The Pulse by Wharton Digital Health

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Nawal Roy, Founder of Holmusk, on advancing behavioral health with real-world evidence analytics Mar 13, 2024

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Our guest on this episode is ⁠Nawal Roy⁠. Nawal Roy is the founder and CEO of ⁠Holmusk⁠, a company that specializes in real-world evidence, AI-powered analytics, and digital solutions to solve the evidence gaps problem in mental health. Last year, Holmusk raised a series B funding round of $45M, led by Veradigm, a leading provider of healthcare data and technology solutions. Powered by this investment, Holmusk’s NeuroBlu database recently reached a pivotal milestone of 4 million patient lives, becoming the largest NLP-enriched, de-identified real-world data platform designed for behavioral health and mental health research. Nawal and I discussed: -Holmusk’s founding story, how Nawal connected his background and skill sets in finance to healthcare, and where he saw opportunities in building a “Bloomberg Terminal” for behavioral health -Holmusk’s flagship platform, Neuroblu, which organizes and analyzes a large volume of real-world data to provide insights for research, care improvement, and marketing purposes -Generative AI and natural language processing (NLP) and their potential to revolutionize mental health care by enabling precision psychiatry, improving the standardization of treatment protocols, and bridging the evidence gap -Holmusk’s active partnerships with healthcare systems, pharma companies, and government organizations to expand its data set and drive meaningful change in the industry

Ankit Jain, Infinitus, on applying AI technology to unlock time and efficiency in healthcare Feb 05, 2024

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In this episode, I sat down with ⁠Ankit Jain⁠, Founder and CEO of ⁠Infinitus Systems⁠. Founded in 2019, the company automates tedious and time-consuming administrative processes across the healthcare ecosystem with AI to free up clinician time and improve access, adherence, and affordability. Infinitus is the only solution that automates the entire phone call process to complete benefit verifications. Infinitus returns that hard-to-find information so providers have the most comprehensive view of treatment coverage and can confidently move forward with a patient treatment plan. The company has raised money from Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Coatue, and a number of other healthcare luminaries. Ankit and I discussed: 1) The company’s “spark story,” and how a Google digital assistant for restaurant, spa and salon reservations was pivoted to fill an unmet market need in healthcare, 2) The importance of freeing up time spent on administrative workflows for clinicians to serve patients, 3) Applications of AI in healthcare to solve for areas of unmet need

Pablo Pantaleoni, LifeStance, on combating the mental health crisis via digital solutions Jan 29, 2024

Show notes

Our guest on this episode is Pablo Pantaleoni, the Chief Digital Officer of LifeStance, a mental health care company focused on providing evidence based medically driven treatment services for children, adolescents and adults suffering from a variety of mental health issues in an outpatient care setting, both in person and through his digital health, telemedicine offering. In this episode, Pablo discussed: 1) His unique background and path to LifeStance. 2) LifeStance’s value proposition in the digital mental health space. 3) AI’s role in combating the mental health crisis. 4) Advice for young entrepreneurs in this space.

Belinda Tan & Noah Craft, People Science, on human-centered clinical trials for alternative medicine Oct 24, 2023

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In this episode, I sat down with ⁠Belinda Tan⁠ and ⁠Noah Craft⁠, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs at ⁠People Science⁠. Founded in 2019, People Science is a human-centered clinical research platform addressing the need for rigorous clinical science to back alternative medicines and wellness solutions that do not typically fall under traditional Western medicine. The company’s platform studies a range of solutions spanning microbiome and food-as-medicine interventions, natural and synthetic psychedelic medicines, cannabis and cannabinoids, functional medicines, and digital therapeutics. Its user-facing app called Chloe (Consumer Health Learning and Organizing Ecosystem) supports users to test these alternative treatments on themselves, and enables users to view personal results in real time while comparing themselves to others. People Science secured its $8.5 million seed funding through two rounds, most recently in December 2022. Belinda, Noah and I discussed: 1) Their founding story and unique co-CEO leadership model, 2) The philosophy behind the People Science platform, including the nuances of alternative medicines compared to traditional Western medicine, 3) The business model, including both how studies are launched with B2B partners and the consumer-facing app (Chloe), and 4) Insights and advice from having co-founded and co-led not one, but two, companies together.

Todd Park, Devoted Health, on building the "American healthcare system as a service" Jul 31, 2023

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Our guest on this episode is Todd Park. Todd is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Devoted Health, a Medicare Advantage "payvider" providing virtual and in-home medical care for older Americans and leveraging their technology platform to drive clinical results. Founded in 2017, Devoted's team of over 2,000 cares for nearly 124,000 members across 14 states. Todd previously served as the White House Technology Advisor and the HHS Chief Technology Officer in the Obama Administration, and was the co-founder of athenahealth and Castlight. In this episode, I spoke with Todd about, his entrepreneurial journey, his time in the White House, and why Devoted is situated to transform the healthcare experience for older Americans.

