Relentless Health Value

Today I’m talking with John Lynn, founder of Healthcare Scene as well as two conferences, Expo.Health and HITMC. If I was going to frame out an overarching theme, I would suggest that it is this: Organizational culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The One Core Skill All Successful Health Start-up Teams Possess, With Alex Fair (EP229)

Spoiler: It's Listening. Episode 229.

It's a tough world out there for health start-ups — finding a customer is tough, financial models are tough to figure out, and operationalizing is tough, and the same is true for the health care stakeholders trying to purchase and implement what those start-ups build. In this episode, Stacey Richter talks with Alex Fair, managing partner at MedStartr Ventures and CEO of MedStartr, about the one skill that separates successful start-up teams from the rest.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why everything is easier for health start-ups within a supportive community — feedback, mentorship, networking, and moral support all included

✅ How MedStartr functions as a community for health tech entrepreneurs while also providing venture capital to crowdsourced contest winners

✅ Why listening, more than any technical or business skill, is the core competency Alex Fair sees across every successful start-up team

WHY THIS MATTERS

It would be easy to assume the differentiator for a successful health start-up is a killer financial model or slick technology. Alex Fair's answer — listening — is a reminder that start-ups building for health care succeed or fail based on how well they actually hear what customers, patients, and stakeholders need, not just how well they pitch what they've already built.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter

🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar

🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts

🎤 Listen on Spotify

📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel

=== CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM ===

✭ LinkedIn ✭ Threads ✭ Bluesky ✭ X

No one denies that it’s a tough world out there for health start-ups. Finding a customer is tough, financial models are tough to figure out, operationalizing is tough. But the same is true for those other health care stakeholders attempting to purchase and implement the innovations start-ups are creating. Here’s another unassailable truth: Everything is just easier within a supportive community. You gain feedback, mentorship, networking opportunities, and maybe just a venue to sob into your beers together.

Today I speak with Alex Fair, managing partner at MedStartr Ventures and CEO of MedStartr. MedStartr is a community for health tech entrepreneurs that also provides venture capital to crowdsourced contest winners.

And spoiler alert, the one core skill all successful start-up teams possess is listening. The ability to listen.

You can learn more at medstartr.vc, medstartr.com, and medstartr.nyc, or call Medstartr at 530-MedStartr.

Alex Fair is the founder and CEO of MedStartr. He originally trained as a scientist, working in physics, then cancer, and finally in heart disease research. In the 1990s he had an idea for a company that took off, so he finished off his last paper and came into the world of business. MedStartr is his seventh start-up. 

A Very Practical Opioid Alternatives Program for Employers. The Average Person With an Opioid Misuse Problem Looks Like an Employee. Episode INBW22.

When people hear "opioid crisis," many picture someone living under a bridge — but the average profile of someone with an opioid or substance misuse issue looks exactly like an employee, with 75% of adults up to age 64 with a misuse issue still in the workforce. In this episode, Stacey Richter, co-president of the cause-driven organization QC-Health®, introduces QC-MyMeds™, a practical opioid alternatives program built to reach even the smallest employers.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why the cost to an employer of a single employee addicted to a long-acting opioid like OxyContin averages $117,000 once medical spend and lost productivity are counted

✅ How QC-MyMeds™, developed with SinfoníaRx, one of the country's most respected medication therapy management providers, works

✅ Why QC-Health® designed the program specifically to reach smaller employers who are usually priced out of proven interventions

✅ Why the program deliberately doesn't try to "boil the ocean" — and how it eliminates barriers for small employers instead

WHY THIS MATTERS

Opioid misuse costs employers real money and, more importantly, real harm to their workforce — yet effective intervention programs are often built for large employers who can absorb the cost and complexity. QC-MyMeds™ is a concrete example of trying to bring a proven approach down to a scale that even the smallest employer can actually use.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter

🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar

🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts

🎤 Listen on Spotify

📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel

=== CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM ===

✭ LinkedIn ✭ Threads ✭ Bluesky ✭ X

00:00 Introduction.

01:46 One of the programs QC-Health® is sponsoring—QC-MyMeds™.

