Every hospital, pharmacy, clinic, and home delivery relies on something we often take for granted: the quiet but essential machinery of healthcare distribution. 

In this episode, Jon Lange speaks with Mike Kaufmann, former CEO of Cardinal Health, about what it takes to lead one of the largest and systemically important healthcare services companies in the world. From building resilient supply chains to navigating COVID-19, Mike shares leadership lessons, behind-the-scenes insights into the distribution sector, and the high-stakes responsibility of delivering life-saving products when every moment counts.

Key Takeaways:

• Cardinal Health plays a critical role in delivering pharmaceuticals and medical supplies across the U.S. and globally.
• The drug distribution market is dominated by three key players, with Cardinal and its peers evolving through strategic diversification and consolidation.
• During COVID-19, Cardinal’s leadership team had to navigate the particularly difficult challenge of keeping the company’s 50,000+ employees safe while giving them the support they needed to continue providing essential products and services to providers and patients across the US.
• Transparent communication, authenticity, and remaining calm under pressure were essential as Cardinal’s leadership navigated through COVID and other crises.
• Mission-driven leadership is critical in healthcare companies, where daily operations can improve patient care and save lives.

The future of drug development is being reshaped by real world evidence, and TargetRWE is at the center of that transformation. In this episode, Jon Lange sits down with Ed Seguine, CEO of Target RWE and co-founder of Clinical Ink, to unpack how technology, structured data, and clinician insights are accelerating clinical trials and changing how we understand complex diseases. From unlocking the untapped value of messy EMR data to addressing ethical concerns, Ed shares how real world data can reduce trial costs, shorten timelines, and lead to better outcomes for patients.

Key Takeaways:

• Real world evidence (RWE) is becoming essential in designing and supporting clinical trials, particularly for rare and complex diseases
• Real world data can help drive efficiency and can even help address ethical concerns, including how to structure clinical trials to make sure patients are getting the benefit of the best data and insights available.
• AI will increasingly play a critical role in organizing clinical data, improving clinical decision-making without eliminating the need for clinicians

As the U.S. faces an increasing shortage of caregivers, Careforth is showing what’s possible when family caregivers have much-needed support. In this episode, Jon Lange talks with Katie Tardiff, SVP of Clinical Programs and Services at Careforth, about how the company’s structured family caregiving model is helping families care for their loved ones in their homes with personalized care plans and purpose-built technology. Katie shares insights from her clinical work and personal caregiving journey, illustrating how Careforth is transforming both individual lives and the broader home-based care landscape.

Key Takeaways:

• Independent analysis showed Careforth reduced falls by 45% and ER visits by 21% vs. control group.
• Careforth’s structured family caregiving model enables Medicaid-eligible families to keep loved ones at home with personalized care plans and purpose-built technology.
• With over 53 million caregivers in the U.S., Careforth is addressing a national workforce gap through home-based, family-led care.

Generative AI has exploded into the healthcare space, but where is it actually creating value, and where is it just noise?

In this episode, hosts Jon Lange and Josh Nelson are joined by Grace Wynn and Eric Berger, partners in the healthcare and life sciences practice at Bain & Company. Together, they explore the evolution of generative AI, why it has taken center stage, and how it’s starting to impact health systems, clinicians, payors, and patients alike.

From ambient listening to automated claim letters, this episode cuts through the hype to highlight real-world applications (and unintended consequences) of GenAI in healthcare.

Key Takeaways:

• Use cases in healthcare are growing fast, especially in administrative tasks like medical documentation, prior authorization, and patient communications.
• AI’s impact on clinicians is most promising where it reduces friction without removing human oversight.
• The payer-provider dynamic is becoming a “bot-on-bot” arms race, with both sides automating increasingly complex workflows.
• Patients will likely first feel the impact of GenAI through AI-powered chat tools that streamline scheduling, pre-appointment instructions, and multilingual support.

What if your prescription came with an app instead of a pill?

