Happy week-after-Thanksgiving to all my readers. You might expect the news cycle to slow down during the holiday week, but federal agencies delivered several important updates on drug pricing and a new outcomes-based payment model for digital health providers. This is also the time of year when long-reported feature stories land. One standout holiday read came from The Wall Street Journal, which explored how people are using DNA tests to track down new relatives and even ask for part of an inheritance. The New York Times also published a must-read essay by my Scrub Capital co-GP, Dr. Jon Slotkin, on the safety of autonomous vehicles and their impact on public health.
Before diving into the healthcare news, I have a personal update. I am launching a new podcast, Lifers, featuring candid conversations with the builders, operators, clinicians, policymakers, authors, and lifelong healthcare obsessives in my orbit.
Healthcare is not a “get rich quick” sector. Sales cycles are long, technology is outdated, regulatory hurdles abound, and companies often take decades to mature. Yet the payoff is enormous: the chance to improve human health and change lives at scale.
Click below to listen to our first Lifers episode, featuring Michelle Carnahan of Arbiter (formerly Thirty Madison):
Other upcoming episodes include conversations with:
Ari Hoffman, MD – Collective Health
Dr. Graham Walker – ER physician, MDCalc & Offcall
Othman Laraki – CEO, Color Health
Sam Holliday – CEO, Oshi Health
V Bento – CEO, Sword Health
Warris Bokhari – CEO, Claimable
Mike Desjadon – CEO, Anomaly Health (guest co-host)
…and more leaders I admire deeply. We’ll cover:
The future of CMS, drug pricing, and payment reform
Clinician burnout, care delivery challenges, and what innovation actually helps
AI integration, reimbursement friction, and the shift from volume to value
Category building across mental health, women’s health, primary care redesign, and more
There is so much noise in healthcare. My hope is that Lifers cuts through it and brings listeners closer to the people doing the real work.
Subscribe now to get the first episodes as they drop: