In this episode, Vic and Marcus cover a wide range of developments shaping the healthcare, economic, and tech landscapes. They begin with inflation concerns, interest rate policies, and Powell’s positioning, then dive into Starbucks' return-to-office mandate as a signal for white-collar layoffs and broader workforce trends. The conversation shifts to AI’s impact on productivity, rare earth material independence in the U.S., and startup funding in nurse scheduling and medical AI tools. They dissect the CMS’s proposed rule eliminating the inpatient-only list and its ripple effects across SaaS reimbursement, telehealth, and digital therapeutics. The pair also examine policy shifts affecting Medicare, Medicaid, and cell and gene therapy pilots. Payer market turmoil, hospital M&A dynamics, and pharma’s contrasting success round out the business update. They close with reflections on U.S.-China AI competition, regulatory loopholes in talent acquisitions, and how stablecoin and voice AI advances could transform healthcare.

Links:

3:57 - Inflation Picks Up to 2.7% as Tariffs Start to Seep Into Prices WSJ

5:15 - Starbucks Tells White-Collar Workers to Come to the Office More—Or Take a Buyout WSJ

15:36 - America’s Biggest Rare-Earth Producer Makes a Play to End China’s Dominance WSJ

18:15 - M7 Health nabs $10M to modernize nurse staffing and scheduling Fierce Healthcare

20:17 - OpenEvidence raises $210M, unveils AI agents built for advanced medical research Fierce Healthcare

23:33 - Fellow Health: $24 Million Series B Raised For Expanding Male Reproductive Test Offerings Pulse 2.0

24:32 - CMS Eliminating the Inpatient Only (IPO) List CMS website

29:04 - Trump 2.0 backs digital health in proposed CY2026 physician fee schedule rule Fierce Healthcare

34:11 - CMS officially names participants in Cell and Gene Therapy Access Model Fierce Healthcare

36:18 - F.D.A. Panel to Reassess Hormone Therapy Warnings NYT

40:08 - Elevance Health lowers 2025 guidance amid cost pressures in ACA, Medicaid markets Fierce Healthcare

41:17 - Centene, Elevance, Molina squeezed as exchanges deteriorate Modern Healthcare

43:57 - Geisinger layoffs hit insurance division Modern Healthcare

44:43 - Nonprofits ChristianaCare, Virtua Health explore merger Health Care Dive

46:00 - M&A Quarterly Activity Report: Q2 2025 KaufmanHall

47:46 - Private-Equity Firms Bain and Kohlberg Make Another Big Bet on Biopharma Industry WSJ

48:35 - Trump Says 200% Pharma Tariffs Are Coming. Wall Street Shrugs. WSJ

50:03 - J&J Raises Full-Year Outlook After Beating Profit Expectations WSJ

53:17 - Upended by Meth, Some Communities Are Paying Users to Quit NYT

57:32 - Crypto rises on renewed optimism House will pass key stablecoin le

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