The Heart of Healthcare | A Digital Health Podcast

Healthcare AI funding is booming, but the money is flowing to fewer companies than ever before. As investors pour capital into a small group of breakout winners, founders are navigating a fundraising environment where expectations seem to change every quarter. Based on interviews with 24 healthcare founders and a dozen healthcare investors, Halle breaks down what is actually happening in the market today, from pitch meetings and diligence processes to the growing debate over whether AI has fundamentally changed venture capital itself. Why healthcare AI fundraising has become a tale of two marketsThe two questions dominating investor meetings in 2026The metrics VCs are looking for todayThe debate over whether investors should abandon traditional ownership targetsWhy high valuations can be both a gift and a trap for founders —Show notes:Submit questions for our Eric Larsen healthcare AI Q&A here Part I: AI ate digital health (and what that means for fundraising)Part II: Convicted or disciplined: How healthcare VCs are split on investing— 🙏 Do you like this podcast? An easy and free way to help keep the show going is to leave us a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you're listening.— 📍 Connect with us:Heart of Healthcare websiteLinkedInYouTube  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Autonomous vehicles may be the closest real-world example of AI operating in life-and-death situations at scale. Justin Norden believes healthcare has a lot to learn from how that industry approached safety, testing, adoption, and trust. This week, Michael and Halle sit down with the founder and CEO of Qualified Health, fresh off the company’s $125 million Series B, to discuss why healthcare organizations need to think differently about deploying AI. Justin shares how his experience at Stanford, Apple, Waymo, and in healthcare investing shaped his view that health systems need AI infrastructure, governance, and workforce buy-in, not just another point solution.We cover:What healthcare can learn from Waymo’s approach to safe AI deploymentWhat founders need to understand about building around EpicWhy health systems need to treat AI as a CEO-level priority, not an innovation projectHow Qualified Health is helping systems deploy, monitor, and measure AI workflowsWhy governance, safety, and ROI matter as much as model performanceWhy clinicians are right to be skeptical about AI liabilityAbout our guest:Justin Norden, MD is Co-Founder and CEO of Qualified Health building the trusted platform for health system AI. Additionally, he has been an Adjunct Professor at Stanford Medicine in the Department of Biomedical Informatics Research where his research and teaching focused on AI in medicine and digital health where he founded and still teaches courses on digital health and generative AI in medicine. Previously, Dr. Norden was Co-Founder and CEO of Trustworthy AI, a company focused on algorithm safety and trust, which was acquired by Waymo (Google Self-Driving). He was a Partner at GSR Ventures leading investments in healthcare and AI, worked on the healthcare team at Apple, and helped start the Stanford Center for Digital Health. Dr. Justin Norden received an MD and MBA from Stanford University, an MPhil in Computational Biology from the University of Cambridge, and a BA in Computer Science from Carleton College.— 🙏 Do you like this podcast? An easy and free way to help keep the show going is to leave us a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you're listening.—Show notes:The Data on Self-Driving Cars Is Clear. We Have to Change Course. Dr. Jonathan Slotkin op-ed in the NYT— 📍 Connect with us:Heart of Healthcare websiteLinkedInYouTube  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Healthcare is simultaneously propping up the US economy and facing one of its most uncertain moments in years.This month, Halle and Steve unpack the growing contradictions shaping digital health right now: healthcare jobs are driving nearly half of US job growth while provider bankruptcies surge, AI is flooding into healthcare faster than regulators can keep up, and Washington continues to send mixed signals on the future of healthcare policy and innovation.We cover:Why healthcare jobs are now carrying the US labor market and what Medicaid cuts could mean for the economyThe surprising comeback of wearables and how companies like Whoop, Oura, and Google are building massive subscription businessesCMS’s new ACCESS model and the debate over whether AI-driven care can actually lower costs without sacrificing qualityThe lawsuit against Character.AI and what it reveals about the growing demand for AI mental health toolsWhy investors are pouring billions into AI drug discovery despite huge unanswered questions about clinical developmentMarty Makary’s resignation from the FDA and what ongoing instability means for biotech, pharma, and healthcare innovation—Show notes:Forget Tech and Hollywood. California Is Powered by Healthcare Jobs. (WSJ)Oura Debuts Ring 5, Ahead of Potential IPO (WWD)Whoop Raises $575 Million at $10.1 Billion Valuation (Whoop)Fitbit Ditches the Screen With Its New $99 Whoop Rival (PC Mag)Why big digital health players are missing from Medicare’s chronic care experiment (STAT)Character.AI Lawsuit (PA.gov) Marty Makary out as FDA chief (Axios)— 🙏 Do you like this podcast? An easy and free way to help keep the show going is to leave us a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you're listening.