Making Healthcare Access Truly Borderless w/ Dr. Sarah Matt, MD, MBA

Feb 13, 2026

Dr. Sarah Matt, MD, MBA — surgeon turned health-tech strategist and author who still practices in rural and charity settings. She discusses why access is a system, not a single tool. Short takes cover the five pillars of access, when digital care helps or hurts, trust and design challenges, and cautious optimism about AI, robotics, and real-world implementation.

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ANECDOTE

Clinic Work Keeps Her Grounded

Sarah still practices charity internal medicine at a free clinic in upstate New York.
That work keeps her grounded by exposing her to low-tech, underserved patient care realities.

INSIGHT

Access Is A System Problem

Access to healthcare is a system problem, not a single-tool problem.
Technologies must fit existing clinical and organizational realities to be adopted.

ADVICE

Use The Five Pillar Diagnostic

Address five access pillars: geography, financial, cultural, digital, and trust/knowledge.
Diagnose which pillar blocks care before designing solutions to increase adoption.

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Healthcare access is often treated as a technology problem, but the real barriers run much deeper. Geography, cost, culture, trust, and digital readiness all shape whether patients can actually get the care they need. Without addressing the system as a whole, even the most advanced tools risk leaving people behind.

Sarah Matt, Author of The Borderless Healthcare Revolution, joins the HealthBiz Podcast to discuss what it truly takes to break down geographic barriers in healthcare, why access must be designed into systems from the start, and how technology can support care without replacing the human connection at its core.

🎙️⚕️ABOUT DR. SARAH MATT
Sarah Matt, MD, MBA, is a surgeon turned health technology strategist, author, and speaker. Her work focuses on how digital tools, from remote surgery to telemedicine to AI, can expand access to healthcare and eliminate the traditional boundaries that separate patients from care.

With over two decades of experience at the intersection of medicine and innovation, Dr. Matt has held leadership roles at Oracle Health, NextGen, and multiple health tech startups. She has designed and deployed systems that reach patients around the world, including hard-to-serve and underserved populations.

A practicing physician, Dr. Matt continues to treat patients in rural and charity-based settings, keeping her closely connected to the human side of healthcare access. She speaks widely at healthcare and technology conferences and has appeared on national panels about artificial intelligence, care delivery reform, and digital transformation.

A graduate of Cornell, SUNY Upstate Medical University, and UT Austin’s McCombs School of Business, she blends clinical acumen with deep technical knowledge to challenge the status quo and to reimagine what healthcare can look like when geography no longer dictates your care.

🎙️⚕️ABOUT HEALTH BIZ PODCAST
HealthBiz is a CareTalk podcast that delivers in-depth interviews on healthcare business, technology, and policy with entrepreneurs and CEOs. Host David E. Williams — president of the healthcare strategy consulting boutique Health Business Group — is also a board member, investor in private healthcare companies, and author of the Health Business Blog. Known for his strategic insights and sharp humor, David offers a refreshing break from the usual healthcare industry BS.

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