Care Shift

vik.bilakanti
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Daily

Care Shift, hosted by Sathvik Bilakanti, takes you inside the real world of healthtech innovation, venture capital, and company-building. Each episode features unfiltered conversations with the founders and investors shaping the future of care—breaking down how they raised capital, found product-market fit, navigated failure, and built companies that endure. Listeners learn exactly what top VCs are looking for in healthtech startups, along with tactical, step-by-step insight that early builders can immediately apply. The Care Shift also opens the doors to the venture ecosystem itself, with lea

  1. 1d ago

    Jimini Health CEO on Selling AI to Health Systems, Medicaid, and the Clinician Trust Problem

    Luis Voloch, CEO of Jimini Health and co-founder of Immune.ai, joins Care Shift to talk about why he traded oncology AI for behavioral health, and why he believes clinicians, not chatbots, are the key to doing AI in mental health right. We cover the ChatGPT suicidal ideation numbers that shaped Jimini's thesis, why Sage was built as an extension of the clinician rather than a replacement, and how that choice became the company's biggest moat. Luis also breaks down selling AI into large health systems, pricing a product with no existing benchmarks, and how Medicaid and underserved populations fit into Jimini's long-term roadmap. We also get into the radiology analogy for why AI might make clinicians more in-demand rather than less, what happened to the wave of mental health chatbots that disappeared over the last two years, and where Luis sees behavioral health heading over the next 6 to 12 months. Timestamps:0:00 Intro0:15 Why Luis pivoted from oncology AI to behavioral health1:16 Why language is both the therapy and the diagnosis in mental health2:19 Responding to the "it's all vibes" critique3:28 What happens to patients between therapy sessions4:26 How clinicians and patients are responding to Sage5:30 Differentiating from Spring Health, Headspace, and other players7:14 The ChatGPT suicidal ideation numbers8:51 What Sage is and how Jimini sells it9:30 The administrative burden problem10:19 Why clinicians are the moat, not the cost center11:11 What happens when AI in behavioral health goes wrong12:04 Where FDA regulation stands13:23 Going from CTO at Immune.ai to CEO at Jimini14:28 Teaching at Stanford and common AI health founder mistakes16:02 Technologist vs. clinician as founder17:41 Moving upmarket to large behavioral health organizations18:46 Pricing AI with no existing benchmarks20:34 The FDA's Tempo and ACCESS programs22:26 Where AI has (and hasn't) moved the needle23:23 How Jiminy uses AI internally to build faster25:02 Retention and outcomes data26:35 Building a team from Immune.ai, Cedar, and Palantir28:46 Where behavioral health is headed in 6-12 months30:45 Does AI take clinicians' jobs? The radiology analogy32:15 Common misconceptions about behavioral health33:14 The two-tiered access problem in behavioral health34:09 Consolidation risk and Jimini's defensibility35:35 Medicaid, underserved patients, and reimbursement37:13 What happened to the wave of mental health chatbots38:28 Will one company dominate behavioral health AI? More on Jimini Health & Luis Voloch Luis's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisvoloch/ Jimini Health Website: https://jiminihealth.com/ Jimini Health LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jiminihealth/ More about Vik & Care Shift Vik's LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169/ Vik on X: https://x.com/vikbilakanti1 Care Shift LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/110446420/admin/dashboard/ Care Shift Website: https://careshift.vc/

    Jimini Health CEO on Selling AI to Health Systems, Medicaid, and the Clinician Trust Problem

  2. Aug 26

    Why 60% of People With a Mental Health Diagnosis Never Get Treated: NeuroFlow's CEO Explains

    Chris Molaro left the Army after leading a platoon in combat to build NeuroFlow, a behavioral health infrastructure company now working with the VA, national health plans, and health systems across the country. We talk about the 60% of people with a mental health diagnosis who never get treated, how AI helps flag suicide risk before it's too late, and the eighteen months NeuroFlow spent stuck behind a legal barrier before finding a way through. Chris also shares the story of a father NeuroFlow's system helped get into an appointment within 24 hours after he'd been told he'd have to wait over a month. Chapters:00:00 Intro00:30 Lessons from West Point and leading soldiers in combat03:21 Why NeuroFlow built infrastructure instead of another therapy app05:52 Finding the patients who fall through the gaps07:58 Winning trust with the first provider groups11:45 How NeuroFlow flags suicide risk with AI and LLMs17:50 The 18-month legal barrier, and how response services solved it20:10 Selling into the VA, national payers, and health systems22:58 What a Blue Cross study revealed about cost and outcomes30:25 Build versus buy: the VA, Quartet, and Owl Health acquisitions40:48 The morning NeuroFlow's algorithm helped save a father's life43:03 The next five to ten years for NeuroFlow47:24 Rapid fire About 8 to 9% of NeuroFlow's team are military veterans, and several of the company's investors are too. More about NeuroFlow & Chris Molaro NeuroFlow Website: https://www.neuroflow.com/ NeuroFlow's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismolaro/ Chris Molaro's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chrismolaro/ More about Vik & Care Shift Vik's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169/ Care Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-shift/?viewAsMember=trueCare Shift Website: https://careshift.vc/ Care Shift on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6JghxsuNbQ7hWIHuLjaoJz?si=9b761459412846ddCare Shift on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/care-shift/id1858302821

