesight is life-changing at every stage of life, impacting academic success, detecting underlying health issues, and ensuring a fulfilling life.
• Employers can enhance productivity and save costs by encouraging employees to manage their healthcare through comprehensive benefits, including vision care.
• Annual eye exams are a crucial aspect of self-care, ensuring individuals stay proactive about their eye health and overall well-being.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kate Renwick-Espinosa on LinkedIn.
• Follow SVP Vision Care on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Anne Heatherington:

Anne Heatherington is the R&D Chief Data and Technology Officer at Takeda, a top biopharmaceutical leader in Cambridge, Massachusetts. With over four years at Takeda, Anne leads the Data Sciences Institute team, steering the data, digital, and technology strategy for Research & Development.

Her diverse career includes key roles such as Senior Vice President at Summit Therapeutics plc and Vice President at Pfizer. After 12 years at Pfizer, Anne chaired the Technical Review Committee, showcasing her leadership. Anne holds a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Queen's University Belfast, a Ph.D. in Pharmacokinetics from the University of Manchester, and is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Washington.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Drug development is at a critical point where marrying traditional approaches with new innovations is crucial to avoid obsolescence, emphasizing the need for adaptability in the industry.
• Takeda aims to become the most trusted digital biopharmaceutical company, driving innovation in the healthcare sector.
• Achieving success in digitalizing drug development involves combining knowledge of regulations, a strong foundation in science, and a dedication to innovation.
• It’s more impactful to solve real-world problems with AI rather than just following the hype.
• Takeda collaborates with MIT, leveraging AI to address business problems and develop solutions, such as using speech as a biomarker for diseases.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Anne Heatherington on LinkedIn.
• Follow Takeda on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Deborah Glasser:

Deborah Glasser holds an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.A. with honors from Tufts University. Deborah is currently the Head of Vaccines in North America at Sanofi. In this role, she spearheads a team committed to pursuing scientific breakthroughs, focusing on the development and enhancement of immunizations. Sanofi, a global pharmaceutical giant, places a strong emphasis on innovation, and Deborah plays a crucial role in driving the vision forward, expanding access to vaccines, and advancing public health initiatives throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Drawing on a rich and varied professional background, Deborah brings more than a decade of experience to her current role. Her journey includes an illustrious 13-year tenure at Biogen, where she held diverse positions across its U.S., European, and global organizations. Notably, she played a key role in the successful launch of Tecfidera, an oral multiple sclerosis product that achieved remarkable success, generating $1.3 billion in U.S. sales within its first four full quarters on the market.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The vaccine industry faces intense competition.
• RSV stands as the primary reason for infant hospitalizations.
• Approximately 70 out of every 100,000 individuals end up hospitalized due to the flu.
• The flu poses a significant and serious risk, with an average of 36,000 deaths annually, potentially reaching 98,000 in severe seasons. These deaths are preventable.
• It's crucial to recognize the seriousness of the flu and take preventive measures to avoid unnecessary fatalities.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Deborah Glasser on LinkedIn.
• Follow Sanofi on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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All too often, the people building healthcare solutions in the public sector have never seen a patient. The same goes for policymakers.

And the voices of real people with real health problems get lost.

That’s why Andy Slavitt advocates for a collaborative approach to solving critical problems in healthcare. An approach that leverages the lived experiences of everyday Americans to inform innovation and policy.

Andy is General Partner of Town Hall Ventures, a healthcare firm that invests in underrepresented communities, and Founder of United States of Care, a national nonprofit health advocacy organization.

Andy has led many of the nation's most important healthcare initiatives, serving as President Obama's Head of Medicare and Medicaid and overseeing the turnaround, implementation, and defense of the Affordable Care Act.

On this episode of The Beat, Andy joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the future of public-private partnerships to drive innovation and policy decision making.

Andy explains why policy drives innovation in healthcare, exploring the obstacles to adopting effective policy on a national level and what prevents hospital systems from prioritizing prevention over treatment.

Listen in for insight on what inspired Andy’s work with underserved communities and learn how he finds companies building simple healthcare solutions and invests in helping them scale.

Topics Covered

• The experiences that inspired Andy’s work to serve underrepresented communities
• Why it’s so challenging to build effective healthcare policy in our political system
• Andy’s approach to solving critical problems in healthcare through collaboration among innovators, policymakers and everyday citizens
• The common attributes of companies Andy invests in through Town Hall Ventures
• Why Andy believes that policy drives innovation in the healthcare space
• The obstacles to adopting effective healthcare policy on a national level
• What prevents hospital systems from prioritizing prevention over treatment
• How Andy invests in companies building simple healthcare solutions and helps them scale (e.g.: urgent care centers for mental health crises)

Connect with Andy Slavitt

Town Hall Ventures

United States of Care

In the Bubble Podcast

Andy on X

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on X

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Dr. Gulati on X

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

Connections

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About Byron Crowe:

Dr. Byron Crowe is the Chief Medical Officer at Solera Health, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, and a practicing internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Byron oversees clinical program development for Solera's suite of health solutions, addressing physical, mental, and social well-being for millions of patients nationwide. With a rich background in healthcare, his expertise lies in digital health innovation and human-centered design, navigating the complexities of health systems.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Chronic conditions affect six out of ten US adults, making it a space needing further innovation.
• Solera Health’s HALO platform helps patients, providers, and payers, offering evidence-based solutions and streamlining operations.
• Measuring outcomes at the individual level provides objective evidence of improvement.
• The next decade is a tremendous learning opportunity for those invested in digital health solutions.
• It's hard to manage chronic conditions, but if managed well, they can make a big impact on someone's long-term trajectory.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Byron Crowe on LinkedIn.
• Follow Solera Health on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Solera Health website here.
• Get a copy of The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande here.

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About Caroline Pearson:

Caroline Pearson is the Executive Director of the Peterson Health Technology Institute, driving impactful change in the healthcare sector. With a passion for addressing complex healthcare issues, Caroline leads initiatives to create a high-performing health system that reduces costs and enhances outcomes. She is a nationally recognized expert in public and private health insurance, prescription drugs, and aging issues.

Caroline has two decades of consulting experience providing data-driven analysis and strategic advice to healthcare stakeholders. Currently, at PHTI, she oversees programs dedicated to improving healthcare data, fostering better market functioning, and revolutionizing digital health purchasing. Caroline's commitment to tackling industry challenges reflects in her role, where she actively contributes to shaping a future where technology plays a pivotal role in delivering quality healthcare.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Patients deserve equal or better clinical outcomes from digital tools backed by evidence.
• It's time to evolve how we think about digital health and drive towards better evidence.
• The Peterson Health Technology Institute evaluates digital health tools based on clinical benefit and budget impact.
• PHTI focuses on innovative technology-based solutions that disrupt the system and deliver value.
• Technology has the potential to drive better outcomes and produce greater efficiency.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Caroline Pearson on LinkedIn.
• Follow Peterson Healthcare Technology Institute on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Josh Flum:

Josh Flum is a Managing Partner at LRVHealth, a company that invests in healthcare ideas. LRVHealth has a skilled team of healthcare experts and partners with others to support new healthcare companies.

Before LRVHealth, Flum worked for 20 years at CVS Health in different roles. His latest role there was as Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer, where he handled challenges in the changing healthcare world. Flum led significant changes, like combining CVS Health and Aetna and starting CVS Health Ventures, a fund to support new digital health businesses. He played key roles in senior positions, leading growth in CVS Health’s Retail Pharmacy Division through new and smart ideas.

Flum studied at Tufts University and Yale Law School. He began his career working for a U.S. Court of Appeals judge and then at a law firm. Later, he joined the Boston Consulting Group, focusing on the consumer and retail fields.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Investing is both an art and a science, requiring a nuanced blend of strategic thinking and analytical evaluation.
• Market dynamics resemble a pendulum, with current positioning influenced by past trajectories. Understanding this informs future directions and decision-making.
• The surge in digital health solutions during the COVID crisis highlights the transformative potential of technology in healthcare.
• Amid market challenges, it's crucial to reassess and prioritize the fundamental aspects of healthcare for the coming years.
• There are upcoming changes in how new therapies will be brought to market, commercialized, and integrated into the system for patient access. This includes the exploration of new insurance models to facilitate the payment for these therapies.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Josh Flum on LinkedIn.
• Follow LRVHealth on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Owen Tripp:

Owen Tripp is the Co-founder of Included Health, a groundbreaking integrated navigation and virtual care company reshaping the healthcare landscape. With a lifelong background in technology, Owen previously co-founded Reputation.com, a global leader in online reputation and privacy management, showcasing his prowess in dealing with large datasets to enhance trust and collaboration in online interactions.

In 2012, Owen embarked on a mission to revolutionize the healthcare experience. Driven by the saddening fact that the internet has had a limited impact on healthcare, he identified an opportunity to leverage technology for positive change.

Owen’s journey reflects not only a technical challenge but also a commitment to making a substantial impact on individuals, including his family members, by redefining healthcare accessibility and experience.

Things You’ll Learn:

• It's unfortunate that the internet hasn't changed how we get healthcare.
• Let's use AI to the fullest. Solve tough diagnoses, be quick, and provide better care.
• At the end of the day, we're all patients, as well as caregivers for others.
• Invest in yourself by getting access to primary care that is integrated with mental health. Make that investment in yourself. Do it today.
• We aim for personalized care that can save lives and lower the time spent in the healthcare system.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Owen Tripp on LinkedIn.
• Follow Included Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Stephen Hahn:

Stephen M. Hahn, M.D., is CEO-Partner of Flagship Pioneering and Chief Executive Officer of Harbinger Health. Steve joined Flagship in June 2021 as Chief Medical Officer of its Preemptive Health and Medicine Initiative, which is creating a new field that aims to protect, maintain, or improve people’s health before they get sick. Steve will continue as a strategic advisor to the Initiative.

Steve brings two decades of distinguished leadership in healthcare strategy, oncology medical practice, and translational/clinical research to this role. He served as the 24th U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner from 2019 to 2021, overseeing both COVID and non-COVID regulatory affairs, including therapeutics and vaccine development, devices, diagnostics, and clinical trials.

Steve focused his translational research efforts on evaluating the tumor microenvironment, signal transduction pathways involved in tumor response to therapies, and proton therapy. He has authored more than 220 peer-reviewed original research articles and has experience developing medical products.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Harbinger's mission is to find diseases early, before symptoms arise, to improve treatment outcomes and save lives.
• Their focus on developing accessible and affordable diagnostics will revolutionize healthcare.
• Dr. Hahn’s insights into Harbinger's innovative blood test, leveraging machine learning and AI to detect specific genetic signatures of cancer in the bloodstream.
• This technology has the potential to revolutionize cancer screening and diagnosis.
• The importance of building trust in healthcare. Access to affordable and reliable testing is vital, and Harbinger is committed to making its technologies accessible to all, regardless of location or socioeconomic status.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Stephen Hahn on LinkedIn.
• Follow Harbinger Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Malekeh Amini:

Malekeh Amini is the Founder and CEO of Trayt, a healthcare software company dedicated to improving diagnosis and treatments in brain-based disorders, including Autism, ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, substance use, and Alzheimer's, among others. Before Trayt, Malekeh was the Senior Vice President of Products & Business Development at Base Health where she provided the vision connecting new breakthroughs in medical science to the needs of healthcare organizations and consumers. A former consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and the Parthenon Group, Malekeh has provided strategic, operational, and fundraising advice to healthcare and education organizations globally. Malekeh served on the fundraising Board of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Wings Learning Center in Redwood City. Malekeh has an M.B.A. from Harvard University. She earned her bachelor’s degrees in Communication Sciences (Cognitive Science) and computer science and her master’s in Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California.

About Roshni Koli:

Roshni is a board-certified adult and child and adolescent psychiatrist and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School. Before joining the Meadows Institute, she served as the inaugural medical director of the pediatric mental health service line for Dell Children’s Medical Center. In her role at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, Roshni is a top decision-maker on all things medical. She anchors the executive team’s activities in contemporary, innovative, and evidence-based medical knowledge, with a special emphasis on children, youth, and families. Roshni oversees all medically-focused policy and practice guidance developed at the Institute, working closely with physicians and other clinicians across the organization. She brings decades of practical experience and deep caring for people and families affected by mental illness to help us always put people first as we pursue our mission and vision.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Social determinants of health are crucial in influencing better quality and better healthcare outcomes.
• The impact of non-medical drivers of health, such as food insecurity, transportation, housing, and unemployment, cannot be overlooked.
• Data and analytics are transforming mental healthcare.
• It's not just about collecting data but structuring it in the right way and using analytics to create actionable insights for decision-makers.
• Policy improvements are needed for equitable access to mental healthcare. Early intervention, early diagnosis, and prevention are vital to changing the trajectory of a child's life and the future of our communities.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Malekeh on LinkedIn.
• Follow Trayt on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Connect with and follow Roshni on LinkedIn.
• Follow Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Malekeh previous interview.

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About Fred Turner:

Fred Turner is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Curative. Turner was named one of the top 100 practicing scientists in the UK by the Science Council in 2013. He was also included in Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30’ list and ranked first in the European Union Contest for Young Scientists. Recently, Fred was awarded Comparably's Best CEO Award and Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Emerging Leaders in 2021.

Under Turner’s leadership, Curative launched a first-of-its-kind health insurance plan that offers unmatched transparency into healthcare costs. Inspired by his vision to create a healthcare system that works for and supports patients’ whole health through every step of their personal health journey, Turner and the Curative team developed a path-breaking health plan with no copays, no deductibles, and no cost-sharing for its members.

Previously, Turner led Curative as it became the national leader in bringing COVID-19 testing and vaccine administration resources to people in response to the pandemic, providing more than 36 million tests and two million vaccines across thousands of locations in more than 40 states. Before creating both of Curative’s highly innovative business models, Fred founded and led a 16z and YC-backed diagnostics (Dx) startup that built a CLIA lab for validating and launching an STD testing product in Menlo Park, California.

Things You’ll Learn:

• High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP) are leaving insured individuals functionally uninsured, unable to afford out-of-pocket costs for care.
• Curative's unique model offers 120 days of no out-of-pocket cost for in-network care, promoting preventative care and simplifying health benefits.
• Employers experiencing rising insurance costs can benefit from exploring new options like those offered by Curative to better support their employees' health and well-being.
• The importance of making healthcare access and benefits clear and straightforward.
• Curative’s approach yields an impressive 98% member engagement rate, demonstrating the effectiveness of its model in promoting proactive health management.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Fred Turner on LinkedIn.
• Follow Curative on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Mike Montello:

Mike Montello serves as the Senior Vice President, R&D Digital and Tech at GSK, a pharmaceutical company that ranks among the top ten globally and generates over $36 billion in revenue. Oncology, immunology, respiratory disorders, HIV, and infectious illnesses are its strong therapeutic domains. Mike is a sponsor of multiple aspects of GSK's overall digital transformation, including the company's transition to a product-centric structure, its strategic alliances with IT firms, and its digital training initiatives. Building diverse teams and encouraging inclusive leaders are two things that particularly inspire and excite him personally. He gets his energy from speeding innovation through culture. His other main concern is giving GSK's AI machine learning engineers the best quality data in the safest manner possible.

Over his career, Mike has worked to improve healthcare via the use of digital, data, and analytics technologies. Mike held the position of CIO at Quintiles prior to the company's 2018 rebranding as IQVIA. He was in charge of the technological platforms that allowed clinical trials to take place in over 100 nations. Along with leading the product teams that developed the next generation of clinical development data and analytics capabilities, decentralized trial platforms, and supported multiple tech acquisitions, Mike also directed the company's R&D technology strategy following the merger with IMS and Quintiles. In addition to spending several years in IT leadership positions at Shire Pharmaceuticals, Mike spent twelve years working as a management consultant at Accenture, where he developed his basic understanding of biopharmaceuticals and technology.

Mike has a mechanical engineering degree and graduated from London Business School with an executive MBA.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Every pharmaceutical company needs transformation and acceleration.
• GSK is using AI to identify patients who are most likely to respond favorably to medicines and vaccines by leveraging appropriate data.
• In the pharma sector, there is a constant need to accelerate clinical trials, drug discovery, and the commercialization process.
• Large language models and AI will help us a lot with mundane activities.
• We have to balance the benefits of AI with making sure we're doing things extremely responsibly.
• It's less about the technology and more about serving people with that technology.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Mike Montello on LinkedIn.
• Follow GSK on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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The current healthcare system is a reactive one. We only see a doctor when something is wrong, and disease is rarely diagnosed in its early stages.

But Andrew Lacy is working to make our sick care system much more proactive.

Andrew is Founder and CEO of Prenuvo, the pioneer in MRI-based, clinical-diagnostic screening exams. Under his leadership, the company has expanded across North America, establishing Prenuvo as a recognized and trusted proactive healthcare service.

On this episode of The Beat, Andrew joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the future of whole-body imaging diagnostics for early disease detection and prevention.

Andrew explains what differentiates Prenuvo from the typical healthcare experience and how his technology differs from other MRI options.

Listen in for Andrew’s insight on empowering people with a roadmap of what’s going on in their body and learn how Prenuvo inspires the lifestyle changes that have a massive impact on patient health.

Topics Covered

• How Andrew’s own health crisis inspired him to build Prenuvo
• How Prenuvo’s whole-body screening empowers patients with information about their health
• What differentiates Prenuvo from the typical healthcare experience
• Why there’s a growing acceptance of the technology for full-body imaging
• How Andrew responds to the 2 most common objections to Prenuvo—unnecessary follow-up and worry
• What distinguishes the Prenuvo technology from other MRI options
• The challenge around training radiologists to be comfortable with a whole-body approach
• The 3 most typical profiles of a Prenuvo patient and who it ISN’T for
• The top features of Prenuvo from a women’s health perspective
• When a Prenuvo scan is covered by insurance (and when it isn’t)
• How Prenuvo imaging inspires clients to make important lifestyle changes
• How Prenuvo is training AI to identify subtle signals of early disease

Connect with Andrew Lacy

Prenuvo

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on X

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Dr. Gulati on X

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

NikoHealth

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About Craig Douglass:

Craig Douglass is the Chief Growth Officer at Digitas Health, a leading global agency specializing in connected health. With over 25 years in the field, he's developed expertise in crafting impactful campaigns and content that improve health results in various areas like cancer, respiratory issues, diabetes, vaccines, immunology, infectious disease, and mental health. His commitment to blending creativity, media, and technology has placed him at the forefront of the healthcare communications industry's digital transformation. Working at Digitas Health, the pioneering connected health agency, Douglass helps health brands navigate the complexities of an ever-changing media landscape.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Marketing plays a crucial role in improving health outcomes.
• Better engagement in healthcare leads to improved results for individuals.
• The ever-changing landscape demands responsiveness over speed and adaptation to new circumstances.
• The heart of pharmaceutical marketing lies in the connection between physicians and patients.
• Rather than seeking an omnichannel agency, prioritize finding one that can effectively build your brand and drive results across multiple channels.
• Simplicity is essential, and distinguishing the signal from the noise is crucial to effective marketing.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Craig Douglass on LinkedIn.
• Follow Digitas Health on LinkedIn.
• Visit Digitas Health on their Website.

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About Geoff McCleary:

Geoff McCleary is the VP of Global Connected Health Lead at Capgemini, an organization partnering with companies to transform their businesses with the aid of technology. Geoff has over 25 years of experience in leading digital innovation, strategy, and marketing for global clients across the health ecosystem, from pharma and biotech to providers and payers. He specifically helps healthcare and life sciences leaders turn their connected health efforts into value-driving enterprises.

Geoff, drawing on his personal experience and his son’s case, is also a member of the Board of Directors at the TOPP Foundation, aiming to bring Type One Diabetes families together while increasing public awareness of the disease.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Put patients first and make sure healthcare plans have a clear goal so they make a difference in patients' lives.
• Healthcare is not just about new ideas; it's about making patients' experiences good. Think more about what matters, not just being innovative for no reason.
• In the past, there were about 100,000 healthcare apps, but most of them weren’t reliable and effective enough.
• Create solutions that help, think about the users, and keep patient information private.
• At the end of the day, what the patient wants is the key.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Geoff on LinkedIn.
• Follow Capgemini on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Capgemini website here.

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About Megan Scheffel:

Megan Scheffel is a highly collaborative executive with deep experience in finance, venture capital, and technology who enjoys tackling complex organizational challenges, creative problem-solving, and communicating crisply and authentically. Based in DC, she is responsible for the investment and credit decisions for the focus on delivering venture debt, investment management, treasury and payment solutions for all stages of healthcare companies. SVB's mission is to be the premier financial services firm for innovation executives, and their investors.

She began her career at Silicon Valley Bank’s Silicon Valley headquarters, where she was responsible for handling credit functions and compliance and providing analyst support for lenders in the Northern California and Northwest regions. In 2002, she moved to the East Coast to join her husband and to focus on the growth of technology and venture firms in the Mid-Atlantic region.

In 2015-2016, Megan was selected to help with the launch of SVB's JV bank in Shanghai, China. From October through January, she moved to China and spent time in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai doing business development with technology, life science clients and investment firms and helped build out and organize the teams at the JV.

Scheffel is active in supporting and speaking on behalf and with the entrepreneurial organizations and events throughout the Washington D.C. Scheffel earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, specializing in finance, from the University of Colorado in Boulder. When not at work, you can find her cheering on her kids at a variety of sport complexes around DC and running on the trails.

Things You’ll Learn:

• SVB's acquisition by First Citizens Bank in March hasn't changed its focus on the innovation economy. They continue to acquire and service clients in the same way as before.
• SVB's value proposition lies in its extensive expertise in the life science and healthcare sectors.
• SVB specializes in lending to pre-profit and cash-burning companies, offering unique financial services to startups.
• Despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, there is still funding available for healthcare startups. M&A activity is expected to increase, and SVB is actively monitoring trends and providing valuable insights to their clients.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Megan Scheffel on LinkedIn.
• Follow SVB on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Megan Scheffel:

Megan Scheffel is a highly collaborative executive with deep experience in finance, venture capital, and technology who enjoys tackling complex organizational challenges, creative problem-solving, and communicating crisply and authentically. Based in DC, she is responsible for the investment and credit decisions for the focus on delivering venture debt, investment management, treasury and payment solutions for all stages of healthcare companies. SVB's mission is to be the premier financial services firm for innovation executives, and their investors.

She began her career at Silicon Valley Bank’s Silicon Valley headquarters, where she was responsible for handling credit functions and compliance and providing analyst support for lenders in the Northern California and Northwest regions. In 2002, she moved to the East Coast to join her husband and to focus on the growth of technology and venture firms in the Mid-Atlantic region.

In 2015-2016, Megan was selected to help with the launch of SVB's JV bank in Shanghai, China. From October through January, she moved to China and spent time in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai doing business development with technology, life science clients and investment firms and helped build out and organize the teams at the JV.

Scheffel is active in supporting and speaking on behalf and with the entrepreneurial organizations and events throughout the Washington D.C. Scheffel earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, specializing in finance, from the University of Colorado in Boulder. When not at work, you can find her cheering on her kids at a variety of sport complexes around DC and running on the trails.

Things You’ll Learn:

• SVB's acquisition by First Citizens Bank in March hasn't changed its focus on the innovation economy. They continue to acquire and service clients in the same way as before.
• SVB's value proposition lies in its extensive expertise in the life science and healthcare sectors.
• SVB specializes in lending to pre-profit and cash-burning companies, offering unique financial services to startups.
• Despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, there is still funding available for healthcare startups. M&A activity is expected to increase, and SVB is actively monitoring trends and providing valuable insights to their clients.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Megan Scheffel on LinkedIn.
• Follow SVB on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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In February, Amazon Health announced its acquisition of One Medical.

What inspired the collaboration? And what does integration look like between the two organizations?

Dr. Sunita Mishra is Chief Medical Officer at Amazon Health, which aims to make it dramatically easier to engage with the services, products and professionals needed to get and stay healthy.

Dr. Andrew Diamond is Chief Medical Officer at One Medical. He has been a driving force in developing the health system’s approach to care and maintaining its human-centered culture.

On this episode of The Beat, Dr. Mishra and Dr. Diamond join hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss what values Amazon Health and One Medical share.

Dr. Mishra describes Amazon’s vision for simplifying healthcare, and Dr. Diamond explains how the One Medical model gives its members more agency than the traditional system.

Listen in to understand how Amazon’s technological capabilities benefit healthcare delivery and learn how Dr. Mishra and Dr. Diamond are working together to promote patient-focused primary care.

Topics Covered

• Dr. Mishra & Dr. Diamond’s roles at Amazon Health and One Medical
• How Amazon is realizing its vision of making healthcare easier
• The collaborative energy between Amazon Health and One Medical
• How the healthcare system influences the way clinicians see their patients
• What values Amazon Health and One Medical share (and how that makes integration easier)
• How the One Medical model gives its members more agency
• What changes members of One Medical can expect with the Amazon acquisition
• One Medical’s ability to care for patients with chronic disease
• How Amazon’s technological capabilities benefit healthcare delivery
• How Amazon Health thinks about incorporating behavioral health

Connect with Dr. Sunita Mishra

Amazon Health

Dr. Mishra on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Andrew Diamond

One Medical

Dr. Diamond on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on X

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Dr. Gulati on X

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

Amazon’s Acquisition of One Medical

One Medical Seniors

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About Kaveh Safavi:

Kaveh helps organizations harness the promise of technology and human ingenuity to humanize healthcare. He works with providers, health insurers, and public and private health systems in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. A seasoned executive, Dr. Safavi brings more than three decades of leadership experience to Accenture Health. Prior to joining Accenture in 2011, Dr. Safavi led Cisco’s healthcare practice. Before that, he was chief medical officer of Thomson Reuters’ health business, vice president of medical affairs at United Healthcare, and had leadership roles at HealthSpring and Humana. Among his many accomplishments was establishing one of the Midwest’s first electronic-health-record-enabled primary care practices.

Dr. Safavi has published numerous papers and is often interviewed and quoted on his expert healthcare knowledge in various media publications, including The Wall Street Journal, the BBC, The New York Times, Consumer Reports, US News and World Report, Harvard Business Review, and The Economist. He earned an M.D. from Loyola University School of Medicine and a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law and completed a residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical Center. An adjunct lecturer of Health Enterprise Management at Kellogg School of Management-Northwestern University, Dr. Safavi also serves on the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences’ Board of Visitors–at Northwestern University, is a member of the Easterseals National Board of Directors and is a lifelong Chicagoan

Things You’ll Learn:

• The power asymmetry between doctors and patients in healthcare needs to be balanced.
• Empowering patients and harnessing technology can humanize healthcare and create a better care system.
• Generative AI is a game-changer in healthcare. It can save hours of time by automating language-based tasks like reading, writing, and content creation. This frees up healthcare professionals to focus on higher-value work.
• Generative AI has tremendous potential to address workforce challenges in healthcare. By augmenting or substituting certain tasks, it can help bridge the gap amidst a scarcity of healthcare professionals.
• Responsible use of generative AI and clear guidance are crucial to avoid potential risks and ensure patient safety.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kaveh Safavi on LinkedIn.
• Follow Accenture on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Accenture website here.

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About Judith Kulich:

Judith serves as ZS’s lead for patient health and equity, focused on partnering with clients across the healthcare industry to drive meaningful progress in health equity. She is also an elected member of ZS’s Shareholders’ Council, serving as the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) program chair. Judith established and ran ZS’s pipeline and launch strategy practice area and led ZS’s firm-wide practice council. Internally, she led ZS’s San Francisco office and was one of the founders of Women@ZS and our philanthropic arm, ZS Cares, both of which she is still actively involved in today.

Judith has spent much of her 20-plus years in the healthcare industry focused on drug development and bringing medicines to market globally. In recent years, she has expanded her work into healthcare payers and providers, bringing sectors together around a common aim of addressing both disparities in care and global health inequities. She has led industry collaborations and ZS’s investments and actively contributed to global health equity partnerships.

Judith holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.S. in industrial engineering and operations research from the University of California, Berkeley.

Things You’ll Learn:

• There is a growing appetite for collaboration in the healthcare industry, with a myriad of partners eager to expand the impact they can have on health equity.
• Building trust, humility, and compliance considerations are essential components in forging effective health equity partnerships.
• Despite challenges, organizations can navigate and overcome the barriers, leading to productive and impactful collaborations.
• When it comes to successful initiatives, the focus should be on replicability rather than scaling.
• By recognizing what works well in one partnership and employing a "lift and shift" approach, organizations can leverage proven strategies and experiences to reach diverse patient communities effectively.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Judith Kulich on LinkedIn.
• Follow ZS on LinkedIn.
• Visit the ZS website here.

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About Steve Kraus:

Steve Kraus is a partner at Bessemer in the Cambridge office and a world-renowned healthcare investor. He is the author of Bessemer’s 10 Laws of Healthcare, Benchmarks for Growing Health tech Businesses, and is a co-host of A Healthy Dose podcast. Steve currently sits on the boards of Bright Health Group, Headspace Health, Groups, Qventus, AspenRx, HouseRx, Oshi Health, Folx Health, Mural Health, Alcresta and US Health Partners.

Prior to joining Bessemer, Steve worked for a growth-stage, private equity firm and as a management consultant at Bain & Company. He has also worked on several different political campaigns throughout his career.

He serves as an Observer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, an advisor to Boston Children’s Hospital and the Harvard Business School’s Center for Entrepreneurship, and on the investment committees of BCBS Massachusetts and Rock Health.

Steve graduated from summa cum laude from Yale University and earned his MBA from Harvard, where he was a Baker Scholar.

Things You’ll Learn:

• With a dedicated healthcare practice for over 40 years, Bessemer brings a unique advantage by integrating partners with diverse industry expertise and networks. This approach allows them to make strategic investments in various industries, including healthcare, software as a service, fintech, consumer, and crypto.
• The Intersection of Healthcare and AI: One of the fascinating topics discussed is how Bessemer leverages the convergence of healthcare and AI.
• By combining Bessemer’s healthcare team's knowledge with a deep AI team, they have built one of the most extensive portfolios in healthcare AI today. This focus on innovation and emerging technologies positions them to tap into the potential of AI to drive down costs, improve outcomes, and revolutionize the healthcare industry.
• Navigating the Current Landscape: With recent economic challenges, including market downturns and valuation adjustments, the VC industry has faced some headwinds. However, Steve Krause highlights that the current valuation reset has created opportunities for investors.
• Steve emphasizes that the healthcare sector, in particular, holds immense potential, and as the public markets open up, the next cohort of healthcare tech companies will emerge, propelling the industry forward.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Steve Kraus on LinkedIn.
• Follow Bessemer on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Shannon Klinger:

Shannon Thyme Klinger, the Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Moderna is in charge of Moderna's legal and corporate compliance matters. Throughout her career, Shannon has been dedicated to improving long-term business performance, building trust with the public, ensuring access to medicine, and facilitating successful product launches. She is also a strong supporter of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Additionally, she served on the board of directors of the SIX Group in Switzerland from 2016 to 2020.

