Digital health builders explain the business and the backstory.
Carlo Rich and Pat Dunn talk with founders and executives from digital health companies, from Omada Health's virtual care for chronic conditions to Precision Neuroscience's brain-computer interfaces. The conversations follow a steady line: what the company does, how it works in practice, and the personal route that brought the guest into health tech.
PRESS PLAY
Health Tech Spotlight is an interview program about companies working on specific, often unglamorous parts of healthcare, told by the people who run them. Carlo Rich introduces himself as the host at the top of the conversations, with Pat Dunn alongside him. The guests are founders and senior executives, and the questions follow a consistent route. First comes the elevator explanation: what is it that the company does? Then the personal one: how did the guest get into health tech and innovation? The pairing works. The first answer gives a clear picture of a business, and the second often shows that the path into healthcare was anything but direct. Craig Mermel, President and Chief Product Officer at Precision Neuroscience, describes training as a physician scientist and pathologist, a PhD in computational biology spent on cancer genomics, and a stint at Apple working on the Apple Watch. Cedric Kovacs-Johnson of Flume Health describes stepping away from 3D printing, which he judged not yet good enough to replace manufacturing, and settling on healthcare while his family was going through a major medical event. Sufian Chowdhury traces Kinetik Care back to healthcare consulting and a friend who needed help managing payments. The companies themselves are just as varied. Omada Health, led by co-founder and CEO Sean Duffy, offers virtual care for prediabetes, weight management, diabetes, hypertension and musculoskeletal conditions, and people reach it as a benefit through a health plan or employer. Duffy talks about the design work behind that care: building trust, setting goals, and helping people avoid the usual pitfalls of behavior change. Lindus Health, co-founded by Meri Beckwith, runs clinical trials end to end. It began with simpler studies such as digital therapeutics and behavioral health and is now taking on drug studies. Eleos Health, represented by its COO Dror Zaide, summarizes conversations between behavioral health providers and the people they care for, and embeds its tools directly inside electronic health records rather than integrating through FHIR. Kinetik Care began as a revenue cycle management platform for non-emergency medical transportation, an industry Chowdhury says few people know about. Flume Health runs the administrative back end for new health plans, from processing claims to sending out ID cards, and Kovacs-Johnson compares its role to what Shopify does for e-commerce stores. Payers, reimbursement and healthcare's slow uptake of new technology come up in conversation after conversation. The hosts mostly ask short questions and follow-ups, which leaves the explaining to the guests. Several conversations close with the guest offering a way to get in touch, whether an email address, a LinkedIn page or a general invitation to reach out, sometimes framed as paying it forward to other entrepreneurs.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants plain explanations of how digital health companies actually operate, from clinical trials to health plan administration, along with the career paths of the people running them.
What sets it apart: Guests are consistently asked what their company does and how they got into health tech, so the episodes are easy to compare side by side. The show also sets back-office corners of healthcare, like medical transportation billing and health plan back ends, next to headline technology such as brain-computer interfaces.
Short conversations with some of the most interesting and innovative people in Health Technology and Digital Health. Co-hosts Carlo Rich and Pat Dunn
Carlo Rich and Pat Dunn ask what the thing actually does before you have to pretend you know.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Mary Beckwith argues that faster clinical trials require redesigning both the workflow and the incentives.
Clinical trials are the center of Lindus Health's pitch. Mary Beckwith describes a company built to run studies end to end, from design and participant recruitment to data capture, for health tech and biotech teams working toward FDA approval or national payer reimbursement.
A grounded introduction to brain-computer interfaces, medical-device goals, and the data-minded path behind them.
Health Tech Spotlight frames brain-computer interfaces as medical devices, with Craig Mermel of Precision Neuroscience explaining how brain electrical activity might connect to external digital systems.
Health technology, tested against real-world constraint.
Healthcare technology after the hype check.
Medtech lessons from inside the build.
AI strategy without the hand-waving.
Healthcare strategy from the industry floor.
Interview with Mary Beckwith, co-founder of Lindus Health, discussing how they run faster clinical trials for health tech and biotech companies.
Craig Mermel describes Precision Neuroscience’s goal as a "life-changing brain-computer interface" for people with stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, ALS, and other neurologic disease.
Health Tech Spotlight host Carlo Rich interviews Unmesh Srivastava, CleverCare Health Plan's Chief Digital and Technology Officer, about language and cultural barriers in Medicare Advantage.
Sean Mara, founder and CEO of HealthTap, describes a virtual primary-care model built around long-term doctor relationships instead of five- to six-minute calls with strangers.
Manav Sevak explains how Memora Health digitizes complex care through text messages, remote monitoring, and clinical-workflow automation.
Interview with Andrew Richberg, CEO of C3LX, discussing their platform for patient engagement, remote monitoring, and care management in value-based primary care.
Interview with Aaron Strout, CMO of Real Chemistry, discussing the company's repositioning as a global health innovation agency.