The Beat

About Paul Markovich: Paul Markovich is the president and CEO of Blue Shield of California, a nonprofit health plan generating $24 billion in annual revenue and serving 4.8 million members across various markets in California. With over 25 years of experience at Blue Shield, Paul has driven numerous innovative initiatives, including funding a statewide provider directory, supporting the developmen...

In this episode, host Sandy Vance talks with Bill Miller, CEO of WellSky, about the evolving role of analytics in healthcare and its impact on patient care. Bill emphasizes that the healthcare industry must invest in AI solutions to tackle pressing challenges, such as the home-based care staffing crisis, reducing clinician "pajama time," ensuring smoother transitions from hospital to post-acute ca...

Host Sandy Vance is behind the mic in this episode with Chris Chang, CEO and Co-Founder at GradientAI . Have any questions for Chris? Reach out via email or check out their website . They explore why GradientAI focuses specifically on the healthcare industry and how its innovative solutions are enhancing patient care and operational efficiency. They also address common concerns surrounding AI adop...

  In this conversation, Sandy Vance speaks with Pratap Khedkar, CEO of ZS, about the pressing issues in healthcare, particularly the scarcity of providers and the potential of AI to create healthcare abundance. They discuss the gaps in the current healthcare system, the global provider shortage, and the role of AI in addressing these challenges. Khedkar emphasizes the importance of trust in AI, th...

In order to deep dive into these topics, Sandy chats with Tariq Khan from Reteta about the new possibilities for AI in improving care visibility and advancing diagnostics and therapeutics. Tariq talks about AI for clinical documentation and revenue management, AI in wearable sensors/digital biomarkers and digital therapeutics design (including validation studies), pharmacovigilance automation, and...

In this episode, host Sandy Vance is chatting with CTO & Co-Founder Mark Stoehr, and Jack Ryan, Chief Product Officer, both from XSELL , the leader in conversational AI for contact centers. They’re here to discuss their innovative eXpert Language Model (XLM), designed for real-time dialogue. They will explore the key challenges facing the industry, the benefits of AI in enhancing agent efficiency...

In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Raleigh Murch (the Managing Director of AI for HCLS at NTT DATA ) and Dr. John Frownfelter (the Healthcare Industry Consulting Director at NTT DATA ). Join Sandy, Raleigh, and John as they explore the evolution and future of NTT DATA in healthcare innovation, highlighting key promising areas for AI integration. The discussion will also cover how organiz...

In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Sharmin Nasrullah , the GM of Life Sciences Clinical . In this insightful conversation, they explore how AI and data are revolutionizing the landscape of clinical trials, paving the way for holistic and personalized approaches in the pharmaceutical industry. Tune in to discover the innovations shaping next-generation trials and how organizations are lev...

In this episode of The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Sam Dorison, Co-Founder and CEO of ReflexAI, to explore the transformative role of AI technology in healthcare. From its origins at the Trevor Project to its groundbreaking applications today, ReflexAI is revolutionizing patient care through advanced AI-driven simulations. Join us as Sam delves into how ReflexAI’s innovative solu...

In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Optomed Managing Director David Frasch about how AI can augment physicians' abilities and daily responsibilities in this space. Optomed is a handheld fundus camera manufacturer based in Finland and has been in operation for the last 20 years. In this episode, David will shed light on how Optomed cameras harness the power of AI to enhance the diagnosis a...

Today, Host Sandy Vance is talking with Robert Dwyer , PhD EVP, Chief Data Scientist at Certilytics about AI and healthcare. Dr. Dwyer is here to help demystify and readiness  of generative AI. They delve into the transformative impact of generative AI on healthcare data and its revolutionary potential for the industry. Join us as we explore Certilytics, a company dedicated to creating a user-frie...

About Ezra Melhman: Ezra Melhman is a seasoned healthcare investor and business leader with a rich background in providing strategic guidance to hospitals, healthcare systems, and healthcare companies. He joined Health Enterprise Partners (HEP) in 2010, as a Managing Partner, bringing with him a wealth of experience in consulting and research services for the healthcare industry. Before joining HE...

