Jessica DaMassa asks me every question about health & technology she can fit into 2 minutes. Topics include Facebook looking for hospital data, the EU starting a VC fund, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon blowing up the hype about ABC & the ACA under more assault. Jessica called this a “painful episode” but I thought it was rather good! BTW THCB will be featuring Jessica’s new video series WTF Health very soon so get prepped!–Matthew Holt
It’s not every day that an analytics firm focusing on improving the efficacy and value of drugs has a big raise in the health tech world–especially one I don’t know much about. This morning Aetion raised $36m to add onto $11m they raised last year. Their new round is led by famed venture firm NEA and includes Amgen Ventures. I spoke to CEO and part-time extreme skier Carolyn Magill to find out what Aetion does and why big pharma and major payers need their help in the brave new world of value-based care.
Jessica DaMassa asks me about digital health funding, Walmart and PillPack, Blockchain and my sweater — not in that order, but all in less than 2 minutes. Bonus–Farzad Mostashari’s bow tie makes a twitter appearance! — Matthew Holt
For Episode 14, Jessica DaMassa asks me all the questions she can about health & technology in 2 minutes. On the docket today, Walmart & Humana, MyFitnessPal’s huge data breach, and Apple in health tech (again!)–Matthew Holt
Today Donald Trump pulled a big surprise. He changed the much criticized appointment for his new VA head from over-effusive physician Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson to well known lefty health blogger Matthew Holt. When asked why he wanted Holt to run the VA Trump said, “Look, I’m pretty smart and I’ve appointed now only the best people like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo to run our foreign policy. If I appoint someone else I like, how can I fire him quickly? That Holt guy seems to hate me, and he’s never stayed in one of my hotels, so he’s perfect for the VA–I hear that the accommodation is a bit rough, not exactly a ten.”
When THCB asked Holt why he agreed to take the job running the VA, he suggested that it had a lot to do with his English roots. “As most of my followers know I grew up in England and like the concept of everyone suffering together in a government funded and provided socialized National Health System. The VA and its fellow traveler the DOD is the only health system like that in America and it’s a brilliant place to start”. When asked about his likely future polices for the VA, Holt suggested that massive expansion was the key initiative. In a written statement, his VA spokesman noted “Given the utter lunacy of the Trump Administration and the crazy warmongers now running the show, the chances of total war versus North Korea and Iran are very high. So essentially everyone in the country will soon be called up to the military, which means that soon eventually everyone will be a Veteran. And if Trump loses in 2020, by 2021 we’ll be at war with the Russians so either way my theory pays off.”
Holt was on the Charlie Rose show last week when he told Rose about his philosophy for the future. “When everyone in the country is part of the VA, we can shut down that ineffective and expensive private health system, and instead everyone can get their care the way I think is best. And if they don’t like it Rasu Shrestha will send them their records using the Lighthouse Blue Button Carrier Pigeon system, and we’ll give them a row boat to head to Nepal or somewhere.
When TCHB reached him for comment, Cato health spokesman Michael Cannon said, “if you are going to expand this universal health care stuff, you might as well give it a real go. Lucky for me, I have bone spurs…”
Jessica DaMassa asks Matthew Holt all the questions she can about health & technology in 2 minutes. Today’s firing of VA Secretary Shulkin dominated the conversation, but there was time for a quick word on Oscar Health and what its recent huge funding round meant–Matthew Holt
Jessica DaMassa asks me about the AMA & digital snake oil, Israel investing in Digital Health, and the budget impact on CSRs & Obamacare in today’s edition of Health in 2 point 00 — Matthew Holt
Today’s episode (we’re going 2 a week for a while here!) in which Jessica DaMassa asks me about Salesforce & Mulesoft, the VA & its API, implication of Cambridge Analytica & Facebook’s scandal, & the Trump Administration’s response in the opiate crisis, all in 2 minutes Matthew Holt
Jessica DaMassa asks me about PBMs, Amazon Prime for Medicaid, Patents and more–all in 2 minutes — Oh, and if you want to sponsor this and reach a bunch of people here & on Linkedin, let us know! — Matthew Holt
Jessica DaMassa asks Matthew Holt his thoughts after the week that was HIMSS18. All in 2 minutes (well almost!). We hit on the speeches from all 3 head honchos at the new administration (Azar, Verma, Gottleib), Chrissy Farr’s article on interoperability and how very tall Magic Johnson is…
If you want to send in questions for next week, tweet @JessDaMassa or @boltyboy.
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