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Ozempic Won't Fix Healthcare: A Startup Founder's Mission to Solve Obesity
Get ready for a raw, urgent conversation about fixing America’s broken healthcare system — starting with obesity care. In this episode, Sherveen sits down with Elina Onitskansky, founder & CEO of Ilant Health, a value-based care startup tackling the $1.7 trillion obesity crisis by combining AI-driven analytics, human-centered care teams, and a mission to slash systemic costs while saving lives.
From battling stigma and bias in medicine to calling out “pill mill” startups hijacking GLP-1 drugs for quick profits, Ilana pulls no punches. She shares why most digital health models fail patients, how TikTok “diagnoses” are worsening healthcare inequity, and why Ilant's high-touch, human-first approach is proving that obesity treatment can extend lives and save employers, insurers, and taxpayers billions.
From her personal journey through weight loss (incl. bariatric surgery and shame) to building a healthcare company that's challenging deep-rooted stigmas, Elina shares raw insights about what's broken in American healthcare — and how to fix it. (+, inside the GLP-1 gold rush and why 80% of users quit, and why "calories in, calories out" is dead).
This is Episode 017 of The Sherveen Show!
Follow Sherveen on X: https://www.x.com/sherveen
Follow Sherveen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherveenm
Follow Elina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elinaonitskansky
We cover:
- The GLP-1 Backlash: Why “miracle drug” startups are repeating the opioid crisis playbook — and how Ilant Health is flipping the script.
- Bias in Healthcare: Why 70% of doctors still call patients with obesity “lazy” (and how Ilant's peer navigators are breaking the stigma).
- Value-Based Care vs. “Pill Mills”: Why employers and insurers are dumping cash into AI nudges (spoiler: they don’t work) and betting on Ilant's outcomes-driven model.
- TikTok’s Diagnosis Problem: How social media fuels misdiagnosis — and why “lived experience” is Ilant's secret weapon.
- Obesity ≠ Willpower: The data proving diets fail and why laparoscopic surgery + personalized care teams drive 10X better outcomes.
- VCs’ Healthcare Blindspot: Why Silicon Valley still funds “adversarial” startups gaming prior authorizations — and the metrics that won over Ilant's investors.
It’s about: value-based care, obesity stigma, health equity, GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Medicaid/Medicare innovation, healthcare SaaS, AI in clinical analytics, employer health plans, digital health startups, and the future of chronic disease management.
What's key:
obesity care, healthtech, health equity, GLP-1 drugs, healthcare startups, chronic disease management, Medicaid innovation, employer health plans, AI in healthcare, telehealth, digital health, prior authorization, healthcare costs, social determinants of health, clinical analytics, peer support, healthtech SaaS, healthcare bias, venture capital in healthcare
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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By Sherveen MashayekhiGet ready for a raw, urgent conversation about fixing America’s broken healthcare system — starting with obesity care. In this episode, Sherveen sits down with Elina Onitskansky, founder & CEO of Ilant Health, a value-based care startup tackling the $1.7 trillion obesity crisis by combining AI-driven analytics, human-centered care teams, and a mission to slash systemic costs while saving lives.
From battling stigma and bias in medicine to calling out “pill mill” startups hijacking GLP-1 drugs for quick profits, Ilana pulls no punches. She shares why most digital health models fail patients, how TikTok “diagnoses” are worsening healthcare inequity, and why Ilant's high-touch, human-first approach is proving that obesity treatment can extend lives and save employers, insurers, and taxpayers billions.
From her personal journey through weight loss (incl. bariatric surgery and shame) to building a healthcare company that's challenging deep-rooted stigmas, Elina shares raw insights about what's broken in American healthcare — and how to fix it. (+, inside the GLP-1 gold rush and why 80% of users quit, and why "calories in, calories out" is dead).
This is Episode 017 of The Sherveen Show!
Follow Sherveen on X: https://www.x.com/sherveen
Follow Sherveen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherveenm
Follow Elina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elinaonitskansky
We cover:
- The GLP-1 Backlash: Why “miracle drug” startups are repeating the opioid crisis playbook — and how Ilant Health is flipping the script.
- Bias in Healthcare: Why 70% of doctors still call patients with obesity “lazy” (and how Ilant's peer navigators are breaking the stigma).
- Value-Based Care vs. “Pill Mills”: Why employers and insurers are dumping cash into AI nudges (spoiler: they don’t work) and betting on Ilant's outcomes-driven model.
- TikTok’s Diagnosis Problem: How social media fuels misdiagnosis — and why “lived experience” is Ilant's secret weapon.
- Obesity ≠ Willpower: The data proving diets fail and why laparoscopic surgery + personalized care teams drive 10X better outcomes.
- VCs’ Healthcare Blindspot: Why Silicon Valley still funds “adversarial” startups gaming prior authorizations — and the metrics that won over Ilant's investors.
It’s about: value-based care, obesity stigma, health equity, GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Medicaid/Medicare innovation, healthcare SaaS, AI in clinical analytics, employer health plans, digital health startups, and the future of chronic disease management.
What's key:
obesity care, healthtech, health equity, GLP-1 drugs, healthcare startups, chronic disease management, Medicaid innovation, employer health plans, AI in healthcare, telehealth, digital health, prior authorization, healthcare costs, social determinants of health, clinical analytics, peer support, healthtech SaaS, healthcare bias, venture capital in healthcare
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.