— 📍 Connect with us:Heart of Healthcare websiteLinkedInYouTube  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most careers don’t follow a straight line. But few require starting over in full view of the public.This week, Halle sits down with Lance Armstrong to discuss how he rebuilt his life and career after multiple turning points, including surviving advanced cancer, and how those experiences shaped his perspective on health, performance, and reinvention. Now, through his venture firm Next Ventures, he backs companies focused on what they call “whole person health” — spanning prevention, wellness, diagnostics, longevity, and healthcare outside the traditional system.We cover:Why he chose to become a VC, and what he likes (and dislikes) about the jobHow his experience as a patient shapes how he evaluates companiesWhy preventive care is growing outside the traditional healthcare systemWhat he looks for in founders building across the care continuumWhat it takes to rebuild trust and start overAbout our guest:Lance Armstrong is a former professional cyclist, entrepreneur, and investor. After surviving advanced testicular cancer, he founded Livestrong, helping raise more than $500 million to support cancer patients and survivors worldwide. In 2019, he co-founded Next Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on health, wellness, and consumer brands, with investments including Oura, Cofertility, Pair Team, and SteadyMD. Prior to Next Ventures, he was an active angel investor in companies such as Uber, DocuSign, and Athletic Brewing.— 🙏 Do you like this podcast? An easy and free way to help keep the show going is to leave us a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you're listening.— 📍 Connect with us:Heart of Healthcare websiteLinkedInYouTube  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI in healthcare may be entering a new chapter, one where the biggest question is no longer whether the technology works, but who is willing to deploy it, measure it, and take responsibility for the risk.This week, Steve sits down again with Eric Larsen to revisit his predictions from last year’s Webby-winning episode on generative AI in healthcare. Eric argues that the first wave of AI has been inflationary, reinforcing the old payer-provider payment model, but that the next wave could be deflationary as automation moves into revenue cycle, administrative work, clinical reasoning, and drug development. They discuss why incumbents still have a narrow window to co-develop the future, why clinical AI may move faster outside the US, and why liability may become the deciding factor in who wins.We cover:Why healthcare is still the sector most exposed to AI-driven changeHow AI has reinforced fee-for-service dynamics so far, and why that may soon reverseWhat makes some healthcare work more automatable than othersWhy liability may determine how fast clinical AI gets adoptedWhich health systems, payers, and life sciences companies are moving fastestWhat will change across providers, payers, and pharma over the next year— 👉Submit your questions!We’re doing a followup episode with Eric. Submit your listener questions here: https://forms.gle/Bu335DkpHAUvygiBA— About our guest:Eric Jon Larsen is President of TowerBrook Advisors and a member of the healthcare leadership team at TowerBrook Capital Partners, a $30 billion AUM investment firm based in New York and London. TowerBrook invests across private equity, structured minority, and growth opportunities, with a strong focus on healthcare, partnering with health systems, payers, and other strategics. Notably, TowerBrook is the first mainstream private equity firm to achieve B Corp certification, reflecting its commitment to responsible business practices.Eric is a nationally recognized healthcare strategist with a global advisory portfolio spanning CEOs and boards of leading healthcare organizations. He spent 25 years at The Advisory Board Company—five of those as President—advancing best practices in healthcare delivery worldwide. Following the firm's 2017 acquisition by Optum (UnitedHealth Group), Eric co-led strategic partnerships and market development efforts at UnitedHealth. He is also a Venture Partner at Thrive Capital and SignalFire, and serves on several digital health boards, including Somatus and Contessa Health.— 🙏 Do you like this podcast? An easy and free way to help keep the show going is to leave us a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you're listening.— 📍 Connect with us:Heart of Healthcare websiteLinkedInYouTube  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.