Shannon earned her Juris Doctorate with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame. She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia and the District of Columbia Bar.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Many individuals choose healthcare as their career path due to their personal experiences.
• Regarding AI and healthcare, balancing regulation and innovation is crucial.
• Organizations should ethically use AI applications for the benefit of the public.
• Excessive regulation can hinder the pace of innovation, potentially leading to fewer lives being protected.
• Imagine the impossible and make it possible.
• Moderna's goal is to ensure that people worldwide, regardless of their place of birth, have access to high-quality treatments.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Shannon Klinger on LinkedIn.
• Follow Moderna on LinkedIn.
• Discover the Moderna Website.
• Check out the mRNA Access Website.
• Visit Moderna’s Charitable Foundation Website.
• Listen to Shannon's previous interview here.

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About Steve Kraus:

Steve Kraus is a partner at Bessemer in the Cambridge office and a world-renowned healthcare investor. He is the author of Bessemer’s 10 Laws of Healthcare, Benchmarks for Growing Health tech Businesses, and is a co-host of A Healthy Dose podcast. Steve currently sits on the boards of Bright Health Group, Headspace Health, Groups, Qventus, AspenRx, HouseRx, Oshi Health, Folx Health, Mural Health, Alcresta and US Health Partners.

Prior to joining Bessemer, Steve worked for a growth-stage, private equity firm and as a management consultant at Bain & Company. He has also worked on several different political campaigns throughout his career.

He serves as an Observer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, an advisor to Boston Children’s Hospital and the Harvard Business School’s Center for Entrepreneurship, and on the investment committees of BCBS Massachusetts and Rock Health.

Steve graduated from summa cum laude from Yale University and earned his MBA from Harvard, where he was a Baker Scholar.

Things You’ll Learn:

• With a dedicated healthcare practice for over 40 years, Bessemer brings a unique advantage by integrating partners with diverse industry expertise and networks. This approach allows them to make strategic investments in various industries, including healthcare, software as a service, fintech, consumer, and crypto.
• The Intersection of Healthcare and AI: One of the fascinating topics discussed is how Bessemer leverages the convergence of healthcare and AI.
• By combining Bessemer’s healthcare team's knowledge with a deep AI team, they have built one of the most extensive portfolios in healthcare AI today. This focus on innovation and emerging technologies positions them to tap into the potential of AI to drive down costs, improve outcomes, and revolutionize the healthcare industry.
• Navigating the Current Landscape: With recent economic challenges, including market downturns and valuation adjustments, the VC industry has faced some headwinds. However, Steve Krause highlights that the current valuation reset has created opportunities for investors.
• Steve emphasizes that the healthcare sector, in particular, holds immense potential, and as the public markets open up, the next cohort of healthcare tech companies will emerge, propelling the industry forward.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Steve Kraus on LinkedIn.
• Follow Bessemer on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About James Wantuck:

James Wantuck is the Associate Chief Medical Officer at Accolade, where he manages a large, growing group of physicians, therapists, and clinical operations staff while working with patients daily. He's a board-certified internal medicine physician who co-founded PlushCare in 2015 and grew it to over 200 physicians offering high-quality, accessible, direct-to-consumer virtual care. James earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh and then earned his doctorate in Medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. His mission is to help people at scale.

Things You’ll Learn:

• There is a rising popularity of weight management medication in healthcare.
• GLP-1s are driving the trend when it comes to weight management medications. They are not magic, though.
• Healthcare is complicated, and most people don’t think about it until they need it.
• Hiring a physician with entrepreneurial skills can greatly benefit a healthcare organization.
• Staying responsive to market changes is essential for helping patients access better care.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow James Wantuck on LinkedIn.
• Follow Accolade on LinkedIn and visit their website.
• Learn more about PlushCare on their website and follow them on LinkedIn.
• The Accolade App has over 17,000 positive reviews. Download it here.

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In traditional healthcare, patients don’t control the flow of funds. And that leaves payers or health systems in the driver’s seat when it comes to decision making.

But Ro designed a business that gives control back to patients. A business where health insurance doesn’t stand in the way of patients being able to access the care they want and need.

Dr. Melynda Barnes is Chief Medical Officer at Ro, a direct-to-patient health care platform that provides high-quality, affordable care without the need for insurance.

Dr. Barnes is one of Fierce Healthcare’s Most Influential Minority Executives and a 40 Under 40 Leader in Health, and she is passionate about democratizing access to quality care.

On this episode of The Beat, Melynda joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Gautam Gulati to discuss the future of vertically integrated primary care.

Melynda walks us through Ro’s suite of product offerings, explaining how her team addresses stigmatized conditions and why patients are more willing to discuss these issues with the Ro care team.

Listen in to understand why Ro built out its own pharmacy and learn how patients benefit from the company’s scale—and its very high bar for asynchronous telehealth care.

Topics Covered

• What inspired Melynda’s shift from practicing medicine to healthcare startup exec
• How Ro offers a direct-to-patient model where insurance doesn’t stand in the way of quality care
• The stigma around obesity and why there’s debate on covering medication to address it
• Ro’s suite of product offerings and why Melynda’s team focuses on stigmatized conditions
• Why patients are more willing to discuss conditions that carry stigma virtually
• How Ro sets the bar very high for asynchronous telemedicine
• How patients pay for Ro’s services through memberships, cash pay and insurance
• What members of the Ro Body program get with their membership
• What enabled Ro to scale so quickly and get their visits down to a $15 price point
• How the Ro platform is built for patients, providers and pharmacists
• Ro’s patient-first approach to expanding its service offerings
• Why Ro built out its own pharmacy and the benefits of such vertical integration

Connect with Melynda Barnes

Ro

Melynda on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on X

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Dr. Gulati on X

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

Stanford Biodesign Fellowships

GLP-1 Obesity Meds

Ro Body Program

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About Jason Sherwin:

Jason Sherwin is the Senior Director of Business Development at Clear. He is a passionate strategic thinker who is driven to challenge long-held healthcare standards. Jason has 13 years of expertise in the health technology field, focusing on product planning and commercial growth. In his role at Clear, Jason works cross-functionally with executives and other leaders in marketing, operations, and IT to maximize outcomes.

Jason completed his MBA at the Stern School of Business, which enabled him to apply the principles he learned to his real-world work. His expertise in designing successful strategies for managing organizational change and gauging success was further boosted by his specialization in Leadership & Change Management. Jason also completed his Bachelor of Science at Skidmore College in 2009.

About Ryan Howells:

Ryan Howells is Principal at Leavitt Partners and Program Manager at CARIN Alliance. He focuses on healthcare policy and interoperability issues, working with key stakeholders, including the White House, Congress, HHS, and VHA. His role is instrumental in driving consumer access to healthcare data and enabling interoperability in the healthcare ecosystem.

Ryan is also a Member of the Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (MITA) Governance Board at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, intending to provide strategic direction and tactic oversight. Ryan has earned his Master of Arts in Health Services Administration at the University of Southern California.

Things You’ll Learn:

• In healthcare, identity is critical. Getting the patient's identity wrong isn't an option.
• Streamlining healthcare through digital identity can significantly reduce provider costs and improve patient matching.
• The 21st Century Cures Act, Fire APIs, and identity-proof credentials are revolutionizing how consumers access their healthcare data.
• Individuals can prove their identity, for example, when checking in for an appointment with their doctor, through a unique digital identity, similar to taking a selfie.
• The goal is to place patients in control of their health information, providing a seamless experience.
• Trust is a crucial aspect, making the digital identity a reliable solution for healthcare data.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jason on LinkedIn.
• Visit CLEAR on their website and follow them on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Ryan on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Leavitt Partners on this website and LinkedIn.
• Visit CARIN Alliance on their website and follow them on LinkedIn.

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About Colin Soutar:

Dr. Colin Soutar is a managing director at Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory. He leads cyber & strategic risk Products and Technology within the Government & Public Services practice and is the Deloitte US Cyber Quantum Readiness leader. After finishing his studies in Dundee, Scotland, Colin started his career with a two-year post-doctorate study at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, developing pattern recognition techniques for autonomous rendezvous and capture operations. Colin now has more than 25 years of experience in biometrics, digital identity, and cybersecurity technologies and was previously the CTO of a public company in Toronto, Canada, for almost a decade. He currently serves on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council for Cybersecurity.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Quantum computing offers advanced computing capabilities, modeling, simulation, and optimization that prove incredibly beneficial to industries such as life sciences and healthcare.
• Quantum computing can revolutionize the way we approach data analysis, transforming the field with its powerful algorithms.
• While quantum computing promises immense value, it also poses a significant cybersecurity threat. Once quantum computers become available, they can potentially break the current encryption methods used to protect the integrity of transactions and data.
• Though the exact timeline for cryptographically relevant quantum computers is uncertain, organizations must proactively assess their exposure and inventory their cryptographic algorithms.
• Understanding the potential impact on data security and privacy is crucial for healthcare organizations, especially considering the expected longevity of patient data.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Colin on LinkedIn.
• Follow Deloitte on LinkedIn.
• Explore the Deloitte Website.
• World Economic Forum & Deloitte papers
• Quantum Readiness Toolkit: Building a Quantum-Secure Economy

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About Ashok Chennuru:

Ashok Chennuru serves as Global Chief Data & Insights Officer and Interim Lead of Carelon Digital Platforms. Ashok oversees the responsibility of carrying out the vision of Carelon Digital Platforms and bringing to life digital solutions that enhance healthcare outcomes and accelerate growth by reimagining care delivery, operations, and consumer experiences. He uses data analytics to drive a digital-first approach across the company's artificial intelligence (AI), exponential technology, service experience, and innovation portfolios, as well as the commercialization efforts of digital capabilities for consumers, care providers, and the health ecosystem.

Prior to his current role, Ashok served as Vice President of Enterprise Data and Analytics for Anthem, Inc. for 8 years, as Director of Enterprise Information Architecture at Wellpoint for 6 years, and as Enterprise Technologist at Liberty Mutual for 6 years. He has over two decades of industry experience, where he has played a critical role in driving innovation and growth.

Prior to joining Elevance Health, Ashok led the Information Business Intelligence team at Liberty Mutual and focused on delivering analytics to key business areas like Actuarial & Finance. Preceding Liberty Mutual, Ashok worked in software giants SAP and Oracle as a software development engineer focused on analytics products.

Ashok holds a master’s degree (MS) in Computer Science from the University of Missouri and a BS in Computer Science and Engineering from Madurai University in India.

Source

Things You’ll Learn:

• Elevance Health utilizes AI for automation, analytics, and improving consumer and provider experiences.
• By leveraging a robust data set from administrative claims, EMR data, and social and behavioral data, Elevance Health drives AI-driven insights for personalized care recommendations and closing care gaps.
• Elevance Health emphasizes responsible AI, ensuring fairness, inclusivity, robustness, security, traceability, and accountability in its AI practices.
• The core priority of using digital platforms for health is to enhance the consumer experience, including AI-driven solutions like symptom checkers and virtual care.
• The use of AI has already delivered tangible results, from personalized provider matches to streamlining prior authorizations, significantly improving consumer and provider experiences while driving operational efficiencies.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ashok Chennuru on LinkedIn.
• Follow Accolade on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Ashok Chennuru:

Ashok Chennuru serves as Global Chief Data & Insights Officer and Interim Lead of Carelon Digital Platforms. Ashok oversees the responsibility of carrying out the vision of Carelon Digital Platforms and bringing to life digital solutions that enhance healthcare outcomes and accelerate growth by reimagining care delivery, operations, and consumer experiences. He uses data analytics to drive a digital-first approach across the company's artificial intelligence (AI), exponential technology, service experience, and innovation portfolios, as well as the commercialization efforts of digital capabilities for consumers, care providers, and the health ecosystem.

He has over two decades of industry experience, where he has played a critical role in driving innovation and growth. Prior to joining Elevance Health, Ashok led the Information Business Intelligence team at Liberty Mutual and focused on delivering analytics to key business areas like Actuarial & Finance. Preceding Liberty Mutual, Ashok worked in software giants SAP and Oracle as a software development engineer focused on analytics products. Ashok holds a master’s degree (MS) in Computer Science from the University of Missouri and a BS in Computer Science and Engineering from Madurai University in India.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Elevance Health utilizes AI for automation, analytics, and improving consumer and provider experiences.
• By leveraging a robust data set from administrative claims, EMR data, and social and behavioral data, Elevance Health drives AI-driven insights for personalized care recommendations and closing care gaps.
• Responsible AI, ensuring fairness, inclusivity, robustness, security, traceability, and accountability in its AI practices.
• The core priority of using digital platforms for health is to enhance the consumer experience, including AI-driven solutions like symptom checkers and virtual care.
• The use of AI has already delivered tangible results, from personalized provider matches to streamlining prior authorizations, significantly improving consumer and provider experiences while driving operational efficiencies.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ashok Chennuru on LinkedIn.
• Follow Accolade on LinkedIn and visit their website.

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About Larissa D’Andrea:

Larissa D’Andrea is the Global Vice President of Impact at ResMed, an organization striving to improve quality of life, reduce the impact of chronic disease, and lower costs for consumers and healthcare systems in more than 120 countries. Her goal at ResMed is to bring significant leadership experience to the patient-centered healthcare space and advance ResMed’s focus on impacting over 250 million lives through its 2025 strategy. Larissa has spent 25 years in healthcare, and her portfolio encompasses enterprise ESG stewardship, government affairs, clinical advocacy, and patient advocacy. She is a graduate of the San Diego University Law School and completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology.

Her professional passion for the patient, health equity, and access led her to start and lead two organizations focused on social impact, Art into Activism and Hard Knock Productions, which have delivered on many projects in the past period and have a full range of activities on the runway for 2023. Larissa believes that storytelling fosters understanding, empathy, and inspires change, whether in self-care, relationships, or policy decisions. Authenticity is key.

Things You’ll Learn:

• A patient-centric approach should include patients, clinicians, and caregivers to provide holistic and effective care.
• Empowering individuals with information and engaging them in their healthcare decisions leads to better outcomes and improved health.
• Patients can drive positive changes in healthcare by sharing their experiences.
• Health involves not only medical care but also the well-being of our physical, mental, and emotional aspects.
• Collaboration between individuals and healthcare organizations is crucial to collectively working towards better outcomes in healthcare.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Larissa D'Andrea on LinkedIn.
• Follow ResMed on LinkedIn.
• Visit the ResMed website here.

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In the dynamic world of weight loss, Weight Watchers, now rebranded as WW, has long been a prominent figure, dedicated to science-backed methods that promote sustainable weight management.

However, the weight management landscape is experiencing notable shifts, that are reshaping the way individuals perceive their health and weight.

In this discussion hosts Dr. Gautam Gulati andDr. Jessica Shepherd are joined by two distinguished experts in the field of weight loss.