In this episode of Healthcare in Action, Jon Lange speaks with Dr. Corey McCann, Managing Partner at T.Rx Capital and the former CEO of Pear Therapeutics, to unpack the promise and the pitfalls of digital therapeutics. From founding Pear to launching T.Rx Capital, Corey has focused on the intersection of biology and technology for over a decade. As a pioneer in the field, Corey shares what it took to create FDA-approved software-based treatments for addiction and insomnia, and why he believes we’re headed toward a future where digital therapeutics can become first-line care.

Key Takeaways:

• How the U.S. behavioral health crisis affects over half the population and the ways digital therapeutics could help bridge the care gap.
• Greater access, standardization of best practices, and a more favorable side effect profile make digital therapeutics a compelling alternative to in-person therapy and pharmacotherapy.
• Despite early excitement and innovation, barriers including regulation and reimbursement have held back adoption of digital therapeutics.

The U.S. healthcare system is facing a growing challenge: an aging population and an increasingly acute shortage of caregivers. Technology will be one vital component of the solution. In this episode of Health Care in Action, we sit down with Adrian Schauer, co-founder and CEO of AlayaCare, to discuss how home-based care is reshaping healthcare and how technology is making that possible.

Adrian shares how technology is making home-based care more efficient, reducing costs, and improving patient outcomes - all while easing strain on hospitals and caregivers. From AI-driven patient risk dashboards to smarter care delivery models, discover how home-based care is solving some of healthcare’s biggest challenges.

Key Takeaways:

• The shift to home-based care is driven by a variety of factors, including patient preferences, lower costs, and better outcomes.
• Technology is a game-changer in helping caregivers deliver care more efficiently and predicting patient needs.
• Data-driven insights are improving care quality and reducing hospital readmissions.
• Scaling home-based care is key to addressing the ongoing caregiver shortage.

Healthcare is a team effort, and effective communication is critical. But what happens when different providers and payors use different terms for the same condition? Enter standardized medical terminology—a powerful tool that ensures everyone, from rural hospitals to major health systems, speaks the same language.

In this episode, Jon Lange sits down with Ivana Naeymi-Rad to explore how structured clinical data impacts patient care, provider efficiency, and even public health intelligence. They discuss how AI-driven solutions are refining medical documentation, enabling precise diagnoses, and even predicting disease outbreaks in real time.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• How granular, standardized clinical terminology improves patient outcomes by ensuring every provider on a care team has access to precise, meaningful data.
• The ways advanced data systems can detect emerging health threats, sometimes even before the CDC offering public health insights in real time.
• AI & Machine Learning in Healthcare: AI has been a behind-the-scenes force in medical data for decades, but new advancements are supercharging its capabilities.
• Precision in Clinical Trials: Standardized data enables researchers to quickly identify niche patient populations for groundbreaking treatments.

To learn more about THL’s work in building a better healthcare ecosystem for patients and practitioners alike, , visit THL.com/Healthcare

As more people either  delay or seek alternative routes to starting families, fertility care has become a vital part of modern healthcare. In this episode of Health Care in Action, Boston IVF CEO David Stern takes us inside the cutting-edge world of in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Learn how advancements in embryo culture, genetic testing, and AI are improving success rates and creating personalized treatment plans. David also shares how Boston IVF’s innovative approach to patient care is making fertility treatment more accessible and breaking down common barriers like cost, travel, and stigma. 

Key takeaways from this episode:

• How advancements in embryo culture and genetic testing have dramatically improved success rates while reducing risks like multiple births
• How Boston IVF's hub-and-spoke model makes treatment more accessible and convenient, addressing common barriers like cost and travel time
• How new technologies like AI and customized patient management systems are reshaping the IVF landscape
• Why addressing the stigma of infertility is important to bridging the communication gap between patients and practitioners 

To learn more about THL’s cross-sector strategy to uncover opportunities in emerging technologies, visit THL.com/automation

Welcome to Healthcare in Action! A podcast that explores how innovations and business models are transforming U.S. healthcare.

Hosts Josh Nelson, Head of Healthcare at THL Partners, and Jon Lange will be exploring the cutting-edge developments redefining the healthcare landscape. From AI and automation revolutionizing patient care to improved data quality and groundbreaking partnerships, this podcast brings you conversations with the people driving these changes.

To learn more about THL’s cross-sector strategy to uncover opportunities in emerging technologies, visit thl.com/verticals/healthcare.