The Beat

HLTH

The Beat, powered by HLTH, is a weekly interview series dedicated to paving a better path forward for the future of health. Each week a variety of hosts bring you authentic conversations with prominent thought leaders. Through these interviews with people at the forefront of change in healthcare, we hope to spark new ideas and encourage new collaborations among listeners.

  1. From Pipes to Platform: Building an AI‑Ready, Standards‑First Healthcare Backbone

    -20 H

    From Pipes to Platform: Building an AI‑Ready, Standards‑First Healthcare Backbone

    In this episode of the Interop Now at Vibe series on The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Adam Luff, VP of Product Solutions at Infor, and Jesse Evans, Product Director for Infor FHIR Services, for a deep and practical conversation about why semantic interoperability is the make-or-break factor for AI in healthcare.  With decades of experience between them, Adam and Jesse explain why organizations that skip the data normalization step are building on a foundation that will eventually collapse. From prior authorization workflows to longitudinal patient records, this episode is essential listening for any healthcare leader who wants to understand what AI-ready infrastructure actually looks like. In this episode, they talk about: AI cannot make sense of data that is not semantically normalized Integration wires things up; interoperability makes the data actually usable A single patient can exist under multiple names and identifiers across dozens of systems FHIR is not a replacement for HL7, it is the latest version of the HL7 specification Poor data quality in EHRs is the rule, not the exception, even at well-resourced organizations Event-driven architecture enables prior authorization workflows to run with no human intervention Infor's longitudinal patient record viewer pulls data from up to 70 archival systems into one normalized view The FHIR server is becoming the source of truth, replacing the EHR as the authoritative record Bed turnover and discharge workflows are where providers are capturing real, measurable ROI right now A well-governed, normalized data platform unlocks an almost unlimited number of AI use cases A Little About Adam and Jesse: Adam Luff has been with Infor for six years and has spent about 20 years in the provider space. Before Infor, he worked at a company that manufactures large MRI and CT machinery. He focuses on business impact with provider organizations. Jesse Evans has been at Infor for about 10 years, first as a Principal Solutions Architect and now as Product Director for Infor FHIR Services. He has been in the healthcare enterprise industry for about 20 years, with deep expertise in integration engines, interoperability, and FHIR standards.

    25 min
  2. How Carenet is Partnering with Clients to Use AI and Make Healthcare Feel Human Again

    -1 J

    How Carenet is Partnering with Clients to Use AI and Make Healthcare Feel Human Again

    In this episode, host Sandy Vance sits down with Dan Shur, Chief Product Officer at Carenet Health, to talk about what it really takes to guide patients and members through one of the most frustratingly fragmented systems in the world. With over 30 years in the healthcare industry spanning payers, providers, and health tech & services companies, Dan brings a grounded, pragmatic perspective to the AI conversation. From the myth that everyone wants to talk to a chatbot to the importance of letting humans be human, their conversation is a must-listen for healthcare leaders who want to use AI to drive real outcomes without losing the empathy that puts the “care” in healthcare. In this episode, they talk about: Healthcare is the last industry where friction is still considered normal Carenet combines nurses, operations, data, and technology to navigate care at scale AI is best used for flagging risk, prioritizing queues, and gathering context before a human steps in Chatbots are not good at empathy, and healthcare interactions require a whole-person approach Not every problem needs AI; sometimes you just need a PDF to open Payers measure engagement, retention, and closed gaps in care; providers measure acquisition and leakage prevention Fragmentation is getting worse, not better, and navigation solutions have to account for the whole ecosystem Proactive, precise outreach beats education-only programs that leave patients to figure it out alone The clinical and administrative sides of care cannot be separated, and solutions need to address both Dan Shur leads product strategy and innovation at Carenet Health, where he helps healthcare organizations use smarter technology to improve outcomes. With over 30 years in healthcare and health tech, Dan has worked across health plans, provider systems, and startups. He is always focused on turning big ideas into practical solutions. Before Carenet, he founded Aloha Value Advisory, helping early-stage companies find their footing, and previously served as Chief Product Officer at Quantum Health, where he helped scale and modernize the business. Throughout his career, including roles at Cigna, EmblemHealth, Progyny, Cloudbreak Health, and GuideWell’s Venture Group, Dan has built a reputation for driving innovation that delivers results.

