Insurance funded therapy often ends fast. Recovery does not.

In this follow up episode, Bradley Bostic talks with Chris Leeuw, CEO of NeuroHope, about the "rehab cliff" facing spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, and MS patients when they leave inpatient care and quickly run out of covered visits.

Chris shares what NeuroHope is building in Indianapolis to keep recovery going: a model that blends skilled therapy, trained kinesiologists, adaptive fitness, and a true community so patients can continue progressing long after insurance stops paying.

They also unpack the expanding vision behind the Driven Neuro Recovery Center, developed with the Conquer Paralysis Now, and why this kind of recovery ecosystem is becoming essential infrastructure for the disability community.

In this episode, you'll learn

• Why "30 visits" is not neuro recovery

• How NeuroHope makes long term therapy more affordable after coverage runs out

• What's changed since last year including 30 percent growth in services

• Early outcomes from a two year study tracking complications and readmissions

• Why community is often the difference between surviving and thriving

• What's emerging in rehab tech including trans spinal stimulation and what it could unlock

• The bigger campus vision and what partners could help make possible

  Help NeuroHope close the rehab gap

  If you believe recovery should not end when insurance does, here are three simple ways to help:

  1. Watch and share this episode Send it to one person navigating stroke, spinal cord injury, or brain injury recovery, or to a clinician who needs a better option to refer to.

  2. Support NeuroHope's mission NeuroHope relies on community support to keep long term therapy accessible after coverage runs out. If you're able, consider donating or becoming a sponsor.

  3. Partner in Indianapolis NeuroHope is building a broader recovery ecosystem and is looking for aligned partners across adaptive sports, mental health, vocational rehab, DME, and innovative rehab technology.

     Guest

     Chris Leeuw is the CEO of NeuroHope, focused on expanding access to long term neuro recovery through therapy, wellness, and community.

• View the NeuroHope Wellness Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k5p3kLL2_A
• Learn more about NeuroHope: https://www.neurohopewellness.org/

🤔 Did you know that 30-50% of Americans lack access to primary care? That's a staggering number!

Bradley Bostic sits down with Matthew Holt (The Health Care Blog) for a blunt diagnosis of what's broken in U.S. healthcare and a concrete, numbers-driven proposal to fix it. Holt doesn't just complain. He names incentives, calls out the money flows, and lays out a primary-care "voucher" model designed to cut downstream costs while making primary care a top-tier, high-status job again.

If your organization is still treating primary care like a loss leader and "leakage" like a KPI, this one will sting (in the right way).

Timestamps

00:00 – 01:20 HLTH 2025 setup + dark humor about "keeping subscribers alive"

01:20 – 05:30 Holt's blunt system diagnosis + "nonprofit" and executive pay critique (UPMC example)

05:30 – 08:45 Primary care access crisis + why the ER becomes the default front door

08:45 – 10:50 "Leakage" + the referral-engine reality inside employed primary care

10:50 – 13:15 The concierge-for-all voucher model (the simple math)

13:15 – 16:30 Bradley connects it to value-based care + incentive shifts

16:30 – 18:10 Wrap: fewer complaints, more solutions + where to follow Holt

What you'll hear

Why the U.S. system is expensive by design — and why consumers carry the anxiety.

The uncomfortable truth about "nonprofit" health systems, executive comp, and transparency.

How primary care got turned into a referral engine for high-margin services.

Holt's two-step path to reform, including a "concierge-for-all" model with simple math behind it.

Where this intersects with value-based care… and where today's versions still fall short.

To learn more about The Healthcare Blog, visit here: https://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/category/health-tech/matthew-holt/

Guest: Fawad, Founder & CEO, Penguin AI (former CDO/data leader across major payer/provider organizations)

Healthcare isn't broke because we lack innovation. It's broke because we spend a staggering amount of money moving paper, arguing over rules, and chasing "documentation" instead of outcomes.

From the HC1 booth at Health 2025 in Vegas, Bradley sits down with Fawad—a veteran healthcare data operator turned founder—to talk about the real enemy: administrative waste at trillion-dollar scale… and why slapping GPT on top of messy systems just gives us a confident-sounding parrot.