    Why 60% of People With a Mental Health Diagnosis Never Get Treated: NeuroFlow's CEO Explains

  3. Aug 19

    Lantern Lost Half Its Clients. John Zutter Turned It Into a 12M-Member Company

    John Zutter took over as CEO of Lantern in December 2016 — right after the company lost 50% of its clients in six months. Today, Lantern is one of the largest specialty care platforms in the country, serving 12 million people across 500+ facilities, with a surgical complication rate under 1% (vs. a national average of 8-15%). In this episode, we go deep on how Lantern rebuilt trust with employers, why the "fly patients to a name-brand hospital" model failed, the five-part heuristic Lantern uses to decide which conditions to tackle next, why they chose to open-source their savings methodology, and where AI actually moves the needle in specialty care versus where it doesn't. John spent his early career in investment banking and growth equity before joining Lantern in 2016 with no healthcare background — and turned around a business now backed by a $30M round led by Morgan Health (JPMorgan Chase) and Echo Health Ventures. In this episode: Why Lantern lost half its clients before John took over — and what was actually brokenThe "Centers of Excellence" model that looked good on paper but failed in practiceHow Lantern scaled a two-sided provider network market by marketThe real reason their complication rate is under 1%How Lantern decides which new categories to enter (surgery → cancer → infusions)Why they open-sourced their savings and bundling methodology — and why competitors haven't followedWhat CEOs, CFOs, and benefits leaders each actually want from a healthcare vendorWhere AI will — and won't — change specialty careHis non-consensus take on GLP-1sTimestamps:00:00 – Intro01:11 – Coming into healthcare with no healthcare background03:59 – Taking over Lantern after losing half its clients05:58 – Why the "Centers of Excellence" model failed08:06 – Scaling a two-sided provider network12:11 – Advice for early-stage founders on network-based models14:54 – How Lantern gets complication rates under 1%17:07 – Addressing the "cherry-picking healthy patients" critique20:12 – Why cancer, surgery, and infusions eat 50%+ of health spend23:12 – Expanding from surgery into cancer care26:22 – Partnerships vs. building in-house (Access Hope, Hinge Health)28:20 – Expanding into infusion therapy30:18 – When platform consolidation helps buyers — and when it doesn't35:25 – Why Lantern open-sourced its savings methodology39:45 – Where AI fits into the next 5 years of specialty care44:55 – Shifting from procedural to therapeutic care (GLP-1s, cell/gene therapy)46:38 – Working with health plans vs. employers directly49:12 – A non-consensus bet on GLP-1s50:09 – Rapid fire More about John Zutter & Lantern John's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-zutter-687000a/ Lantern's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lantern-specialty-care/ Lantern's Website: https://lanterncare.com/ More about Vik & Care Shift Vik's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169/ Care Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-shift/?viewAsMember=true Care Shift Website: https://careshift.vc/

    Lantern Lost Half Its Clients. John Zutter Turned It Into a 12M-Member Company

  4. Aug 12

    CodaMetrix Co-Founder: The Unfair Advantage of Building Inside Mass General Brigham