Dr. Gary Foster, the Chief Scientific Officer at WW, brings a wealth of knowledge in obesity research and a deep commitment to scaling science-validated approaches for sustained weight management.

Dr. Spencer Nadolsky serves as the Medical Director at WW and is a fervent advocate of telemedicine. He played a pivotal role in developing "Sequence," an online weight management program that Weight Watchers acquired in April 2023.

The discussion walks listeners through the behavior changes, patient empowerment, and obesity-related stigma that need to be addressed for a more comprehensive and compassionate approach to treatment.

Listen in as Dr. Foster and Dr. Nadolsky discuss the multifaceted aspects of obesity treatment and explore the evolving landscape of individualized and science-proven methods for sustainable weight management and improved health.

About Dr. Gary Foster

Gary Foster, PhD is a clinical psychologist, obesity researcher and behavior change expert. He also serves as the Chief Scientific Officer at WeightWatchers and is an Adjunct Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, he was the Founder and Director of the Center of Obesity Research and Education and Laura Carnell Professor of Medicine, Public Health and Psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, where Gary is based.

Gary has authored more than 250 scientific publications and four books on the causes, prevention and treatment of obesity. He has received numerous honors including President of The Obesity Society, the Atkinson-Stern Award for Distinguished Public Service from The Obesity Society, and the George Bray Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award in Obesity Research from the American Society for Nutrition. His most recent book, The Shift: 7 Powerful Mindset Shifts for Lasting Weight Loss, is a national bestseller.

At WeightWatchers, Gary leads the Science Team and is a member of the Leadership Team.

About Dr. Spencer Nadolsky

Spencer Nadolsky, DO, is an obesity and lipid specialist physician with a passion for improving patient outcomes through innovative solutions. As the Medical Director for WeightWatchers, Dr. Nadolsky supports the WW clinical program research and development, bringing his knowledge and expertise from the field alongside his experience scaling Sequence, the online comprehensive chronic weight management program and telehealth platform which was acquired by WeightWatchers in April 2023. Dr. Nadolsky is committed to research and development, informing science-backed program creation to transform the way weight management is delivered to individuals in support of their overall health. With a background in telemedicine and fitness coaching, Dr. Nadolsky brings a unique perspective to the digital healthcare space.

Topics Covered

• The shift away from unsustainable fad diets to more holistic and sustainable weight management approaches
• How scientists are leveraging positive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, and mindset changes to improve the weight loss journey
• How WW is addressing the stigma associated with obesity by challenging societal biases and advocating for a compassionate and informed approach
• The significance of maintaining an "adiposity-based" approach to addressing the root cause of obesity
• Advancements in obesity treatment with the introduction of GLP-1 medications that offer substantial weight loss and minimal side effects
• The efforts to raise awareness about the biological factors influencing weight gain
• The WW program's key components, including a points-based food system, activity, mindset, and sleep, provide science-based guidance for healthy habits

Connect with Dr. Gary Foster

Dr. Foster on LinkedIn

Dr. Foster on X

Connect with Dr. Spencer Nadolsky

Dr. Spencer Nadolsky

Dr. Nadolsky on X

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

HLTH

Dr. Gulati on X

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Dr. Jessica Shepherd MD

Dr. Shepherd on X

Resources

Weight Watchers (WW)

The Shift by Gary Foster, PhD

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About Jean-Claude Saghbini:

Jean-Claude Saghbini is a technology and engineering leader at Lumeris, focusing on improving healthcare outcomes and reducing costs in value-based care. With over 15 years of healthcare experience, he's dedicated to integrating technology into clinical workflows seamlessly.Before Lumeris, he served as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Wolters Kluwer Health, leading AI innovation and clinical support solutions. He also worked as the General Manager and CTO at Cardinal Health, where he developed RFID solutions to enhance patient safety, clinical documentation accuracy, and operational efficiency. Jean-Claude holds multiple healthcare technology patents, and he has a strong educational background, including a Master's degree from MIT and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He serves on various boards.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Technology is the foundation of value-based care. In order to succeed, healthcare organizations need access to vast amounts of data and the ability to derive actionable insights from it.
• Technology plays a central role in aggregating, normalizing, and analyzing this data to improve quality and reduce costs.
• Generative AI, the latest frontier in AI technology, has the potential to revolutionize care delivery. From automating routine tasks to understanding messy data and extracting meaningful insights, generative AI can empower healthcare professionals to make faster and more informed decisions.
• While the benefits of AI are promising, it's crucial to have appropriate Guardrails in place to ensure quality and safety.
• Organizations must keep physicians and clinicians in the driver's seat while leveraging AI to automate tasks, improve efficiency, and enhance patient satisfaction.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jean-Claude on LinkedIn.
• Follow Lumeris on LinkedIn.
• Visit Lumeris on their Website.

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About Mariya Filipova:

Mariya Filipova, MBA Chief Innovation Officer, CareQuest Innovation Partners. Mariya is a member of the CareQuest Institute leadership team and serves as chief innovation officer of CareQuest Innovation Partners, the for-profit affiliate of CareQuest Institute. In her role, she oversees innovation, incubation, and investment activities aimed at developing solutions that advance oral health access, equity and integration for underserved populations.

Formerly, Vice President of Innovation at Anthem Inc, Mariya led efforts in scaling emerging technologies and new business models to accelerate Anthem’s transformation to a digital-first enterprise. Mariya’s vision and leadership in these areas resulted in the development of several breakthrough solutions and programs including the $5 million XPRIZE Rapid COVID-19 Testing competition, in partnership with seven Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans, to identify and validate fast, frequent, cheap, and easy-to-use testing solutions for SARS-CoV-2 and Anthem’s Digital Data Sandbox —the largest, certified de-identified commercial data set

About Maria Ryan:

Maria Emanuel Ryan, DDS, Ph.D. is Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at the Colgate-Palmolive Company where she provides oversight and leadership to dental and dermal clinical organizations, knowledge management, and scientific communications teams. Dr. Ryan previously served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology at Stony Brook University where she was actively involved in teaching, clinical practice, and research. She is the Past President of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) and has served on many academic and foundation boards. Dr. Ryan has received numerous awards including NIH National Research Service Awards and a Physician Scientist Award. She received an achievement award from the American Dental Association and was the first recipient of the Victress Health Award to recognize her educational and research efforts in the area of women’s health. Dr. Ryan is a nationally and internationally known speaker and author who has appeared on multiple media outlets to discuss the importance of oral health to overall health and wellbeing as well as the role of the dental professional in the provision of optimal overall health care.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Oral health is an integral part of systemic health.
• What happens in our mouth can have a significant impact on our overall health and well-being. From gum disease to oral cancers, understanding these connections is crucial for improving outcomes.
• The disparity between oral health spending and investment in oral health startups is striking. There's a huge opportunity for innovators and entrepreneurs to address this gap.
• Collaboration and partnerships are key to driving innovation in oral health. Colgate Palmolive and Carequest Innovation Partners both emphasize the importance of working with external partners to bring new solutions to the market.
• If you're a startup looking to make a difference, reach out to these organizations for potential collaborations.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Mariya Filipova on LinkedIn.
• Visit CareQuest Innovation on their Website.
• Email CareQuest Innovation Partners here.
• Connect with and follow Maria Ryan on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Colgate-Palmolive Website.
• Email Maria here.

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About Jenny Yu:

Jenny Yu, MD FACS, is the Chief Health Officer for Healthline Media, the number one health publisher that drives well-being forward by leading our audience of 74 million people to take action and improve their lives. She leads the Medical Affairs team and supports the organization in strategy, growth, and medical integrity. Before joining the organization in 2020, she was a practicing academic clinician with experience in research and operation. She is the Co-founder of a non-profit, Project Theia, focusing on education, care, and innovation in facial reconstructive surgeries for global communities. She has a broad interest in innovation and solutions that help patients navigate the complexity of the healthcare systems.

During her tenure at Healthline Media and RVO Health, she has engaged in various thought leadership opportunities and provided her clinical perspective internally and externally onbroad-ranging topics such as access and adherence, whole-person health, and health literacy.

She graduated from The Ohio State University Medical School and completed an ophthalmology residency and an Oculoplastics fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She has over 20+ publications in peer-reviewed journals, numerous book chapters, and various speaking engagements during her 15+ years of clinical practice.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Access to reliable and accessible health information is crucial for patients and consumers.
• High healthcare costs significantly impact patient outcomes, highlighting the necessity for affordable healthcare solutions.
• Personalized communication and consistent messaging play a vital role in effective healthcare practices.
• Cross-functional partnerships and collaborations are essential in addressing holistic health needs and promoting preventive care.
• Technology and innovative services have a substantial impact on improving healthcare accessibility, education, and cost concerns.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jenny Yu on LinkedIn.
• Follow Healthline on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Healthline Website and here.

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Abstract:

Learn how Evernorth Health Services and Alma are empowering providers to deliver high quality care and demonstrate successful outcomes.

In this episode, Melissa Reilly, the Evernorth Chief Strategy Officer of Behavioral Health, Douglas Nemecek, the Evernorth Chief Medical Officer of Behavioral Health, and Dr. Harry Ritter, founder and CEO of Alma, share how they are transforming the behavioral health landscape. Harry shares how his team assists behavioral health clinicians in providing modern care by offering technology and infrastructure. They are centered around supporting and empowering providers in the mental health sector, who have traditionally operated independently. Through technology and their service platform, Alma fosters a sense of community, enabling these providers to participate in the modern healthcare system, collaborate with partners like Evernorth, and deliver affordable, high-quality care. Doug and Melissa discuss how they are focused on improving access to high-quality behavioral healthcare by simplifying the complex behavioral health journey for individuals, making it easy for them to receive the care they need. They use data from various sources, including medical, behavioral, and pharmacy information, to help people access the right care. Harry, Doug, and Melissa shed light on the importance of measurement in providing behavioral care. They discuss how measurement-based care strategies help strengthen and optimize patient care and foster collaboration with provider groups like Alma.

Stay tuned for an enlightening conversation with these remarkable guests as they share their insights and experiences in revolutionizing the behavioral healthcare landscape.

About Melissa Reilly:

Melissa Reilly, a change-making behavioral healthcare executive, currently serves as Evernorth’s Chief Strategy Officer of Behavioral Health, where she has spearheaded its strategy and business development initiatives since 2021. Melissa is passionate about removing barriers and using technology to improve the member experience.

About Doug Nemecek:

Dr. Doug Nemecek is a psychiatrist and Evernorth’s Chief Medical Officer of Behavioral Health, overseeing health quality, integration, and clinical operations. Doug is passionate about and focused on making sure that all of Evernorth’s members are able to get timely access to high-quality, evidence-based behavioral healthcare.

About Harry Ritter:

Dr. Harry Ritter is the Founder and CEO of Alma, a company on a mission to simplify access to high-quality, affordable mental health care. Prior to founding Alma, Harry was the Vice President of Care Delivery at Oscar Health where he built out their flagship primary care and wellness center.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Collaboration is key: By bringing together providers and leveraging technology, we can build a community of practice that supports and empowers healthcare providers. This empowers them to deliver affordable, high-quality care and have a maximum impact on patients’ lives.
• Evernorth is dedicated to simplifying the complex behavioral health journey for people.
• Leveraging data and strategic partnerships, Evernorth aims to ensure that everyone has access to high-quality care, ultimately improving individuals’ functioning at home, work, and in their communities.
• In order to strengthen and optimize care, measurement-based care is essential.
• By using data and aligning with providers like Alma, Evernorth aims to co-create interventions that focus on quality outcomes for patients, providers, and the healthcare system as a whole.

Resources:

• Visit Evernorth's Website.
• Follow Evernorth on LinkedIn
• Connect with and follow Melissa Reilly on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Doug Nemecek on LinkedIn.
• Visit Alma on their Website.
• Connect with and follow Harry Ritter on LinkedIn.

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About Charlie Harp:

Charlie Harp is the founder and CEO of Clinical Architecture, an industry-leading healthcare data quality solutions provider. Charlie has over 35 years of experience as a healthcare software engineer focused on creating tools to better utilize and understand data. He led his team to develop the first deterministic algorithm-based engine for automating semantic interoperability. Charlie often speaks on clinical data quality and usability and is the host of the Informonster Podcast.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Evaluating data quality in healthcare involves assessing millions of data points for each patient.
• Improving data quality in healthcare is not just a technical task but a strategic endeavor that necessitates significant investment and allocation of resources.
• Achieving healthcare data interoperability requires balancing standardized data practices with the flexibility needed for different healthcare institutions to operate effectively.
• Technology can play a significant role in alleviating the burden of data quality management, allowing for more efficient and accurate data assessment and integration.
• Despite challenges, incremental steps are being taken in the healthcare industry to enhance data quality and management, reflecting the dedication of healthcare professionals and the industry's commitment to progress.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Charlie Harp on LinkedIn.
• Follow Clinical Architecture on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Clinical Architecture Website.
• Listen to the Informonster podcast here.

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Topics Covered

• Dr. Kraus shares Otsuka's approach to drug development and creating products for better health worldwide
• The intersection of digital health and the pharmaceutical industry
• The importance of creating holistic solutions that put patients at the center
• The potential of digital therapeutics in treating mental health disorders
• The challenges of conducting clinical trials in the mental health space
• The responsibility of pharmaceutical companies to address historical exploitation in clinical trials
• The need for diverse researcher and investigator pools to better engage with patients
• The importance of outreach and education in clinical trial recruitment
• Dr. Kraus shares Otsuka's focus on collaboration with other organizations to drive innovation

Connect with Dr. John Kraus

• John on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter

Resources

• Otsuka
• ViVE

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Topics Covered

• Daniel shares why companies like Uber are getting involved in the future of healthcare
• How DispatchHealth is using technology to provide safe and efficient home healthcare services and the different ways patients can access it
• Learn about the Quadruple Aim of healthcare and how DispatchHealth is achieving it through its service
• The potential benefits of home healthcare
• How DispatchHealth is using technology to improve its follow-up process and operations
• How patients' willingness to open their homes provides valuable insights into their social determinants of health
• The benefits of recovering in the comfort of one's own home
• Daniel shares the different types of healthcare engagement, including digital-only, telehealth, in-person interaction, and healthcare at home, and the potential for healthcare at home to provide access and equity on a global scale

Connect with Daniel Graf

• Daniel on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd & Dr. Gautam Gulati

• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Resources

• DispatchHealth
• ViVE

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About Lisa Weber:

Lisa Weber is an accomplished industry practice director at UiPath, specializing in healthcare innovation and automation. With over 20 years of experience in the field, Lisa's background in operations has driven her passion for optimizing systems and tools to enhance healthcare delivery. Her journey in healthcare began after a decade of working in the Department of the Navy. Recognizing the potential for improvement in healthcare operations, Lisa focused her career path on robotic process automation and automation in general. She has successfully embedded automation within health systems, delivering tangible benefits such as improved care quality, reduced costs, and enhanced staff and patient satisfaction. She got her Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, and her Masters degree in Engineering Administration from the Virginia Tech College of Engineering. She also got her Master of Science in Health Administration degree from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Automation allows physicians to have more time with patients, enabling them to make better treatment decisions and improve the overall patient experience.
• Data consolidation and accessibility are significant challenges in healthcare, which automation helps overcome by gathering and providing relevant information to physicians on time.
• UiPath's automation solutions extend beyond patient care and encompass patient access, revenue cycle management, and operational efficiency.
• Healthcare organizations should incorporate automation into their innovation strategy to drive transformative change and achieve significant value.
• Embracing automation in healthcare requires change management, education, and a commitment to making it an everyday value to realize its full potential and achieve scalability in improving care delivery.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Lisa Weber on LinkedIn.
• Follow UiPath on LinkedIn.
• Explore the UiPath Website.

