Health Tech Bites

shelbybarker
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  • TECH NEWS
  • UPDATED DAILY

Health Tech Bites is the daily show for anyone working in healthcare who has ever thought, “Surely this can’t be real,” and then checked their inbox and realized… it absolutely is. Each episode breaks down the biggest moves in health tech — without pretending the healthcare system isn’t held together by duct tape, acronyms, and sheer delusion. Fast, funny, and just accurate enough to make you sound a little smarter today. 

  1. 2D AGO

    HTB:: My Personal Review of OpenClaw

    Headline 1: My Experience with Earl 2 Shelby returns after experimenting with OpenClaw (formerly MoltBot), the viral open-source AI agent that autonomously executes tasks on your computer. Despite security researchers calling it a "disaster waiting to happen," he installed it to understand firsthand what autonomous AI actually feels like. His experience provides crucial context for understanding the AI disruption hitting healthcare. Headline 2: Congress Passes Landmark PBM Reform On February 3rd, Congress passed comprehensive PBM reform requiring 100% rebate pass-through to plan clients starting in 2028. The law also bans spread pricing in Medicare Part D and mandates massive transparency requirements. After decades of PBMs operating in a black box, the rebate retention business model is dead. Headline 3: HHS Scraps 340B Rebate Pilot The Department of Health and Human Services abandoned its controversial 340B rebate model after hospitals sued and won. The proposed pilot would have required providers to front full drug costs and wait for rebates—creating massive cash flow problems for safety-net hospitals. While hospitals are relieved, the fight over 340B isn't over.

    21 min

  2. JAN 28

    HTB:: When the Bottom Falls Out

    Headline 1: CMS 2027 Medicare Advantage Rate Shock Triggers $80B Market Wipeout—The Golden Era is Over CMS proposed just 0.09% rate increase for 2027 MA plans versus expected 4-6%, includes aggressive 1.53% cut from eliminating chart-review-only diagnoses, sending CVS, Elevance, and UnitedHealth stocks into freefall on January 27 and forcing health systems to rethink their entire MA strategy. Headline 2: Coalition for Secure AI Releases Security Framework for Model Context Protocol—AI's New Attack Surface Just Got Real Google, Amazon, Microsoft, OpenAI, and NVIDIA's security coalition released an MCP security taxonomy on January 27 as vulnerabilities multiply, MCP servers get exposed in production, and healthcare organizations realize they're deploying AI agents without the governance to contain them. Headline 3: Commure Raises $200M as Autonomous AI Delivers Real Revenue Cycle Results—The Pilot Era is Over While everyone's still talking about AI potential, Commure's autonomous coding is delivering 83% reduction in clinician time at scale across HCA Healthcare and Ob Hospitalist Group, with RCM customers seeing 20% revenue lift—proof that AI agents work when you actually deploy them right.

    25 min

  3. JAN 27

    HTB:: Cap'n Compliance Crunch

    EPISODE SUMMARY: Headline 1: Amazon Launches Health AI for One Medical—The Clinical AI Race Heats Up Amazon rolled out Health AI integrated directly into One Medical's app, letting patients access records, book appointments, and manage prescriptions through agentic AI—positioning itself against OpenAI and Anthropic in the race to own clinical AI interactions. Headline 2: CMS Finalizes HIPAA Security Rule—72 Hours to Restore or Report Healthcare organizations now have 72 hours to restore ePHI after a cyberattack or report it as a breach, plus new technical safeguards and encryption requirements—forcing health systems to either upgrade their disaster recovery or face mandatory breach reporting. Headline 3: PBM Reform Gets Bipartisan Momentum—The Rebate System Might Actually Change Congress is pushing bipartisan legislation to ban spread pricing, require rebate pass-through, and increase PBM transparency—reforms that could fundamentally reshape how drug pricing works in healthcare if they actually make it through.