    Kevin Schmidt is the co-founder and Chief Solutions Officer of CodaMetrix, the autonomous medical coding platform born inside Mass General Brigham and now live in more than 30 health systems, including Mayo Clinic. Kevin breaks down why building inside a hospital was an unfair advantage and what it cost them in speed, how autonomous coding differs from AI copilots, why a 70% drop in claim denials comes down to consistency rather than intelligence, and the uncomfortable finding behind it: two expert coders agree on the same case only 70 to 80% of the time, and the same coder agrees with themselves only 80 to 85% of the time. Also covered: Epic moving into revenue cycle AI, why implementation is the hardest scaling problem in health tech, why the CFO is the easy sell and the coding manager is not, and where full automation is genuinely ready today. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:11 Born inside a hospital: the CodaMetrix origin story 07:34 Why autonomous coding instead of assisted 11:21 Could you build this today from outside a health system? 13:57 Winning customers beyond Mass General Brigham 17:15 The timeline: 2005 platform, 2014 machine learning, 2019 spinout 18:33 Why medical coding complexity is a moat 22:48 Implementation timelines and meeting customers where they are 24:27 What happens after the CFO signs 26:37 Living inside Epic workflows 30:03 The 70% reduction in claim denials 35:08 Surgical coding, quality rubrics, and inter-rater reliability 39:46 Epic moving deeper into revenue cycle 41:54 The hardest stakeholder to convince 45:24 Why general purpose AI struggles in RCM 47:00 Where full automation is ready, and where it is not 48:31 CDI: the one thing he would automate next 50:16 Selling to top academic medical centers 51:52 Risk adjustment, quality measures, and pop health 53:06 The non-consensus take on coding quality 54:43 Product to engineering to Chief Solutions Officer 58:08 Rapid fire 1:03:07 Closing More about Codametrix & Kevin SchmittKevin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-schmitt-45497961/Codametrix Website: https://www.codametrix.com/Codametrix LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/codametrix/More about Vik & Care ShiftVik's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169/Care Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-shift/?viewAsMember=trueCare Shift Website: https://careshift.vc/

    CodaMetrix Co-Founder: The Unfair Advantage of Building Inside Mass General Brigham

  5. Aug 5

    Commure CEO Tanay Tandon on AI, RCM, and Scaling to $7B

    Tanay Tandon started Commure at 18 out of his Stanford dorm room, building FDA-cleared blood diagnostics before pivoting into revenue cycle management and ambient documentation. Today Commure is valued at $7B, processes tens of billions in claims annually, and automates 85%+ of billing workflows. In this episode, Tanay breaks down the Athelas-Commure merger, why he thinks point solutions are dead, how Commure partners with (and competes against) Epic, the Rockefeller-inspired financing playbook behind their $70M raise, and where AI actually falls short in healthcare today. Timestamps:00:00 – Introduction00:09 – Why Tanay started in healthcare at Stanford02:12 – Choosing the hardest path: FDA-regulated blood diagnostics03:42 – Earning trust as a young founder (YC, Sequoia, General Catalyst)06:14 – The pivot from diagnostics to revenue cycle management08:00 – Recruiting engineers into an "unsexy" market09:23 – Biggest lessons from the Athelas era10:44 – The Athelas-Commure merger and shared GC ties12:11 – What broke first post-merger (and how they fixed it)14:05 – The GPT moment and its effect on strategy15:39 – Educating health systems on AI in 2023 vs. today17:24 – Why workflow integration matters more than the model18:43 – Going horizontal vs. point solutions19:32 – Building ROI-based trust with health system CFOs20:53 – Forward-deployed engineering at Commure21:29 – Is 100% autonomy the goal?23:32 – Achieving 85%+ automation with zero humans in the loop24:54 – Why point solutions will be dead in 3-4 years26:05 – Where AI still falls short in healthcare27:06 – M&A strategy: distribution over product29:22 – Why voice agents became Commure's fastest-growing line30:36 – The plan to buy a bankrupt hospital31:32 – Raising $70M they didn't need32:29 – The Rockefeller/Standard Oil financing playbook34:33 – IPO timeline and staying private vs. public36:29 – Winning HCA and Tenet38:06 – Partnering with Epic instead of fighting it39:31 – Why health systems won't put all their eggs in one EMR basket40:56 – Token costs vs. labor costs43:04 – How Commure manages token budgets internally44:22 – What frontier models get right (and wrong) in healthcare45:30 – Do scaling laws still hold?46:20 – Is Commure loyal to one AI lab?47:49 – The case for and against training your own models48:35 – How Commure handles data privacy with frontier labs49:46 – Rapid fire: best habit, favorite historical figures50:57 – Rapid fire: the most contrarian startup belief51:35 – Prediction for healthcare over the next 5-10 years52:12 – The trend Tanay is betting against53:39 – Best advice he didn't take More about Tanay Tandon & Commure Tanay's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanaytandon/ Tanay's X: https://x.com/tanay_tandon Commure Website: https://www.commure.com/ Commure LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/64700064/?skipRedirect=true More about Vik & Care Shift Sathvik's LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169/ Sathvik's X:https://x.com/vikbilakanti1 Care Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/110446420/?skipRedirect=true Care Shift Website:https://careshift.vc/ Vaelion Ventures Website: https://www.vaelion.vc/

