Suzy Goldenkranz

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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California Bill Would Require State Review of Private Equity Deals in Healthcare — Consumer advocates and labor unions are enthusiastic about the plans, but hospitals are not A bill pending in California's legislature to ratchet up oversight of private equity investments in healthcare is receiving enthusiastic backing from consumer advocates, labor unions, and the California Medical Association, but drawing heavy fire from hospitals concerned about losing a potential funding source. Hopefully, more states will initiate the same approach to keeping close tabs on private equity buying healthcare-related entities. Private equity firms raise money from institutional investors such as pension funds and typically acquire companies they believe can be run more profitably. Then they look to boost earnings and sell the assets for multiples of what they paid for them Critics say the profit-first approach isn't good for healthcare. Look to Stewart Health Care where the CEO and C suite lined their pockets while driving the health system into the ground. "Almost all of the most distressed U.S. healthcare companies are owned by private equity firms." Time to rein in private equity vultures out there in healthcare trying to make a quick profit, raising the costs of healthcare in their quest to generate profits. #privateequity, #runningthehospitalintotheground, #vulturecapitalist, #forprofithealthcare https://lnkd.in/ea3pFz43

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What does calling my cable company have to do with Medicaid? I had to call a certain notorious cable/internet provider recently. The one with customer service so bad that it was skewered in a classic South Park episode. I blocked out an hour and braced for my inevitable PCOM aneurysm rupture. Shockingly, it was a breeze. The rep was friendly, and my issue vanished in minutes—a far cry from their usual 'dial-one-to-scream-into-the-void' reputation. So, what changed? Competition happened. A decade ago, our choices for cable and internet were as limited as the soda options in a health spa. Now, thanks to a buffet of streaming services—even including live local TV—the old cable giants had to step up their game or step aside. Turns out, competition is more effective than caffeine at improving service quality. Why can't Medicaid beneficiaries get the same treatment? Currently, most Medicaid coverage is through Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), where the state pays a fixed monthly rate per patient. This model should spur cost-efficiency, but it often just limits the scope of care. Low payments to doctors, restricted access to necessary services—who does that help? Could strict government regulations guarantee better service? Maybe, but FA Hayek (and a basic reading of history) prove that bureaucracy alone can't engineer excellence. And choice for Medicaid patients? Virtually non-existent. Many areas offer just one MCO. If you're dissatisfied, too bad—there's no alternative. It's like being stuck with dial-up in the era of fiber optics. Long wait times for basic procedures, no freedom to seek better coverage... It's eerily reminiscent of the old cable monopoly days. In the private sector, at least there's a semblance of choice: HMOs, PPOs, HSAs... But for Medicaid recipients? Sorry, the state chooses for you. Hope you like it. Our Medicaid system desperately needs a dose of competition. Isn't it time we offer Medicaid patients the luxury of choice that drives quality up and costs down? https://t.co/C7XE6CpIIP Joe Grogan Lisa Grabert Joanne Spetz Cheerag Upadhyaya, MD, MBA, MSc, FAANS, FACS Brian R. Gantwerker, MD, FAANS, FACS Sanjay Dhall Larry Bucshon, M.D.

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AEP Chronicles: Day 1️⃣7️⃣ Kickoff today’s PSA with a HUGE shoutout to the Los Angeles Dodgers on their World Series victory! ⚾️🌎🧢👏🏽📣 Next, as a follow up from yesterday’s discussion on Medicare updates, “a lot of you guys have been asking” (classic social phrase), why is Medicare Part D so important? 🤔 We’ll simply put, Medicare Part D is important because it provides prescription drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries. This option isn’t included in the standard Medicare plan (Parts A and B), refer to cms.gov for more insight. Medicare Part D helps people pay for necessary medications that could otherwise be very costly, especially for individuals with chronic conditions who require multiple prescriptions. 💊 Lastly, can I say thank you for engaging with these daily AEP posts? Glad to help educate the LinkedIn community a bit on Medicare, it’s been fun! 🤩 Have a great day ahead y’all! 🎃👻🧌🧟‍♂️ #Healthcare #Seniors #AEP #Education #HaveFun #Grit #GrowthMindset

