Creating a New Healthcare

What happens when a venture capitalist becomes the Chair-Elect of the Healthcare Financial Management Association? We start to talk about 10x changes. Our guest today, Marcus Whitney, brings his expertise from the VC world to bear in this conversation, asserting that hospitals must partner with what he calls “built for purpose” organizations in order to thrive in the future. These organizations are those that have a clear wedge they are going after. They’re built precisely for the market opportunity and it’s why what they propose to solve the problem is 10X better than what is being done currently. The hospital itself can’t do that. But  what it can do is build the capabilities to do this type of partnering and integration at scale.  When it comes to primary care, Marcus explains that he himself utilizes concierge services, not because it’s the right solution, but because it’s the only solution that works for his lifestyle and his commitment to his own health. Primary care physicians in today’s system are subordinate to insurance companies whereas concierge providers are free to practice physician-driven standards of care, not insurance-based standards of care. This is not a system that is going to change quickly, especially not in the next five years, so how can we see change? Invite a symphony of solutions and take a lot of shots on goal. Marcus Whitney is CEO of Jumpstart Health, the most active early-stage healthcare venture capital firm in America. Marcus also leads Jumpstart Nova, Jumpstart Health’s institutional, strategic seed fund. A recognized thought leader at the intersection of innovation and healthcare, Marcus is an Aspen Health Innovators Fellow, co-host of the Health:Further podcast, Chair-elect of the Healthcare Finance Management Association, and a highly sought-after keynote speaker for healthcare associations and organizations nationwide. 

What if we could reverse the symptoms of autism within the first year of diagnosis? How about prevent new cancer diagnoses from becoming metastatic? Or determine in infancy what medications a person can or cannot safely take? This is the promise of personalized medicine, and it could be the basis of preventive medicine, but so far, it is not a model that has been realized, at least within the US. But our guest today, Dr. Brian Cornblatt, has successfully done all of these things at his clinic by uncovering the genetic vulnerabilities that lead to dysfunction in the body. Their approach centers around repairing, rebuilding, and restoring function, not just treating symptoms. It’s revolutionary, and it’s also well within our reach scientifically, IF we could get insurance companies to pay for it. Dr. Brian Cornblatt is the Clinic Director and Director of Personalized & Precision Medicine, and Chief Scientific & Research Officer for Quantum Executive Health Optimization Clinic. Dr. Cornblatt focusses on uncovering genetic vulnerabilities to detect root causes of dysfunction and helps the treatment teams develop personalized plans for each client to promote true health. Dr. Cornblatt is also Chief Medical Officer of AION Biosystems, cofounder and Chief Scientific Officer of International Nutrition Associates (INA) and Integrative Health Solutions (IHS). INA provides clinical trial-backed nutraceuticals to countries throughout Asia and South America as well as novel and high-quality raw materials globally while IHS provides global distribution services for nutraceuticals. Dr. Cornblatt serves as a Board Member for the Johns Hopkins Colorectal Cancer Center of Excellence, Microbiome Alliance for Disease Prevention, and Longevity AI.

What’s the alternative to Medicare for all? According to today’s guest, Ken Terry, award-winning healthcare journalist, it’s his alternative model of basic care for all. Ken believes we have to liberate primary care, pulling it out from under the pressures of poor reimbursement, overburdened staff, and an inability to effectively care for those on the cusp of chronic disease by reallocating our primary care providers into basic care groups, funded by the federal government, to provide population health and preventive care. For everyone.  In my conversation with Ken, we talk about one of the key differences in his model versus Medicare for all – retaining the robustness of the private market. While Ken agrees that we can’t leave primary care to the mercy of the private market, he also asserts that we must find a way to provide good healthcare for everyone and continue to let the private market thrive.  Ken Terry comes to the show with more than 30 years of experience covering healthcare policy, economics, Medicare, physician practice, healthcare reform, and  value-based care. A former Senior Editor at Medical Economics, he is the author of three books, including his most recent book: Beyond Medicare for All: Cracking the Code of the Healthcare Affordability Crisis, which outlines a practical, market-based blueprint to reduce costs, eliminate waste, and make quality healthcare more affordable for all Americans. Terry is a sought-after expert on healthcare affordability and the future of the U.S. healthcare system.

Dr. Marschall Runge is the author of the new book, “The Great Healthcare Disruption,” but he’s also someone who has studied primary care both in the US and across the world, and while he agrees it is currently failing, he offers some hope that it can get better.  In this episode, we talk about Dr. Runge’s research for the book that shows that the cost of healthcare per capita in the US is 2-3x what it is in other developed nations and yet our healthy life expectancy ranks 60th in the world! How is it that we are paying more for less? Dr. Runge believes there are lessons we can learn from other countries and ways to support the incredible and rapid development of effective means at treating chronic diseases that, frankly, we’re just not doing…but we could. And that, as he sees it, offers not just hope, but a framework. Dr. Marschall Runge is a distinguished physician-scientist, a leader in academic medicine, and an advocate for the integration of advanced technologies into healthcare systems. He currently serves as Dean of the Medical School at the University of Michigan and CEO of Michigan Medicine. With numerous accolades and awards, Dr. Runge has earned a reputation as one of the foremost experts in healthcare innovation. His work in bridging technology and medicine has been pivotal in reshaping the modern healthcare landscape. Dr. Runge’s groundbreaking research has been published in top-tier medical journals, and he is a sought-after speaker at international conferences on healthcare innovation, technology, and policy. 

