Serrah Linares

$6,500. Nearly two-thirds of older adults had travel plans in 2024—and the average spending is more than $6,500 on vacations. Did you travel this year? Do you plan to travel in the future? New technologies are coming along for the ride! A new AARP study shows the majority (73%) of older adults are looking to learn more about the technology that can be used to travel. On The Peggy Smedley Show, I talk about different technologies such as mobile boarding passes, gen AI (artificial intelligence), and more. What technologies have you seen on your travels? What technologies would you like to see? https://lnkd.in/eXy78a_H Julie Shainock Clare Ward Steve Peterson Mark Chavez Amanda Knowles

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This 👂 podcast episode and insight’s from a16z Bio + Health's Julie Yoo spoke so clearly to the fundamental challenge facing both 🩺 clinicians and 🏥 healthcare systems.  There is a huge disconnect between supply, in the availability of clinicians, and demand, in the increasing volume and complexity of healthcare needs. -     36% of physicians plan to reduce their hours next year according to the AMA -     48% of physicians reported feeling burned out in a 2024 Medscape survey At the same time, the demographic baby boomer bubble and steady increase in the prevalence of major chronic disease, which consumes up to 90% of healthcare expenditures according to some estimates, is driving demand. With this context, Yoo points to a major opportunity for AI adoption in healthcare in 2025. Yeah, a VC hyping a wave of new AI companies that will replace the decades of training and experience of clinicians, the skeptic would say.  But Yoo is thoughtful in pointing to the role AI can play, and is already playing, through solutions such as ambient, autonomous scribe solutions (of which local star Abridge is leading the pack) in not replacing, but freeing up productivity for clinicians. There is so much unstructured context in both the complexity of disease and treatment options and the social/emotional considerations that we shouldn't be looking for AI to *replace* clinicians. But companies are getting better at finding the structured, repetitive and time-consuming places where AI tools can *help* clinicians. Nearly two-thirds of doctors cited bureaucratic tasks as the leading contributor to burnout. Rigorously trained-AI driven solutions can be a force multiplier for clinicians, and I’ve seen several interviews where nurses and doctors go as far as to say some of these solutions are ”restoring their joy in practicing medicine”. Our health is precious; and we rightly want any technology engaging with it to be developed thoughtfully and thoroughly tested. This requires top AI talent and diverse and realistic training data. Pittsburgh’s strengths in both areas is why we are an emerging hub for data-driven healthcare. #AIinhealthcare #clinicianburnout #healthinnovation #digitalhealth

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I'm thrilled that today, we announced a significant milestone for Clover Health: the launch of Counterpart Health. Our innovative Clover Assistant (CA) platform is now available to all Medicare Advantage payors and providers under the new brand name Counterpart Assistant. Why am I so excited about this? This move is a strategic leap forward in our mission to improve healthcare for everyone. With Counterpart Assistant, we're not just expanding our reach—we're leveraging cutting-edge AI and machine learning capabilities that have already proven to make a real difference in patient care. The healthcare landscape is evolving rapidly, and the need for advanced, data-driven tools has never been greater. Medicare Advantage plans, in particular, are under pressure to improve patient outcomes while managing costs. That’s where Counterpart Assistant comes in. By bringing our technology to more providers, we're empowering clinicians with the tools they need to deliver high-quality, personalized care. What makes Counterpart Assistant special? First, we’re broadening our impact by allowing providers outside of Clover Health's Medicare Advantage plan to benefit from our technology. Our hybrid SaaS and shared-savings model aligns financial incentives with health outcomes, ensuring flexibility and scalability. CA’s AI-driven insights enhance clinical decision-making, and are associated with earlier diagnosis and better management of chronic diseases. Plus, we've built a robust support system to ensure seamless integration and ongoing assistance for all users. Clinicians using CA have seen significant improvements in Medical Cost Ratios and patient outcomes. The timing couldn't be better. The healthcare industry is ripe for transformation, and our technology is poised to lead the way. By expanding the use of Counterpart Assistant, we’re not just keeping up with the changes—we’re driving them. Join us on this exciting journey. Visit our website for more details. Thank you for your continued support as we strive to bring high-quality healthcare to everyone on Medicare. #HealthcareInnovation #AI #MedicareAdvantage #ValueBasedCare #CloverHealth

