Elliot Cohen—PillPack co-founder and now co-founder of General Medicine—joins Jacob Effron and Nikhil (Out-of-Pocket) to unpack what “best care” really means in 2025. He explains why General Medicine is building a broad front door to care. Elliot also revisits the PillPack vs. PBMs saga, what Amazon Pharmacy got right (and what was unexpectedly hard), and how AI is already raising the bar in intake, clinical prep, and follow-up.
(0:00) Intro
(0:58) Simplifying Healthcare with General Medicine
(1:53) The Importance of Triage in Healthcare
(3:22) Consumer Empowerment in Healthcare
(5:10) Patient Experience and Structured Forms
(6:27) Challenges in Healthcare Pricing Transparency
(8:28) Diverse Patient Needs and Quality of Care
(10:00) The Philosophy Behind General Medicine
(16:43) Consumer Directed Care: Pros and Cons
(18:57) PillPack
(35:53) Debating Insulin Search Results
(38:16) AI in Healthcare: A New Era
(39:15) Integrating AI with Clinical Teams
(41:39) Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Therapeutics
(58:21) Building a Healthcare Company: Lessons from Amazon
(1:01:25) Quickfire
Out-Of-Pocket: https://www.outofpocket.health/
Vital Signs with Jacob Effron and Nikhil Krishnan