    24 min
  3. -1 J

    Transforming Care with Integrated Diagnostics and AI with Dr. Shez Partovi, Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer at Philips

    What if doctors could see all patient data in one place while AI handled the busywork? In this episode, Dr. Shez Partovi talks about the urgent need for integrated diagnostics in healthcare. He explains how fragmented imaging systems create inefficiencies and cognitive overload for clinicians, and how a unified platform can deliver a holistic view of the patient journey. He also explores how AI can automate administrative tasks, reduce burnout, and augment clinical decision-making while keeping humans in the loop. Tune in to learn how AI and integrated diagnostics are reshaping the future of care delivery and clinician experience. About Dr. Shez Partovi: Dr. Shez Partovi is a physician-turned-entrepreneur and Fortune 500 healthcare executive who has built his career at the intersection of clinical care, technology, and business transformation. A five-time founder with multiple successful exits, he has consistently focused on scaling impact—from caring for individual patients to leading large, global healthcare operations. He currently leads a $1.5 billion global healthcare business spanning the United States, China, Europe, and Latin America. Prior to this, he led and rapidly scaled Amazon Web Services’ healthcare and life sciences division to multi-billion-dollar growth, helping organizations harness cloud and emerging technologies to drive meaningful outcomes. Partovi brings deep expertise in healthcare delivery, enterprise software, and end-to-end P&L leadership, along with a unique combination of clinical training as a board-certified physician and technical depth in computer science and AI. Known for translating complex technologies into measurable business value, he has built and led high-performing teams across environments ranging from early-stage startups to global enterprises. At the core of his work is a consistent mission: to improve healthcare access and outcomes for more people at scale. Things You’ll Learn: Healthcare data remains siloed across multiple systems. Integrated diagnostics provides a single, unified view of all patient data. AI reduces cognitive load and administrative burden, including “pajama time.” Clinician burnout is a primary driver of AI adoption in healthcare. Innovation must be patient-clinician backward, not technology-forward. Responsible AI depends on representative data and effective bias mitigation. Human oversight remains essential in current AI applications. Resources: Connect with and follow Dr. Shez Partovi on LinkedIn. Follow Philips on LinkedIn and visit their website.

    8 min
  4. -2 J

    Empowering Community Health Workers with Technology with Colby Takeda, Co-Founder and CEO of Pear Suite

    What happens when some of healthcare’s most trusted workers are still operating outside the systems that document, reimburse, and scale care? In this episode, Colby Takeda, Co-Founder & CEO of Pear Suite, joins Saul Marquez live at ViVE to explore why community health workers are becoming a more essential part of the healthcare ecosystem. Drawing from his background in senior living and public health, Colby explains how Pear Suite helps community-based providers move beyond paper and spreadsheets with tools to document care, navigate credentialing and contracting, submit claims, and get paid for the value they deliver. The conversation also looks at Pear Suite’s broader vision for connecting community-based organizations, health plans, and providers in a more coordinated system of care. Colby shares why AI should reduce administrative burden instead of replacing trusted relationships, how co-design with frontline workers has shaped the platform, and where he sees the biggest opportunity to make community-based care more sustainable and accessible at scale. Tune in to hear how community health workers are becoming more essential to the healthcare ecosystem, and how better infrastructure and smarter technology can make community-based care more sustainable and scalable. About the Guest: Colby Takeda is Co-Founder & CEO of Pear Suite. With a background in public health, senior living, and community-based care, he founded the company to help community health workers and community-based organizations better navigate the operational side of delivering meaningful support. Under his leadership, Pear Suite has built a tech-enabled model that combines workflow tools, reimbursement support, credentialing, contracting, and claims infrastructure to help community-based providers work more effectively with health plans and the broader healthcare system. Things You’ll Learn: Why community health workers are becoming more central to modern, whole-person care models. How Pear Suite helps community-based providers document care, manage compliance, and get reimbursed for their work. Why policy shifts and Medicaid reimbursement are creating new momentum for community-based care. How AI can support community health workers by reducing administrative burden without replacing trust-based relationships. Why connecting health plans, providers, and community organizations is key to making community-based care sustainable at scale. Resources: Connect with Colby Takeda on LinkedIn Learn more about Pear Suite Explore Pear Suite for Providers Follow Pear Suite on LinkedIn

    16 min
  5. -2 J

    Building a Connected Healthcare Ecosystem with Therasa Bell, President and Co-Founder of Kno2

    What happens when interoperability stops being a buzzword and starts becoming real infrastructure? In this episode, Therasa Bell, President & Co-Founder of Kno2, joins Saul Marquez at ViVE to unpack why healthcare communication remains one of the industry’s hardest unsolved problems. Drawing on experience across provider, payer, and technology settings, Therasa explains why connecting the full continuum of care, especially post-acute, behavioral health, EMS, dental, vision, and home-based care, is far more complex than most people realize. She shares how Kno2 is building a communication infrastructure that lets organizations connect once and communicate everywhere, without forcing a massive overhaul of existing technology stacks. Tune in to hear how policy, infrastructure, and ethical governance are converging to bring more of healthcare online in a secure, practical, and meaningful way. About the Guest: Therasa Bell is President & Co-Founder of Kno2. A software engineer by trade, she has spent her career working across multiple healthcare settings, including provider, payer, and health IT environments. That cross-functional perspective led her to focus on one of healthcare’s most persistent challenges: breaking down barriers to communication across the continuum of care. At Kno2, she has helped build infrastructure that supports secure, scalable information exchange across providers, payers, technology vendors, and historically overlooked care settings. Things You’ll Learn: Why healthcare interoperability is far more complex than common comparisons to banking or ATM networks suggest. How Kno2’s communication infrastructure helps technology vendors connect once and communicate across the healthcare ecosystem. Why post-acute care, behavioral health, dental, vision, EMS, and other overlooked settings are critical to a truly connected continuum. Why trust in modern data exchange depends on governance, ethics, and responsible network behavior, not just baseline compliance. How federal initiatives, CMS-aligned efforts, and market pressure could accelerate national exchange participation over the next 12 to 24 months. Resources: Connect with Therasa Bell on LinkedIn Learn more about Kno2 Explore the Kno2 Communication API Follow Kno2 on LinkedIn

    19 min
  6. -4 J

    Scaling Responsible AI in Healthcare with Ajoy Ranga, Chief Digital Officer of Healthcare at UST, and Ashok Chennuru, Chief Data & Digital AI Transformation Officer at Elevance Health/Carelon

    What if the real power of AI in healthcare isn’t the technology itself, but how we apply it responsibly and intentionally? In this episode, Ajoy Ranga, Chief Digital Officer of Healthcare at UST Global, and Ashok Chennuru, Chief Data & Digital AI Transformation Officer at the Digital Platforms and Artificial Intelligence Office at Elevance Health/Carelon, discuss how their partnership between UST and Elevance Health is leveraging AI, data, and digital transformation to improve healthcare outcomes and consumer experience. They emphasize that scaling AI responsibly requires strong governance, human oversight, and a clear stance against using AI to deny care. Both highlight that high-quality, actionable data is foundational, but must be practical, cost-effective, and usable even when imperfect. Ultimately, they stress that success in healthcare innovation comes from starting with user experience, rapidly prototyping solutions, and fostering a mindset of continuous learning and experimentation. Tune in to hear how Elevance Health and UST are balancing innovation with responsibility to unlock AI’s true potential in healthcare.  About Ajoy Ranga: Ajoy Ranga is the Chief Digital Officer of Healthcare at UST. Ajoy Ranga is a distinguished technology executive with over 20 years of experience driving digital transformation in healthcare. As former Vice President of Product Engineering at Elevance Health, he led the strategy and delivery of all external-facing digital channels, impacting millions of members and partners. Ajoy is known for pioneering industry-first innovations—including AI-powered tools, conversational interfaces, and cloud-native platforms—that improved member engagement and operational efficiency. With deep expertise in product-centric engineering, mobile-first design, and scalable architectures, he has built and led high-performing global teams while advancing enterprise agility, AI adoption, and cloud modernization. About Ashok Chennuru: Ashok Chennuru is the Chief Data & Digital AI Transformation Officer at the Digital Platforms and Artificial Intelligence Office at Elevance Health/Carelon. In his role, is responsible for driving healthcare innovation through the transformative power of data and AI across the organization. In recent years, Ashok has led transformational efforts to revolutionize the business, develop foundational AI platforms, enhance operations, drive exceptional experiences, and develop an AI-enabled workforce. Ashok also spearheads much of Elevance Health’s clinical and payer-provider integration efforts, including Health OS - an interoperability platform that connects provider, payer, and member data - as well as value-based platforms, population health management, and provider analytics.  Things You’ll Learn: Responsible AI must be governed, monitored, and continuously evaluated. AI should augment care decisions, not restrict access to care. Actionable, integrated data matters more than perfectly clean data. Experience-first design leads to faster alignment and better outcomes. Lifelong learning and experimentation are essential for success in modern healthcare technology. Resources: Connect with and follow Ajoy Ranga on LinkedIn. Follow UST Global on LinkedIn and visit their website. Connect with and follow Ashok Chennuru on LinkedIn. Follow Elevance Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