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This is quite incredible to see. Very few #CMMI demonstrations can point to any savings at all. And “…MSSP savings go further than savings generated by Medicare Advantage…” #ACO #VBP #Primarycare #MSSP #healthcareinnovation

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🌟 Exciting News in the Fight Against Homelessness in California! 🌟 🏠 Imagine a world where healthcare extends beyond the hospital walls and directly into the communities that need it most. That's exactly what California is pioneering with its CalAIM initiative! Launched in 2022, CalAIM is transforming how Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, addresses homelessness by integrating healthcare with critical housing support services. 🤯 Did you know? In 2023 alone, over 68,600 Californians benefited from CalAIM’s “housing trio” services, which help individuals secure housing, maintain their living situations, and manage initial move-in costs. But that's not all - the program also offers medically tailored meals, medical respite care, and more, all designed to create a healthier, more stable environment for those in need. 🔄 However, there’s a catch - this groundbreaking program operates under federal waivers that are set to expire at the end of 2026. The future of CalAIM hangs in the balance, depending on the renewal decisions of the federal administration. This uncertainty poses a significant challenge to the continuity of services that many depend on. 🔍 Looking ahead, California advocates are pushing to make these essential services a permanent part of Medi-Cal, aiming to safeguard the future of healthcare and housing integration. This proactive approach illustrates the critical need for sustainable solutions in addressing homelessness. 🏛️ At PHOCIS Capital™, we believe in the power of sustainable development and the role of private money in driving social change. Our commitment to financial empowerment and success ties directly into initiatives like CalAIM, where thoughtful investment can yield transformative societal impacts. 💬 We'd love to hear your thoughts! How do you see the integration of healthcare and housing evolving? What role can private investors play in supporting initiatives like CalAIM? 👍 Like, comment, and share to spread the word about this innovative approach to tackling homelessness! 📢 #RegisterNow to stay updated on how you can contribute through impactful investments with PHOCIS Capital™. #HousingForAll #SustainableDevelopment #PrivateMoney #fixandflip #hardmoney #FinancialEmpowerment #RealEstateHumor 🔗 [Your thoughts and actions can help pave the way for a brighter, healthier future!]

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Having returned from the HLTH conference, I can't shake this one feeling. HLTH is my favorite conference of the year. There are so many opportunities to learn, connect with others, raise funding, sell, and have fun. For those that haven't been, it's unlike any conference you've ever been to. Laser light shows, great music that keeps you energized, star-studded line-up of speakers and after hours performers, and a diverse mix of stakeholders from healthcare. It comes across as a celebration. But what are we celebrating? We still have the same healthcare issues we had when I got into this industry 18 years ago. Healthcare is still too expensive and outcomes are poor when compared to other countries (who spend a fraction of what the US spends on healthcare). What is going to be the turning point in healthcare when all of this changes? ------------ Tomorrow I will share my top 5 insights from HLTH.

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As part of our #M3P solution in JUDI®, the report dashboard gives Medicare Part D #plansponsors insights into payment activity. With all this data at your fingertips, available to slice and dice as you see fit, you can easily visualize and keep track of payment trends. Want to see Ryan Kelly (Chief Technology Officer) run through a live demo of our M3P solution? Check out the replay of our webinar here: https://okt.to/9ZTsSW

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What does the future hold for retail medicine and virtual care? Walmart is the latest to announce their health center closure. https://lnkd.in/geZpMTkS. This following Optum news, VillageMD closing in Nevada, Teladoc Health problems, etc. What comes next? This is another in a long line of examples that technology and even consumer willingness are not enough when the reimbursement environment does not support particular care models. Are we getting ready to lose all the lessons painfully learned during the pandemic? Or will new virtual care models emerge following this round of closures?

