Health Tech Nerds Radio

Neil Batlivala, CEO and founder of Pair Team, builds an AI-powered whole-person care model for safety-net populations. He explains how their virtual medical group links social needs and clinical care. He discusses Flora, an AI care advocate for voice and text engagement. He covers scaling with AI, channel partnerships for patient acquisition, and designing Medicaid IT to be AI-native.

A data-driven look at rising behavioral health demand and where care gaps are most acute. A surprising workforce story: psychiatry training is expanding but positions remain constrained. How non-specialists and primary care now deliver most psychiatric meds. A clear split between administrative AI uses and harder clinical applications. Coverage of direct-to-consumer pricing and emerging treatments like TMS and psychedelics.

Rebecca Springer (brokerage analyst) and Patrick Keavy (Medicare Advantage market expert) unpack broker valuations and market shifts. Amanda Rees (CEO of Bold) describes an AI-first, device-agnostic healthy-aging platform for falls prevention. Neil Batlivala (CEO of Pair Team) covers AI care advocates and ACCESS participation for high-needs Medicaid. Allie Oaks (research chief) outlines Trilliant’s behavioral health market findings.

Robin Heffernan, CEO of Empassion Health, leads a nationwide supportive care network for palliative and hospice services. She explains the difference between palliative and hospice care. She outlines Empassion’s payer-contract model that makes care free to patients and a tech-enabled in-home network across 45 states. She also discusses measuring hospice quality and why fraud and oversight gaps persist.

Will Gillach, product and go-to-market lead at Yuzu, and Russell Pekala, Yuzu co-founder and former plan builder, discuss why they shifted from running a plan to powering them. They talk about what tech missed, how reference-based pricing, DPC, and navigated cash pay win, why cost-pressed blue-collar employers matter, and how an all-in-one TPA and platform operationalizes creative plan designs.

Patrick Sheehan, VP of Value-Based Care at Withings, is a leader in connected-device care and Medicare program participation. He explains why a device-first cost model makes CMMI ACCESS viable. He covers becoming a Medicare Part B provider, coordinating with ACOs to avoid fragmentation, patient outreach plans, and how this approach augments primary care.

Shiv Rao, cardiologist and CEO/Co‑founder of Abridge, builds AI scribing and clinical intelligence tools. He outlines a pre/during/post visit framework that brings evidence from JAMA and NEJM into care. Conversation highlights a cardiology case changing a stress test choice, reframing decision support into contextual clinical intelligence, and collapsing workflows like CDI and prior authorization.

Neel Shah, Chief Medical Officer at Maven Clinic and maternity care policy expert, explains why the 40-year global maternity payment is ending. He breaks down payment unbundling, who may gain or lose under budget neutrality, implications for rural and high-risk populations, and how unbundling could unlock technologies and new care models.

Shiv Rao, CEO of Abridge, a former AI scribing founder now building clinical intelligence. Russell Pekala, co-founder at Yuzu, who pivoted from running alternative plans to powering TPAs. Neel Shah, physician driving maternity care innovation and author on the unbundling of maternity payment. They discuss maternity payment unbundling, Abridge’s pre/during/post-visit clinical framework, Yuzu’s TPA pivot and alternative plan design, plus peptides, price transparency, and AI risk-adjustment funding.

Craig Allen, actuarial lead who prices and structures alternative plans, and Nancy Wang, strategy lead who builds consumer-driven employer products. They explain Sidecar’s fair-price budgets, cash-back incentives, the actuarial work to price every service, why employers facing huge premium hikes are open to change, and how member education and provider dynamics enable savings.