This week for our 2025 recap, we’re joined by VC Emily Melton, co-founder of Threshold Ventures. Melton highlights her reflection of 2025, which splits the market into "haves and have-nots" with nothing in between, noting the concentration of venture dollars on "high flyers" and the indifference shown to established companies with respectable revenue.

The first trillion-dollar healthcare company, a $298M longevity round, and a telehealth CEO headed for federal sentencing. Last month had range. Today on the show, Halle and Michael sort through the biggest December stories shaping the year ahead, from runaway longevity funding to a telehealth scandal headed for federal sentencing. We cover: 🧬 Two hot funding rounds in longevity, including Function Health’s $298M B-round and Blueprint’s all-angel, no-VC $60M raise 💊 How Eli Lilly became the first trillion-dollar healthcare company 🏥 CVS’s $5.7B Oak Street Health write-down (and why most acquisitions fail) 🎓 Nursing, OT, PT, and PA being removed from the list of “professional” degrees by the Department of Education 🤖 OpenAI’s growing interest in consumer health tools ⚖️ The telehealth company whose founders were just convicted in one of the largest stimulant-fraud cases to date — Show notes:Eli Lilly becomes first trillion-dollar healthcare company (Reuters)CVS takes $5.7B goodwill impairment on Oak Street Health (Forbes)Department of Education’s revised “professional degree” list (Newsweek)NYT: Patients turning to AI for support (Dagens.com)DOJ conviction of Done Global executives (DOJ) — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website LinkedIn Instagram Youtube See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As millions of Americans hit the road to visit family for Thanksgiving, many will pass through, or return to, rural communities. Nearly 60 million Americans live in these areas, yet many struggle to access even basic healthcare as rural hospitals close at record rates. Dr. Jennifer Schneider, co-founder and CEO of Homeward Health, is tackling this crisis head-on by reimagining how care is delivered to Medicare Advantage members in rural America. Drawing on her experiences as a physician, a patient with Type 1 diabetes, and the former president of Livongo, Jenny shares why rural healthcare is both a massive challenge and an untapped opportunity. We cover: 🏥 Why rural Americans face dramatically higher mortality rates 💡 How Homeward is combining technology and on-the-ground care to serve overlooked communities 📉 What value-based care looks like outside major metro areas 🤝 Lessons from Castlight, Livongo, and building bilingual (tech + healthcare) teams 🔥 How Jenny’s personal experience with chronic illness shapes her leadership and vision — About our guest:  Dr. Jennifer Schneider is the co-founder and CEO of Homeward, where she is leading the transformation of rural healthcare through AI-enabled, value-based care delivery. A physician and technologist, Jennifer’s work is shaped by her experience growing up in a small town with type 1 diabetes—fueling her belief that geography should never determine access to care. Previously, Jennifer was President and Chief Medical Officer at Livongo, where she helped scale the company through its IPO and led its $18.5B merger with Teladoc Health—the largest digital health transaction to date. She has also held executive roles at Castlight Health and began her career as a practicing internal medicine physician and health services researcher. Jennifer serves on the boards of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Maven Clinic, and has been named one of Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.” She holds degrees from Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and the College of the Holy Cross. — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website LinkedIn Instagram Youtube See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the heels of raising $210 million at a $3.5 billion valuation, OpenEvidence is the fastest-growing physician app in history, now reaching over 40% of U.S. physicians and powers 17 million monthly clinical queries.

A billion-dollar startup. A promise to change healthcare forever. And behind the scenes… a massive lie.

Does it feel like we packed in a decade of progress this year in digital health? We think so. Today, Halle and Steve break down the biggest digital health stories of the moment, from funding trends to AI rivalries and new rules shaping the future of care.

