CVS has spent $110B+ on acquisitions over the past 10 years. Now, they're splitting the company in 2.
@cvspharmacy @CVSHealth @Aetna @MinuteClinic
@cvspharmacy @CVSHealth @Aetna @MinuteClinic
Blake Madden 🏥
@B_Madden4
I break down the $5.3T business of healthcare after working on the inside. Essays on strategy, M&A, finance, health tech, & more. Texas ex
1.3K Following 21K Followers 10K Posts
Latest posts 5
Medicine standardized. Operations didn’t.
That’s the thesis I couldn’t stop thinking about after my conversation with Imaad Rashied (@imaadrashied), VP of Health Systems at Assort Health (@AssortHealth, on today’s Claims Denied episode.
Imaad and I cover a lot in this one:
• How Assort went from agentic voice in orthopedics to 15,000+ providers and roughly 310M patient interactions
• Why the “digital front door” is a myth
• How much latent capacity is sitting on health system schedules while everyone prices out $50M towers
• How you earn the trust of a subspecialist, even if they’ve had the same scheduler for 30 years
Plus: information asymmetry, consumerism, and what happens when health systems have to compete for real.
We also settled the Thanksgiving turkey vs. brisket debate (my Texas was showing).
Full episode below or...
Listen on Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-…
Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2Lm7s8…
That’s the thesis I couldn’t stop thinking about after my conversation with Imaad Rashied (@imaadrashied), VP of Health Systems at Assort Health (@AssortHealth, on today’s Claims Denied episode.
Imaad and I cover a lot in this one:
• How Assort went from agentic voice in orthopedics to 15,000+ providers and roughly 310M patient interactions
• Why the “digital front door” is a myth
• How much latent capacity is sitting on health system schedules while everyone prices out $50M towers
• How you earn the trust of a subspecialist, even if they’ve had the same scheduler for 30 years
Plus: information asymmetry, consumerism, and what happens when health systems have to compete for real.
We also settled the Thanksgiving turkey vs. brisket debate (my Texas was showing).
Full episode below or...
Listen on Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-…
Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2Lm7s8…
55:41
That one time I asked Seema Verma what she'd change if she were back at CMS…
Recently, I sat down with Seema Verma, EVP and GM of Oracle Health and Life Sciences and former CMS Administrator, to talk about Oracle's agentic AI future. Full link below, but sharing 5 great takeaways/quotes here:
1. On regulating at the speed of AI
AI is “going to change the way we work. So some things CMS requires today may not be reasonable anymore,” Verma said.
“Take rev cycle and coding. The reason we have coding is that we used to be on a paper system. The doctor would write their notes, and we needed a way to translate what happened in that interaction into a set of codes tied to reimbursement. With AI and ambient listening, it's possible to take the recording of the encounter and completely transact the payment from it. Maybe we don't even need coding going forward. But CMS ties everything to coding. So even when AI is capable of transacting, issuing the payment, and doing the prior authorization, the system still requires it.”
2. On walled gardens
From her CMS days: “When I was administrator, I heard from a lot of innovators who were very frustrated. It was hard for them to do business and bring innovative solutions to the marketplace, because it seemed like there was always a walled garden, or a front door they had to go through.”
Her view: customers should make the decisions about innovation and what products they use because it's their system and their patients.
3. On a system of record meeting a system of intelligence
Verma’s argument is that AI hallucinates when it lacks real-time data, and legacy EHRs weren't built to provide it. “You need a system that can access enterprise data - not just what's in the EHR, but what's in your supply chain, your financial systems, human resources."
4. On Oracle differentiating itself
“What's differentiating is that this EHR has been built from the ground up for AI. It's also being built with safety in mind, so we've layered in monitoring, transparency, and human in the loop. It's built for the future era.”