    20 min
  7. How Optura Is Helping Healthcare Organizations Actually Transform

    -5 J

    How Optura Is Helping Healthcare Organizations Actually Transform

    In this episode, host Sandy Vance and Andy Fanning, the CEO & Co-founder of Optura.ai, sit down to talk about why so many healthcare organizations are making AI headlines without actually transforming anything. Andy breaks down how Optura helps payers, providers, and life sciences companies move from a scattered list of AI ideas to a prioritized, production-ready roadmap with measurable return on investment. From crowdsourcing use cases across an entire organization to aligning AI investments with executive strategy, this episode is packed with practical insight for any healthcare leader who wants AI to actually move the needle. In this episode, they talk about: Most healthcare leaders feel they are not moving fast enough with AI, despite the headlines Shadow AI is just an unmet need, and governance is the answer Crowdsourcing AI ideas from the bottom up reveals hotspots that leadership often cannot see Aligning AI use cases to existing strategic initiatives makes adoption dramatically easier Point solutions do not share context, and that missing context is where the real value lives Return on AI investment requires defining what value actually means for your specific organization Agentic AI is the next big wave, and organizations need to decide where they sit on the risk spectrum Trust at the frontline is built by showing workers how AI follows their own standard operating procedures If finance cannot see the ROI, they will conclude that AI does not work A little about Andy: Andy is the Co-Founder and CEO of Optura.ai, where he's on a mission to help healthcare organizations stop dabbling in AI and start seeing real returns from it. His team built an AI Orchestration Platform designed from the ground up for healthcare, giving organizations the infrastructure, trust, and clarity to turn AI ambition into measurable ROI. The platform does it all in one place: spotting high-value AI opportunities, building and deploying custom agents, unlocking data without the ETL headache, auto-generating workflows from existing SOPs, and tracking return on AI investment in real time. No black boxes, no guesswork. Just AI that actually proves its worth.

    24 min
  8. 19 MARS

    Rethinking Virtual Care and AI with Tammy Cress, SVP of Clinical Solutions and Innovation at Teladoc Health

    Virtual care is no longer just about access. It is now becoming the infrastructure layer that helps health systems reduce fragmentation, strengthen workplace safety, and scale digital care more intelligently. In this episode, Tammy Cress, Senior Vice President of Clinical Solutions and Innovation at Teladoc Health, discusses how health systems can move beyond fragmented telehealth strategies and start building more sustainable, integrated models of digital care. She explains how Teladoc is layering responsible AI onto its virtual care infrastructure through its Clarity solution, which helps sense, synthesize, and route the right information to the right care team member at the right time. Tammy also shares why workplace safety is one of the most urgent and practical use cases for these tools, how fragmented digital investments continue to drain staff and budgets, and why strategy, governance, and thoughtful alignment matter more than ever as organizations move from pilots to scalable transformation. Tune in and learn how health systems can rethink virtual care and AI adoption in ways that are more proactive, sustainable, and grounded in what truly matters.  About Tammy Cress: Tammy Cress, RN, MSN, is Senior Vice President of Clinical Solutions and Innovation at Teladoc Health, where she leads the development of healthcare solutions designed to meet real market needs and support growth across complex care environments. A nurse by training and a military veteran, Tammy brings deep experience in telehealth strategy, operations, and innovation. Before her current role, she held multiple leadership positions at Teladoc, Providence Health & Services, and Swedish, where she helped design, scale, and operationalize telehealth programs across multi-state health systems. Her background spans clinical operations, business operations, governance, product strategy, and service delivery, with a consistent focus on aligning technology investments to patient needs, frontline realities, and long-term organizational success. Things You’ll Learn: Fragmented telehealth investments can create unnecessary strain for care teams, even when individual tools appear to deliver good results. Responsible AI can help reduce bedside cognitive burden by sensing what is happening in care environments and sending the right alerts to the right people. Workplace safety is a major healthcare challenge, and smarter room-based technology can help organizations become more proactive instead of reactive. AI and virtual care programs are more likely to scale when leadership aligns governance structures instead of treating digital tools as separate initiatives. Health systems need a clear strategy, stronger alignment, and a fresh look at prior investments if they want to move from pilots to sustainable transformation. Resources: Connect with Tammy Cress on LinkedIn. Follow Teladoc Health on LinkedIn and visit their website.

    17 min

À propos

The Beat, powered by HLTH, is a weekly interview series dedicated to paving a better path forward for the future of health. Each week a variety of hosts bring you authentic conversations with prominent thought leaders. Through these interviews with people at the forefront of change in healthcare, we hope to spark new ideas and encourage new collaborations among listeners.