Over 3 million clinicians around the world depend on UpToDate to guide patient care, and now the gold standard in clinical decision support is integrating generative AI. But in a world where AI models often hallucinate, how do you build something that doctors can actually trust? In this episode, Halle talks with Dr. Holly Urban, VP of Business Development and Strategy at Wolters Kluwer Health, about UpToDate Expert AI, a new tool trained exclusively on UpToDate’s physician-authored content — not the open internet — and what it means for the future of medicine. We cover: 🤖 Why grounding AI in verified medical data matters for accuracy and trust 💬 How clinicians are using AI at the point of care today, and where they’re facing fatigue 📚 How medical education will evolve when memorization matters less than critical thinking 💡 Why patient-facing AI tools could help close the information gap between doctors and patients 🚨 The biggest risks Holly sees ahead for AI in healthcare — About our guest:  Holly Urban, MD, MBA has extensive experience in healthcare technology and believes in the power of evidence-based content to transform EHRs beyond transactional systems into tools that allow clinicians to provide improved patient outcomes. After practicing as a primary care pediatrician, Dr. Urban worked for several EHR technology and evidence-based content companies, and has served in healthcare IT leadership roles for over fifteen years. Before joining Wolters Kluwer Health, she served as CMIO at Oracle Cerner, Director of Product Management at MCG Health, and VP of Product Management at McKesson Horizon Clinicals. — Show Notes:AI in UpToDate: New Generative solutions for Medical ProfessionalsAI hallucinates more frequently as it gets more advanced — is there any way to stop it from happening, and should we even try? (LiveScience)Technology and healthcare costs (Annals of Pediatric Cardiology)— 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok  YouTube See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most people spend over 30 hours a year dealing with customer service—on hold, repeating account numbers, and navigating endless phone trees. But what if AI could fix that without losing the human touch? Clay Bavor, co-founder of Sierra (now valued at $10B) and former VP at Google, joins us to explore how AI agents are reshaping how companies interact with customers and what that means for the most complex service industry in the world: healthcare. We cover: 🧠 The difference between horizontal and. vertical AI solutions ⚙️ If systems of action will take over systems of record (like Epic) in enterprise AI 🫀 How empathy, tone, and even “voice sommeliers” help AI sound more human 📉 The risks of AI job displacement (and the new roles emerging in its wake) 🚀 Clay’s take on staying grounded as a unicorn entrepreneur when hype runs high in Silicon Valley — About our guest:  Clay Bavor is a co-founder of Sierra, which helps businesses build better, more human customer experiences with AI. A visionary product leader and technologist, Clay spent 18 years at Google, where he spearheaded some of the company’s most innovative efforts. As head of Google Labs, he led teams working on forward-looking projects, including augmented and virtual reality, Project Starline, and Google Lens. Earlier, Clay oversaw the product and design teams for Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, and Google Apps for Enterprise (now Workspace), shaping tools used by billions worldwide. He also contributed to foundational Google products, including Search and advertising technologies. — 🙏 If you're enjoying the show, we would so appreciate it if you left us a review! — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website TikTok (NEW!) LinkedIn Instagram See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This milestone 200th(!!!) episode of The Heart of Healthcare Podcast features none other than Dr. Tom X. Lee, the serial physician-founder behind Epocrates (acquired for $293M), One Medical (acquired by Amazon for $3.9B), and now Galileo, a tech-enabled medical group aiming to rewire care delivery from the ground up. We cover: 🧠 Why most doctors aren’t wired for management (and what traits he thinks translate to startup success) 📉 How medical education is falling behind the pace of change in care delivery 💸 Why healthcare’s biggest barrier is economics, not culture 🏥 What Galileo is doing differently to re-engineer care on the backend 📈 What founders need to understand about building for exit vs. impact About our guest:  Tom is the CEO and visionary behind Galileo. Prior to Galileo, Tom helped build One Medical into the leading independent primary care system in the country, and previously helped launch Epocrates, the #1 mobile app used by clinicians at the point of care. Tom is a board-certified internist who completed training at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He received his BS from Yale University, his MD from the University of Washington School of Medicine, and his MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. — 🥳 To celebrate this milestone of 200 episodes, we would so appreciate it if you left us a review! — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Happy Q4 Heart of Healthcare Listeners! We’re back with your monthly Digital Health Download, where we discuss the biggest industry headlines of the month.  