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Topics Covered

• Home sweet home: How home health services are revolutionizing healthcare by delivery quality care in the comfort of patients' homes
• The key benefits of home health services
• The role of technology and other digital health tools in enabling home health services
• Best Buy Health’s remote patient monitoring devices and other home health products
• Atrium Health's Hospital at Home program and the range of care options it provides for patients
• The economics of home health services to reduce healthcare costs across the board
• How Atrium Health is managing the legal implications of home health services
• The patient and caregiver experience in home health services
• How Best Buy Health and Atrium Health are working to bring the future of healthcare to other providers and patients

Connect with Dr. Rasu Shrestha

• Dr. Rasu on LinkedIn

Connect with Deborah Di Sanzo

• Deborah Di Sanzo on LinkedIn

Connect with Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jessica Shepherd

• Dr. Gulati on Twitter
• Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn
• Dr. Shepherd on Twitter

Resources

• Atrium Health
• Best Buy Health
• ViVE

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About Ray Gensinger:

Raymond “Ray” A. Gensinger, Jr., MD, FHIMSS is an author, diplomate of clinical informatics, and recognized expert in healthcare data analytics, clinical software design, and electronic health record implementation. He is currently senior vice president and chief medical officer for Tegria, a leading healthcare consulting and technology services company that helps clients optimize care, maximize technology, transform operations, and improve financial performance. Ray most recently served as chief information officer for Hospital Sisters Health System, an integrated delivery network across Illinois and Wisconsin. He is a licensed general internist and saw patients for 25+ years while also advancing his career in medical informatics.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Building partnerships with trusted consultants fosters collaboration and yields better results than traditional vendor relationships.
• AI tools like ChatGPT have the potential to automate routine tasks, enabling healthcare professionals to prioritize critical patient care.
• Collaboration between healthcare providers and technology partners drives advancements in clinical software, benefiting the industry and patients alike.
• Consulting and technology services can help healthcare organizations optimize care, maximize technology utilization, improve operations, and enhance financial performance.
• Artificial intelligence, data analytics, and automation offer opportunities to transform care, improve efficiency, and create innovative patient care models.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ray Gensinger on LinkedIn.
• Follow Tegria on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Tegria Website.

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About Nishi Rawat:

Nishi Rawat, MD, MBA, is a critical care physician and health leader working at the intersection of medicine, public health, and technology. She has dedicated her career to improving healthcare access and outcomes for all with a focus on behavioral health within the lens of whole-person care.

As Chief Clinical Officer at Bamboo Health, Rawat focuses on developing innovative solutions and products that improve whole-person care by bridging healthcare silos and reducing fragmentation across the healthcare industry, which will improve patient outcomes and reduce costs across the healthcare industry.

Rawat began her healthcare career as an emergency medicine and critical care physician at Johns Hopkins. As a healthcare faculty member and researcher, she led quality measure development and implementation at Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. Clinically, she experienced the frustration of locating definitive care for patients with behavioral health conditions, which led to the development of OpenBeds in 2015, a software platform to expedite access to care. In 2018, Bamboo Health acquired OpenBeds. The OpenBeds system now serves 15 states to improve access to behavioral health and crisis care. The OpenBeds platform was recognized as a “Best Behavioral Health Company” finalist for the UCSF Digital Health Awards in 2019. The platform’s Crisis Management System module was named a Best-in-Class finalist for the “Mental and Behavioral Health Category” of the UCSF Digital Health Awards in 2022.

Through her work, Rawat is intimately familiar with the challenges faced by various stakeholders, including the public, hospitals, health systems, health plans, treatment providers, and county and state governments. She uses her current role to look for ways technology can help overcome those challenges, not by replacing providers, but by amplifying hands-on care.

As a member of Bamboo Health’s executive leadership team, Rawat uses her clinical expertise and experience in building and innovating IT solutions as a thought leader. A sought-after speaker and contributor to external media, some notable contributions include being named to Becker’s “Women Power Players in Health IT” and “Women in Health IT to Watch in 2022 and 2023,” lists and serving as a keynote speaker for NCQA’s Quality Talks in 2022.

Rawat completed her residency and fellowships at Johns Hopkins and Harvard, M.D at Queen’s, B.Sc. from McGill, and MBA from Georgetown.

Things You’ll Learn:

• OpenBeds develops digital networks and systems to facilitate closed-loop referrals for mental health and substance use services.
• 988 serves as the behavioral health equivalent of 911, providing an easy-to-remember number for individuals in crisis to connect with a clinician or non-clinician via phone, text, or chat.
• The professionals at 988 listen, attend to the person's needs, and ensure they receive the necessary care.
• Certain states have implemented a 988 tax to generate funds for the clinical infrastructure and technological integration required to support the crisis response initiative.
• Within the first six months, the 988 helplines have recorded over 2 million calls, texts, and chats, highlighting its substantial usage and service demand.
• The mental health and substance use crises are driven by physical pain, economic disparities, and mental distress.
• While technology is valuable, more is needed to replace the vital role of hands-on care in effectively addressing these urgent challenges.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Nishi Rawat on LinkedIn.
• Follow Bamboo Health on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Bamboo Health Website.
• Discover more about the OpenBeds solution here.
• Reach out to Bamboo Health at Connect@BambooHealth.com
• Learn more about the SAMHSA 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here.

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About Lisa Collins:

Lisa is responsible for our Payer, Provider, and Strategy and Growth teams for OAS. She supports the growth our teams have achieved to make OAS one of the top healthcare advisory services in the country.

Prior to Optum Lisa was with Cerner Corporation where she was Senior Vice President of Global Services, leading their consulting, managed services, and support business. Before joining Cerner, Lisa was Managing Director with Accenture in their Health Care practice, responsible for establishing and leading the health care provider practice. Preceding Accenture, Lisa spent 20+ years at Siemens Medical Solutions in a variety of leadership roles, including leading their North America Services business.

Lisa lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia with her husband and two college-graduate sons, who also live nearby. Lisa is a board member of Penn Medicine Chester County Hospital and is involved locally with Community Volunteers in Medicine.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Data can help forecast many things in healthcare, from patient volume and staffing needs to OR schedules and much more.
• Administrative procedures shouldn’t stall healthcare labor.
• Physicians should concentrate on delivering care, while technology helps with the administrative work.
• Technology is here to help physicians.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Lisa on LinkedIn.
• Follow Optum on LinkedIn.
• Discover the Optum Website.

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About Rajeev Singh:

Rajeev Singh is the CEO and chairman of the Board of Directors at Accolade (Nasdaq: ACCD). He joined Accolade as CEO in November of 2015, leading the organization’s strategy and operations through high growth.

In 2020, Singh led Accolade through one of the first digital healthcare Initial Public Offerings of the year. The following year, he led the company through nearly $1 billion in acquisitions of 2nd.MD, PlushCare, and HealthReveal. Accolade now works with over 700 employers and health plans serving over 11 million people across the United States.

Prior to joining Accolade, he co-founded Concur, the global leader in travel and expense management, in 1993. Concur went public (Nasdaq: CNQR) in 1998 and grew to more than $800mm in revenue, over 4,000 employees, and more than 25,000 customers before being acquired by SAP AG for $8.3 billion in 2014. Singh was president and chief operating officer as well as a member of the board of directors at Concur.

Singh graduated from Western Michigan University with a BSE. Today, he serves on the board of Avalara (NYSE: AVLR), a top provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation for businesses; Amperity, an intelligent customer data platform; Seattle Children’s Hospital Foundation; and the University of Washington Foundation. He lives in Seattle with his wife, Jill, and their 2 children.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Accolade defines health equity as the responsibility to ensure everyone has the inalienable human right to high-quality healthcare.
• If you live in specific neighborhoods in the United States or are part of a particular minority group, you might not have access to a primary care physician.
• The LGBTQ+ population struggles to find the primary care and behavioral health they need within a shared life experience.
• The biggest financial challenge most people face in their lives is affording healthcare.
• 2020 made access to virtual care mainstream in the United States, creating an opportunity that has to be embraced.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Rajeev Singh on LinkedIn.
• Follow Accolade on LinkedIn.
• Explore the Accolade Website.
• Reach out to Rajeev at RajeevSingh@Accolade.com.

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About Ron Emerson:

Ron Emerson RN BSN is the Global Healthcare Lead at Zoom. He is a former member of the board of Directors for the American Telemedicine Association and Chair of the Industry Council. He has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry having worked on several Telemedicine programs in 46 countries. He is recognized as a thought leader in Telehealth, having developed a variety of innovative telehealth applications, and consulted on telehealth deployments worldwide. He also held the position of Executive Director for a large telemedicine operation in the United States, where he was responsible for the efficient provision of services to 350 sites. Mr. Emerson was the previous recipient of the American Telemedicine Association Industry Council Award for his leadership in the advancement of Telehealth.

Things You’ll Learn:

• From 1960 to 2010, the cost of healthcare in the United States increased five times the gross domestic product.
• Zoom grew from 10 million daily participants to 300 million in three years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, becoming the market share leader in the US for telemedicine.
• In 2020 there were about 450 million telemedicine visits in the United States.
• During 2020, the largest centers of care held up to 90% of their visits virtually, which many patients came to like and still choose nowadays.
• Zoom holds an annual conference called Zoomtopia, where they bring together thought leaders and announce big announcements.
• A hospital's revenue comes in whenever a patient walks through their doors, a concept that is the basis of most incentivization systems around health systems.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ron Emerson on LinkedIn.
• Follow Zoom on LinkedIn.
• Check Out the Zoom Healthcare Website.
• Explore Zoom’s additional features like Zoom Phone, Zoom Webinars, Zoom IQ for Sales, Zoom Events, and Zoom Contact Center.

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About Shayan Vyas:

Dr. Shayan Vyas serves as SVP and medical director of clinical operations for the hospital and health systems business unit of Teladoc Health. As part of his clinical operations duties, Dr. Vyas manages the Teladoc Health Medical Group and employed physician group in addition to his responsibility for improving platform efficiency for physician throughput. Within the hospital and health systems business unit, Dr. Vyas is the leading physician with reasonability extending to existing partners to advance virtual care strategies of hospitals and health systems that purchase Teladoc Health products, devices, and services.

Dr. Vyas is an executive leader, practicing intensivist, and telehealth physician with more than 10 of virtual health experience. Prior to joining Teladoc Health, he worked with multiple digital health vendors and patient engagement companies, and he led the launch of the first multi-hospital telehealth program in the US.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Almost 60% of nurses’ bedside tasks are not physical, like taking histories, answering questions, checking monitor measures, or addressing other concerns.
• 90% of nurses believe the quality of care struggles because of the nursing shortage.
• Virtual nurses can take care of non-physical tasks, help new nurses with training or knowledge from their previous experience, and unburden floor nurses from the documentation processes.
• With today’s technology, inpatient hospital rooms have the potential to be upgraded and improve everyone’s care delivery experience.
• Teladoc Health recently acquired InTouch Health, a provider of telehealth solutions for health systems and hospitals.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Shayan Vyas on LinkedIn and Twitter.
• Follow Teladoc Health on LinkedIn.
• Explore the Teladoc Health Website.

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About Kevin Larsen:

Dr. Kevin Larsen is the Senior Vice President, of Clinical Innovation of Translation at Optum. Kevin’s role is to provide clinical leadership and a clinical voice to Optum Center for Advanced Clinical Solutions. He leads the clinical team in building and deploying provider enablement technologies, including clinical decision support integrated through electronic health records. Previously he was at OptumLabs where he supported the design and implementation of innovative research, analytics, and evidence-based translation programs in diverse areas across our portfolio and was a primary clinical lead in support of the Optum Enterprise strategy.

Kevin is an internist and medical informaticist who started his career at Hennepin County Medical Center In Minneapolis where he had a variety of executive and clinical leadership roles. He has worked in academic, hospital, and government settings, focusing on innovation through data and analytics, research, policy, and developing/implementing innovative programs at scale.

He joined Optum from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where most recently he has been Senior Health IT Advisor at the office of the Chief Technology

Officer. Kevin led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) strategic planning and transformation team. In that role, he convened stakeholders across CMS and its partners to develop strategies and execute enterprise program improvements. He consulted on health IT policy, standards, and project execution for numerous Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) models, such as Million Hearts, Oncology Bundle, State Innovation Models, and Accountable Health Communities. He started his Washington D.C. career at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as the Medical Director of Meaningful Use where he led ONCs work on quality policy, measurement, and improvement, including clinical decision support and social determinants of health.

Earlier, Kevin was CMIO and Associate Medical Director of Hennepin Health System. He was an associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota where his research included healthcare financing for people living in poverty, computer systems

Things You’ll Learn:

• If patients have enough support, they will care for their health.
• Chronic disease patients should be able to manage their conditions throughout their lives.
• Technology can help minimize some clinical processes.
• Clinical Decision Support is a process that helps doctors make the best decisions after being well-informed.
• What many existing solutions lack are the means to scale.
• Healthcare should start reversing the inward-thinking mindset.
• Communities often have solutions on the ground that healthcare companies are trying to create.
• Many organizations are now asking their employees and their patients about social determinants of health.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kevin on LinkedIn.
• Follow Optum on LinkedIn.
• Discover the Optum Website.
• Email Kevin directly at Kevin.Larsen@optum.com

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About Susan Manber:

Susan Manber is the Chief Patient Officer for Publicis Health.

Sue Manber’s life and life’s work are inextricably linked. After beating cancer as a single mother, Sue returned to work with an intimate understanding of the patient experience and an acute awareness of her many privileges in her surviving a rare and aggressive cancer diagnosis. Now, as the communications industry’s first Chief Patient Officer, Sue advocates for more equitable patient experiences and is deeply committed to using her privilege to give a voice to those without one.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Informed patients drive better health outcomes.
• Humankind is now being overwhelmed with data, but very few insights.
• Patients have outside lives from their diagnosis.
• 95% of human decisions are made based on emotions.
• There are 3 C’s to equity-centered design: Clinical Trials, Commercial Marketing, and Community Health.
• Retail Pharmacy is becoming the front line of primary care.
• People want to be cared for by people who look and feel like them and understand their cultural sensitivities and nuances.
• 20% of America do not have a primary care physician.
• 50% of millennials do not have a primary care physician.
• Early intervention is critical to saving lives.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Susan on LinkedIn.
• Follow Teva Pharmaceuticals on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Publicis Health Website.
• Read Atul Gawande’s piece about Costa Rica’s life expectancy in The New Yorker.

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About Pierre Leurent:

Pierre Leurent, President of Aptar Digital Health, is the CEO and co-founder of Voluntis, a leading digital therapeutic company acquired by Aptar Group in 2021. Pierre has over 20 years of experience in digital health in the United States and Europe. Prior to starting Voluntis, he worked at GE Healthcare, in its medical imaging software division, and at HealthCenter Internet Services, a vendor of EMR solutions based in Silicon Valley.

