Health Tech Nerds Radio

Patrick Foley, CEO of Belong Health, builds platforms to help community health plans launch and run Medicare Advantage special needs plans. He walks through D‑SNP, C‑SNP, and I‑SNP types and why C‑SNPs are the fastest growing. The conversation covers P&L dynamics, how community plans compete with national portfolios, and using special needs plans to forge long-term broker relationships.

Dan Ferris, Chief Growth Officer at LifeStance Health, leads strategy for the nation’s largest outpatient mental health provider. He discusses rapid organic growth plus tuck-in M&A. He explains national rollout plans for TMS and Spravato. He outlines AI wins in back-office functions and the push to make in-network insurance care feel like premium cash-pay.

Otto Sipe, founder/CEO of Photon Health rethinking e-prescribing and pharmacy experience. Sean Doolan, GP at Virtue VC exploring an actuarial infrastructure for underwriting. Patrick Foley, Belong Health exec focused on Medicare Advantage SNP strategy. Dan Ferris, LifeStance growth chief on scaling outpatient mental health. They discuss pharmacy patient journeys, underwriting/data for risk, SNP market dynamics, and behavioral health expansion.

Brian Miller, a practicing physician and health policy expert who helped redesign the NC State Health Plan, explains the plan’s member‑first turnaround. He covers income‑adjusted premiums, benefit design that protects people with chronic conditions, preferred provider steering and surgical $0 bundles, drug affordability with biosimilar reform, and how to compare Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare.

Natalie Davis, CEO of United States of Care, leads policy and state-level work on healthcare affordability. She discusses polling of 30,000 Americans showing affordability as the top concern. Short takes cover supported policies like drug pricing and price transparency. Conversation highlights declining trust in institutions, bipartisan momentum in conservative states, and mixed public views on AI in healthcare.

Bryan Roberts, a Venrock VC who seeded Kelonia and invests in cell & gene platforms. He recounts the bet on an in vivo CAR‑T to cut time and cost. He tells the fundraising roller coaster, pharma partnerships that kept the company alive, and why current launches have struggled. He warns infrastructure and pricing realities mean broad rollout is still years away.

Eliana Berger, CEO and co-founder of Joyful Health who built revenue cycle solutions after work as a fractional CFO. She describes how fragmented financial data undercuts provider finances. She explains why Joyful moved to owning outcomes end-to-end. She contrasts AI services with AI agents in denials work and walks through the cross-system detective work of overturning denials.

Brian Miller, practicing physician and NC State Health Plan vice chair, outlines plan reforms like income-adjusted premiums and preferred networks. Natalie Davis, CEO of United States of Care, shares polling on trust, costs, and AI in healthcare. Bryan Roberts, Venrock partner, discusses CAR-T, gene therapy deals, and pricing pressures. Eliana, founder of Joyful Health, explains revenue-cycle automation and overturning denials to recover provider income.

Amanda Rees, CEO and Co-Founder of Bold, leads an AI-powered healthy aging platform for Medicare members. She discusses building digital programs around falls prevention, chronic condition support, weight and pain management. The conversation highlights member agency, device-agnostic design, and how CMMI ACCESS creates a new payment pathway and expands reach into original Medicare.

Rebecca Springer, Partner at Bailey & Company and co-author of the Medicare Advantage brokerage market report, specializes in distribution trends and carrier-broker dynamics. She discusses the shift from volume to retention. Conversation covers commission pullbacks, high churn and carrier selectivity. Talks about brokers building tech, lead gen, product diversification, and proving long-term value to carriers and members.