Vital Signs with Jacob Effron and Nikhil Krishnan Ep 60: General Medicine's Elliot Cohen on Lessons from PillPack and Amazon and The Future of AI x Healthcare
Jul 31, 2025
Elliot Cohen, co-founder of General Medicine and PillPack, dives into the future of healthcare and consumer empowerment. He emphasizes the need for a broad front door to care in 2025 and discusses the challenges faced with pricing transparency. Elliot shares his insights on the PillPack vs. PBMs saga and reflects on lessons learned from building Amazon Pharmacy. He also explores the transformative role of AI in healthcare workflows, highlighting opportunities and hurdles in integrating technology with patient care.
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Front Door Over Narrow Product
- General Medicine's core product is a broad front door that helps consumers find the right next step for care.
- Elliot argues you must handle anything because consumers often don't know what they need.
Combine Structured Forms With Triage
- Use structured intake forms for simple, common conditions because they collect higher-quality data faster.
- Provide a chat-like triage for cases where patients don't know what they need.
Predict Prices With Data And AI
- Build price estimates by combining price-transparency files, claims data, and interoperability APIs.
- Use AI to process insurance data and predict billing codes and provider charges.