He is a founding Director of the Digital Therapeutics Alliance, of which he served as Chairman and a member of Advamed’s Digital Health Executive Leadership Group. Pierre previously co-chaired the digital therapeutics task force of the Personal Connected Health Alliance, a member of HIMSS, and chaired the eHealth France Alliance. He holds an MS from Ecole Centrale Paris.

About Sai Shankar:

Sai has more than 20 years of experience across the pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and digital health business verticals. He has been an intrapreneur at Aptar, building the Digital Health division. Prior to joining Aptar in 2017, Sai worked for 15 years at Allergan and Sanofi.

As the President of Aptar Digital Health, Sai is responsible for the overall P&L of the business. In addition to the organic growth of the connected devices business, he has overseen the acquisition of digital health companies (Voluntis and Cohero Health) as well as equity investments in various startups like Propeller Health, Sonmol (China), and Navia (India).

Things You’ll Learn:

• Voluntis was acquired by Aptar last year, a big investment on their part in the digital space.
• Aptar is a publicly traded company that makes technology to optimize the effectiveness and adherence of drugs across many therapeutic areas.
• Aptar Digital Health falls under the pharma segment of the Aptar organization.
• Digital technology can guide patients to help them self-manage and be more connected with their healthcare team remotely.
• Making data available to care teams remotely brings clinical benefits and generates savings for the healthcare system.
• Aptar Digital Health has one of the largest portfolios of collaborations in digital therapeutics in the global pharma market.
• Enhancing patient experiences lead to better engagement and in turn, outcomes.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Pierre Leurent on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Sai Shankar on LinkedIn.
• Follow Aptar Digital Health on LinkedIn.
• Discover the Aptar Digital Health Website.

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About Andrew Toy:

Andrew Toy is the President of Clover Health, where he is responsible for driving the vision for how technology and analytics can improve the lives of Clover's members. Andrew joined Clover from Google, where he coordinated enterprise activities for the Android team and ran Machine Learning, Enterprise Search, and Analytics for the G-Suite team. Before that, he was the CEO and co-founder of Divide, a company focused on creating a split between work and personal data on mobile devices, which was acquired by Google in 2014. He earned his BS and MS in Computer Science from Stanford University.

About Carladenise Armbrister Edwards:

Dr. Carladenise Armbrister Edwards has served as the Chief Strategy Officer at Henry Ford Health, a $6B private non-profit system in Southeast Michigan; Providence, a $26B Catholic healthcare system with over 50 hospitals across seven Western states; and Alameda Health System, a public hospital authority located in Oakland, California. As the principal advisor to the CEO and executive team, she has led system-wide strategic planning, M&A, and other partnership ventures, business development, clinical and operational transformation initiatives, government affairs, marketing, and communications, population health, and managed care contracting. Dr. Edwards also served as Founding President and CEO of Cal eConnect, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that governed California's electronic Health Information Exchange.

Additionally, she has held executive leadership roles in Georgia's Department of Community Health, Florida’s Agency for Healthcare Administration, and the US Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Edwards joined Clover Health’s Board of Directors in July 2022. Dr. Edwards holds a Ph.D. in Medical Sociology from the University of Florida, a master's degree in Education and Psychological Services, and a bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Medicare Advantage is the perfect example of how to provide health equity, as it gives money and resources to prevent illness and treat illness in a personalized manner.
• Decentralizing care can make clinicians more efficient and help them perform at the top of their license with the help of technology and analytics.
• The current hospital experience could be more efficient and scary, but it can be fixed using different tools and models of care.
• Organizations like Clover must ensure everybody gets access to the care they need, taking into account their social, economic, and environmental factors.
• Structural barriers, such as the structure of insurance and societal values, often create a disincentive to providing care to those who need it most.
• Everyone can be part of health equity by taking care of themselves first.
• Hospitals should be places where we go for certain aspects of our healthcare, not all of them.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Andrew Toy on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Carladenise Armbrister Edwards on LinkedIn.
• Follow Clover Health on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Clover Health Website.

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About Silvia Taylor:

Silvia Taylor is the executive vice president, and chief communications officer for Novavax. Ms. Taylor has responsibility for investor relations; public relations; external and internal communications; corporate social responsibility and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) strategy; digital and social media; and meetings, events, and corporate merchandising for the company. She brings more than 25 years of communications and commercial leadership to Novavax. Most recently, she was vice president of global corporate affairs and communications at Autolus Therapeutics plc, where she led all financial, scientific, and corporate communications. Prior to Autolus, Ms. Taylor was senior vice president of global investor relations and corporate affairs at Sucampo. Earlier in her career, she held positions of increasing responsibility at MedImmune LLC, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, including head of marketing, responsible for the commercialization of the company’s respiratory syncytial virus and influenza franchises, as well as at Pfizer, where she served in key brand and consumer marketing roles. Ms. Taylor earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia. In 2022, she was elected to the Page Society, a membership organization of chief communications officers of global Fortune-ranked corporations.

Things You’ll Learn:

• People aren’t scientists, but they consume science all day long.
• Novavax is a biotechnology company that makes vaccines and has a platform for adjuvanted protein-based vaccines.
• Novavax is available in many countries worldwide and authorized in over 43.
• During 2020 and 2021, there was a lot of fear and misinformation about vaccines regarding their safety and development process.
• The COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet, and people shouldn’t act as if it was.
• Governments are Novavax’s primary customers.
• During the pandemic, people accessed vaccines in large numbers at pharmacies, which will probably not change.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Silvia Taylor on LinkedIn.
• Follow Novavax on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Novavax Website!
• Find out more about the COVID-19 vaccines at vaccines.gov.

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About Shannon Klinger:

As Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Shannon Thyme Klinger leads Moderna’s legal, governance, and corporate compliance efforts.

Ms. Klinger joined Moderna from Novartis (NYSE: NVS), serving as Chief Legal Officer and a member of the Novartis Executive Committee since 2018. Previously, she served as Chief Ethics, Risk & Compliance Officer. During her ten-year tenure at Novartis, she held other roles of increasing responsibility, including as Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Global Head of Litigation, General Counsel, and Global Head of Legal at Sandoz, a Novartis division.

Throughout her career, Ms. Klinger’s work has focused on driving long-term business performance and building trust with society, including ensuring access to medicine, protecting innovation with intellectual property, championing the responsible use of data, and enabling excellence in product launches. She is also a committed advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Ms. Klinger served on the board of directors of the SIX Group in Switzerland from 2016 to 2020.

Ms. Klinger received her Juris Doctorate with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame. She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia and the District of Columbia Bar.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Moderna has focused on infectious diseases and commits to creating transformative therapies for patients with the power of mRNA.
• The World Health Organization releases a flu strain selection in March or April every year.
• The Moderna Charitable Foundation was initially endowed with $50 million.
• The Foundation recently announced $4 million worth of grants in sub-Saharan Africa to organizations focused on clinical training and workforce development on educating about vaccines.
• In 2023, Moderna partnered with the African Union to commit 100 million doses of their most updated variant vaccine for low-middle-income countries.
• Moderna has a program called mRNA Access, where they partner with researchers and universities worldwide to give them access to their platform, research, and scientific advice, thus tackling public health challenges together.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Shannon Klinger on LinkedIn.
• Follow Moderna on LinkedIn.
• Discover the Moderna Website.
• Check out the mRNA Access Website.
• Visit Moderna’s Charitable Foundation Website.

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About Crystal Brown:

Crystal Brown is Vice President of Product and Strategy at Benefitfocus, a cloud-based benefits administration technology company serving Health Plans and Employers nationwide. Crystal is the lead for all aspects of product strategy, roadmap development, and product execution for the full product portfolio of Benefitfocus. In this role, she ensures the viability, feasibility, and desirability of the product offerings, by tapping the expertise of business leaders and keenly knowing the competitive landscape. Crystal brings with her 20+ years of leadership experience spanning deep business acumen, user insights, and technical savvy delivering product designs resulting in a compelling competitive advantage.

Prior to this role, Crystal was the Vice President of Strategic Programs at Florida Blue. There she was responsible for leading enterprise strategy, roadmap development, and program execution for transformational initiatives in Sales, Engineering, Clinical Operations, and Provider Networks. A sampling of strategic initiatives she most recently led includes Provider Interoperability, Cost and Quality Transparency, Population Health Management, and Enterprise Data Governance.

An active member of her community, Crystal has annually served through United Way leading and participating in community service activities focused on supporting local agency programs. Agencies of support include Clara White Mission, Daniel Kids, Hands on Jacksonville, and Children’s Home Society of Florida. While in and out of the office, Crystal remains an active mentor providing interview coaching, development plan building, career pathing, and on-the-job competency mentoring. She is most passionate about mentoring individuals in technology as they prepare for progression into management, focusing on coaching, organizational structure, and general management practices.

Crystal holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Florida with a concentration in Marketing and eCommerce. She is a native of Jacksonville and enjoys cheering alongside her husband of 20 years at the various activities of their three children.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Advanced Engagement Services is Benefitfocus’ enhanced automated communication solution to help health plans and employers connect with their customers and employees.
• Disengaged members are often three times more likely to have unmet medical needs and two times more likely to delay medical care.
• Health plans that proactively engage their members can see an increase in overall satisfaction when they try to keep out-of-pocket costs low.
• It's hard to create personalized and meaningful communications for customers without their complete and accurate information.
• Usher Technology, Benefitfocus’ latest partner, uses a no-code AI-driven platform that delivers a highly personalized digital experience in customer journey automation with a secure, HIPAA-compliant, password-free customer interface.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Crystal Brown on LinkedIn.
• Follow Benefitfocus on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Benefitfocus Website.
• Reach out to Crystal at sales@Benefitfocus.com

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About Peter Micca:

Peter Micca is an Audit & Assurance Partner and National Health Tech leader at Deloitte & Touche LLP. He has 30 years of experience serving a broad array of clients in all sectors of the healthcare, technology, and life sciences industries. He has significant experience with health technology organizations, software as a service (SaaS) organizations, pharmacy benefit management, clinical and diagnostic operations, emerging growth, as well as private equity–financed organizations in life sciences and health technology and services. Micca applies a deep knowledge of industry sector business issues regarding the emerging trends surrounding consumerism, convergence, cost considerations, regulatory and compliance issues, and consolidation.

About Navid Farzad:

Navid is a partner with Frist Cressey Ventures. Prior to joining FCV in 2019, he worked with Morgan Noble, an investment firm that focuses exclusively on companies determined to change the future of healthcare. Before Morgan Noble, he was with Enhanced Equity Funds, a healthcare-focused private equity firm based in New York, and has also previously held positions with Lehman Brothers’ healthcare investment banking division, Ernst & Young’s Transaction Advisory group, and Arthur Andersen’s healthcare practice.

Navid has also served as the Chief Strategy Officer of Continuum Health, a physician enablement company providing practice management and population health services to medical groups. He has been an investor and/or served on the board of directors of Mindoula Health, Continuum Health, Captify Health, Privia Health, and Trusted Health Plans.

He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University.

About Marcus Osborne:

Marcus Osborne is the Chief Executive Officer at RightMove Health. He is a leader in healthcare, having served in many positions that include almost 15 years at Walmart, where his last role was senior vice president of Walmart Health. He also served on the board of many companies, including Health Here, ZealCare, WebPT, and many others. Marcus got his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Government from Transylvania University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Digital health can only be successful with brick-and-mortar knowledge and the legacy of delivery systems.
• Collaboration can’t be inconsistent and variable, as it needs to have a defined process that can be reproduced.
• Companies that attempt to control another’s innovation get less of its benefit.
• Technology, people, and physician-empowering solutions are the future of health.
• When collaborating, the two parties should be able to bring their best selves to the table.
• Companies should act more and take risks with innovations, as even the things that don't work bring lessons to move forward.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Peter Micca on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Navid Farzad on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Marcus Osborne on LinkedIn.
• Follow Deloitte on LinkedIn.
• Discover the Deloitte Website.
• Read this paper from Deloitte about Reimagining Innovation Systems in Healthcare.
• Follow Frist Cressey Ventures on LinkedIn.
• Explore the Frist Cressey Ventures Website.
• Follow RightMove Health on LinkedIn.
• Visit the RightMove Health Website.

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About Dale Cook:

Dale is an expert in digital mental health. As co-founder and CEO of Learn to Live, he's part of a member-focused mental healthcare company that provides online programs and 24/7 clinician coaching to empower people to improve their mental health. Learn to Live serves over 33 million people through health plans, employers, and universities across the country.

Dale has been recognized for his innovative approaches to healthcare as a recipient of the (Real) Power 50 award and the Business Leader in Healthcare: Startup award. Dale has been featured in various local and national publications, including Forbes, The Observer, National Public Radio, O, The Oprah Magazine, and others. Dale provides a welcoming and inspiring voice around mental health and the importance of driving engagement with digital healthcare solutions for at-risk populations.

He is an active member of multiple healthcare entrepreneur groups focused on improving healthcare at the state and federal levels and is a member of the Governor’s Taskforce on Broadband in Minnesota, which seeks to ensure quality broadband access for all Minnesotans. Dale is also a Fellow of the fifth class of the Health Innovators Fellowship at the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy programs have been studied for over two decades, and research shows that, when done correctly, digital CBT can be as effective as face-to-face CBT.
• Some necessary psychometric assessments are the PHQ-9 for depression, the GAD-7 for general anxiety, and the SPIN for social anxiety.
• Almost half of the people in the United States will suffer from a mental health problem at any point in their lives, but only one in four will seek care.
• Currently, teen mental health is one of the most important and talked about issues in this space.
• More than half of the counties in the US don't have a mental healthcare practitioner.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dale Cook on LinkedIn.
• Follow Learn to Live on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Learn to Live Website!

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About Kimberly O'Loughlin:

Kimberly joined HRS in March 2022, bringing with her more than 30 years of experience in leveraging talent and technology to drive growth, innovation, and improved business performance and customer experiences across health tech and other industries.

At HRS, her portfolio includes award-winning Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) and telehealth solutions and services that address increasingly important healthcare needs – lowering the cost of care, and improving health outcomes, while delivering better experiences for both consumers and clinicians.

Prior to HRS, Kimberly was CEO of Therapy Brands where she was responsible for serving the mental, behavioral, and physical therapy market providers with a broad portfolio of software and services including specialty-specific EHR/PMS platforms, patient engagement, telehealth, e-prescription solutions, and revenue cycle management services. Before this, she was President at Greenway Health; prior to that, she ran two global healthcare businesses at Philips in Connected Care and Health Informatics. She had solutions for monitoring and supporting the safety, health, and connectedness needs of seniors in the home as well as in long-term and post-acute care settings. She also expanded access to healthcare in emerging global markets with low-cost continuous monitoring, vital signs monitoring, cardiology, oncology, and women’s health solutions.

Prior to working at Philips, Kimberly held senior leadership roles within AIG, AT&T Wireless, and AT&T. She has demonstrated excellent results in growing revenue and profitability, launching innovative products, transforming operations to six sigma and best-in-class performance, and building stellar teams.

Over the years, Kimberly and her teams have earned a variety of awards including Best Company Culture, Best Company for Diversity, Frost and Sullivan Award for Product Line Innovation, Best in KLAS for RCM, Best in KLAS Most Improved Ambulatory EHR, and Stevie’s People’s Choice Award for Best Customer Service. In 2012 she was inducted into the Executive Women of New Jersey, and in 2013 she was featured in Executive Profile magazine on the Top 25 executive profiles list. In 2019, she was named the number 3 woman in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare, and in 2021 she earned top CEO ratings by Comparably.