We cover:  💊 Pharm tariffs, D2C drug ads, and TrumpRx?  📉 The ACA tax credit standoff and how it could double premiums for millions  🛒 UnitedHealthcare’s new storefront and what it signals about point solution fatigue 📈 The GLP-1 gold rush: Remedy’s $450M revenue, Virta’s $160M, and FDA’s warning shot  ⚖️ The Doximity vs. Open Evidence lawsuit that could define AI IP  🤰 The acetaminophen-autism debate and why pregnant women deserve better data — Show notes:Virtual GLP-1 startups: Pill mills or the future of obesity care? (Halle Tecco)TrumpRx: A Prescription for Political Theater (Drugstore Cowboy)The future of metabolic health and weight loss drugs: Projecting mortality reductions in the US and UK populations (Swiss Re)The Latest in Maternal Health Fear Mongering? Tylenol (Vogue)— 🙏 Thank you to our show sponsor, LookDeep. LookDeep pioneers AI that can see, hear, and respond with care to help hospitals be Ever Present for Every Patient. Learn more at lookdeep.ai/aimee.  — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website TikTok (NEW!) LinkedIn Instagram See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Cancer drugs cost more than ever, yet survival benefits are often modest—and in some cases, patients can’t even access the care that already exists.  After losing his father, Steve Jobs, to pancreatic cancer, Reed Jobs committed himself to making this the last generation that loses parents to the disease. Reed now leads Yosemite, a venture fund spun out of Emerson Collective in 2023, alongside Investor Matt Bettonville. Yosemite pairs life sciences and digital health investments with a grantmaking model to accelerate cancer research and ensure breakthroughs actually reach patients. We cover: 📉 The tension between drug pricing, patient access, and real-world value 🩺 Digital interventions that have outperformed cancer drugs in survival outcomes 🧪 Why phase 3 clinical trials are so costly, and how synthetic control arms could change that 🧬 The promise and limits of early detection—from liquid biopsies to at-home pap smears 🌍 The global race for healthcare innovation and why the U.S. can’t afford to fall behind About our guests: Reed Jobs is an Investor at Yosemite and manages Yosemite. Yosemite works exclusively in the oncology space, using flexible capital to advance science with the goal of making cancer non-lethal in our lifetime. Over the years, Reed has supported hundreds of researchers and invested in dozens of therapeutic, diagnostic and digital health companies across the U.S. and Europe. Before the launch of Yosemite, Reed served as the Managing Director of Health at Emerson Collective. He serves on the board of directors at Conservation International, Harvard Medical School, PICI, Stanford Medicine and Waverley Street Foundation.  Matt Bettonville is an Investor at Yosemite where he leads the team’s investment efforts in digital health and healthcare delivery. He previously worked on Emerson Collective’s Count Me In non-profit partnership with the Broad Institute. Matt started his career working on user interface software engineering at Apple, where he was on the Mac team and a part of the AirPods product team. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University with a focus in Human-Computer Interaction. Matt serves on the board of directors at Atropos, Maia Oncology, Turquoise Health, Count Me In and Getlabs. He serves as a board observer at Proximie.  — 🙏Thank you to our show sponsor, LookDeep. LookDeep pioneers AI that can see, hear, and respond with care to help hospitals be Ever Present for Every Patient. Learn more at lookdeep.ai/aimee. — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok  If you're enjoying the show, would you please leave us a review? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Some founders win support because of their product, others because of their story. In healthcare, where trust is everything, the ability to tell a compelling and authentic narrative can make or break a company.

