HealthTech Remedy

The AI Fixing a $400B Healthcare Nightmare ft. Seth Cohen (President @ Cedar)

Discover how Cedar uses AI to fix broken healthcare billing, automate revenue cycle management, and improve the patient financial experience. Episode Resources: * Cedar [https://cedar.com] * KFF Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker [https://www.kff.org/medicaid/medicaid-enrollment-and-unwinding-tracker/] * Kora AI Agentic Voice Assistant for Patient Billing [https://www.cedar.com/solutions/kora-ai] * KFF 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey [https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/2024-employer-health-benefits-survey/] * Analysis of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" and Medicaid Impacts [https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/close-11-million-people-would-lose-health-insurance-under-big-beautiful-bill] * National Cancer Institute Resource on Financial Toxicity [https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/managing-care/track-care-costs/financial-toxicity-pdq] Are we truly healing patients if we fix their health but ruin their credit? In this episode of HealthTech Remedy, we sit down with Seth Cohen, President of Cedar, to tackle the most universally dreaded part of the healthcare journey: the medical bill. You’ll discover how shifting revenue cycle management to prioritize the patient financial experience can alleviate financial toxicity while simultaneously boosting a health system's bottom line.  As millions of Americans face the Medicaid coverage cliff and the continuous rise of high-deductible health plans, the out-of-pocket burden on patients has never been heavier. Seth breaks down how Cedar uses agentic AI to disrupt traditional billing, transforming static, confusing statements into personalized financial navigation. By leveraging large language models and virtual agents, the platform proactively connects patients with hidden resources like dormant HSAs and pharmacy co-pay assistance before a bill even drops. Tune in to find out how this targeted technology is preventing catastrophic medical debt, including a powerful patient story that proves exactly why this empathetic framework changes lives.  If you want to stay ahead of the curve in health technology and reimbursement innovation, be sure to subscribe to HealthTech Remedy and leave us a review!

Can AI Stop Hospitals From Losing Millions? (ft. Benjamin Beadle-Ryby, co-founder of AKASA)

Hospitals lose millions to medical billing errors. Discover how AKASA uses AI in revenue cycle management to cut claim denials and capture lost revenue. Episode Resources: * Against the Rules Podcast - Six Levels Down [https://omny.fm/shows/against-the-rules-with-michael-lewis/six-levels-down] * AKASA Official Resource Library [https://akasa.com/resources/] * CMS Guide to MS-DRG Classifications and Logic [https://www.cms.gov/medicare/payment/prospective-payment-systems/acute-inpatient-pps/ms-drg-classifications-and-software] With hospital operating margins often sitting in the single digits, the complex maze of medical billing is silently costing health systems millions in uncollected revenue. In this episode of HealthTech Remedy, we sit down with Benjamin Beadle-Ryby, co-founder of AKASA, to explore how generative AI is fundamentally transforming revenue cycle management (RCM). You will discover how shifting from manual coding to an autonomous revenue cycle can drastically reduce claim denials, uncover missed charges, and ultimately protect a hospital's financial mission.  The conversation unpacks the structural complexity of hospital reimbursement, where a single inpatient encounter can generate 50,000 words of documentation that human coders must manually distill into precise ICD-10 and DRG codes. Benjamin shares the framework behind AKASA’s custom large language models, revealing how fine-tuning healthcare AI on a health system's specific historical data can seamlessly surface missed quality indicators in up to 10% of claims. We also debate the delicate balance of AI automation and human oversight, questioning what happens to the highly specialized knowledge of medical billers as these tools evolve. You’ll have to listen to find out why traditional rules-based systems are failing and exactly how generative AI could drive the cost to collect below one percent by 2030.  If you enjoyed this deep dive into the intersection of health tech and healthcare finance, please subscribe and leave a review for HealthTech Remedy.

How Employers Are Fixing Broken Primary Care with Jeff Wells (CEO Marathon Health)

Discover how Marathon Health is solving the primary care shortage. CEO Dr. Jeff Wells reveals how advanced primary care lowers costs and improves outcomes. Episode Resources: * Marathon Health Study on Advanced Primary Care ROI [https://marathon.health/newsroom/new-study-from-marathon-health-reveals-advanced-primary-care-yields-immediate-roi-and-curbs-acute-care-use] * 2024 AAMC Report on Physician Shortage Projections [https://www.aamc.org/media/75236/download] * News on the Marathon Health and Everside Health Merger [https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/everside-health-marathon-health-merge-enhance-advanced-primary-care-access] * Overview of the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) for Integrated Health [https://aims.uw.edu/collaborative-care] * KFF 2023 Employer Health Benefits Survey [https://www.kff.org/report-section/ehbs-2023-summary-of-findings/] Is the traditional healthcare system failing both patients and employers? In this episode of HealthTech Remedy, we sit down with Dr. Jeff Wells, CEO and co-founder of Marathon Health, to explore how his company is radically redesigning employer-sponsored healthcare. Tune in to discover how moving away from the broken fee-for-service system can actually improve patient outcomes, increase clinician retention, and drastically reduce healthcare costs for businesses. The hosts and Dr. Wells break down the core philosophy behind "advanced primary care," a hybrid delivery model combining on-site, near-site, and virtual clinics that meets workers exactly where they are. They examine the stark differences between traditional health systems and Marathon Health’s value-based care approach, highlighting how 30-minute appointments and seamlessly integrated behavioral health lead to a massive reduction in hospital admissions. But how exactly does this employer-driven model manage to pay for itself in year one while simultaneously solving the notorious primary care shortage? You will have to listen to find out how Marathon Health's tech-enabled infrastructure is successfully flipping the economics of population health management on its head. If you are passionate about the future of medical delivery and health tech innovation, be sure to subscribe to HealthTech Remedy and leave us a review.

