StartUp Health NOW Podcast What Happens After the Doctor Visit? How Starlight Is Reinventing Follow-Up Care
Dec 9, 2025
Nandan Rao, Founder and CEO of Starlight, is on a mission to revolutionize follow-up chronic care. He shares how his personal experience with his father's illness sparked the idea for Starlight. Rao discusses the gaps in current healthcare and how behavioral coaching combined with tech can vastly improve patient outcomes. He highlights the integration of AI to enhance the human element in care while tackling the challenges of scaling remote health services. Rao also emphasizes the importance of collaboration between health systems and tech to support patient care.
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Family Crisis Sparked Starlight Pivot
- Nandan Rao returned from a PhD in Barcelona when his father fell ill and rejoined the family digital health company focused on diabetes and cardiovascular care.
- COVID collapsed 80% of their revenue overnight and they spent 18 months rebuilding toward physician-focused value-based care.
Billing Codes Open Mainstream Access
- Medicare's expanding remote billing codes unlocked the ability to partner directly with physicians and accept all insurances.
- This lets Starlight scale preventive remote care into mainstream health systems rather than only through payers.
Start Patients With A Coach Within Hours
- Do assign each referred patient a certified health coach within hours to begin behavioral support.
- Pair coaches with remote nurse practitioners and devices for monitoring so issues trigger coordinated escalation.