02:10 SinfoníaRx—one of the most well-respected medication therapy management (MTM) providers in the country.

02:23 What QC-MyMeds™ essentially is.

02:55 Why QC-Health® thought it was important to take a proven program to even the smallest employer.

03:57 How QC-Health® aims to helper smaller employers.

04:08 The QC-MyMeds™ approach.

05:51 "This program does not aim to boil the ocean."

06:02 "The problem with opioids is that they change your brain chemistry."

06:29 Connecting the dots between service programs and employees who need them.

07:01 Eliminating barriers for small employers.

08:49 Stacey presented QC-MyMeds™ at the World Health Care Conference.

Let’s talk about the opioid crisis for a moment. When we say the words “opioids crisis,” as a general broad stroke, many people immediately picture somebody who lives under a bridge. But that actually wouldn’t be your average profile of someone with a substance misuse/opioid problem. The average profile of someone with an opioid/substance misuse profile looks exactly like an employee. In fact, 75% of adults up to the age of 64 with a misuse issue are in the workforce. And the cost to an employer of someone addicted to a long-acting opioid such as oxycontin is $117,000, on average, if you count the medical spend and loss of productivity. My name is Stacey Richter. I am the host of the Relentless Health Value podcast and co-president of a cause-driven organization called QC-Health®. We started QC-Health® to do what we can to improve the state of health care in this country today, which is, by the way, the mission of this podcast as well.

You can learn more at QC-MyMeds.org.

When not hosting the show, Stacey is co-president of Aventria Health Group, a marketing agency and consultancy. Aventria specializes in helping pharmaceutical, employer, pharmacy, and health system clients improve patient outcomes by creating and leveraging collaborations with other health care organizations. For more than 20 years, Stacey has innovated better-coordinated health solutions benefiting all stakeholders, and, most of all, the patient.

01:46 One of the programs QC-Health® is sponsoring—QC-MyMeds™. 02:10 SinfoníaRx—one of the most well-respected medication therapy management (MTM) providers in the country. 02:23 What QC-MyMeds™ essentially is. 02:55 Why QC-Health® thought it was important to take a proven program to even the smallest employer. 03:57 How QC-Health® aims to helper smaller employers. 04:08 The QC-MyMeds™ approach. 05:51 “This program does not aim to boil the ocean.” 06:02 “The problem with opioids is that they change your brain chemistry.” 06:29 Connecting the dots between service programs and employees who need them. 07:01 Eliminating barriers for small employers. 08:49 Stacey presented QC-MyMeds™ at the World Health Care Conference.

You can learn more at QC-MyMeds.org.

There’s a great video of Steve Jobs responding to an audience question that is, at a minimum, let’s just say strident. Jobs kind of ignores the aggressive nature of the query and offers a thoughtful response which is super relevant to health care. He says, “One of the things I’ve always found is that you’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where you’re going to try to sell it.”

I don’t know about you, but I find this quote over-the-top relevant in health care. In health care, when we contemplate changing the workflow or integrating some technology or building some technology or whatever else we’re up to, how many times are we starting from the perspective of the patient or member? How often is the patient the “why” behind “why are we prioritizing this?”

I wonder, in the health care industry, how many meetings go on about what patients want with no patients in the meetings and no real consideration to that end. As a data point, probably twice a week I hear of a new program, product, service, device, digital something or other that has zero or only a few patients using it because only after development did anyone check with patients what they think about the thing. And then sometimes the patient gets blamed and labeled nonadherent to something they didn’t want in the first place.

I met Julie, by the way, at the PanAgora CX conference this past March.

You can connect with Julie on Twitter at @julie_rish.

Julie Rish, PhD, is a clinical psychologist for the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. 

How to Figure Out What Patients Really Want, With Julie Rish, PhD, From the Cleveland Clinic (EP228)

"You've Got to Start With the Customer Experience and Work Backwards to the Technology." Episode 228.