Penguin AI is building an AI-first healthcare platform designed to run workflows end-to-end across payers and providers—prior auth, revenue cycle, claims, coding, and more—without forcing teams to become AI engineers.

What you'll hear in this episode

• Why "AI in healthcare" is mostly theater if your data is fragmented, dirty, and politically guarded

• The uncomfortable truth: administration is the cost center eating the system alive

• Why GPT can sound brilliant and still be dangerously wrong ("a very smart fairy")

• The case for healthcare-specific platforms (not generic clouds + hope)

• Why "payer vs provider" is an outdated segmentation—and processes prove it

• Founder reality: leaving big-title comfort for the zero-to-one grind

• The Penguin story: branding that grabs attention and signals how hard healthcare change really is

Key takeaways

1) If your AI strategy starts with a chatbot, you're already late. Start with the workflow. Start with the administrative bottlenecks. Then decide what intelligence belongs inside.

2) "Dr. GPT" is confident, not accountable. Fawad's warning is simple: models generate plausible language from what they've seen. In healthcare, plausible can still be wrong—and wrong has consequences.

3) The real prize isn't automating tasks. It's removing friction across the payer–provider boundary. Prior auth doesn't "belong" to one side. Neither does claims. Neither does adjudication. The process crosses the membrane—so the platform has to, too.

4) Healthcare doesn't need more AI demos. It needs clean, longitudinal records and execution. Better models require better inputs—and partnerships that unlock high-quality, de-identified, longitudinal patient data for real learning (not internet noise).

Notable moments (timestamps)

• 00:00 — Live from Health 2025 in Vegas: meet Fawad, founder of Penguin AI

• 00:26 — From big-company data leadership to startup founder

• 01:48 — The brand: why "Penguin" (and why most tech names are nonsense)

• 04:34 — The core problem: admin work at massive scale (prior auth, claims, RCM, scheduling)

• 06:00 — "Dr. GPT": why it sounds right even when it's wrong

• 07:31 — Funding + momentum: Penguin's Series A and growth

• 08:00 — Building better clinical intelligence requires real healthcare-grade data

• 09:28 — Operator-to-founder: why more insiders need to jump into the arena

• 11:50 — What Penguin actually does: agents, customization, and "platform-level" scale

• 14:05 — Why payer vs provider is a false divide

Who this episode is for

• Health system and payer leaders drowning in prior auth, claims, RCM, coding, and operational drag

• Operators skeptical of hype who want real automation + measurable cost reduction

• Founders building AI in healthcare who are ready to confront the data + workflow reality

• Investors looking for platforms that can win beyond "pilot purgatory"

Call to action

If your team is "doing AI" but still living inside manual workflows, this is your wake-up call: Stop demo-chasing. Start workflow-owning.

🎧 Watch/listen to the full episode: https://youtu.be/j_Fsuy-BfTM 📌 Learn more about Penguin AI: https://www.penguinai.co

IU Health CEO Dennis Murphy joins Bradley Bostic to unpack what it takes to drive innovation at scale—across 16 hospitals and 300+ clinical sites. They cover values-based culture, platform-first AI strategy, statewide data collaboration, philanthropy as a "margin of excellence," and IU Health's new flagship campus—set to see its first patients in December 2027.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Healthcare Innovation 01:56 Leadership and Organizational Values 04:50 Flagship Hospital Project Overview 08:18 Optimism in Healthcare 12:08 Technology and AI in Healthcare 17:40 Philanthropy and Community Impact 23:13 Data Utilization in Healthcare 28:37 Personalization of Healthcare Experience 34:53 Future of IU Health and Closing Remarks

In this episode of the Boombostic Health podcast, host Bradley Bostic interviews Dennis Murphy, CEO of IU Health, discussing his extensive experience in healthcare leadership, the importance of organizational values, and the innovative projects at IU Health, including a new flagship hospital. They explore the optimism surrounding advancements in healthcare technology, the role of philanthropy in enhancing patient care, and the significance of data aggregation in improving health outcomes. The conversation emphasizes the need for personalized healthcare experiences and the future of healthcare delivery.

Takeaways

• Dennis Murphy has a diverse background in healthcare leadership.
• Organizational values are crucial for guiding employee behavior.
• Philanthropy plays a significant role in enhancing healthcare programs.
• Technological advancements are improving patient outcomes significantly.
• Data aggregation is essential for effective healthcare delivery.
• IU Health is focused on attracting top talent in the healthcare industry.
• The new flagship hospital aims to consolidate resources and improve care.
• Healthcare innovation is driven by both institutional providers and entrepreneurs.
• Personalized healthcare experiences are becoming increasingly important.
• Optimism in healthcare is fueled by ongoing advancements and creative solutions.

At-home diagnostics isn't "a kit." It's an operating system.

From the outside, it looks simple: order → kit arrives → collect → mail back. Behind the scenes, scaling that experience requires automation, reliability, and speed.

In this conversation, Jeff Shattuck explains how DOT Corp uses automation, robotics, and AI to reduce the time from order to shipment, expanding what's possible for home diagnostics and precision medicine.

Key moments

• DotCorp transitioned from printing to healthcare logistics.
• AI and robotics are streamlining healthcare processes.
• At-home testing is becoming more prevalent post-COVID.
• Less invasive testing methods are emerging.
• Precision medicine will rely on at-home diagnostics.
• Accountable care programs are driving demand for home testing.
• Collaboration with major labs enhances service delivery.
• The healthcare landscape is rapidly evolving.
• Patient empowerment is key in modern healthcare.
• Future innovations will focus on accessibility and efficiency.

Chapters

00:00 The Entrepreneurial Journey of DotCorp 05:19 Transforming Diagnostics: Home Testing Revolution 07:46 The Future of Precision Medicine and Home Testing

Connect

Jeff Shattuck: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffoshattuck/

Bradley Bostic: https://linktr.ee/BradleyBostic

Boombostic Health: https://www.boombostichealth.com/

Show Notes

Healthcare keeps talking about AI, affordability, and outcomes… But most systems are still ignoring the front door that drives care decisions: diagnostics.

Recorded In the Wild at HLTH 2025 in Las Vegas, Bradley Bostic sits down with James York (Chief Commercial Officer + Head of Government Affairs, Molecular Testing Labs) to unpack a hard truth:

If you can't make testing accessible, convenient, and trackable… you can't build reliable care pathways.

In this episode, James breaks down why diagnostics is a flywheel—the top-of-funnel that activates patients—and why "we have Quest/Labcorp, so we're good" is the exact mindset keeping innovation stuck. He also shares how Molecular Testing Labs attacked the hardest access problem first (HIV/STI), what happened when they removed friction from PrEP care, and why lab-based at-home testing matters because it protects the integrity of the data (not just the experience).

You'll also hear a forward-looking take on self-collection, routine testing for chronic disease + wellness, cost transparency, and where AI could take us next—toward forecasting health like we forecast weather.

What you'll learn:

• Why James calls diagnostics "the flywheel" for activating patients

• The two stats that should change how leaders budget for labs ("70% of clinical decisions" vs "7% of spend" — as James cites)

• Why self-collected, lab-processed testing beats "rapid-only" testing when data/reporting matters

• How at-home testing can reduce stigma and improve public-health surveillance

• What "patient-as-decision-maker" healthcare could look like in the next 5–10 years

If you care about prevention, care gaps, data integrity, and making healthcare actually work for more people—this one's for you.

Chapters

00:00 — Boombostic Health "In the Wild" @ HLTH 2025 (Vegas) 00:45 — Baseball dads, real life, and the cost of ambition 02:05 — "Everyone should have access to diagnostics" (mission) 03:00 — Why the "Diagnostic Zone" is a signal moment 04:30 — The stat gap: labs drive decisions, not spending 05:45 — Why they started with HIV/STI (the hardest use case) 07:30 — Self-collection scale + what it unlocked for access 08:10 — PrEP friction: stigma + testing barriers (and the unlock) 09:45 — The Abbott at-home multiplex test: what's new + why it matters 11:05 — Rapid vs lab: the real issue is data integrity + reporting 12:40 — What's next: routine tests, chronic disease, wellness expansion 16:15 — AI, avatars, and "forecasting health like weather" 18:10 — Bradley's lens: signals, patterns, and getting patients on the right interventions 20:34 — Wrap + why data in will determine everything

#BoombosticHealth #HLTH2025 #Diagnostics #MolecularDiagnostics #LabTesting #PreventiveCare #AtHomeTesting #PublicHealth #CareGaps #HealthcareInnovation #DigitalHealth #AIinHealthcare #PrEP #STITesting

Summary

Healthcare is racing to be "AI ready." But most of the industry is still trying to turn billing exhaust into strategy.

