The Heart of Healthcare | A Digital Health Podcast

Pete McCanna, CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health, believes that health systems are built around the wrong objective… and he has an ambitious goal to change that.

This week, Halle sits down with McCanna to unpack how one of the largest and most successful health systems in the country is shifting from a supply-driven model to one built entirely around the customer. They discuss why legacy systems operate like “walled cas...

We’re back with our monthly rundown of the top headlines in health tech!

Today, Halle flies solo to share the biggest stories that shaped Q1, from the rising pressures on PBMs to how consumers are using AI.

Stories covered:

• What's happening to PBMs (it's not pretty)
• New data from Rock Health on consumer use of AI
• Social media companies find liable for addictive design
• Healthcare hiring is slowing as efficiency becomes the fo...

Last year, his independent pharmacy spent $13 million on brand-name drugs for patients processed by the three biggest Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) which earned a profit margin of 0.01%.

In this episode, Halle speaks with Alec Ginsberg, owner and fourth-generation pharmacist at C.O. Bigelow, the oldest surviving apothecary–pharmacy in the United States. Alec is fighting against the forces squeezing independent pharmacies...

Chris Klomp, Director of Medicare and Deputy Administrator of CMS, and Senior Advisor to HHS Secretary RFK Jr., has big ambitions to reshape how healthcare works in the United States.

This week, ​​Steve sits down with Klomp to discuss how his experience as a digital health entrepreneur is guiding his current role overseeing a roughly $2 trillion department. Klomp shares the government's strategy for restoring trust between ...

This week, Halle and Michael sit down for a special in-person listener Q&A to answer a range of founder questions you submitted.

Topics include:

• What investors are prioritizing right now and how first-time founders can stand out
• How to think about board seats
• What to do if your growth has plateaued
• Things to keep in mind when negotiating a health system contract
• How to think about choosing between small funds and mega-VC...

Breakthrough blood tests that can flag dozens of cancers before symptoms appear are gaining momentum, yet questions remain about accuracy, equity, and how these tools will fit into routine care.

In this episode, Steve talks with Helmy Eltoukhy, co-founder and co-CEO of Guardant Health, a $14 billion publicly-traded precision oncology company. The conversation explores the science behind cell-free DNA, the rise of blood-base...

Pharma ads, biotech IPOs, $1M longevity programs, oh my!

This month's Digital Health Download skews towards biotech, which is having a moment. Tune in to hear Halle and Michael cover the latest headlines.

We cover:

• Why pharma ads are surging and the growing push for restrictions on D2C drug advertising
• Hims & Hers’ $1.15B acquisition of Eucalyptus, its global expansion strategy, and the FDA crackdown on compounded...

When Eric Lefkofsky’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, it exposed how little technology and data were shaping cancer care, pushing the serial entrepreneur to build a different model.

Lefkofsky is the founder and CEO of Tempus, now a $10B publicy traded health tech company, and previously founded Groupon. At Tempus, he’s building a tech-first company applying multimodal data and AI to make diagnostics smarter and treat...

In this episode (recorded live), Halle Tecco speaks with Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of Medicine at UCSF, about their concurrently released books on healthcare innovation and AI.

They share thoughts on the dual challenge of innovation in healthcare and the role of AI, covering:

• Why past waves of tech failed to change healthcare and why AI may finally break through
• How AI is making a difference today in healthcare
• Where AI-as...

Physicians now face a world where search bars, chat apps, and large AI models are becoming many people’s first stop for health questions, long before they enter a clinic.

Former Google Chief Health Officer and national health IT leader Dr. Karen DeSalvo joins us to unpack what this shift means for clinicians, regulators, and patients, and why 15% of daily Google searches are questions no one has ever asked before.

We cover:

•...

We’re back with our monthly rundown of the top headlines in health tech!

Today, Halle and Steve sort through the biggest stories shaping the year ahead, from AI prescribing to lawsuits galore.

We cover:

• AI prescribing (in Utah!)
• The FDA updated guidance on clinical decision support for AI in medicine
• The lawsuit against Prenuvo after a missed stroke warning, and the broader debate over accountability in AI-assisted diagnost...

It has been said that we don’t have “big data” in healthcare, but instead a large amount of “small data.”

In this episode, Halle speaks with Kyle Armbrester, CEO of Datavant and former CEO of Signify Health (acquired for $8B), about why healthcare data still moves the way it did decades ago and what it will take to modernize it at scale. Kyle reflects on building and leading large health tech companies and explains how fixi...

This week, Steve sits down with Ankit Jain, co-founder and CEO of Infinitus Systems, to talk about why voice-based AI has become one of the most rapidly adopted tools in healthcare operations, what’s actually working in the field, and where the hype still outpaces reality. Ankit shares six years of lessons from building AI agents that handle 35-minute medical calls end to end, plus his predictions on what 2026 and 2027 wil...

Is 2026 the year that changes everything in healthcare?

Steve and Halle sit down with legendary healthcare VC Annie Lamont for their annual predictions episode to dive into 2026 predictions and trends that founders and operators should pay attention to. 

We cover:

📉 Why 2025 was "the most brutal year ever" for health plans

🏥 Why providers outpaced payers in AI adoption and where the next wave of enterprise software will...

For our first episode of 2026, Dr. Ezekiel “Zeke” Emanuel, oncologist, bioethicist, architect of the Affordable Care Act, and author of Eat Your Ice Cream joins us to share why he believes the longevity movement is overblown and how real health comes down to simplicity. In his new book, Zeke argues that instead of chasing expensive fads and wellness trends, we should focus on six straightforward habits that make life healt...

We’re closing out the year with a candid conversation about where America is headed.

For our final episode of 2025, Halle and Steve sit down with entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang to talk plainly about the forces reshaping American life, from rising healthcare costs and gaps in coverage to AI-driven job disruption and the strain on the social safety net. 

We cover:

🏛️ Andew’s idea of “Medicare f...

Many clinicians quietly wonder if there's a “next chapter” beyond the hospital walls, and an increasing number are stepping into health tech roles that didn’t exist a decade ago.

Dr. Reena Pande has lived that shift firsthand: from cardiologist at a top academic center, to early employee and CMO at AbleTo, to now leading clinician executive search at Oxeon. She joins us to unpack what it really takes for clinicians to succe...

Hemant Taneja believes you can sneeze and reach a billion dollars in healthcare revenue, but that most of that revenue tells you nothing about whether the system is actually getting better.

This week, Halle sits down with the CEO of General Catalyst and author of The Transformation Principles to discuss what happens when you stop treating revenue as the primary KPI and start asking harder questions about impact, incentives,...

The Haves & Have-Nots Of 2025 | Threshold Ventures Co-founder Emily Melton

This week for our 2025 recap, we’re joined by VC Emily Melton, co-founder of Threshold Ventures. Melton highlights her reflection of 2025, which splits the market into "haves and have-nots" with nothing in between, noting the concentration of venture dollars on "high flyers" and the indifference shown to established companies with respectable...