The Rust Belt City Building AI Unicorns

Discover how the Pittsburgh health tech ecosystem drives healthcare innovation. Leaders from UPMC and PLSA reveal the exact playbook for building AI unicorns. Episode Resources: * Abridge Clinical AI Platform [https://www.abridge.com/] * UPMC Enterprises Venture Arm [https://enterprises.upmc.com/] * Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance [https://www.pittsburghlifesci.org/] * Krystal Biotech Precision Therapeutics [https://www.krystalbio.com/] * ElevateBio’s Biomanufacturing Expansion in Pittsburgh [https://elevate.bio/elevated-insights/the-future-of-manufacturing-and-medicine-rising-in-pittsburghs-hazelwood-green/] * CMU Computational Biology Department [https://cbd.cmu.edu/] Think Silicon Valley and Boston are the only undisputed capitals of healthcare innovation? Think again. In this episode of HealthTech Remedy, we explore how Pittsburgh has quietly transformed from an industrial Rust Belt giant into a dominant powerhouse for health tech innovation and venture creation. By tuning in, you'll discover the exact blueprint this region uses to turn cutting-edge academic research into billion-dollar healthcare unicorns like Abridge, giving you a fresh perspective on where to build, scale, or invest next. We sit down with Mary Beth Navarra-Sirio formerly of UPMC Enterprises and Megan Kahn Shaw of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance to unpack the city's highly successful approach to incubating startups. They break down the "3C perspective" framework that seamlessly bridges the gap between raw AI talent at institutions like Carnegie Mellon and real-world clinical workflows at massive, integrated health systems. You'll hear why most medical device and healthcare AI companies fail not because of flawed technology, but due to a misunderstood business model - and exactly how Pittsburgh’s full-stack commercial sandbox prevents these fatal missteps. We also reveal the two specific sectors of data-driven health and precision therapeutics that this ecosystem is betting its entire future on, but you'll have to listen to find out why. If you're an entrepreneur or investor looking for the next massive geographic advantage in health technology, check the show notes for links to the resources and alliances mentioned today. Don't forget to subscribe to HealthTech Remedy and leave us a five-star review so we can continue bringing you the stories behind healthcare's most innovative companies.

The Tech Fixing Healthcare's Broken Plumbing (with Stedi CEO Zack Kanter)

Discover how Stedi CEO Zack Kanter built a modern healthcare clearinghouse after the Change Healthcare outage. Learn how API-driven EDI and AI transform RCM. Episode Resources: * Stedi [http://stedi.com/] * Stedi Documentation for Healthcare EDI and APIs [https://www.stedi.com/docs/healthcare] * Timeline of the 2024 Change Healthcare Cyberattack [https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2024/08/Change-Healthcare-Cyberattack-Timeline.pdf] * Guide to X12 Standards and HIPAA Regulations [https://www.stedi.com/docs/edi-platform/edi-essentials/x12/hipaa] * CAQH Index Reports on Healthcare Transaction Costs [https://www.caqh.org/insights/caqh-index-report] * About Zack Kanter: Journey and Mission [https://zackkanter.com/about/] When the largest U.S. healthcare clearinghouse went dark in a massive cyberattack, it exposed the fragile, outdated plumbing powering the medical system's financial backbone. In this episode of HealthTech Remedy, we sit down with Zack Kanter, founder and CEO of Stedi, to uncover how his company is replacing decades-old billing infrastructure with modern, developer-friendly technology. By tuning in, you'll learn how upgrading the invisible layers of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the crucial first step to unlocking the true potential of AI in healthcare. Zack shares his unconventional journey from selling automotive parts to tackling the massive technical debt hidden within healthcare's revenue cycle management. He breaks down why legacy clearinghouses relying on batch processing aren't equipped for real-time APIs, and how his team built a drop-in replacement in just five days during an industry-wide crisis. The conversation also explores how seamless, automated data pipes are the missing link required for agentic AI to finally transform administrative workflows. Listen in to find out how fixing this underlying plumbing is preparing the medical system for a fully programmable future.  If you are ready to explore the foundational technologies shaping the future of care, be sure to subscribe to HealthTech Remedy and leave us a review. Don't forget to check the show notes for more information on Zack, Stedi, and the resources mentioned in today's conversation.