Thanks to improved accuracy and new form factors, wearables have evolved from novelty step counters to tools that can predict illness, nudge healthier behaviors, and even influence alcohol consumption. But can they really bridge the gap between consumer wellness and enterprise healthcare? In this episode, ŌURA CEO Tom Hale discusses the lessons his team has learned from developing one of the most widely used health-tracking devices. We explore what draws people to wearables, what sustains their engagement, and how these tools may be shaping behavior and healthcare itself.  We cover: 🕰️ The past, present, and future of wearables 🩺 What it takes to build trust with users, clinicians, and payers 🍷 The number one thing people do differently after wearing an Oura ring 🔑 Unlocking behavior change, and which habits are most malleable 🏥 Why payers and health systems are beginning to integrate wearables into care models — About our guest: Tom Hale is the Chief Executive Officer at ŌURA and a member of its board. As the CEO he sets the company’s business strategy and vision to make health a daily practice for members all over the world. He has over 30 years of experience across the technology and consumer product industry. Before joining ŌURA, Hale was president of Momentive where he drove B2B strategy and led product growth. During his time there he was instrumental in taking the company public in 2018, leading the team in key acquisitions, and driving the evolution and rebranding of the company into a multiple SAAS business. Previously, he held leadership roles at HomeAway and Linden Lab as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer, respectively, and held executive roles at Macromedia and Adobe. Hale has a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and sits on the boards of Cars.com, RocketReach, and NoiseAware. — If you're enjoying the show, we would so appreciate it if you left us a review! — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI companies are hitting growth milestones in record time—some reaching $100 million in revenue in just two years. But while this pace feels familiar in tech, healthcare has always been slower to adopt new tools. That may finally be changing.

Healthcare’s “back-to-school” season delivered no shortage of big headlines! From Epic’s big leap into AI to a looming insurance “blood bath,” Steve and Michael break down the stories that shaped digital health this month. We cover: 🖥 Epic’s 200 new AI “colleagues” and what it means for the battle between systems of record vs. systems of action 💼 Why healthcare CEOs are cashing record paychecks despite shaky stock performance 📉 The warning signs of soaring insurance premiums and their political fallout heading into 2026 🤖 Hospitals turning to robots to fill critical workforce gaps ⚖ The wild policy divide on how AI should (or shouldn’t) be allowed to practice medicine 🎧 How an AI-powered stethoscope could change the way GPs catch heart disease — 🙏Thank you to our show sponsor, LookDeep. LookDeep pioneers AI that can see, hear, and respond with care to help hospitals be Ever Present for Every Patient. Learn more at lookdeep.ai/aimee.  — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok  Substack See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Healthcare costs keep climbing, and yet patients and employers often feel powerless to change the system. What if outsiders—those not steeped in the traditions of healthcare—are actually the ones best positioned to fix it? This special episode is a reshare from The Benefits Playbook podcast, where Halle joins Collective Health CEO Ali Diab. Together, they unpack what it takes to make health benefits simpler, more transparent, and more consumer-focused. We cover: 🏥 The growing “consumer awakening” in healthcare and what it means for employers 🧾 How Ali’s personal fight with insurance denials led to building a new kind of health company 💡 Why outsiders can sometimes see solutions insiders overlook 🤖 Where AI can actually improve care—and where human advocates are still indispensable 💊 The GLP-1 dilemma for employers balancing access, equity, and cost About our guest: Ali Diab is the CEO and Co-Founder of Collective Health, the World’s leading independent third-party health benefit plan administrator (TPA), integrating AI-powered health plan administration, health benefit plan member navigation and advocacy, and digital benefits hub. Ali has more than 25 years of experience leading high-growth technology organizations, and prior to co-founding Collective Health, was Vice President of Product Management and Business Operations at AdMob by Google. Previously, Ali held executive and management positions at Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. Ali is a graduate of Stanford and Oxford Universities and is a Member of the Board of Advisors of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). — 🙏 If you're enjoying the show, we would so appreciate it if you left us a review! — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hospitals are under immense pressure: burned-out clinicians, outdated systems, and rising costs have made delivering care harder than ever.  