About Lynne Chou O'Keefe: Lynne Chou O’Keefe is the Founder and Managing Partner of Define Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm focused on investing in digital health companies redefining healthcare. Define Ventures focuses on incubation, seed, Series A, and Series B-stage digital health startups (www.definevc.com). Lynne has partnered with entrepreneurs to help them build category-defini...

About Scott Barclay: Scott Barclay is a Managing Director at Insight Partners based in Palo Alto. His Computational Care thesis envisions the future of US and global healthcare built at the intersection of empathy and scalable technology.  Scott’s early career traversed capital markets with Banc of America Securities in Europe and the US, The Boston Consulting Group, and CVS Health. At CVS and the...

About Ian Wijaya: Ian Wijaya is the Co-Head of Lazard’s North America Healthcare practice. Ian joined Lazard in 2011 and co-founded the Firm’s healthcare services practice, with a focus on M&A, strategic advisory, and recapitalization advisory for managed care insurance payers, providers across the continuum of care (e.g., acute care hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, post-acute care, etc.), P...

About Omkar Kulkarni: Omkar P. Kulkarni is the first chief innovation officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. In his role, Kulkarni is responsible for fostering innovation across Children’s Hospital Los Angeles's clinical and research enterprises – including launching an enterprise virtual care program, incubating and implementing new digital health tools and medical devices, and rallying comm...

About Dr. Eve Cunningham: Eve Cunningham, MD MBA, the Chief of Virtual Care and Digital Health at Providence, and an active member of the HIMSS community. Throughout her career, she's balanced surgical skills as a gynecologist with incubating and scaling digital assistant products for providers at Providence. Balancing career with spouse and three children has been her biggest challenge. She advis...

About Ken Washington: Ken Washington serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Medtronic, leading the charge in accelerating innovation through strategic product development and technology initiatives. With a wealth of experience spanning various industries including robotics, consumer products, automotive, and space, Ken joined Medtronic in 2023, bringing...

About Max Cohen: Max Cohen serves as the CEO and Co-founder of Sprinter Health, headquartered in California. The company deploys W-2 employees, dubbed "Sprinters," equipped with the medical assistant, phlebotomy, and Community Health Worker expertise, directly into households to engage patient populations that may otherwise be disengaged. Sprinter collaborates with health plans and health systems,...

About Yuechen Zhao : Yuechen is a Partner at GSR Ventures, where he focuses on early-stage investments in enterprise software and consumer platforms. Prior to GSR Ventures, Yuechen founded a personalized travel startup and built products at Google, Uber, and Meixin (fintech). Yuechen received his BA in Computer Science from Harvard University. Things You’ll Learn: Despite public and private market...

About Novlet Mattis : Novlet Mattis, Senior Vice President, Chief Digital and Information Officer, As Orlando Health’s chief digital and information officer, Novlet provides executive leadership for information technology, digital capability supply chain, and systems that advance clinical and business strategies, digitally engage patients, providers, and businesses, and optimize operational proces...

About Jayme Strauss: Jayme Strauss is the Chief Clinical Officer of Viz.ai. Jayme has over 10 years of experience as a healthcare executive building clinical service lines in the areas of Neuroscience and Oncology. Jayme previously was the Executive Director of Neuroscience at Piedmont Healthcare in Georgia and Assistant Vice President of Neuroscience and Oncology at Baptist Health South Florida....

Historically, the FDA was used to approving material health products and medical devices. But with the rise of health technology, including generative AI, the department must approach regulations differently to ensure that digital products remain safe and effective once they’re on the market. So, how does the FDA think about monitoring digital health products and diagnostics? How do they assess th...

About  Maneesh Goyal: Maneesh leads operations, strategy, and financial performance for Mayo Clinic's Platform initiative He brings a cross-disciplinary background in finance, investing, product development and engineering. Prior to joining Welltok, Maneesh was a Managing Director with Miramar Venture Partners, a leading early-stage investor focusing on the information technology space. With Miram...

What are patients looking for in a health care provider? Zocdoc has been in business for 17 years, and in that time, the platform has collected a significant amount of data regarding what patients want from their health care. And you may be surprised to learn what matters most to consumers in the process of choosing a provider, be it a primary care doctor or specialist.  Dr. Oliver Kharraz is Foun...