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CompassPoint Health Introduces Healthcare 2.0 26 December, 2024 SACRAMENTO, CA CompassPoint Health (CPH) is set to introduce its revolutionary technology that will allow everyday Americans universal access to care. "America's healthcare system is broken, and patients' rights are at a historic low point" stated Founder and CEO Gary Brant. "I am proud to put CPH at the forefront of change, having a direct impact on millions of patients who will have the power in their hands to access life-saving care during medical emergencies". The California company is planning the first trials of its ground-breaking technology during the first quarter of 2025. Interested parties may sign up to be first in line for access to the CPH System by visiting https://lnkd.in/eC-C7hTC #healthcare #nursing #patients #california #medical #ambulance #emt #emergencyroom #hospital #clinic #doctors #medicalemergency

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One of our clients, RET Physical Therapy, has been serving the Puget Sound community in Washington State since 1973 with a mission to create neighborhood clinics with highly skilled staff who deliver excellent care and customer service. 💪 Challenge RET Physical Therapy aimed to modernize its web platform to better serve its patients and attract new employees. The goal was to create a custom business intelligence and performance tracking dashboard integrating data from multiple systems, including an Electronic Medical System. 💡 Why us? Referred to the client by a trusted source, FlexMade stepped in with expertise in new web technologies, providing a modern, mobile-friendly design solution. We updated RET Physical Therapy's website, incorporating customized online appointment scheduling and payment mechanisms while enhancing SEO to attract patients and prospective employees. 📊 Results RET Physical Therapy began ranking number one organically on Google in their market and saved time through streamlined payment processing. With about 10% of payments processed online and several new patients scheduling appointments daily through the website, the impact on business growth was significant. Moreover, our solution evolved into an enterprise platform, poised to benefit other physical therapy practices. FlexMade continued to provide ongoing support, ensuring RET Physical Therapy's digital infrastructure remained robust and responsive. #flexmade #healthcareindustry #healthtech #healthcaresoftware

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Employees are the heart and soul of your organization. Learn how to treat them like they deserve

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Since '21 Nishon Jones has helped lead the shift in how UC Davis evaluates and reviews pharmacy purchase data. "I can pull any data I need from the platform. There’s no need for downloading and running and rerunning data, loading new NDCs, or manually looking up prices." Stay tuned for more on Nishon. In the meantime, read more about UC Davis, Nishon, and their team's success here

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Today I've been reflecting on where the healthcare industry was when we launched Wheel, and the incredible advancements in care delivery and access that we've seen in just a matter of years. I believe this news is really about innovation, and underscores why organizations partner with companies like Wheel. When providing care is not a core competency, experienced teams play a vital role in helping drive integrated care strategies, rather than a stand alone approach. Those who deliver holistic models — centered on trust, loyalty, and great experiences — will be the transformative forces driving healthcare consumer adoption. Ultimately this is about the players who will drive transformation, and the types of companies that can and will power the next generation of care.

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Couldn't make it to our #webinar today with our VP of Product Management, Kevin Sundquist)? No problem -- we've got the replay ready for you! Check it out to learn what happens behind-the-scenes to take a #pharmacyclaim from your doctor's office to your #pharmacist, and how a modern platform like JUDI® makes this process more efficient, accurate, and #transparent for everyone involved. Check out the full webinar here: https://okt.to/MYZDF3

