The Rock Health Podcast

Earlier this week, we released our annual funding report, which explored the “bubbliness” of digital health amidst record dollars and tempered exits. To expand on our findings and get to the heart of what the funding environment means for the future of the sector, we spoke with an entrepreneur and seasoned digital health investor about: –How entrepreneurs should approach fundraising in a capital-rich market –What milestones investors look for before signing the check –Whether valuations are too high –Why digital health is primed for more acquisitions Hear from Sitka co-founder & CEO Kelsey Mellard, Flare Capital co-founder & Partner Michael Greeley, and Rock Health Managing Director & CEO Bill Evans in our latest podcast episode, recorded during the #JPM19 week in San Francisco.

Free from the constraints of legacy operating systems, Oscar Health takes a full-stack approach to insurance—one where healthcare becomes a collaborative experience between the patient, payer, and provider. Rock Health's Megan Zweig sits down with Mario to understand how his company is breaking down industry silos, what plans are in store for Alphabet’s recent super-investment, and what others can learn from Oscar’s consumer-first, tech-forward approach.

As the tech titans push forward with their entrance into healthcare, speculation surrounds their chances of successfully solving the industry’s myriad of maladies. Hear from Cleveland Clinic CEO-turned-Googler Dr. Toby Cosgrove and CNBC.com's Chrissy Farr on what’s notable—and what’s just noise—as these tech giants move into the $3T healthcare market.

While the singularity is nowhere in sight, we’re inching closer to a world where more jobs are being replaced or augmented by machines—and industry sentiment ranges from praise to skepticism. In this live session, Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at UCSF, Bob Wachter and Google Ventures partner and physician-scientist Vineeta Agarwala voice their views on the divergent paths of AI.

As one of the last industries to undergo technological transformation on an exponential scale, healthcare is ripe for change—and attracting the attention of diverse industries like never before. What opportunities do transportation, finance, food, and other companies see in healthcare? What trends are leading non-traditional companies into this balkanized industry? And what lessons should healthcare learn from them? Featuring Chris Waugh, Chief Design & Innovation Officer at Sutter Health James Sinclair, Managing Director, Consumer Retail and Healthcare Group at Goldman Sachs Heather Jordan Cartwright, General Manager at Healthcare NExT, Microsoft Ronan Wisdom, Managing Director, Global Lead - Connected Health, Accenture

An expert in the field of AI, Andrew Ng shares what the digital health community needs to understand about trendy technology, by separating hype from reality, while discussing how these technologies are creating real value in healthcare—today and throughout the decade ahead. Recorded live at Rock Health Summit 2017

In our recent survey digital health companies divulged their enterprise sales pain points. This week we went even deeper—with two executives at the center of technology innovation and adoption at leading health systems—to get their honest take on what hospitals want from digital health tools, including: - How they vet new innovations and recommendations to startups on operating a pilot - What’s next in the technology landscape for hospitals? - Their biggest adoption pain points and digital health enterprise failure stories Tune in to the conversation with Boston Children’s John Brownstein and Brigham and Women’s Adam Landman in our latest podcast episode.

Last week we briefed you on the record shattering funding streak of the first half of 2017. Then we sat down with two other investors, Bessemer Venture Partners’ Steve Kraus and Kaiser Permanente Ventures’ Liz Rockett to bring you a deeper look into: - The most exciting opportunities in digital health - How companies are being evaluated in this uncertain, albeit cash-rich, environment - What we expect for the upcoming IPO market - Whether or not unicorns are real - What recent tech giant moves mean for the industry - Where healthcare transformation is in its long process of digitization and maturation

Despite persistent efforts by those in digital health, gender parity in leadership remains a huge issue. It’s not due to lack of attention. The front cover of The Atlantic’s April issue asked, “Why is Silicon Valley So Awful to Women?” According to Rock Health research, digital health companies led by men get 91% of all venture deals, leaving few dollars for women-led companies. Only 9% of companies funded in 2016 had a woman CEO—down from the already dismal 11% in 2015—even though women are the primary decision makers in health care. Counter to this trend, we’re seeing lots of success by women entrepreneurs and excitement for women’s health products. So how are women entrepreneurs navigating this environment? What do they feel is missing from the conversation? And what gaps and opportunities do they see in women’s health? We spoke with two of them to find out. One is a Rock Health portfolio CEO improving family access to healthcare—starting with pregnancy. The other is upending the lab experience by enabling patients to take at-home tests, and take control of their health. Interview by Ashlee Adams, Rock Health

What are players from around and outside healthcare doing to make this universal experience more understandable, clear—and even enjoyable? Two CEOs share their take on how transparency in healthcare is taking shape and what it really means for patients and stakeholders.

The age-old power dynamics in healthcare are quickly shifting—away from providers as the primary touch point for care and toward tech-, and consumer-empowered decision-making. In a world where personal data is king and consumers expect things to be free—and are also expected to take on a larger burden of their healthcare costs, healthcare companies have a lot to adapt to. Two entrepreneurs—one leading a first of its kind marketplace for consumer genomics and another organizing all of this data from the wild and bringing it back into the four walls of the health system—share their insights about navigating this shift, engaging healthcare stakeholders, and putting the patient or consumer at the center of it all. With Helix CEO Robin Thurston and Validic Co-Founder & CEO Drew Schiller Interviewed by Ashlee Adams, Rock Health

Medical research is a $200B industry—but is not conducted in a way that is searchable, machine-readable, or reproducible. We chat with Benchling cofounder and CEO Saji Wickramasekara and Elemental Machines cofounder and CEO Sridhar Iyengar to understand what's at stake, and how technology is being used to advance scientific research. Interviewed by Mollie McDowell Learn more at rockhealth.com

There's tremendous excitement about the potential of what data can do to change how healthcare really works. Simultaneously there's some confusion, and fear from patients around security and privacy. We talk to two entrepreneurs working heavily in the space, David Vivero, Co-founder & CEO of Amino and Deb Kilpatrick, CEO of Evidation Health to understand how to best harness patient data in order to serve patients themselves. Interviewed by Mollie McDowell Learn more at rockhealth.com

The President-elect vowed to repeal the ACA on his first day in office. Or will he just pick it apart and keep the pieces he likes? The water is murky and answers are forthcoming, but we can be certain of one thing—a shift in healthcare legislation as we move from a Democratic to Republican House. Bill Evans, Rock Health’s Managing Director, recently interviewed James Robinson from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and Christina Farr from Fast Company in order to frame the key questions to be asking at this time.

Many of us associate innovative solutions and scalable technology with startups, Silicon Valley, and scrappy teams; but these experts are focusing their time and talents in Washington DC in order to harness technology's ability to solve healthcare's biggest problems. Hear from The White House Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil, HHS CTO Susannah Fox and Fortune Magazine Senior Writer Leena Rao.