Dawn Alley, Carebridge, on scaling value-based payment models at CMMI and beyond Jun 20, 2023

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In this episode, I sat down with Dawn Alley, President of Decision Support at Carebridge, a company that works with health plans and states to care for individuals receiving long-term support services. Prior to joining Carebridge, Dawn spent about a decade working in the federal government as Chief Strategy Officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), and before that as Deputy Senior Advisor for Value-based Transformation at HHS. Dawn and I discuss: 1) The main initiatives she worked on at CMMI including the Accountable Health Communities Model and Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program, 2) lessons learned during her tenure about implementing and delivering healthcare models at scale, and 3) why Dawn is excited about the future of long-term care services and why she believes in Carebridge’s model

Misha Palecek, DaVita Kidney Care, on delivering value based care to patients with kidney disease Jun 02, 2023

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In this episode, I sat down with Misha Palecek, who currently serves as the Chief Transformation Officer for DaVita Kidney Care, a leading provider of kidney health services for more than 250K patients globally. Misha joined DaVita in 2005 and has stood up several ventures under the DaVita umbrella, including serving as President of Paladina, a start-up primary care business affiliated with DaVita. In Misha’s current role, he’s focused on business growth through strategic value-based care partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, joint venture partnerships, and care delivery innovations across the kidney care continuum.

Dr. Bassem Mikhael, Somatus, on realigning incentives to better serve patients with kidney disease May 18, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, I sat down with Dr. Bassem Mikhael, SVP, of the Clinical Enterprise at Somatus. Started in 2016 by Dr. Ikenna Okezie, Somatus partners with clinicians, health plans, health systems, and multi-disciplinary community-based care teams to improve health, quality of life, and cost of care for patients with kidney disease. Somatus employs over 1,450 team members and serves more than 150,000 patients across 36 states. Dr. Mikhael and I discuss: 1) The vital role that kidneys play in maintaining health, the issues that arise from diseased kidneys, and how these challenges translate into per patient costs that are 10x higher, on average, than those for patients without kidney disease, 2) The traditional model for treating patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and how Somatus’ model realigns incentives to focus on integrated, preventative, and patient-centered care, 3) Why the federal government, CMS, and CMMI have prioritized investments in kidney care and what we’ve learned from their initiatives and care model tests, and 4) Clinical innovations that make Dr. Mikhael optimistic about the future for patients living with kidney disease.

Anna De Paula Hanika, Uno Health, on the power of social safety net programs May 03, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, I sat down with Anna De Paula Hanika, Co-Founder & CEO of Uno Health. Founded in 2019, Uno enrolls Medicare members in the federal and state programs – Medicaid, the Medicare Savings Program, SNAP, energy assistance programs, and more – that they are eligible for, benefiting both the member and payor. Uno has put over $10M back into the pockets of low-income Americans. Its investors include Google Ventures, General Catalyst, Floodgate, and Cowboy Ventures. Anna and I discuss: 1) How she became interested in solving challenges related to the US healthcare systems and identified enrolling seniors in federal and state programs as the particular problem she wanted to solve, 2) Uno’s business and operational model and value proposition to payors and members, 3) The ways Anna has seen these safety net programs work really well and less well and how supplemental benefits programs from payors can fill some existing gaps, and 4) Lessons she’s learned during her journey as an entrepreneur and advice she has for people starting tech-enabled services businesses.

Mark Cuban, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, on bringing transparency to pharmacy Apr 19, 2023

Show notes

Our guest on this episode is Mark Cuban. In addition to a storied business career that includes owning the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and a role on ABC's Shark Tank, Mark is the founder and lead investor in the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, a generic pharmaceutical distributor that prices medications at cost, plus a 15% administrative markup and any relevant pharmacy and shipping fees. Founded in early 2022, over 1.7M patients have signed up for the service in their first year, and Cost Plus Drugs now offers over 1,000 generic medications for purchase on their website. Mark founded the company with CEO Dr. Alex Oshmyansky, a pediatric radiologist who originally tried to start an organization similar to Cost Plus Drugs as a non-profit, before pivoting and convincing Mark to be his partner. In this episode, I spoke with Mark about his journey to starting Cost Plus Drugs, how the company is able to drive down prices so drastically compared to the existing players, and how incumbents, such as traditional pharmacy benefit managers and new entrants, such as the Amazon RxPass, will impact the success of Cost Plus Drugs.

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