Commons Healthcare

Episode Summary

Trace Dr. Oliver Kharraz’s successes back just a few years and you’ll find a trail of chaotic failures, pivots, and lawsuits worthy of a corporate thriller. Keep going and you’ll find a family dynasty of physicians that stretches into the early 1700s.

What does it mean to succeed in healthcare for Oliver, CEO of Zocdoc? In the inaugural episode of Commons Healthcare, journalist Britta Lokting (The New York Times, VICE, Rolling Stone) follows the threads connecting past to present, offering a triangulated view of the physician and entrepreneur behind one of healthcare’s most well-known companies.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - The Call Before It All: A no-name, no-audience podcast secures its first subject

04:15 - At Zocdoc HQ: Journalist Britta Lokting meets with the Zocdoc executive team

09:30 - Talent Brings Responsibility: The Kharraz family tree and the clues from his youth

14:10 - Business Model Implosion: Examining Zocdoc’s brutal setbacks

20:58 - Start of a New Era: Oliver’s ascent and Zocdoc’s renaissance

28:04 - Brushes With Death: Thoughts on legacy follow a car crash and his father’s passing 

Key Quotes

“At our very launch, Guy Kawasaki said, ‘I would never, ever consider finding a doctor on a website.’ That, from the core evangelist of Apple, was obviously a hard thing to hear.” —Dr. Oliver Kharraz, CEO | Zocdoc

“This is not the Oliver Kharraz show. This is Zocdoc, an institution that should go on doing what we determine is right a long time after I can no longer contribute.” —Dr. Oliver Kharraz, CEO | Zocdoc

“Most people aren’t very good at difficult things. Most people are bad at them and run away … but if you didn’t and you said, ‘No, I’m gonna do this hard thing,’ that’s a more unusual thing, and so we created a whole company culture around that.” —Richard Fine, Chief Business Officer | Zocdoc

Episode credits:

Reporter: Britta Lokting

Audio production: Joe Steptoe and Anthony Dionne

Hosts: Tom Castles and Jack Murtha

Executive producer: Christie Chisholm

Sound engineer: George Steptoe

Editor: Mark R.

Head of growth: Wynn Hansen

Resources & Links

Follow Commons Healthcare on socials:

Episode Summary

Two brutal failures, a near miss with a $40,000 lawsuit, and the 1999 film The Matrix. They all set the stage for Commons Healthcare, the podcast where a team of renowned journalists investigates what it means to succeed in an industry with 340 million lives and $6 trillion on the line.

In the official trailer, hosts Tom Castles and Jack Murtha chronicle the long road leading to the podcast’s launch and describe the journey to come. They share the belief underpinning Commons: that healthcare journalism should focus on people, not just systems. And they acquaint listeners with the trials that hardened them against healthcare’s chronic techno-centrism, anti-human ideals, and hype.

Learn why we’re betting everything on human-driven and human-focused narrative storytelling in healthcare’s age of automation.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Cease and Desist: The lockdown summer of 2020 brings a devastating legal threat.

03:32 - Commons Healthcare: A podcast dedicated to human-focused narrative storytelling.

06:03 - A History of Failure: Two failed podcast attempts and a $40,000 legal roadblock.

14:09 - The Sound of Inevitability: Technological stories as a tranquilizer of the conscience.

18:15 - What’s Coming: A preview of the hand-crafted narrative profiles in season one.

Key Quotes

“We want to create a future where we remember to center human beings as work evolves and takes on new forms.” —Tom Castles

“Technology matters, but we’re not going to pretend that it’s just something that happens to us… Both [technology and healthcare] are reflections of real, deliberate decisions that real human beings make about what we build, what we value, who benefits, and what kind of future we want to create.” —Jack Murtha

Resources & Links

Follow Commons Healthcare on socials: