The Pulse by Wharton Digital Health

In this episode, we interview the GoodRx co-founder and CEO, Doug Hirsch. We chat about his experience founding GoodRx, covering topics ranging from a time when his father literally knocked on pharmacy doors in NYC to get drug prices to their recent public offering. GoodRx seeks to expand access and affordability for prescription drugs. To do this, they process ~200 billion daily cash-pay price points for generic drugs from pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and retailers to then help a consumer choose the right way for them to get access to the medication they need. As they’ve continued to grow, they’re also sought new ways to extend their impact, including through a telehealth offering to actually write prescriptions as well as products surrounding branded drugs.

In this episode, we interview  Michelle Carnahan, President of Thirty Madison. We discuss Michelle’s pivot from pharmaceutical executive to leader of a health tech unicorn and what that means for Thirty Madison going forward. Thirty Madison’s mission is to be a human-first healthcare company delivering specialized care and treatment to everyone. They recently completed a $140M Series C raise led by HealthQuest Capital. They join Maveron and Polaris Partners as lead investors in Thirty Madison.

Saeju Jeong, Co-Founder and CEO of Noom, discusses the company's mission to promote behavior change for healthier lives. They explore Noom's evolution from a fitness app to a weight loss platform. The chapter also highlights scaling challenges and the importance of technology in coaching. Additionally, they discuss Noom's plans for scaling and expanding into new markets and the skill sets of MBAs.

In this episode, we chatted with Vijay Patel, Co-Founder and Partner at CVS Health Ventures, a $100M fund dedicated to investing and partnering with high-potential health technology startups aimed at building towards CVS’ vision of creating more consumer-centric care. We discussed: The establishment of CVS Health Ventures as a fund dedicated to digital health opportunities, creating the potential for longer-term strategic actions and extended time horizons for realizing investment payoff The mandate of CVS Health Ventures to not only invest in but also partner with high-potential, early-stage digital health companies to forward CVS Health’s strategic goals of making health care more affordable and accessible for consumers Leaning into CVS Health’s role as a trusted health care provider in communities by continuing to partner with local and national organizations to expand health care access Investing in behavioral health, diagnostics, and virtual care delivery assets and capabilities - trends accelerated by COVID-19 and likely to persist

In this episode, we interview Jonathan Bush, the founder and CEO of Zus Health. We discuss his broad vision for Zus as well as some of his learnings from founding and leading athenahealth and from serving as the Executive Chairman of Firefly Health. Zus Health is seeking to enable the new wave of digital-first provider organizations by building a unified patient record and a toolkit with which these organizations can build better patient relationship management tools and provider workflows. Zus Health completed a $34M Series A raise led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from F-Prime Capital and Maverick Ventures.

In this episode, we sat down with Clara Burtenshaw, Partner and Investor at Neo Kuma Ventures. We discussed: -The evolution of the psychedelics industry from a stigmatized counterculture phenomenon to a scientifically robust industry with support from the FDA for fast-tracking drug development -The clinical potential of psychedelics to treat illnesses ranging from mental illness to pain management and other nervous system disorders -Neo Kuma's focus on investing in early stage companies backed by sound science and building a strong founder network -Predictions that psychedelics as medication is here to stay, and the growing commercialization opportunities in the space

Julian Harris, M.D., is a Partner on the Healthcare Services team at Deerfield and Chairman & CEO at ConcertoCare. Launched in 1994, Deerfield Management Company is an investment firm dedicated to advancing healthcare through information, investment and philanthropy — all toward the end goal of cures for disease, improved quality of life and reduced cost of care. ConcertoCare was formed recently by a combination of the assets of ConcertoHealth and Perfect Health. ConcertoCare is one of the nation’s leading risk-based health care companies focused on providing integrated care for seniors where they are best served: in their homes. Before Deerfield, Dr. Harris was the founding President of CareAllies, Cigna’s family of multi-payer provider services and home-based care businesses. Previously, he led US Strategic Operations for Cigna and managed a $500M internal investment portfolio focused on technology and innovation. Dr. Harris was also an Adviser to Google Ventures (GV) focused on tech-enabled health care services. Before GV, he led the health care team in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). As the federal government’s chief health care finance official, he oversaw a $1 trillion budget and provided management and policy oversight for a range of programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, FDA, NIH and CDC. He also served as the chief executive of the $11 billion Massachusetts Medicaid program. Dr. Harris trained in internal medicine and primary care at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital and practiced as a hospitalist at Cambridge Health Alliance and as a clinical consultant for BestDoctors. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Health Policy & Medical Ethics from Duke University and holds an M.Sc. from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He is also a graduate of The Wharton School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine, where he currently serves as an Adjunct Professor. Dr. Harris is a trustee of the New York Academy of Medicine and a member of the advisory boards for the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics at Penn and the NYU Department of Population Health.

Michelle Davey, Co-Founder and CEO of Wheel, discusses the importance of access to healthcare, challenges in building a telemedicine provider network, scaling virtual care, and the ongoing rise of online mental health services. She also shares her excitement for building for clinicians and the industry, focusing on new care models and treatment areas.

In this episode of The Pulse Podcast, we interview Connor Hailey, CEO and Co-Founder of Axle Health, a software platform that enables any company to add in-home visits to their patient offering. We cover Connor’s penchant for startups and entrepreneurship, Axle Health’s founding story and early product journey and how they have scaled to thousands of in-home visits in just one year of launch. Founded in 2020, Axle Health eliminates the complexity of delivering in-home care by offering a simple API that dispatches in-home professionals to provide clinical service offerings. Axle Health recently announced their seed fundraise led by Pear VC, joined by a talented group of investors including Wisdom Partners, Rebel Fund, Pioneer Fund, Soma Capital, and Company Ventures and YCombinator. Along with institutional investors, the seed fundraise also includes angels including the founders of Eden Health, CareRev, and Quit Genius, and Nikhil Krishnan of Out of Pocket and former executives at One Medical. This funding will expand service offerings to meet more customer needs and attract top talent to Axle Health.

In this episode, we sat down with Sangu Delle, the Chairman and CEO of Africa Health Holdings. Africa Health Holdings is focused on building a sustainable healthcare ecosystem in Africa through its network of healthcare facilities that it owns and manages. To date, Africa Health Holdings portfolio companies have served over 510,000 patients through malaria treatment, family planning, community outreach programs, and more. Africa Health Holdings currently has 40 facilities across Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana serving 200,000 patients every year. What we discussed: From a young age, Sangu Delle developed a pan-African consciousness and the desire to create sustainable and positive change in Africa in part from early exposure to African refugees through his doctor and human rights activist father. Given the disproportionate disease burden the African continent faces and the brain drain of Africa-born healthcare workers practicing outside of Africa, Africa faces large gaps in healthcare. The private sector must supplement fiscally-constrained African governments to improve healthcare access, quality, and affordability. Africa presents an attractive investment opportunity given secular population growth in the region outpacing every other country in the world. Investments in Africa have picked up traction recently through major funding for African startups such as FlutterWave, and the acquisition of Nigeria-based payments startup Paystack by Stripe.