This week, we’re super excited to chat with Wei Deng is the CEO and Founder of Clipboard Health. Wei came to speak to our early-stage pre-seed bootcamp, PearX and we repurposed the talk into a PHP episode because there were so many amazing nuggets. We were lucky enough to hear her insights on building a unicorn as a first-time founder. Wei Deng is also a Pear Healthcare Advisor and deeply committed to supporting the next generation of founders.  Wei got her career start as a lawyer and after a stint in investment banking, worked in a variety of startup roles from Head of Product to COO. Before Clipboard, Wei was one of the first 10 employees at Sendwave. Founded in 2016, Clipboard Health matches healthcare facilities with nurses nearby. Clipboard Health has raised $94M in funding and is now a credible unicorn backed by investors like Sequoia and IVP.  In this episode, we talk about persisting through the idea maze, creating accountability systems within your team, and how to set up frameworks for yourself for success. 

Kevin Riddleberger, Co-Founder of DispatchHealth, brings over 20 years of healthcare expertise to the table. He discusses transforming home healthcare through technology and value-based care, alongside the unique challenges faced by seniors accessing urgent care. Riddleberger delves into strategies for engaging managed Medicaid populations and improving care coordination. He also shares insights on scaling home healthcare, emphasizing partnerships and innovative funding strategies, all while maintaining a balance between personal life and a fulfilling healthcare career.

This episode is part of Pear VC's series on Medicaid, covering the basics that founders need to know to build innovations that support communities in need. Today, we're delighted to introduce Taylor Justice, the driving force behind Unite Us, a company that uses advanced technology solutions to coordinate community-focused social care and integrate social drivers of health into the healthcare continuum and regulatory landscape.   Unite Us developed the first closed-loop referral (CLR) platform that links social care service delivery with detailed outcomes to understand a person’s total health journey. The platform streamlines collaboration among healthcare professionals, community organizations, health plans, and government agencies to provide real-time visibility into the community impact and actionable insights. Through active engagement and accountability, this model increases the efficiency of social care and improves the experience by removing the onus from the patient to navigate eligibility requirements for local services.   Founded in 2013, Unite Us has grown to more than 600 employees serving communities across the US. The company's investors include ICONIQ, Oak HC/FT, and more who are helping advance the company's mission to connect people to the care they need to improve their lives. Taylor started his career in the US Army. After serving in the infantry, he transitioned into an Account Executive role at CCS Medical. From there he became a sales engineer for JDSU which offers products and solutions for communications. After that, Taylor started his entrepreneurial journey co-founding the consulting firm, HigherEchelon, which helped organizations meet their performance goals. In 2013, he co-founded Unite Us and serves as President to this day. Taylor holds a BS in Latin American Studies and Environmental Engineering from West Point Academy and an MBA from Columbia Business School. In this episode, we explore Taylor’s founding journey and how Unite Us's closed-loop referral process is improving care outcomes. We also discuss what it's like to be at the forefront of using social determinants of health data in Medicaid.

Tracy Douglas, CEO of VCHA, discusses FQHCs' role in providing healthcare to underserved communities. Topics include leveraging technology for better operations, successful partnerships with private companies, Medicaid program dynamics, and personal interests in promoting Medicaid equity.

Eliot Fishman, Director at CMMI, discusses Medicaid payment models, program integrity, and collaboration between Federal and State governments. He shares insights on value-based care, revenue growth strategies, and innovations in maternal health and substance use treatment. The episode concludes with tips for founders to engage with CMMI and a light-hearted discussion on exploring green spaces in Washington DC with a furry friend.

Today, we're so excited to get to know Web Sun, President and Co-Founder of Komodo Health. Komodo Health leverages data-driven insights to enhance patient care and alleviate disease burdens. Their platform analyzes de-identified real-world data from a wide range of sources to  offer detailed patient-level insights around treatment, diagnosis, costs, and outcomes for millions of patients across the U.S. Web oversees operations including business development, sales and marketing, and people. Prior to founding Komodo Health, Web was a managing director at Zephyr Health, a leading life sciences data and insights solution provider, running all non-Engineering functions. He spent nearly eight years as vice president at Campbell Alliance (now Syneos Health) where he advised enterprise life sciences companies across corporate development, brand management and marketing, commercial effectiveness and medical affairs initiatives. Web also served as an Executive Advisor to Reify Health, Heads Up Health and other healthcare/healthtech startups focused on Big Data, SaaS, Healthcare IT, and Predictive Analytics to improve patient outcomes.  In this episode, we explore Komodo Health's origins, the creation of their MVP and key products, their transformative impact on healthcare, their future with AI, and Web's unique insights for founders navigating the data science and healthcare landscape.