Kimberly has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University and a Master of Science degree in Applied Psychology with a concentration in Human Factors Engineering from Steven’s Institute of Technology. She served as class president at Princeton where she currently serves on the Alumni Schools Committee. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Jerry, and their dog Harley. They have three children and enjoy the beach, skiing, sports, and time with family and friends.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Health Recovery Solutions is the leading provider of remote care delivery.
• Patients are becoming more active in their healthcare.
• Individually tailored care plans with inpatient and virtual care will become more common in the coming years.
• HRS has clinical advisory services.
• HRS sets up the remote care technologies providers need.
• Promising healthcare industry trends include value-based care, lower-cost care settings, health equity focus, interoperability, the use of AI and ML, and hospital-at-home functionalities.
• HRS provides patients with hardware and software to connect to their caregivers and clinicians with a portal that monitors and supports the patient.
• AI technologies can help harness data to design different treatment pathways and predict which patients will need intervention.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Kimberly O'Loughlin on LinkedIn and Twitter.
• Follow Health Recovery Solutions on LinkedIn.
• Discover the Health Recovery Solutions Website!
• Reach out to Kimberly at KOLoughlin@HealthRecoverySolutions.com!

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About Ali Parsa:

Dr. Ali Parsa is a British-Iranian healthcare entrepreneur and engineer. He’s the founder and CEO of Babylon, the revolutionary artificial intelligence and digital health company. Babylon’s mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on Earth.

By combining cutting-edge AI technology and the best available medical expertise, Babylon gives people 24/7 access to affordable, holistic health services. The company is home to a large, passionate team of scientists, clinicians, mathematicians, and engineers—all recruited from over 60 different countries. With over 3 million users, Babylon is transforming the way healthcare works across Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Before Babylon, Dr. Parsa created Circle, which became Europe's largest partnership of clinicians, with some £200m of revenue, 3,000 employees, and a successful IPO. The Independent Healthcare Awards presented Dr. Parsa with an Entrepreneurial Achievement award for establishing Circle. He was given the Royal Award for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year for founding his first business, V&G.

More recently, Dr. Parsa was listed in The Times' 100 people to watch. The Health Service Journal recognized him as one of the ‘50 most influential people in UK healthcare. He was featured in the Maserati 100, a list that recognizes game-changing entrepreneurs who are disrupting the world of business. Dr. Parsa also won the CEO Award from Finance Monthly and ACQ5's UK Game Changer of the Year. He is a UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals and has a Ph.D. in Engineering Physics.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Babylon's mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on earth by combining AI technology and medical expertise to provide accessible and affordable holistic health services.
• Healthcare should be about continuously collecting data, analyzing it in real-time, and intervening early when possible.
• AI and data analytics can help improve the healthcare system by predicting patterns and automating menial tasks.
• There is almost nothing that your body doesn't send a signal on.
• One of healthcare entrepreneurs' most significant challenges is the need for more capital and investment.
• Knowledge doubles every 2-3 years, so leaders should look to the future more.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ali Parsa on LinkedIn.
• Follow Babylon on LinkedIn.
• Explore the Babylon Website.

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About Suzanne Kunis:

Suzanne Kunis is the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of NovaWell, an affiliate of Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. She also serves as Vice President of Behavioral Health Solutions for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. She brings over 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry with a significant focus on behavioral health. Suzanne is a registered nurse and moved from care delivery to healthcare management early in her career.

Suzanne is a nationally recognized industry expert and leads NovaWell, an organization born out of her success at Horizon. She was recruited to Horizon in March 2017 to develop and lead Horizon’s first-ever internal Behavioral Health strategy and team. Suzanne is responsible for all behavioral health strategic development and execution including the organization’s commitment to the integration of physical and behavioral health. Suzanne led the successful insourcing of behavioral health and a cultural and philosophical shift and commitment to integration within Horizon. NovaWell will be helping other health plans to achieve similar results. Suzanne is the ultimate behavioral health champion – the opioid crisis and continued battle to eliminate mental health stigma are priority items on her agenda and she works tirelessly to drive the message that “mental health is health” nationwide.

Before joining Horizon BCBSNJ, Suzanne served for 22 years as Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health Services for Magellan Health Services. She was the business owner for Magellan’s health plan (Commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid) and employer-client relationships. She was responsible for oversight and management of nationwide service delivery including member services, clinical operations, network development and management, quality, sales, EAP, and finance. During her tenure with Magellan, Suzanne developed a deep understanding of the behavioral health care issues facing our country and the long overdue recognition of the impact of behavioral health issues on comorbid medical conditions.

Suzanne also served as Senior Vice President of Account Management and Implementations for ComplexCare Solutions (CCS). CCS provided in-home risk adjustment assessments and care management services for its health plan clients.

After graduating from Thomas Jefferson University, College of Allied Health Sciences in Philadelphia, Suzanne began her nursing career at the East Orange Veterans Administration Hospital. She then began a 12-year career journey with which was then Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey where she served many roles including Vice President of the Individual Market segment.

Things You’ll Learn:

• NovaWell and Horizon’s alliance seeks solutions to help people access behavioral healthcare when, where, and how they need it.
• Behavioral health can impact more than 20% of the total medical cost, which is why treatments should also include a behavioral health perspective.
• Horizon developed a platform with tools available like educational research, podcasts, a provider directory, and assessments, among others.
• Horizon established a program centered around identifying patients that need different care options.
• This program works with a community mental health provider that can refer them to get them the care they need.
• Between 40 and 50% of adults have a diagnosable mood disorder.
• 67% of people needing mental health care don’t seek it out because of stigma.
• Stigma has historically prevented patients from accessing care.
• It doesn’t matter the condition a patient comes in with, we need to view it through a behavioral health lens.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Suzanne Kunis on LinkedIn.
• Follow NovaWell on LinkedIn.
• Follow Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey on LinkedIn.
• Discover the NovaWell Website!
• Visit the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Website!

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About Matthew Condon:

As the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Bardavon Health Innovations, LLC, Matthew J. Condon works tirelessly as a staunch advocate for transparency in healthcare and champions technology innovation within the industry that benefits injured Workers’ Compensation patients. He has been recognized nationally as an entrepreneur to watch by repeatedly forming game-changing companies that bring positive disruption to the marketplace. Bardavon is no different. With Bardavon, Matt has combined his passion for the industry and desire to make a difference with his storied experience of successfully running startups. The resulting effort is an industry-leading, healthcare data analytics company focused on promoting a culture of transparency in the Workers’ Compensation sector.

Matt’s vision for Bardavon is to optimize how patients, therapy providers, employers/carriers, and other key stakeholders interact. Using clinical treatment data gathered through bNOTES®, its proprietary cloud-based clinical intelligence system, Bardavon is succeeding in its mission to change Workers’ Compensation. Combining clinical treatment data with claims data enables key stakeholders to define functional outcomes based on each patient’s health.

By deploying the Bardavon system, employers/carriers reduce consumption while concurrently improving the quality of physical/occupational therapy treatments. And when these processes are integrated using the Bardavon Digital Health Platform™, regional and national employers/carriers have saved millions.

Bardavon is not Matt’s first foray into the world of healthcare, technology, and Worker’s Compensation. Matt founded ARC Physical Therapy+ (ARC) in 2003. It became one of the Midwest's largest regional physical therapy clinics with 26 clinics in 2021 and over 100,000 annual patient visits. ARC was chosen as a Champion of Business by the Kansas City Business Journal for three straight years (2013, 2012, and 2011), earning a spot in the Hall of Champions. In 2013, ARC partnered with U.S. Physical Therapy Inc. and Matt started Bardavon. His focus was to build a platform where congruent companies could work together to focus on achieving optimized outcomes and returning injured Workers’ Compensation patients to full duty. As we progress, Matt’s vision is to expand Bardavon’s footprint and move into the commercial musculoskeletal healthcare marketplace.

As a nationally recognized thought leader, Matt is a sought-after speaker and an author in the fields of healthcare, technology, and Workers’ Compensation. He was named a regional finalist for the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” award, business magazine Ingram recognized Condon as a “Rainmaker,” and named him to its list of “40 under 40” high achievers, and since 2014, Condon has been included on the “Power 100” list published in the Kansas City Business Journal, which includes some of the most influential leaders in Kansas City’s business community.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Bardavon Health is an industry-leading healthcare data analytics company focused on promoting a culture of transparency in the worker's compensation sector.
• One way to address the current labor shortage is to make workers feel honored and fulfilled and give them good healthcare access whenever they have an injury.
• Worker's compensation is under the property and casualty section of their company’s insurance plan.
• As musculoskeletal issues continue to be a significant problem in the United States, more and more stakeholders will see it as an entry point for change and improvement.
• Employers are responsible for taking their injured employees and ensuring they get to a quality care provider.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Matthew Condon on LinkedIn.
• Follow Bardavon Health Innovations on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Bardavon Health Innovations Website!

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We know that healthy, fresh food improves health outcomes. But what if you live in a food desert? Or you depend on food stamps to feed your family?

What if you could get fresh produce delivered straight to your door as a benefit of your health plan?

Ashley Turner is Founder and CEO of FarmboxRx, a national brand on a mission to promote health equity through nutrition and health literacy.

Ashley’s experience as a single mom on food stamps drives her advocacy in advancing food security and bringing educational resources to underserved populations.

On this episode of HLTH Matters, Ashley joins host Dr. Jessica Shepherd to explain how the concept of food as medicine inspired the creation of FarmboxRx and explore how the company evolved to focus on patient engagement.

Ashley describes how CMS’s emphasis on health equity helped FamboxRx gain traction and discusses the pilot program that proved its value as a care management intervention.

Listen in for insight on how the FarmboxRx benefit helps Medicare and Medicaid enrollees feel cared for and learn how Ashley’s team provides healthy food and promotes health literacy among its members.

Topics Covered

• The challenges Ashley faced in trying to eat healthy on food stamps in a food desert
• How the concept of food as medicine inspired the creation of FarmboxRx
• How FarmboxRx evolved to become a patient engagement company
• Why it was challenging to get health plans to offer FarmboxRx as a benefit early on
• How CMS’s focus on health equity helped FarmboxRx gain traction
• The pilot program that proved FarmboxRx’s value as a care management intervention
• How FarmboxRx promotes health literacy and drives other healthy behaviors among members
• The benefit of having lived what Medicare/Medicaid members are going through
• How Ashley visualizes herself as a disruptor in the healthcare space
• How FarmboxRx’s call center addresses food insecurity through member engagement

Connect with Ashley Tyrner

FarmboxRx

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on Twitter

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Resources

CMS Supplemental Benefits for SSBCI Enrollees

Stores Accepting SNAP Online

Seema Verma

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure

FarmboxRx’s Partnership with Molina Healthcare of NM

HEDIS Health Plan Ratings

Social Determinants of Health

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About Scott Shreeve:

Dr. Shreeve is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician who has been actively involved in the design, development, and distribution of healthcare technologies that improve the delivery of care and enhance the quality of life. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Crossover Health, a next-generation healthcare delivery, and management services company. As a founder, visionary, and brand strategist for the organization, Dr. Shreeve has been a leading advocate for the creation of a new primary health model and membership-based health services.

Prior to founding Crossover Health, Dr. Shreeve co-founded Medsphere Systems Corporation, the first open-source electronic health record for the healthcare enterprise, where he led the Clients Services team. In this capacity, he led the implementation of large-scale electronic health record implementations at community hospitals, statewide health systems, and networks of primary care clinics.

Dr. Shreeve was also a founding member of the Health 2.0 technology and reform movement, serving as an advisor to the conference and spokesperson throughout the country. His popular Crossover Health blog focuses on the enabling technologies that transform the delivery, financing, and outcomes of high-performance health systems.

He earned his Bachelor of Science in Zoology, with a minor in Economics, from Brigham Young University, is a graduate of the University of Utah School of Medicine, and completed his Emergency Medicine residency training at the University of Arizona Health Science Center. He lives in Southern California with his wife and four children near some of the best breaks on the west coast.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Care before the COVID-19 pandemic was around 95% in-person.
• During the height of the COVID pandemic, care delivery occurred 95% virtually.
• Nowadays, care delivery is starting to settle somewhere around the middle between virtual and in-person.
• Establishing deep relationships with patients in primary care will facilitate managing prevention and even chronic conditions.
• Spending slightly more in primary care will allow additional significative services to be provided in this setting, eventually pulling down secondary care costs.
• Crossover Health’s partnership with Aetna allowed them to design a different benefit structure where members get better copays and premiums.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Scott Shreeve on LinkedIn and Twitter.
• Follow Crossover Health on LinkedIn and Twitter.
• Explore the Crossover Health Website.
• Visit Scott’s Website.
• Read the Crossover Health blog.
• Get your copy of the National Academy of Science and Medicine’s book “Implementing High-Quality Care” here.

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50% of women distrust the healthcare system in the US. Yet women make up 51% of the population and control 80% of the healthcare dollars.

So, what does it look like to build trust with women in a healthcare setting?

Carolyn Witte is Cofounder and CEO of Tia, the modern medical home for women. Carolyn’s team is dedicated to treating women holistically rather than by body part or life stage.

Tia's Whole Woman, Whole Life care model fuses gynecology, primary care, mental health and evidence-based wellness services to treat women comprehensively.

On this episode of HLTH Matters, Carolyn joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd, Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jordan Shlain to discuss how Tia was created out of her frustration as a patient and describe the company’s evolution from the Google for women’s health to care delivery platform.

Carolyn explains how point solutions exacerbate the fragmentation of healthcare for women and what Tia is doing to serve the whole woman, addressing her physical, mental and reproductive health.

Listen in to understand how Tia builds trust by listening to what real women want and learn what Carolyn’s team does to make women feel seen, heard and cared for.

Topics Covered

• How Tia was created out of Carolyn’s frustration as a patient
• Tia’s evolution from the Google for women’s health to care delivery platform
• Why 50% of women distrust the healthcare system and why it matters
• Carolyn’s take on the politicization of women’s health
• How point solutions exacerbate the fragmentation of healthcare for women
• How Tia serves the whole woman within the framework of health insurance coding and reimbursements
• The biggest users of virtual care (on Tia and among the general population)
• How Tia is supporting women in a post-Dobbs world
• The obstacles Tia faces in terms of reproductive health restrictions, regulations and investment in women’s health
• What Tia does to make women feel seen, heard and cared for
• Carolyn’s dream to give every woman access to Tia-style care
• How Tia builds trust by listening to what real women want

Connect with Carolyn Witte

Tia

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd, Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jordan Shlain

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on Twitter

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on Twitter

Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn

Resources

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

Tim Urban’s Life Calendar

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About Aamer Mumtaz:

Aamer is a healthcare operations and growth expert with over 20 years of broad-based experience as a transformation leader. In addition to advising complex healthcare systems and facilities on strategies to address systemic operational and strategic challenges, Aamer has served as a successful growth and operations executive in multiple digital health labor marketplaces. He has a particular focus on workforce transformation and is passionate about developing and implementing equitable and sustainable labor solutions in healthcare.