    17 min

  4. JAN 26

    HTB:: The Easy Move is Done

    Headline 1: The Megadeal Era is Over—M&A Without a "Big Why" is Just Expensive Anxiety Healthcare megadeals collapsed by 60% in 2025, and M&A has shifted from growth strategy to rescue mission—if you can't explain the deal in one sentence, don't do it. Headline 2: Vizient's "New Margin Math"—Old Growth Levers Are Broken, AI is the Last Big Bet Hospitals are saving more lives but losing money doing it, and AI investment is projected to hit $100 billion by 2030—but only if you redesign workflows first, not just buy tools. Headline 3: CareFirst BCBS Sues CMS Over Medicare Advantage Star Ratings—$32 Million Hangs on One Data Point One member's medication adherence data correction dropped CareFirst from 4 stars to 3.5 stars, costing them $32 million in bonus payments and triggering a lawsuit that's part of a growing wave of payer litigation against CMS.

    17 min

  5. JAN 22

    HTB::Rx: Pressure Tests Everywhere

    Insurer CEOs grilled on affordability Major payers defend pricing and profits on Capitol Hill as lawmakers shift the blame narrative from providers to insurers, signaling margin pressure that will ripple downstream. OpenEvidence becomes a $12B company A physician-facing AI tool leaps from pilot to infrastructure, forcing health systems and payers to rethink workforce strategy, utilization management, and liability. Congress extends telehealth and hospital-at-home flexibilities Multi-year regulatory certainty unlocks real investment in virtual and acute-at-home models, while setting the stage for tighter audits and compliance scrutiny.

    19 min

  6. JAN 21

    HTB::Rx: One Algorithm, Take As Directed

    AI poised to legally prescribe medications in select U.S. states by end of 2026 (Multiple Sources) Why it matters: Utah's regulatory sandbox transitions AI from clinical assistant to clinical actor, forcing health systems to scenario-plan workforce strategy, governance frameworks, and competitive positioning before the commodity care automation wave arrives. Digital health IPO momentum builds as startups like Freenome, Ro, Maven Clinic, Virta Health emerge on 2026 IPO watchlists (Industry Reports) Why it matters: The 2026 IPO wave will separate digital health survivors from pretenders—audit your vendor relationships now, because financial fragility in your partners becomes operational risk in your organization. Healthcare data breaches show continued decline in 2025 volume, but sophistication rises (HHS OCR, Fortified Health Security) Why it matters: Fewer breaches but rising sophistication means your security strategy must shift from perimeter defense to continuous detection, third-party governance, and workforce resilience—because the next attack will be faster, smarter, and targeting your vendors, not just you.

    19 min

  7. JAN 20

    HTB:: AI Reads the Room

    AI can flag cognitive decline nearly on par with humans (Fierce Healthcare, Jan 15) Why it matters: AI's near-human accuracy in detecting cognitive decline from notes offers a scalable early-intervention tool, reshaping provider workflows and resource allocation for aging populations. Former AMA president: Without overhaul, U.S. health care system will implode (STAT News, Jan 19) Why it matters: Jesse Ehrenfeld (now at Aidoc) warns of systemic collapse absent major fixes, spotlighting AI as a partial lifeline—pushing leaders to accelerate AI governance and workforce retooling before margins and burnout hit critical. Bariatric surgery beats GLP-1s for type 2 diabetes across income levels, study says (STAT News, Jan 19) Why it matters: Head-to-head evidence favoring durable surgical outcomes over drugs challenges GLP-1 dominance—could shift payer/employer coverage policies toward procedures, impacting obesity chronic-care budgets and provider procedure volumes.

    19 min

  8. JAN 16

    HTB:: The Great Healthcare Plan

    Story 1: Trump releases “Great Healthcare Plan” framework Why it matters: Signals potential shifts in drug pricing, transparency, and subsidy flow. Story 2: Trinity Health cuts 10.5% of rev cycle roles Why it matters: Another sign RCM is being rebuilt around automation and standard work. Story 3: Prior auth reform hits first 2026 deadline Why it matters: Insurers’ pledge moves from press release to execution, and providers should track what actually changes.

    18 min
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About

Health Tech Bites is the daily show for anyone working in healthcare who has ever thought, “Surely this can’t be real,” and then checked their inbox and realized… it absolutely is. Each episode breaks down the biggest moves in health tech — without pretending the healthcare system isn’t held together by duct tape, acronyms, and sheer delusion. Fast, funny, and just accurate enough to make you sound a little smarter today. 

Information

  • Creator
    shelbybarker
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    30
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Health Tech Bites