    Commure CEO Tanay Tandon on AI, RCM, and Scaling to $7B

  6. Jul 22

    How Carrot Beats the National IVF Birth Rate by 24% | Dr. Asima Ahmad

    Most founders think fertility benefits mean IVF coverage. Asima Ahmad built a company that proves otherwise. In this episode, I talk with Dr. Asima Ahmad, co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Carrot Fertility. She's a practicing reproductive endocrinologist who built Carrot into a global platform operating in over 200 countries, and she still sees patients every week. That combination is rare, and it shows in how she thinks. We talk about what was actually broken in fertility care when she started, how Carrot decided what to build versus partner on, and how they proved their outcomes when nobody trusted a young startup's numbers. She explains why they brought in Milliman to validate their data externally, which is a lesson every early-stage healthcare founder should steal. Some of what we cover: Why 1 in 6 people globally deal with infertility and why the market ignored it for so long How Carrot hit a 54.4% IVF live birth rate, about 24% above the national average Why around 30% of their members never end up needing IVF How they use AI in care navigation without taking clinicians out of the loop Selling to employers versus health plans and going modular when the full platform is too big a first bite Going global from day one and navigating fertility law across hundreds of markets If you're building in healthcare, this is a masterclass in earning trust with real outcomes data. Timestamps 00:22 The Shift in Fertility Awareness 03:41 Expanding Beyond Fertility: A Holistic Approach 06:47 Barriers in Fertility Care 09:25 Misconceptions in Fertility Treatment 12:06 Innovative Programs: Sprints and Holistic Health 15:10 Accessing Continuous Care 17:42 The Role of Clinicians in Patient Support 20:19 Data-Driven Outcomes in Fertility Care 23:20 The Importance of a Holistic Approach 25:57 Building vs. Partnering in Healthcare Solutions 28:44 Navigating Lifelong Hormonal Health 31:26 Continuity of Care Across Life Stages 35:49 Global Challenges in Fertility Care 38:06 Navigating Fertility Laws and Regulations 40:09 Market Responses to Fertility Solutions 41:46 Tailoring Solutions for Health Plans 43:14 The Role of AI in Fertility Care 45:37 Bridging Gaps in Inclusive Fertility Access 48:53 Addressing Barriers in Fertility Care 49:55 Emotional Support in Fertility Journeys 52:36 Building Trust with Members 53:59 Responsible Hormone Therapy Practices 58:04 Understanding Fertility Workups 59:20 Innovations in Fertility Solutions 01:02:08 Effective Fertility Benefits Rollout Follow Sathvik on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169 Follow Vaelion Ventures on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vaelionventures/?viewAsMember=true Follow Care Shift on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-shift/?viewAsMember=true Vaelion Ventures Website: https://www.vaelion.vc/ Follow Asima on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asima-ahmad-md/ Follow Asima on X: https://x.com/AsimaAhmadMD Follow Asima on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doctor_asima/?hl=en Follow Carrot on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/carrot-fertility/ Carrot's Website: https://www.get-carrot.com/

    How Carrot Beats the National IVF Birth Rate by 24% | Dr. Asima Ahmad

  7. Jul 15

    "70% of Healthcare Will Be Virtual by 2031" — Wheel CEO Michelle Davey on the Rewiring of Healthcare

    What if the hardest problem in virtual care isn't the technology — it's building a clinician network that can legally practice across all 50 states? In this episode of Care Shift, I sit down with Michelle Davey, co-founder and CEO of Wheel — the white-label infrastructure platform quietly powering telehealth for some of the biggest brands in healthcare, including three of the top five largest retailers in the world. Michelle took a contrarian bet in 2018: instead of building a consumer telehealth brand, she built the invisible infrastructure layer behind it. Today, Wheel matches patients and clinicians in under one second, supports 100+ care conditions, and has delivered care to over 8 million patients. We get into: ▸ Why Wheel bet on infrastructure when telehealth was only 6% of urgent care visits ▸ The "no waiting room" philosophy and sub-second patient-clinician matching ▸ How Wheel's routing tech works like air traffic control across 50 states ▸ GLP-1s, peptides, and the gray market problem in longevity care▸ What everyone gets wrong about clinician quality and flexibility in virtual care ▸ How Wheel landed Amazon and what it takes to sell into massive enterprises ▸ Why 70% of healthcare will be delivered virtually in the next 5 years ▸ Agentifying 70% of internal operations by end of year ▸ Managing founder pressure while raising two kids Timestamps 00:15 Building a Nationwide Clinician Network 00:15 Introduction to Wheel and Telehealth Innovations 00:15 The Evolution of Virtual Care Platforms 00:40 Navigating State Regulatory Challenges 00:40 The Evolution of Wheel: From Infrastructure to Telehealth Leader 03:22 Building Trust in Telehealth: The White-Label Approach 05:54 Strategic Partnerships: Navigating the Digital Health Landscape 08:49 The Wheel Provider Network: Ensuring Quality and Accessibility 11:25 Adapting to Market Needs: Understanding Patient Demographics 14:06 The Future of Virtual Care: Trends and Innovations 16:52 Balancing Flexibility and Quality in Telehealth 19:42 Retention Strategies: Keeping Clinicians Engaged 22:25 Navigating Tensions: Partner Needs vs. Clinician Care 25:15 Scaling for Enterprises: Shifting Mindsets and Operations 28:01 AI in Healthcare: Optimizing Operations and Patient Care 30:21 Partnerships with Giants: The Amazon Clinic Experience 33:07 The Future of Outpatient Care: A Shift in Healthcare Delivery 36:00 Managing Pressure as a Founder: Balancing Work and Life 38:33 Rapid Fire Insights: Key Takeaways from Michelle Davey Follow Sathvik on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169 Follow Vaelion Ventures on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vaelionventures/?viewAsMember=true Follow Care Shift on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-shift/?viewAsMember=true Vaelion Ventures Website: https://www.vaelion.vc/Follow Michelle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveymichelle/ Follow Michelle on X: https://x.com/MLDavey Follow Wheel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wheel-health/ Wheel Website: https://www.wheel.com/