Tanay Tandon, founder and CEO of Commure, shares how his team is rethinking hospital infrastructure by combining AI, forward-deployed engineering, and a provider-first mindset. Backed by over $750M in funding, Commure is using strategic M&A and next-gen tools like ambient AI to reduce administrative burden, improve revenue cycle operations, and protect clinical staff. We cover: 📉 How Commure grew claims volume 5x without hiring more staff 🧠 Why the “copilot” era of AI may give way to true automation in back-office tasks 🏥 Tanay’s prediction for a simpler, decentralized hospital system—powered by software 💰 What it means to take capital from General Catalyst’s Health Assurance Fund and build for its customer network 📰 How Commure navigated negative press around its business model and acquisitions — About our guest: Tanay Tandon is CEO at Commure, a $6B healthcare software company. The business uses LLMs to help supercharge the productivity of clinicians, healthcare administrators, and finance teams. Commure has raised over $500 million, is backed by Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Initialized, YCombinator, and NVIDIA. The company’s technology powers daily workflows for 250,000 providers at over 100 major health systems. — 🙏 If you're enjoying the show, we would so appreciate it if you left us a review! — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One in four Americans is enrolled in Medicaid, yet the system designed to support them is constantly at risk—underfunded, politically vulnerable, and often overlooked. Dr. Alastair Bell, President and CEO of Boston Medical Center Health System, shares how his organization is reimagining what it means to care for underserved populations, while managing nearly 40% of Massachusetts’ Medicaid enrollees. In this conversation, we explore the financial realities of running an “essential” hospital system, the opportunities and pitfalls of Medicaid ACOs, and why AI might deepen inequity if essential providers are left behind. We cover:  🏥 What makes an “essential” hospital system (and why the term matters)  📊 How BMC manages risk across one of the largest Medicaid plans in New  ⚖️ Why risk adjustment in Medicaid populations is still falling short  💊 What the 340B drug pricing program really means for safety-net hospitals  🧠 The promise (and peril) of AI in essential care settings — About our guest: Dr. Alastair Bell oversees the comprehensive system strategy and operations of BMCHS' entities, including BMC, Boston Accountable Care Organization, Clearway Health, and the WellSense Health Plan. Prior to joining in 2012, Dr. Bell was a leader in the North American payor and provider practice at McKinsey and Company, advising a range of national and international healthcare organizations and leading large-scale transformation programs. He received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Oxford, his Master of Arts in physiology from the University of Cambridge, and his Master of Business Administration with distinction from Harvard Business School. Dr. Bell currently serves as co-chair of the board for the Boston Children’s Chorus. — 🙏 If you're enjoying the show, we would so appreciate it if you left us a review! — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Three simple questions plague every American seeking healthcare: Where should I go? When can I be seen? And how much will it cost me? Despite seeming basic, these questions have remained largely unanswerable—until now. In this episode, we explore how Heather Fernandez, co-founder and CEO of Solv, is building the infrastructure behind same-day care for 210 million Americans. We discuss how AI is finally cracking the code on price transparency and why workflow complexity can be a competitive moat in healthcare. We cover:  💰 Why price transparency has been so elusive and how AI tools are positioned to finally solve it  🤖 How AI is eliminating "garbage work" and turning front desk staff into healthcare superheroes  ⚡ Why workflow expertise is a durable advantage for healthcare startups 🚀 How to build a culture of AI at your startup 💡 Why "intractable" problems may now be solvable — About our guest:  Heather Fernandez is the CEO and co-founder of Solv Health, a leading platform redefining access to everyday healthcare. Solv connects consumers with a national network of providers, enabling same-day appointment availability and price transparency for patients across the country. For providers, the Solv platform acts as a growth copilot, leveraging AI to eliminate unnecessary administrative work, optimize existing capacity, and modernize the patient experience through our voice agent Maya and ClearPay price transparency. Solv integrates with EHR systems to streamline scheduling, intake, messaging, patient payments, and insights. To date, Solv has powered over 100 million visits nationwide with providers like Yale New Haven Health, GoHealth and ZoomCare. Heather has built her career around intuitive, transparent consumer experiences, previously helping scale Trulia through its acquisition by Zillow. She serves on Atlassian’s Board of Directors and is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Stanford GSB. — 🙏 If you're enjoying the show, we would so appreciate it if you left us a review! — 📍 Connect with us: Heart of Healthcare website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A new federal law is reshaping how healthcare is paid for and delivered in America.