Back in 2011, Sean Duffy had a vision to change healthcare. So, he dropped out of Harvard Business School and Harvard Medical School to found this company, Omada Health, that brought healthcare to people instead of the other way around.  Now valued at over $1 billion, Omada remains an innovative example of how to manage and treat chronic disease. But Sean’s not done yet. In this conversation, we talk about how we’re living in a time where we have the most innovative medicines ever created for metabolic disease. And, the most innovative technology landscape of all time. But the services landscape is absolutely failing, and so we have to look at how to redesign services and the business models that support those services so that we can realize the potential of those technology and treatment innovations.  Sean has always been a visionary, but the way he sees the field of healthcare rivals the best quarterbacks in history. Sean is the Co-founder and CEO of Omada Health, a between-visit care provider that addresses cardiometabolic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, prediabetes, and obesity, as well as musculoskeletal issues. As a former MD/MBA candidate at Harvard, he also holds a BS in neuroscience from Columbia University. He has written extensively about digital health and the future of healthcare in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and TechCrunch, among other publications. Prior to Omada, Sean worked at both Google and IDEO.

You can’t boil the ocean, and wow, does the state of primary care sometimes feel like an ocean. And if a behemoth like CVS Health can’t do it, it’s no surprise that the rest of us in healthcare feel at a complete loss for how to right this ship. But our guest today, Amy Compton-Phillips, Executive VP and Chief Medical Officer of CVS Health, takes a different approach. If ⅓ of Americans don’t have a primary care provider and even if they wanted one, there aren’t enough to go around, AND there is no pipeline to train and certify new ones, then how do we take the resources we do have and stretch them in different ways? That is the work we talk about today – how CVS Health is using their 900 clinics and 9,000 stores to step into that void and help more people access basic primary care, or, as Amy puts it, “giving people the tools they need to live their best life.”  Amy has more than 30 years of clinical and operational experience, coming to CVS Health from her role as president and chief physician executive at Press Ganey, where she guided provider organizations and health plans through system-wide clinical transformation. Prior to Press Ganey, Amy served as president of clinical care at Providence, a national healthcare system, overseeing clinical operations across 51 hospitals and more than 1,000 clinics. A Board Certified internist herself, Amy serves as a medical analyst for CNN, where she communicated critical public health guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Welcome to a new season of Creating a New Healthcare!  This season, we’re diving into primary care. That’s right, primary care. Because right now, we are sucking at primary care, and the problem has reached critical mass. AND, we are sitting on the precipice of a revolution in primary care – the ability to provide contextual care, the ability to assess precursors to disease, and the ability to treat those conditions far more effectively – they are all on our doorstep. So, in this first episode, I sit down with my Producer, Jess Greenwood, to share my rationale on focusing this season on the revolution in primary care and what you, the audience, should be listening for with this season’s guests.

We’re quick to blame genetics for our health and wellness issues, but the reality is that genetics only makes up 18% of our health destiny. That means the rest is up to us.  Our guest today, Dr. Grant Zarzour, has seen that first hand in his own family. When his son was diagnosed with moderate autism, he and his wife refused to accept the predictions for his future. They dove head first into the data and in so doing, revolutionized not just their son’s life, but their own. Now a relentless proponent of diet, sleep, and exercise for physical and mental health, Dr. Zarzour feels like we all have a hand in our own destiny. We just have to commit.  Dr. Zarzour is a practicing hip and knee surgeon in Mobile, AL.  He is the president of the largest orthopaedic practice in Alabama. While treating thousands of patients a year, Grant has developed a passion for preventive medicine. In 2024, he founded Sperity Health, which offers personalized longevity coaching to help its members improve their diet, exercise, and sleep with expert MD guidance. Sperity Health’s mission is to lower its member’s risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and dementia by up to 50% based on data and science.

With the recent explosion of GLP-1 drugs, the war on obesity seems to have taken a new and potent turn, but many are concerned about the recidivism, the side effects, and our reenergized obsession with being thin. Our guest today, Dr. Laure DeMattia, is a board certified family medicine physician and obesity specialist. For her, obesity is personal, as she has struggled her entire life with this chronic condition. In this episode, Dr. DeMattia breaks down for us how GLP-1 drugs work to hyperdrive weight loss, why that loss is rarely sustainable without long term use of the drugs, and her own philosophy outside of medication that helps her patients feel seen, heard, and safe. It’s both an educational conversation and a behind-the-curtains look at the obesity epidemic from someone on the front lines.  Dr. Laure DeMattia helps women stop blaming themselves for their physiology and find lasting health for over 20 years. Her dual perspective as both a doctor and a patient makes her uniquely compassionate, challenging the myth that willpower is the solution. Author of the book, The 4 Food Cues, Dr. DeMattia hosts her own YouTube channel, Navigating Obesity with Dr. D, where she offers a compassionate, realistic viewpoint about weight and weight loss.

How many grams of protein do you need to be healthy? What about fiber? Supplements? It feels like we’re changing our diets daily to adhere to constantly shifting recommendations and none of it is really working to optimize our health. Christopher Gardner, Professor of Medicine in Nutrition Science at Stanford University, and featured advisor on the Netflix show, “You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment”, joins us today to talk about how the industry is stacked against us and why the solution to our diet woes is as simple as beans, peas, and lentils. For more than 30 years Christopher Gardner, PhD, has studied what to consume and to avoid for optimal health, and how best to motivate individuals to achieve healthy dietary behaviors. He recently completed a two-year term serving on the US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and is the past chair of the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee. He has conducted and published dozens of human nutrition intervention trials, including trials of Mediterranean, Ketogenic, Vegan, Low-Fat and Low-Carb diets and their effects on cardiometabolic health. Some of his current interests include Stealth Nutrition, Unapologetic Deliciousness and Institutional Food Settings. He is currently working on personalized nutrition explorations with several colleagues, with particular focus on the gut microbiome.