Welcome back to the Pear Healthcare Playbook! Every week, we’ll be getting to know trailblazing healthcare leaders and diving into building a digital health business from 0 to 1. Today, we're thrilled to introduce Ron Vianu, the CEO and visionary behind Covera Health. Covera Health is a pioneering AI-enabled diagnostic technology company, specializing in radiology performance measurement and its consequential impact on healthcare. With a career spanning over three decades, Ron has been a driving force at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and insurance. Ron's entrepreneurial journey began over 30 years ago, founding his first health tech company while a senior at NYU.    His first deep exposure to the field of Radiology was with Spreemo, a company he founded with his co-founder, an orthopedic surgeon, in 2010.  Spreemo was a referral management platform in the occupational medicine space. Spreemo grew to over 200 employees across offices in New York City and Dallas and received significant investment from venture and PE investors.  In this episode, we talk about Ron’s work with Spreemo, how he started Covera Health, the partnership with Walmart, his thoughts on the future of AI in radiology, and advice he has for founders. 

Founded in 2020, Pearl Health was incubated by AlleyCorp and has raised a total of $95M in funding from 8 investors, led by Andreesen Horowitz and Viking Global Investors. Pearl now has over 100 employees and closed a $75M Series B in January of 2023. Pearl Health is a provider enablement and value-based care technology company that helps primary care providers and healthcare organizations succeed in value-based care, starting with ACO REACH and, soon, MSSP and Medicare Advantage.. Pearl does this by helping PCPs and their staff focus attention on high-risk patients and conditions, enabling practices with insights to programs deliver high quality, holistic care to patients at the right time. In 2024, Pearl is partnering with about 1,800 primary care providers, who collectively serve more than 80,000 patients, across the US in 43 states and Washington, D.C. With over 20 years of experience in healthcare, Jennifer started her career at Triage Consulting Group. She then served as a consultant at Deloitte for 5 years and moved on to Takeda Oncology where she was an Associate Director in market access. She then spent six years at athenahealth where she served in a series of roles in product management, ultimately concluding as an Executive Director for product management.  After Athena, Jennifer moved onto a VP / Head of Product role at Hint Health and finally became the Chief Product Officer at Pearl Health in 2021. Jennifer holds a BA from University of California, Berkeley and an MHA from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In this episode, we learn how Pearl Health is trying to improve primary care provider workflows in value-based care, how Jennifer thinks about product management, and where Pearl Health is going next, with their partnerships with retail pharmacies.

Dr. Matthew Lungren, Chief Data Science Officer at Microsoft, discusses the impact of AI research on healthcare. He highlights the importance of interdisciplinary perspectives, Microsoft's healthcare innovations, advice for healthcare entrepreneurs, fostering collaboration in healthcare innovation, and the evolution of healthcare technology.

Welcome back to the Pear Healthcare Playbook! Every week, we’ll be getting to know trailblazing healthcare leaders and dive into building a digital health business from 0 to 1. Today, we're so excited to get to know Wei-Li Shao, President of Omada, a virtual care program that blends human experiences technology and behavior science to help people with chronic conditions achieve their healthy goals. With over 25 years of global healthcare experience, Wei-Li has worked in digital care, biopharmaceuticals, imaging, and diagnostics spanning many therapeutic areas. Before joining Omada, Wei-Li held prominent executive roles at Eli Lilly and Company in the USA, China, Taiwan, and New Zealand. His educational background includes dual degrees in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Wisconsin Madison, complemented by an MBA in marketing from the Kellogg School of Business. In this episode, we discuss Omada Health's core operations, discuss the optimal timing for startups to bring in C-suite executives, explore Omada's journey to serving 1 million members, examine its pioneering work in the GLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1) space, and uncover how Omada leverages AI to enhance its services.