Steve Jobs once told an audience that you have to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology — not the other way around. In this episode, Stacey Richter talks with Julie Rish, PhD, from the Cleveland Clinic, about how often health care skips that step entirely, building programs, products, and technology first and only checking with patients afterward, if at all.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why so many health care workflow and technology decisions get made without patients or members actually in the room

✅ How often new programs, products, and digital tools launch with zero or minimal patient input — and end up with vanishingly few real users

✅ Why patients sometimes get blamed and labeled "nonadherent" for not using something they never wanted or were consulted about in the first place

✅ What it actually looks like to start from the patient's perspective and work backwards to the technology, Steve Jobs–style

WHY THIS MATTERS

When patients aren't part of the conversation about what they want, health care organizations end up building solutions in search of a problem — and then quietly blaming patients when adoption falls flat. Julie Rish's framing is a reminder that patient input isn't a final checkbox; it has to be the starting point.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter

🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar

🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts

🎤 Listen on Spotify

📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel

=== CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM ===

✭ LinkedIn ✭ Threads ✭ Bluesky ✭ X

If you don’t know the current Health and Human Services (HHS) proposal to nix Pharma’s ability to pay pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) rebates, then listen to EP216 with Chris Sloan. In this episode, we don’t talk much about the impact of the HHS proposal on patient premiums or drug costs. We do talk about the impact on pharmaceutical companies. Kuo Tong is a managing director in the life sciences practice of Navigant, focusing on how pharma interacts with insurance companies and gets reimbursement.

What Should Pharma Be Doing Right Now About the HHS Proposal to Curtail PBM Rebates? With Kuo Tong (EP227)

How the HHS Rebate Rule Could Reshape Pharma's Relationship With Insurers. Episode 227.

The Department of Health and Human Services has proposed effectively curtailing pharma's ability to pay pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) rebates — and while the impact on patient premiums and drug costs is its own conversation, this episode focuses on what it means for pharmaceutical companies themselves. Stacey Richter talks with Kuo Tong, managing director in the life sciences practice at Navigant, about how pharma's interactions with and reimbursement from insurance companies could change if the rule goes into effect.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ How the drug-buying transaction actually works between pharma companies and insurance companies today

✅ Whether pharma's reimbursement relationships with insurers will meaningfully change once the HHS rebate rule takes effect

✅ What pharma companies could and should be doing right now to prepare for a smoother transition into a new contracting model

✅ Kuo Tong's perspective from advising pharma on reimbursement strategy at Navigant

WHY THIS MATTERS

Regulatory proposals like the HHS rebate rule can reshape entire contracting relationships overnight, and pharma companies that wait to react instead of preparing risk getting caught flat-footed. Kuo Tong's insight gives pharma leaders a head start on what a post-rebate contracting model with insurers might actually look like.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter

🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar

🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts

🎤 Listen on Spotify

📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel

=== CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM ===

✭ LinkedIn ✭ Threads ✭ Bluesky ✭ X

Today I speak with Devon Herrick, PhD, who is an expert in surprise billing. Devon is a health care economist and public policy analyst who has authored many articles on surprise billing. You’ll find some links in the show notes. Devon is also an adviser to the Heartland Institute, which is a free-market think tank. I find it incredibly thought provoking that a free-market think tank, for reasons we discuss in this podcast, finds unfettered market-driven surprise billing as egregious as the most progressive socialists do. Handshaking across aisles everywhere.

If you’re a hospital or insurance carrier executive, what are you doing right now in light of all this public attention and legislation? I hope your response includes actions to protect your patients—and not just an industry-centric lobbying effort.

You can learn more and connect with Devon on Twitter at @DevonHerrick or on Facebook at Devon Herrick.  

Devon M. Herrick, PhD, is a health economist and former hospital accountant. He is currently a health policy adviser for the Chicago-based Heartland Institute. Dr. Herrick worked for the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) for 21 years until it ceased operations in 2017. He also served two terms as chair of the Health Economics Roundtable of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE).

Dr. Herrick focuses on health insurance issues, including state health care regulations, federal health reform, managed care, Medicare, Medicaid, and the uninsured. He also researches issues such as consumer-driven health care, telemedicine, medical tourism, pharmaceutical economics, and emerging trends in retail medicine.