In this episode, Bradley Bostic sits down with Ryan Leurck, Co-Founder & Chief Analytics Officer at Kythera Labs, to cut through the noise and get blunt about what actually makes AI work in healthcare.

Because the truth is simple—and uncomfortable: If your data can't be trusted by humans, it can't be trusted by AI. And in healthcare, much of our data was never designed for the questions we're now demanding it answer.

Takeaways

• Why claims, EHR, and lab data weren't built for strategy—and how that limits AI.
• The risk of modern AI: "AI is not always right, but it always sounds sure."
• Why healthcare data is still optimized for coding and billing, not predictive insight.
• Kythera's mission to "reduce the uncertainty in the use of healthcare data."
• How leaders should think about "AI ready" without falling for hype.
• The reality of claims: a "big bag of receipts" that can mislead without expert context.
• Why data quality and missingness matter as much as the data you do have.
• A practical vision for AI inside provider orgs: agents that function like analysts/interns, not decision-makers.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to AI in Healthcare 01:23 Ryan Leurck's Journey from Aerospace to Healthcare 03:22 The Current AI Landscape and Its Misconceptions 06:54 Kythera Labs: Reducing Uncertainty in Healthcare Data 11:13 Challenges of Healthcare Data and AI Integration 18:03 Opportunities for AI in Healthcare 22:52 Kythera's Target Audience and Solutions 27:41 The Role of AI in Operational Efficiency 31:18 Data Privacy and Accessibility in Healthcare 34:30 The Future of AI in Healthcare

Keywords

AI, healthcare, data analytics, machine learning, healthcare technology, Kythera Labs, artificial intelligence, data quality, healthcare providers, operational efficiency

Summary

By the time most people hear "dementia," their brain has been sounding the alarm for years.

In this episode of Boombostic Health, Dr. John Showalter shares his journey from internist to healthcare technology innovator. He explains how AI and digital tools can support early detection and intervention for cognitive decline—before daily life starts to fall apart.

The conversation highlights how lifestyle changes can improve cognitive health, why screening the brain should be as routine as checking blood pressure, and how integrating technology into healthcare systems can scale better outcomes. Real-life success stories show what's possible when you catch problems early and give people a path to act.

Takeaways

• Dr. Showalter's journey from medicine to healthcare technology is inspiring.

• AI can enhance caregiver efficiency and patient care.

• Early detection of cognitive decline is crucial for effective intervention.

• Lifestyle changes can significantly impact cognitive health.

• Integration of technology into healthcare systems is essential for scalability.

• Personalized brain health action plans can improve patient outcomes.

• Social isolation and loss of purpose are key factors in cognitive decline.

• Real-life success stories demonstrate the effectiveness of early intervention.

• Healthcare innovation requires collaboration between technology and clinical expertise.

• The future of cognitive health lies in proactive, lifestyle-based approaches.

Chapters 00:00 Innovating Healthcare: A Journey into Technology 02:39 The Role of AI in Patient Care 05:34 Cognitive Health: Early Detection and Intervention 08:24 Lifestyle Changes and Cognitive Decline 11:07 Integrating Technology into Healthcare Systems 14:08 The Future of Cognitive Health and AI 17:03 Real-Life Success Stories in Cognitive Health

About Dr. Showalter Dr. John Showalter is an internist and clinical informatics leader who has been obsessed with the data side of care since his first DNA research job at 14. Trained in biomedical engineering and medical informatics, he went on to lead major EHR implementations and build a state-of-the-art analytics center from a $0 to $6.5M budget, earning a Premier 100 IT Leaders award along the way. Today, he focuses on turning complex data and AI into practical tools clinicians actually use, helping detect disease earlier and improve patient outcomes at scale.

