How are innovators driving sustainable ventures to transform Medicaid and improve care for underserved populations? During May’s Digital Healthcare Innovation Summit, Zeena Johar, entrepreneur in residence of Frist Cressey Ventures; Chris Johnson, founder and CEO of Bluebird Kids Health; Aditi Mallick, former CMO of Medicaid and director of Minority Health at CMS; and Jenny Ismert, CEO of Community Plan of Kansas at UnitedHealthcare Community & State gathered to discuss scalable solutions...

Ty Wang, co-founder and CEO of Angle Health, is working to ensure that anyone can access healthcare in a convenient and efficient way. Tune into this episode of Breaking Health, where host Steve Krupa speaks with Wang about shifting from engineering and government to healthcare and creating a platform that delivers comprehensive healthcare benefits while removing administrative barriers. Wang discusses the value proposition Angle Health is putting forth and what member experience is like on t...

In this episode of Breaking Health, host Steve Krupa speaks with Matt Bettonville, investor at Yosemite, about the state of oncology research and his hunt for investments in discovery and treatment tools. Bettonville delves into the key to cancer treatment, where deals are flowing towards in the market, and how the AI revolution is helping with drug discovery and cancer treatment breakthroughs. He also discusses the complications (and frustrations) of making treatments affordable, finding new...

In this episode of Breaking Health, guest host Payal Agrawal Divakaran, partner at .406 Ventures, speaks with Jeremy Friese, CEO of Humata Health, about prior authorization and how Humata is helping from “both sides of the fax machine.” Friese also discusses his thoughts on the future of AI adoption, how the regulatory landscape looks, and more. He also shares what the transition between physician to entrepreneur was like, what it’s like to found and grow companies, and how to select the righ...

In this year’s first episode of Breaking Health and to celebrate Heart Health Month, guest host Payal Agrawal Divakaran, partner at .406 Ventures, speaks with Jeffrey Wessler, MD, MPhil, CEO of Heartbeat Health, about virtual cardiovascular healthcare, how Heartbeat makes it possible for physicians and patients to give and receive treatment through telemedicine, and the advances in technology the company is making. Dr. Wessler also shares his thoughts on selecting VC partners, the dynamic for...

In this episode of Breaking Health, guest host Payal Agrawal Divakaran, partner at .406 Ventures, and Kate Condliffe, CEO and co-founder of Diana Health, discuss providing accessible maternity care and the future of women’s health. Condliffe shares how her company empowers and supports women to live their best lives, how Diana Health works with hospitals, and how to choose the right fundraising partners. Divakaran and Condliffe also delve into how the new presidential administration will make...

In this special video episode of Breaking Health / In this episode of Breaking Health, guest host Payal Agrawal Divakaran, partner at .406 Ventures, speaks with Kristina Saffran, cofounder and CEO of Equip about providing accessible eating disorder treatment for patients everywhere. Saffran shares the origins of Equip, busts some myths surrounding eating disorders, and explains how her company pays for health plans. She also discusses the importance of working with the right cofounders, picki...

In this episode of Breaking Health, host Steve Krupa speaks with Jon Maschmeyer, partner at Permira. Maschmeyer discusses what it’s like working with executives and what they learn from him about investments, what sector has the most activity today in terms of deal flow, what attributes he finds exciting when considering a deal, and the key to working with private equity as a management team. He also shares his thoughts on how lower rates for high-volume drugs affect other countries, specialt...

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 ma...

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 ri...

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 val...

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 perspect...

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 ...

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 foun...

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 suc...

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 th...

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 technolo...

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...

Healthcare’s most vulnerable patients meet a fragmented system when they seek to simultaneously address chronic comorbidities, behavioral health challenges, and social needs (i.e., navigating access to food, transportation, and housing). In response, ConcertoCare employs a multidisciplinary team and offers an integrated approach to clinical care, behavioral health, and social services. The organization takes its name from a musical composition involving a soloist and an orchestra. With Concer...

Payers and providers spend unnecessary time and energy approving medical and diagnostic procedures. CEO and Co-Founder Siva Namasivayam, believing that the digital health market has yet to leverage the full power of technology, launched Cohere Health in 2019 to transform utilization management into proper care management. Cohere Health employs individual and cohort medical data, records, and proprietary algorithms to generate approvals for nearly 90% of authorization requests. Evidence sugges...