At the Digital Healthcare Innovation Summit WEST 2024, leaders of the AI technology industry discussed the tangible progress that’s been made, identified which tools are useful (and not so useful), and charted the realities—and sensationalism—around how generative AI will reshape the future of health systems, care delivery, and personalized treatments. They also shared their thoughts on new challenges that have arisen, such as what characteristics are associated with organizations that can make it in this new age, regulatory framework, liability cases that have occurred since AI’s deployment, and more.   Links from this episode:  

DHIS West 2024 PANEL DISCUSSION: Generative AI in Healthcare: Hype or Hope 

When is the best time to make an investment? In the healthcare industry, this can be tricky to determine. In this episode of Breaking Health, host Steve Krupa speaks with Andrew Adams, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Oak HC/FT, about organizing capital into the right companies, where the healthcare industry is going in terms of deployment of technology, and the state of the market today. With a broad and impressive portfolio, Adams provides valuable insight and techniques on finding the right opportunities to invest, as well as value-based hotspots and new ventures that Oak HC/FT is conducting.   Links from this episode:  HealthEdge  Oak HC/FT 

When patients receive prescriptions, many find themselves at a loss over the lack of information on the medications’ clinical uses, costs, and more. In this episode of Breaking Health, host Steve Krupa speaks with Kyle Kiser, CEO of Arrive Health, about giving patients the ability to access information on medications to help them make better healthcare decisions. Kiser also delves into what real time benefits are, the company mantra “Lucy up,” and how Arrive Health calculates and provides valuable data to their customers, such as general savings. He also talks about his journey from being a healthcare insurance wholesaler to starting Arrive Health, as well as tips for aspiring entrepreneurs on patience and perseverance. Links from this episode:  HealthEdge Arrive Health 

From sports goods salesman and stand-up comedian to co-founder and CEO of a software company, Chris Severn is helping patients by providing price transparency in healthcare through an easy-to-use platform. In this episode of Breaking Health, host Steve Krupa speaks with Severn about how he got the idea for a service that provided patients with upfront quotes, the value of such price transparency, and how to compare plans to help patients discern the best rates. Severn also shares his perspectives on new laws’ impact on the healthcare industry and the potential future of a competitive market for medical procedures. Links from this episode:  HealthEdgeTurquoise Health 

For the past few years, digital health has made great strides in providing new ways of healthcare access for patients. But this also means new challenges and obstacles have emerged. This year, at the Digital Healthcare Innovation Summit, leaders in women’s health talked about how they and their companies are finding ways to help patients access healthcare more easily, as well as the creation of sustainable business models, understanding the market, and how to measure success. They also share their own experiences of working with patients and what inspired them to find new ways to help the underprivileged. Finally, they address generational needs and differences and discuss their hopes for the future of women’s health. Links from this episode:  HealthEdge  

Kamal Jethwani began his medical training in India and soon found himself more intrigued by solving of the administrative issues around care delivery. This interest came to a head when he found himself on the front lines of crisis response when his 10-bed emergency department received—and treated—1,700 patients in 72 hours. Afterward, Jethwani realized that there was a whole field of medicine focused on the design of care delivery, he told Breaking Health host Steve Krupa. He knew he had found his focus. After coming to Harvard to earn a master's in public health and finish his medical training, Jethwani worked closely with digital health tools to improve care for patients. He launched Decimal.health during the pandemic to solve the administrative issues around connecting both patients and providers to evidence-based, valid, repeatable, reliable digital health tools.  Links from this episode:  HealthEdge  Decimal.health 

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. 

 Links from this episode:  HealthEdge  Tomorrow Health Vijay Kedar’s direct email 

AJ Loiacono’s experience in supply chain consulting for pharmaceutical manufacturing afforded him a world-class education in supply chain logistics, drug pricing, and software implementation. However, it wasn’t until he worked with healthcare payers that he realized the glaring problems in the U.S. drug pricing system and that pharmacy benefit managers retained much of the control and profit. He says, “The reason why our drug pricing is the way it is today… is because no one has either had the resource, bravery, or perseverance to stand up and say, ‘This is what’s wrong, and we’re going to fix it instead of profiting off of the system.’” 

Looking to disrupt the status quo, Loiacono founded Capital Rx. As one of the fastest growing healthtech companies in America, Capital Rx reconstructs prescription pricing and puts savings back in the patient’s hands. Loiacono speaks with host Steve Krupa about his desire to simplify drug pricing and increase transparency, how Capital Rx’s novel cloud-native enterprise pharmacy platform, JUDI, reduces labor costs by up to 80%, how they maintain a 99.5% retention rate with their clients, and why their books have demonstrated a negative drug trend for the past three years. Links from this episode:  HealthEdge  rx.com/">Capital Rx rx.com/solutions/pba-judi">JUDI Enterprise Pharmacy Platform Capital Rx Facebook 

Dr. Schneider’s interest in medicine began when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a preteen living in a small rural Minnesota town. After becoming a physician, her journey to CEO started with a return to her roots and a desire to help decrease the exorbitantly high mortality rates observed in rural communities across the nation.  

In this episode, host Steve Krupa speaks with Dr. Jenny Schneider, CEO of Homeward Health, about the company’s recent launch, how it leverages technology to scale healthcare for underserved patients, and the mobile clinic that builds trust with rural communities and increases access to care. Schneider says, “The good and bad news about healthcare is that it’s so highly inefficient that there’s a lot that can be improved… Our ability to engage and allow people to interact with the healthcare system allows them to improve their health and ultimately costs less money.” 

 Links from this episode:  HealthEdge  Homeward Health 

From working nights in the Prudential mailroom during college to securing leadership roles at big names like IBM Watson Health, Allscripts, and Pfizer, Steve Tolle, now general partner at HLM Venture Partners, has seen it all. With a multi-faceted skill set and a wealth of knowledge in technology and healthcare, he eventually transitioned from an operator to an investor at one of the nation’s oldest and most established healthcare venture capital firms. Given his background, it is no surprise that Tolle knows a thing or two about the growing needs of the healthcare industry and how to spot a winning investment. 

In this episode, Tolle speaks with Breaking Health host Steve Krupa about HLM’s focus on behavioral health, member engagement, access to care, value-based care enablement, and tech-enabled services. He also talks about the six-point test every company must pass before he considers investing and what each founder should know to win over investors in under five minutes. Links from this episode:  HLM Venture Partners HealthEdge Software