    "70% of Healthcare Will Be Virtual by 2031" — Wheel CEO Michelle Davey on the Rewiring of Healthcare

  8. Jul 8

    K Health CEO on Why Frontier Labs Can't Fix Healthcare Alone

    Allon Bloch co-founded Wix. Then his father's stroke exposed how impersonal and data-starved medicine really is, so he built K Health, the AI clinical platform now trusted by Mayo Clinic, Cedars Sinai, Hartford HealthCare, and Hackensack Meridian. In this episode, Allon doesn't hold back. He calls "AI doctor in your pocket" startups' press releases without products, says patient fear of AI is "a made-up story," and explains why his only real competition is inertia. We get into what it actually takes to earn the trust of America's biggest health systems, and why the next 5 years will make today's healthcare look like the horse and buggy. What we cover: Why "AI doctors" are everywhere in headlines but nowhere in health systems, and what a real integrated clinical AI looks like across triage, diagnosis, treatment, records, insurance, and referrals The multi-year playbook for winning over Mayo Clinic and Cedars-Sinai: peer-reviewed studies, millions of real patient encounters, and why the proof is in the pudding with physicians Can OpenAI, Google, or Anthropic just build this themselves? Allon's surprisingly honest answer on Frontier Labs entering healthcare Fixing the access crisis: how AI lets patients see a doctor in hours instead of weeks without cutting corners on quality Plus: the most overhyped trend in healthcare AI, whether primary care exists in 20 years, and the founder's advice Allon wishes he'd listened to. Timestamps: 00:44 K-Health's Funding Journey 00:45 Innovations in Healthcare Technology 03:36 AI as a Solution for Healthcare Challenges 06:30 K Health's Unique Position in the Market 09:03 The Importance of Preventative Care 11:31 Addressing Access Gaps in Healthcare 14:24 Building Trust with Healthcare Partners 16:59 Navigating B2B and B2C Strategies 19:25 Engaging Patients Effectively 20:19 Engagement Through Personalization 21:06 The Journey into Healthcare 21:53 Beyond Symptom Checkers: A New Approach 23:50 AI in Healthcare: Patient Perspectives 26:57 Building Trust in AI 29:19 Integration and Collaboration in Healthcare 31:30 Metrics of Success in Healthcare AI 32:29 The Future of Primary Care 33:36 Rapid Fire Insights Follow Sathvik on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169 Follow Vaelion Ventures on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vaelionventures/?viewAsMember=true Follow Care Shift on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-shift/?viewAsMember=true Vaelion Ventures Website: https://www.vaelion.vc/ Follow Allon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allon-bloch-70b1223/ Follow K Health on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/khealthinc/ K Health Website: https://khealth.com/

    K Health CEO on Why Frontier Labs Can't Fix Healthcare Alone
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About

Care Shift, hosted by Sathvik Bilakanti, takes you inside the real world of healthtech innovation, venture capital, and company-building. Each episode features unfiltered conversations with the founders and investors shaping the future of care—breaking down how they raised capital, found product-market fit, navigated failure, and built companies that endure. Listeners learn exactly what top VCs are looking for in healthtech startups, along with tactical, step-by-step insight that early builders can immediately apply. The Care Shift also opens the doors to the venture ecosystem itself, with lea

Information

  • Creator
    vik.bilakanti
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    34
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © vik.bilakanti
  • Show Website
    Care Shift

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