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A whirlwind of activity last week at the America's Physician Groups conference. Lots of solid insights shared by health system leaders. Some notable thoughts: +++ Artificial intelligence is intelligent in different ways: By now, we all know ai has a diverse set of use cases, incorporated in different applications and tools. But there are fundamental differences in how the intelligence itself is brought to life. Examples include: - Predictive AI, used to forecast future outcomes by leveraging historical data. Shout out to UCLA’s CKD/ESRD early intervention protocol (Joycee Berin) and Diagnostic Robotics’ intelligence care post-dicharge journeys (Kira Radinsky) - Protocolized AI, used to automating a user’s administrative load by using a set of detailed, pre-defined rule sets. Thanks to ARC for sharing their experience using Elaborate 's automated outpatient lab summaries (Manish Naik) - Generative AI, used to create new content. Great overview of ambient documentation at MGB as well as Cedars’ Sinai talking through its medical ontology model powering acute triage (Caroline Goldzweig) Across system leaders and experts, there was clear agreement that the first step to implementing intelligence intelligently is defining the ‘jobs to be done’. That way, internal and external stakeholders are clear on what they're solving for when they architect the solution.  +++ Scaling AI takes time and rigorous observation: Market leaders describe a phased pilot approach that allows clinicians to build confidence and system leaders to measure ROI before deploying systemwide. Loved hearing Rebecca Mishuris outline MGB’s novel approach of piloting two solutions against one another, to pressure test implementation, workflow, and value creation. +++ Proving ROI continues to be challenging: Lots of vendors using lots of different metrics to prove value, but the majority of leaders agreed that estimating the ROI of these new tools today is part science, part art. Demonstrating the ROI of the “soft” metrics around provider burnout and retention seemed to be a big opportunity, especially for investment in more efficient primary care and PCP wellbeing. After all, PCPs drive referrals to specialty-level care (and higher reimbursements) for health systems. Appreciated Anurang Revri's overview of how working team setup can also impact ROI estimates. +++ Value-based care = tools + humanity: VBC will require not only implementing tools to support clinical documentation, risk capture, upcoding, etc, but also humanizing interactions to engage patients. Countless examples, but one that made me smile was a depression focused chat bot responding in the following interaction: - Context: post-discharge check in Bot: Hi Freida, how are you feeling today after your surgery?  Patient: I’m having a tough time, am in a lot of pain.  Bot: Well, it can’t be that bad, I’m sure it will get better with a positive mindset!    🤣 🤣 🤣 Can't wait for next go-around!

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Here's how UnitedHealthcare steals from you And raises the cost of healthcare: Intercompany eliminations A recent STAT article uncovered some very unsurprising practices whereby UHG reimburses its physicians, employed by Optum, at rates much higher than market rates Whatever market rates are anyways And I know what you're going to ask, if UHG is paying its docs higher rates, isn't that still just taking money out of its own pocket? Why, yes, but also no Here's how it works without the effery: UHG gets $1B in premiums UHG pays $850M for medical care UHG makes $150M and satisfies MLR requirement And with the effery: UHG makes a $1B in premiums UHG reimburses $950M to its own docs The docs make $950M in revenue The docs' costs are $750M UHG eliminates $950M The real cost to UHG is only $750M UHG makes $250M UHG raises premiums next year UHG gives middle finger to MLR requirement The magic for UHG is that it gets to justify higher premiums because the "cost" of healthcare is so high It also gets to skirt right around Medical Loss Ratio rules because its own reimbursement amount is bumpkins and goes from the right pocket to the left Game. Set. Match. As Seth says, don't hate the payer, hate the game Problem is, the payers invented the game and wrote the rules P.S. If you love this hot pink graphic, you'll extra love The Healthcare Breakdown, where I use pictures with borderline offensive colors schemes to show you the games being played in healthcare Check it out here: https://buff.ly/47NeASx See you out there!

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Telehealth isn’t just transforming patient care—it’s reshaping how companies build relationships with providers. 🚀 A growing trend is the use of physician liaisons to strengthen connections between telehealth platforms and healthcare providers. Here’s why it’s effective: ✔️ Building Trust: Liaisons act as the bridge, establishing credibility and ensuring providers see the value in referring patients to telehealth services. ✔️ Improved Communication: They tailor messaging to address provider concerns, from ease of referrals to patient outcomes. ✔️ Strategic Outreach: Liaisons use data and insights to focus on high-impact providers, maximizing referral opportunities. As telehealth continues to grow, leveraging physician liaisons is proving to be a smart strategy to build networks and drive referrals. #Telehealth #HealthcareInnovation #PhysicianLiaisons #MedicalSales #ReferralGrowth #PatientCare #MDLiaison #DigitalHealth

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Is your chiropractic practice still relying on outdated, server-based systems? In this clip, Josh Nation from TurnCloud explains the game-changing benefits of switching to a cloud-based EHR. Say goodbye to constant updates, hardware failures, and backups. With TurnCloud, you can manage your practice from anywhere, giving your team the flexibility they need in today’s business landscape. Discover how cloud-based EHRs simplify workflow and keep your practice running smoothly! https://www.turncloud.com/