Resources

• Linus Health – digital cognitive assessment and brain health platform: https://www.linkedin.com/company/linus-health/posts/?feedView=all

• Connect with Dr. John Showalter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnshowaltermd/

• Boombostic Health podcast – more episodes on AI, diagnostics, and the future of care: https://www.boombostichealth.com/podcast

Tags healthcare innovation, artificial intelligence, cognitive health, early detection, lifestyle changes, patient care, technology integration, healthcare systems, dementia, health tech

We talk a lot about "data-driven healthcare," yet we're still blind to one of the most important data layers: the microbiome.

Mental health, early-onset cancer, autoimmunity—much of that risk is already visible in the gut years before a diagnosis code ever hits the chart. Most care models, benefits designs, and longevity strategies simply don't account for it.

In this episode of Boombostic Health, I sit down with Paul Denslow, CEO & co-founder of Intus Bio, to dig into how GutID turns the microbiome into hard infrastructure: high-resolution gut data, a score you can track, and a way to see whether your interventions are actually moving risk—not just spend.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why microbiome disruption often precedes mental health issues and cancer

• How GutID converts millions of bacterial data points into a single, trackable gut score

• Why behavioral health and functional practitioners have been early adopters

• The problem with "just take a probiotic" in the absence of baseline gut data

• How AI + high-resolution microbiome testing open a real prevention window

• What a serious prevention and longevity strategy looks like when gut data is included

If you're responsible for care delivery, benefits strategy, or long-term risk, ignoring this data layer is no longer a neutral decision.

Watch the full conversation to see why mental health, cancer, and your "bacterial you" belong at the center of modern prevention.

About our guest:

Paul Denslow is the CEO and co-founder of Intus Bio, the company behind GutID. With a background in finance and big data, Paul partnered with co-founder Mark Driscoll, a pioneer in next-generation sequencing, to build a platform that treats the microbiome as a hard data problem—not a mystery. Intus Bio's GutID test and Titan 1 platform are used by clinicians and practitioners to generate high-resolution microbiome data that can be translated into actionable prevention and disease insights.

Links & Resources:

Learn more about GutID: https://www.gutid.com/collections/all

Learn more about Intus Bio: https://www.intusbio.com/gutid

Watch more Boombostic Health episodes: https://www.boombostichealth.com/podcast

Virtual care is scaling. AI is everywhere. But when lab completion falls from ~70% in-clinic to ~30% in virtual care, the whole model breaks. Virtual Care Without Labs Is Just Zoom - Even with AI. In this Boombostic Health in the Wild episode from HLTH 2025, Bradley Bostic sits down with Maitham Dib, founder of Junction, to unpack the "real" bottleneck: turning lab orders into lab results. They dig into how Junction: * White-labels lab infrastructure so any virtual or hybrid care model can deploy labs across all 50 states * Uses data from ~3.4 million lab tests annually to model what actually drives lab completion * Dynamically routes patients across PSC visits, at-home kits, and at-home phlebotomy - based on real-world behavior * Plugs into telehealth and AI agents that still need working diagnostic rails to be useful Chapters 00:00 – Lab in the basement, but core to care 02:00 – 70% in-clinic vs. ~30% virtual: the lab completion cliff 03:30 – Junction's white-label "Amazon-style" lab experience 06:30 – Three modalities: PSC, at-home kits, at-home phlebotomy 08:20 – "Where is the software actually?" Models on 3.4M lab tests 09:40 – Doctors, AI agents, and the diagnostic infrastructure layer 11:00 – Telehealth, pharma, and diagnostics as a new access door 12:40 – Business model: a new cost in a system that hates new costs Key Takeaways * Virtual care without completed labs is just Zoom. When fulfillment drops from ~70% in-clinic to ~30% in virtual, diagnosis and revenue leak out. * The real AI bottleneck is diagnostics.Agents and navigation tools only work if they can talk to lab infrastructure that actually gets tests done. * Infrastructure beats slogans.White-labeled, data-driven lab rails that convert orders to results are where virtual care and AI either succeed—or quietly fail. #boombostichealth #virtualcare #telehealth #digitalhealth #digitalhealthcare #healthcareinnovation #aiinhealthcare #patientcare #valuebasedcare #healthcare