5. On keeping a thriving innovation ecosystem while also building AI-native products themselves
“It's an open ecosystem, an open platform. We're going to build the base product: the EHR, the patient portal, rev cycle. But because it sits on a platform, customers can say, ‘You know what, I actually want to build this one myself,’ or ‘I like this product from another vendor,’ and build it right into their ecosystem... We want to drive better outcomes, and if a competitor's product does that, we would certainly not want to prevent our customers from using best-of-breed solutions.”
hihpoint.com/library/d5800b…
Don’t want to miss insights like this? Subscribe: hospitalogy.com
@HealthcareSeema
@OracleHealth
@CMSGov
Recently, I sat down with Seema Verma, EVP and GM of Oracle Health and Life Sciences and former CMS Administrator, to talk about Oracle's agentic AI future. Full link below, but sharing 5 great takeaways/quotes here:
1. On regulating at the speed of AI
AI is “going to change the way we work. So some things CMS requires today may not be reasonable anymore,” Verma said.
“Take rev cycle and coding. The reason we have coding is that we used to be on a paper system. The doctor would write their notes, and we needed a way to translate what happened in that interaction into a set of codes tied to reimbursement. With AI and ambient listening, it's possible to take the recording of the encounter and completely transact the payment from it. Maybe we don't even need coding going forward. But CMS ties everything to coding. So even when AI is capable of transacting, issuing the payment, and doing the prior authorization, the system still requires it.”
2. On walled gardens
From her CMS days: “When I was administrator, I heard from a lot of innovators who were very frustrated. It was hard for them to do business and bring innovative solutions to the marketplace, because it seemed like there was always a walled garden, or a front door they had to go through.”
Her view: customers should make the decisions about innovation and what products they use because it's their system and their patients.
3. On a system of record meeting a system of intelligence
Verma’s argument is that AI hallucinates when it lacks real-time data, and legacy EHRs weren't built to provide it. “You need a system that can access enterprise data - not just what's in the EHR, but what's in your supply chain, your financial systems, human resources."
4. On Oracle differentiating itself
“What's differentiating is that this EHR has been built from the ground up for AI. It's also being built with safety in mind, so we've layered in monitoring, transparency, and human in the loop. It's built for the future era.”
5. On keeping a thriving innovation ecosystem while also building AI-native products themselves
“It's an open ecosystem, an open platform. We're going to build the base product: the EHR, the patient portal, rev cycle. But because it sits on a platform, customers can say, ‘You know what, I actually want to build this one myself,’ or ‘I like this product from another vendor,’ and build it right into their ecosystem... We want to drive better outcomes, and if a competitor's product does that, we would certainly not want to prevent our customers from using best-of-breed solutions.”
hihpoint.com/library/d5800b…
Don’t want to miss insights like this? Subscribe: hospitalogy.com
@HealthcareSeema
@OracleHealth
@CMSGov
hihpoint.com The Epic of Oracle Earlier this year, I spoke with Dr. Ramon Lizardo about his journey through scaling @Tele911_.
Hear how the former CEO and now Board Member of Tele911 describes turning Baltimore, Fort Worth, and San Francisco into cities where calling 911 can put you in touch with a physician in less than 37 seconds.
We also discussed his unique career path, balancing life and leadership, healthcare entrepreneurship, physician financial literacy, and more.
Just a great convo. Don't want you to miss it.
Hear how the former CEO and now Board Member of Tele911 describes turning Baltimore, Fort Worth, and San Francisco into cities where calling 911 can put you in touch with a physician in less than 37 seconds.
We also discussed his unique career path, balancing life and leadership, healthcare entrepreneurship, physician financial literacy, and more.
Just a great convo. Don't want you to miss it.
62:53
Check out my exclusive with Dr. Charles "Chuck" Saunders on the day he was named the new chief clinical transformation officer and president of Value-Based Care Enablement at @Lumeris.
Chuck will run the company’s VBC enablement business and lead clinical development and adoption of Tom, Lumeris’ AI-powered primary care as a service platform.
hihpoint.com/library/bcd51b…
Chuck will run the company’s VBC enablement business and lead clinical development and adoption of Tom, Lumeris’ AI-powered primary care as a service platform.
hihpoint.com/library/bcd51b…
hihpoint.com VBC, AI, and a Dream