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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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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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Here’s your recap of last week’s health IT news 🗞️ 👇 🤖 AI Clinician Assistant • Commure announced it will acquire Augmedix in a take-private deal. • Suki announced a partnership with Federally Qualified Health Centers and Community Health Centers, including Utah Navajo Health System, Inc., CenterPlace Health , and Access Health Louisiana. • OneHealth is partnering with healthPrecision / Medical Brain to support the former’s Modern Primary Care platform. 📈 Data & Analytics • Huma announced a $80M Series D that included pharma investors AstraZeneca and Leaps by Bayer, as well as the launch of its Huma Cloud Platform, a service that promises to help digital health products scale and launch their products more efficiently. • Intermountain Health partnered with NeuroFlow to better understand its Colorado patients’ behavioral health risks. 🔁 RCM • Medmetrix acquired HRSI - Healthcare Receivable Specialists Inc., accelerating development of its end-to-end solutions. • Thoughtful AI launched new “human-capable” AI agents for claims processing, patient eligibility verification, and payment posting and announced a $20M Series A. 📋 Patient Administration • XO Health Inc. is partnering with Kyruus Health to integrate its price transparency and directory tools. 💼 Provider and Practice Administration • West Tennessee Healthcare is implementing Qventus, Inc. 📱 Patient Support and Communications • Vizient, Inc has contracted with Mytonomy on behalf of its hospital and health system customers. • Tendo added FlyteHealth to its marketplace. • Epic offers a new integration with United Language Group allowing providers to dial-in an interpreter directly from the patient care workflow. ⚙️ Clinical Operations • Wolters Kluwer Health released an update to its UpToDate Pro software designed to support PCPs in prescribing, switching, and titrating antidepressant prescriptions. • Fullscript released two new studies demonstrating higher engagement and improved patient labs. 🍎 VBC • Guidehealth is now offering Story Health to its partner health systems. • Astrana Health is partnering with Elation Health to offer its EHR platform and billing technology to its customers. • Thyme Care closed a $95M series C, including healthcare funds such as CVS Health Ventures, Concord Health Partners, and more. 🧠 Food For Thought • A recent study found that Chat GPT-written patient portal messages were comparable in quality (and better on measures of empathy and communication style) to those drafted by healthcare professionals, according to PCP reviewers. We’re always interested to see physicians’ responses to GenAI solutions, as the tide turns toward greater acceptance of the technology. https://lnkd.in/gMX7ATX2 --- Want the latest healthcare tech news delivered to your inbox each week? Sign up here 📬 👉 https://lnkd.in/e2UJ3ckP

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Health care providers offering reproductive health services in California may be eligible for additional funds through a state budgeting program, with a second Request for Proposal (RFP) cycle open through June 4, 2024. This funding round specifically targets health care facilities and individual practitioners. Learn eligibility rules, funding limits, considerations for applications, and more in this article by Kinman Tong, CPA and Georgia Green, MS, CHFP.

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The healthcare system is at a breaking point. (Corporatization is eating it up) Corporate and government-led systems prioritize profits and bureaucracy over patient outcomes. And it leaves independent physicians struggling to maintain their autonomy. But physicians are not powerless. WE remain to be the bridge between patients and an increasingly convoluted system. It’s time to leverage that position and reclaim our role as patient advocates. 📌 Check out the 5 key strategies to strengthen independent practices and restore influence: 1) Shared Ownership of Vendors 2) Building Alliances for Strength in Numbers 3) Educating the Public 4) Innovating Through Independence 5) Claiming a Seat at the Table This isn’t just a fight for physician autonomy—it’s a fight for better healthcare for all. Where do you see healthcare going from this point? How do we fight corporatization? 🤔 #healthcare #corporatization #healthcaresystem #physicians #sharedownership #patientcare

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***From Best Practices to Next Practices*** Digital Health is an Emerging Determinant of Health says OCED's first-ever chapter on Digital Health in their annual Health-at-a-Glance report. Digital health readiness is considered a determinant of health as it influences health data usage, healthcare service delivery, and health outcomes through digital transformation. Countries with higher digital health readiness have better responses to health crises, improved resource utilization, lower costs, and enhanced patient experiences. Perhaps the most important point is featured in the image below, where the HUMAN FACTORS live. We have over-invested the last decade in the technologies and data systems to support Digital Health, however, we have heavily under-invested in the capacity and literacy building, community collaboration, transparent governance, and systems thinking that is required to take advantage of said technology and data. I liken it to 100 years ago, in 1924 when the automobile first arrived. At that time 95% of the world was still operating the horse and buggy, it took 40-50 years later to harness the power of the automobile to transport goods and services to every community. It's time we realize our healthcare system is the HORSE and BUGGY of this century... Here is a link to the copy of the chapter: https://lnkd.in/gzJ-GQbp #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #HealthData #HealthcareInnovation #HealthcareTransformation #DataSecurity #Interoperability #PatientEngagement #AIinHealthcare #PublicHealthImpact #digitalreadiness #communityimpact

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According to this article in Modern Healthcare, discussing a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, we have 16 rural hospitals at risk of closing in Washington State, and another 8 in Oregon. It’s disheartening but not surprising when reimbursement rates don’t cover the cost to provide care and hospitals have been operating at a loss for much too long. Make no mistake, it is an issue of health equity when our neighbors in rural and underserved communities face hospital closure and risk further losing access to care.  #healthequity #healthcare #healthcareaccess https://lnkd.in/gHr4Qz-j

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We all have seen by now that AI holds the promise of reshaping healthcare delivery, and this goes particularly for marginalized communities. Its widespread adoption, however, necessitates careful navigation of potential biases and ethical concerns to ensure equitable outcomes for all! As we embrace AI's transformative potential, we must continue to actively address issues of access, transparency, and workforce readiness in order to promote a future where technology enhances, rather than hinders, health equity initiatives. #HealthEquity #Healthcare #AI