Things You’ll Learn:

• There was about a 27% turnover for nursing in the United States in 2022; after 2023 more than half of healthcare systems will be in a severe shortage.
• A third of all staffing dollars and a quarter of all staffing hours are provided by contract labor.
• Most travel nursing contracts range from 12 to 13 weeks on average.
• Nurses have never had the right financial structures or incentives to consider patient care a career.
• ShiftMed works with W-2 employees and pays their payroll taxes, giving them workers' compensation and other benefits like transportation.
• ShiftMed allows health systems and facilities to book employees weeks in advance and change their needs as the time comes close. Still, it also allows them to book guaranteed shifts, which are appealing to employees as they will have some security.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Aamer Mumtaz on LinkedIn.
• Follow ShiftMed on LinkedIn.
• Explore the ShiftMed Website.

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Breakthrough health tech is useless if it fails to meet people where they are, especially when it comes to underserved populations.

So, how do we encourage VCs to invest in culturally competent digital health solutions? How do we direct capital in a way that promotes health equity for women and communities of color?

Deena Shakir is Partner at Lux Capital, where she invests in transformative technologies improving lives and livelihoods.

She is passionate about investing in women's health, digital health infrastructure, health equity and foodtech, and her portfolio includes notable startups like Maven Clinic, Everly Health and Gameto.

On this episode of HLTH Matters, Deena joins host Dr. Jessica Shepherd to discuss the fertility and maternal health crises we face in the US and the $90 million Lux has invested to address these issues.

Deena describes some of the category leading companies in the Lux health tech portfolio and explains how she thinks about putting women’s health at the forefront of research, technology and innovation.

Listen in for insight on building technologies that meet people where they are and get Deena’s take on the future of the healthcare investment landscape.

Topics Covered

• Deena’s journey to becoming a VC in health and wellness tech
• The $90M Lux has focused on investing in women’s health
• Deena’s insight on the fertility and maternal health crises we face in the US
• The category leading companies in integrated women’s health in the Luxe portfolio
• Putting women’s health at the forefront of research, technology and innovation
• How the conversation around women’s health is changing among VCs
• How innovation has improved coming out of the pandemic
• Why women in leadership serve as champions for cultural competency in healthcare
• How time spent with her founders lifts Deena up on a bad day

Connect with Deena Shakir

Deena at Lux Capital

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on Twitter

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Resources

Google Health

Maven Clinic

Everly Health

Alife Health

‘Temporal Trends in Sperm Count: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression Analysis of Samples Collected Globally in the 20th and 21st Centuries’ in Human Reproduction Update

Gameto

Miga Health

Cityblock Health

Waymark

Anne Wojcicki

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About Caitlin Donovan:

Caitlin Donovan is the Global Head of Uber Health. She joined Uber most recently from MyOrthos, an Orthodontic Services Organization, where she served as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to that, Caitlin developed her knack for tackling obstacles to patient care as Chief Operating Officer of Circulation and Executive Vice President of Operations at LogistiCare (now ModivCare), specialty benefit managers in the non-emergency medical transportation space. She also served as the Vice President of Operations at CareCentrix with a focus on home health and post-acute care. Early in her career, she worked in finance as an investor at Bain Capital and as a member of the internal consulting group at Summit Partners. She earned her bachelor's degree in Economics from Harvard University and lives in Dover, Massachusetts with her husband and two boys.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Medicaid has had transportation as a covered benefit since 1966, but it’s not a benefit many know how to access.
• Health plans are increasingly looking to include transportation within their benefits portfolio.
• According to a recent study, within 5.1 million employees under self-insured employers, 27% live at 200% of the poverty line or below.
• The above-mentioned population uses preventative services 50% less, resulting in four times more avoidable admissions.
• To register for WIC, it is required to go in person to an office before getting groceries delivered.
• Logistics and value-based care will not solve healthcare’s problems on their own; It is important to think about the underlying issues to address them in a scalable way while they align with the system’s incentives.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Caitlin Donovan on LinkedIn.
• Follow Uber Health on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Uber Health Website.

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For most cancers, Black Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any patient population.

And access to genetic testing is key to eliminating this disparity.

Feyi Olopade Ayodele is Cofounder and CEO of CancerIQ, a company on a bold mission to end cancer as we know it by giving providers and health systems access to the latest innovations in early cancer detection and prevention.

Under Feyi’s leadership, CancerIQ has grown its provider network to over 200 locations across the US and established a robust ecosystem of leading diagnostic and genomic testing vendors.

On this episode of HLTH Matters, Feyi joins host Dr. Jessica Shepherd to explain how she built CancerIQ to solve for the disparity in access to genetic testing by making it part of everyone’s primary care visit.

Feyi describes how CancerIQ helps patients initiate conversations around cancer prevention with their providers and gives providers the right precision prevention program for each patient.

Listen in for Feyi’s insight on the emotional journey associated with a cancer diagnosis and learn how CancerIQ is helping African American and rural patient populations prevent cancer or detect it in its earliest stages.

Topics Covered

• Disparities in breast cancer outcomes between Black women and other patient populations
• Why Feyi built CancerIQ to solve for the disparity in access to genetic testing
• How CancerIQ makes it easy for providers to navigate patients to the right precision cancer prevention program
• Why Feyi encourages primary genetic care vs. specialty genetic care
• How CancerIQ helps patients initiate conversations on cancer prevention with their providers
• How CancerIQ is closing the gap for African American and rural patient populations
• What CancerIQ does to help patients adhere to a cancer prevention plan
• How CancerIQ recognizes the emotional journey associated with a cancer diagnosis
• Feyi’s vision to make CancerIQ part of everyone’s preventative care visit and detect cancer in its earliest stages

Connect with Feyi Olopade Ayodele

CancerIQ

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on Twitter

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Resources

NCCN Guidelines

Small Talk Baby Podcast

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About Jean Drouin:

Jean is a leader with over 25 years of experience in healthcare management, technology, operations, finance, and cultural change.

As CEO, Jean focuses on creating the environment that allows Clarify to deliver on its mission by delighting customers and growing a great team. Jean leads the Executive Leadership Team which sets the company’s vision and strategy and is responsible for ensuring the company’s overall success. Jean believes that healthcare has been held back by a lack of actionable insights and that by integrating innovative analytics and incentives, we can power better health and outcomes.

Prior to founding Clarify, Jean was a Senior Partner at McKinsey, where he led the Healthcare Digital and IT practice. He also built and served as the founding Head of McKinsey Advanced Healthcare Analytics (MAHA), which provided services and products on healthcare reform, consumer analytics, new payment and pricing models, and risk management. Jean spent several years in the UK, where he helped set up the hospital regulator and served as the Head of Strategy for NHS London, a $15 billion organization that oversaw London’s hospitals, primary and social care.

Jean holds an MD and MBA from Stanford University and an AB in Molecular Biology from Princeton. He is a Trustee of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and the former Vice-Chair of the Board of Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific.

Things You’ll Learn:

• The United States Health System is the only one in the world with the granularity of information to understand patient journeys in an actionable way.
• The FDA has a very high standard around the data collected for a clinical trial, which is why recruiting patients takes a long time.
• Machine Learning and AI tools can be beneficial in automating data pipelines to turn them into the cleanest possible analytics fuel.
• Value-based payments haven't scaled as expected because doctors aren’t excited about a model that looks at their yearly performance to give them a bonus.
• Paying clinicians shouldn’t be exclusively transactional but more collaborative and team-based.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Jean Drouin on LinkedIn.
• Follow Clarify Health on LinkedIn.
• Explore the Clarify Health Website.

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42% of adults in the US qualify as obese. But there are only a few thousand doctors board-certified in obesity, most of whom work exclusively in academic medical centers.

So, what can we do to address the obesity epidemic in our country? How do we give the 200 million Americans struggling with metabolic health access to the information and support they need?

Isabelle Kenyon is Founder and CEO of Calibrate, a metabolic health company on a mission to change the way the world treats weight.

In two years, Calibrate has raised more than $125 million and published clinically-reviewed results from its One-Year Metabolic Reset that exceeded the best outcomes from clinical trials across all metabolic markers.

On this episode of HLTH Matters, Isabelle joins host Dr. Jessica Shepherd to explain how Calibrate partners medication and lifestyle interventions to promote long-term weight loss.

Isabelle discusses the biggest contributors to sustained success with Calibrate, describing how the program helps members improve their metabolic health.

Listen in for Isabelle’s insight on treating obesity like a chronic disease (not a failure of willpower) and learn how Calibrate tailors its program to your biology, your goals and your life for sustained weight loss—guaranteed.

Topics Covered

• How her mom’s struggle with weight inspired Isabelle to build Calibrate
• The 4 pillars of metabolic balance Calibrate uses to instill lifestyle change
• How metabolic health sets us up for long-term, sustained weight loss
• What it looks like to work through the Calibrate program
• Why Calibrate partners medication with lifestyle interventions
• How Isabelle thinks about educating consumers on metabolic health
• Why Calibrate is designed to prove sustained results after medication
• How engagement and community contribute to sustained success with Calibrate
• How Calibrate sets expectations with clients and guarantees results
• Treating obesity like the chronic disease it is vs. a failure of willpower

Connect with Isabelle Kenyon

Calibrate

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on Twitter

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Resources

National Diabetes Prevention Program

The CDC Definition of Metabolic Health

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About Thom Bales:

Thom is a Principal in Strategy&, a part of the PwC network. He leads PwC’s Health Services Sector with responsibility for our payer-provider and digital health growth. He has over 20 years of management consulting experience, originally with Booz Allen Hamilton/ Booz & Company merged with PwC to become Strategy&. He has expertise in health services growth, operations, technology strategy, and transformation. He has co-authored several articles including the industry-leading viewpoint “5 PMPM Healthplan”, “PwC’s Next In Health, 2022” and managing change and the investment bulge as well as a co-host of PwC’s Health 180 Forums.

Thom’s past work has included capabilities-based growth strategy, technology-enabled business, and cost transformations, payer-provider collaboration strategy, consumer engagement strategies, as well as assessment of merger, acquisitions, and divestitures for his clients. He has led some of the largest business-led payer technology transformations and growth programs in the industry in the past 10 years.

Thom earned his M.B.A. with high distinction at the University of Michigan; MS, Chemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology; and BA Chemistry, BA Economics, Cornell University.

About Patty Obermaier:

As Vice President of Microsoft US Health and Life Sciences business, Patty is responsible for growing Microsoft's solutions, services, and support revenues across enterprise health customers in the United States. She leads a 950-person team and is accountable for a $5B P&L. Patty holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.

Things You’ll Learn:

• During COVID, many people couldn't access virtual health because they didn't have broadband or the appropriate devices to do so.
• Out of 8 billion people on Earth, 4 billion do not have access to healthcare, and a billion have disabilities, 70% of which can't be seen.
• The average family in the United States has a family income of around $60,000 of which roughly half does to insurance, healthcare, and out-of-pocket costs.
• Patients can now request their information, which has to be made available and stored for them, and they have to be able to take it with them wherever they want.
• Health equity is about understanding who we are as individuals, where we’re at, and what we need to get to our definition of health.
• Most healthcare companies are now focusing on improving patient experience.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Thom Bales on LinkedIn.
• Connect with and follow Patty Obermaier on LinkedIn.
• Follow Strategy& on LinkedIn.
• Visit the Strategy& Website!
• Follow PwC on LinkedIn!
• Explore the PwC Website!
• Follow Microsoft US Health and Life Sciences on LinkedIn.
• Discover the Microsoft US Health and Life Sciences Website.

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When Krista Drobac first started thinking about home-based health care, she assumed that the biggest barriers to adoption would be cultural. But she quickly learned that policy was the problem.

And then came COVID-19. Regulations were loosened, and we were allowed to experiment with caring for patients at home.

So, how do we convince policymakers to preserve the advances in home-based care made during the pandemic and change the rules for good?

Krista serves as Partner at Sirona Strategies, Executive Director of the Alliance for Connected Care and Founder of Moving Health Home, a coalition working to change policy to enable the home to be a clinical site of care.

Krista has 25 years of experience in federal and state government policy and public affairs, and she consults on Medicare, Medicaid, digital health, social determinants of health and new care models.

On this episode of HLTH Matters, Krista joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd, Dr. Gautam Gulati and Dr. Jordan Schlain to explore the innovations in hospital-at-home and SNF-at-home we achieved during the pandemic.

Krista discusses who benefits most from home-based care (and who might want to opt out) and describes how providers can identify environmental risks when they’re in a patient’s home.

Listen in to understand why Krista advocates for value-based reimbursement models and learn what you can do to help persuade legislators to embrace home-based care.

Topics Covered

• The regulatory barriers to moving health care into the home prior to the pandemic
• How Moving Health Home was launched to preserve the innovation and advances in home-based care made during COVID
• Who benefits most from home-based care and who might want to opt out
• What the hospital-at-home model looks like and how it took off during the pandemic
• The regulatory challenges Moving Home Health faces in executing SNF-at-home
• How home-based care allows providers to identify environmental risks
• Why value-based care reimbursement models are more appropriate for home-based care than fee-for-service
• How home-based care might improve a patient’s mental and emotional health
• Why we need a large-scale demonstration of the benefits of home-based care to change policy
• The power of patient voice in convincing legislatures and hospital systems to embrace home-based care
• How we might incentivize or persuade Americans to choose healthy food
• How the social determinants of health or SDOH are influenced by policy

Connect with Krista Drobac

Moving Health Home

Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd, Dr. Gautam Gulati & Dr. Jordan Shlain

HLTH

Dr. Shepherd on Twitter

Dr. Shepherd on LinkedIn

Dr. Gulati on Twitter

Dr. Gulati on LinkedIn

Dr. Shlain on Twitter

Dr. Shlain on LinkedIn

Resources

America’s Essential Hospitals

CMS COVID Waivers

Moving Health Home Studies

White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health

Social Determinants of Health

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Starting a company in the healthcare space is incredibly difficult, as founders face regulatory hurdles, high security standards and complicated reimbursement policies, among many other challenges.

But what if you had an expert to help you assemble a founding team and shepherd you through the first 15 months of being a startup?

What if there was a platform to streamline the complex process of launching a health company?

Missy Krasner is Venture Chair at Redesign Health, where she sits on the boards for Uplift, Overalls and Motto.

A seasoned healthcare operator, Missy has more than 30 years of experience in digital health, most notably serving as a founding member of the Alexa Health & Wellness Team at Amazon.

On this episode of HLTH Matters, Missy joins host Dr. Jessica Shepherd to discuss how Redesign Health serves as a company creation platform for healthcare services, describing how her team bends the risk curve for digital health startups.

Missy walks us through some of the obstacles to providing services and solutions in the health tech space and weighs in on what we might do to fix the issues with electronic medical records.

Listen in to understand how Redesign creates efficiencies in the process of launching companies across the healthcare spectrum, meeting the needs of patients and providers while keeping pace with the trajectory of science and research.

Topics Covered

• Meeting the needs of patients and providers while keeping pace with science
• How Redesign Health serves as a company creation platform for healthcare services
• What Redesign does to bend the risk curve for digital health startups
• The obstacles to providing services and solutions in the health technology space
• How we might change the perverse incentives in healthcare to reward quality
• What the competition among big tech and retailers to own consumer-centric virtual primary means for hospitals, health systems and patients
• Redesign Health’s strength in assembling founding teams for healthcare companies
• Why so many providers struggle to stay up to speed on innovation
• How Missy thinks about fixing the problems with electronic medical records
• Why it’s so challenging to get medical records from point A to point B

Connect with Missy Krasner