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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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I always read Rock Health's digital health reports as they give a nice pulse feel for what is happening in the digital health funding space. Good to see funds raised in H1 2024 suggest funding in the sector seems to have stabilized at 2023 levels. Its no surprise the report emphasis the buzz around AI and healthcare. There have been clear winners in the AI healthcare space in the area of process and cost optimization and the R&D space. The impact of AI in care and treatment delivery is so far much more muted. One area I never though to look at AI was in its ability to bring together multiple healthcare pathways and digital point solutions into a more holistic seamless experience for the patient. There is a clear trend away from using stand alone digital health point solutions, and could AI address this challenge by facilitating the efficient integration of disparate processes and technology into unified care programs. I can see this happening with digital health products but this will be more tricky to do with physical care programs involving clinicians and HCPs. “AI is helping us combine multiple parts of the care journey, across all care experiences. In the future, benefits navigation, clinical guidance, and care delivery won’t be delivered by separate companies or point solutions within the healthcare ecosystem. They’ll be features that work in concert within products, and they’ll happen in under 90 seconds for a seamless patient experience.” – Glen Tullman, CEO, Transcarent and Managing Partner, 7wireVentures

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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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I’ve been at Kooth for 2 months now, and I’m so in love with my job! 💗 This role has reminded me how essential it is to work for a company that aligns with our values, and I want to take a moment to highlight my three favorite things about working at Kooth: ✨ I’m part of the mission to implement free mental health support for all California youth aged 13 to 25  Kooth provides universal access to mental health support for teens and young adults that's free at the point of service, something I’ve been fighting for my whole career! My role is to help get the word out about our app Soluna, funded by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), to provide free mental health support for all California youth aged 13 to 25. This is HUGE – free support, in their pockets, whenever they need it, for millions of young people! ✨ I get to work for a company that values autonomy, the lived experience, and peer support  #Soluna gives users complete control over their mental health journey. Whether they choose to explore interactive resources, join peer support forums, or engage in 1:1 coaching with certified professionals, Soluna empowers them to seek support their way. Our coaching team includes certified peer support specialists with diverse backgrounds and lived experience. Connecting with someone who shares similar experiences helps us feel less alone and more understood. I’m proud to be part of a company that prioritizes this approach! ✨Soluna adopts a holistic, person-centered approach, addressing various life challenges and social determinants of health, not just mental health issues  For example, users seeking housing resources can access them within the app and receive coaching support. Our coaching emphasizes setting meaningful goals tailored to the individual rather than solely focusing on symptoms. Within one month of using Kooth, 69% of users in the UK report significant progress toward their goals. We aim to empower young people to shape the lives they desire! Ok, ok. I’m done boasting…for now…😛 (If you want to chat more about Soluna and our California project or learn more about what it’s like working for Kooth, message me!) Want to explore on your own? Visit our site: https://solunaapp.com/ #SolunaApp #MentalHealth #MentalHealthAwareness #MentalHealthMatters

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Here we go again 🎢 Oregon has decided to call a meeting of those who control what is covered on Medicaid (the prioritized list) because of concerns that their 2022 guidance on APPROVING IVIG COVERAGE FOR PANDAS/PANS is in conflict with the recent AAP guidance ☝️ Our PANDAS/PANS community is being singled out once again DESPITE the fact that this coverage decision already consumed 14 months of deliberation by this state body AND THE TREATMENT GUIDELINES HAVEN’T CHANGED which were established by the PANS CONSORTIUM and PUBLISHED BACK IN 2017 in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology 📰 So why is this being revisited again by a state body commission who have ZERO expertise in PANDAS/PANS ? And why is the HERC using the prioritized list when Oregon's 1115 waiver is no longer applicable and EPSDT dictates that coverage be provided to those under 21 for "The prevention, diagnosis, treatment or amelioration of an EPSDT Beneficiary’s disease, condition, or disorder that results in health impairments or a disability"?! Why is this group of pediatric patients being singled out by a state commission and their access to medical treatments being scrutinized with an attempt to regulate them? Sejal Tyle Hathi, MD, MBA Ebony Clarke, LCSW Emma Sandoe, PhD, MPH Tina Kotek Amy Baker Andre Bealer Beth Englander Arthur Stevens Jane Perkins Sara Van Geertruyden Ruth Reader Cynthia Marcotte Stamer Ben Gurewitz Warris B. Logan Coulter Elisabeth Shepard Carly Vandegrift Jeff Michels Nick Budnick Kaylee Tornay Hillary Borrud The meeting is scheduled for next Thursday, January 16th Our nonprofit will be in attendance and testifying 🎙️ The email they sent does state that no coverage decisions will be made at the meeting 🚫 You can register to attend the meeting virtually 💻 https://lnkd.in/gD6gQVGN AND/OR Submit comment which MUST BE DONE BY THEIR DEADLINE OF TUESDAY, January 14th at NOON 🕛 https://lnkd.in/g9-hES3a \

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