Lifers with Christina Farr

Christina Farr

Veteran journalist, investor, and Second Opinion Media founder Chrissy Farr talks with the CEOs and founders who've been in the trenches long enough to know that healthcare doesn't move at startup speed. These aren't the entrepreneurs chasing quick exits—they're the "lifers" who understand that building in healthcare requires endless pivots, regulatory navigation, and decade-long timelines. No hype, just honest conversations about what it really takes. Each episode explores healthcare innovation, startup strategy, medical technology and AI, health system transformation, and investment insights from operators who've navigated regulatory challenges, clinical trials, reimbursement complexities, and the unique dynamics of the healthcare industry.

  1. 8h ago

    A hospital AI deal done in under two months | Dr. Ilya Burkov, Nebius & Thomas Knox, VitVio

    Dr. Ilya Burkov, Global Head of Scientific AI and Healthcare at Nebius, and Thomas Knox, Co-founder and CEO of VitVio, join Christina Farr to talk about why AI companies are crowding into healthcare and what it takes to actually get adopted. Thomas explains how VitVio’s ambient sensing in the operating room can hear a drill before it fails, and why he thinks decades of consolidation and early acquisitions have kept healthcare a step behind. Ilya makes the case that healthcare is AI’s best-case argument, not its scariest, and that what made AI scribes finally take off was the infrastructure underneath them. —Thanks to Nebius who facilitated this conversation. Nebius, the AI cloud company, is building the full-stack platform for developers and companies to take charge of their AI future — from data and model training to production deployment. Founded on deep in-house technological expertise and operating at scale with a rapidly expanding global footprint, Nebius serves startups and enterprises building AI products, agents, and services worldwide. Nebius is listed on Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NBIS) and headquartered in Amsterdam. —Lifers is brought to you by: Hippocratic AIHippocratic AI builds safety-focused voice AI agents that call the patients health systems don’t have the staff to reach, with more than 250 million patient interactions to date. Learn more at hippocraticai.com. Learn more at hippocraticai.com and watch the Lifers episode with Hippocratic AI CEO Munjal Shah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUACDfWRddM  —Join Christina for upcoming webinars:• 10/28 - Type 2 Diabetes & Cardiometabolic Care: Wearables, AI & GLP-1s https://streamyard.com/watch/uAuwCzUEJTCF • 11/3 - Is It Finally the Moment for Alternative Plan Design? https://streamyard.com/watch/ereM3aB58XK4  —LINKS: Nebius, Life Sciences & Healthcare: https://nebius.com/solutions/life-sciences-and-healthcare VitVio: https://www.vitvio.com Nebius AI Discovery Awards (VitVio placed 2nd in Digital Health): https://nebius.com/newsroom/nebius-celebrates-healthcare-and-life-sciences-innovators-at-expanded-ai-discovery-awards CommonSpirit on transitioning off Conifer’s revenue cycle services: https://www.commonspirit.org/news-articles/commonspirit-to-transition-conifer-revenue-cycle-services Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr Chrissy Farr on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/ Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books  —FOLLOW:Ilya:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyaburkov/ https://x.com/ilyaburkov  Thomas:https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-knox/  Chrissy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/ https://x.com/chrissyfarr  Second Opinion Media:https://www.instagram.com/second.opinion.media/ https://x.com/second_op_media —TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Lead in(01:03) Meet Dr. Ilya Burkov and Thomas Knox(02:27) AI momentum in hospitals(04:11) VitVio OR vision(05:50) Founder origin story(08:15) Capturing OR context(09:19) Safety guardrails for AI(11:03) Predictive OR automation(14:40) Prevention and biomarkers(16:47) Incentives shape AI(18:57) Efficiency and trust(25:27) Clinician-led adoption(33:29) Infrastructure enables scale(35:47) Hospital leverage and contracts(37:29) Consolidation vs competition(47:33) Committees and market noise(54:02) AI becomes invisible(55:38) Wrap

    A hospital AI deal done in under two months | Dr. Ilya Burkov, Nebius & Thomas Knox, VitVio
  2. Oct 13

    Surviving the digital therapeutics graveyard—and thriving | David Benshoof Klein, Click Therapeutics

    Christina Farr talks with David Benshoof Klein, Founder and CEO of Click Therapeutics, days after the FDA cleared Motivista, the first authorized treatment for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. They discuss why so many digital therapeutics companies failed, and why an FDA-authorized app still has to fight for the coverage a drug would get automatically. David also explains why he thinks AI tools, not pharma sales reps, may be what puts treatments like Motivista in front of doctors.—SPONSOR:Click Therapeutics builds medical-grade patient software across digital therapeutics, software-enhanced drugs, wellness & wearables, and AI-enabled interventions. Its platform offers a library of 100+ validated modules backed by rigorous clinical testing, bringing biotech rigor to any condition with a neurological or behavioral component.To learn more about Click: https://www.clicktherapeutics.com/ To learn more about Motivista: https://www.motivista.com/—Join Christina for upcoming webinars:10/13 - Verifying AI in Medicine: Is Healthcare AI Actually Ready for Deployment? https://streamyard.com/watch/GwsSXwdikhMw 10/28 - Type 2 Diabetes & Cardiometabolic Care: Wearables, AI & GLP-1s https://streamyard.com/watch/uAuwCzUEJTCF 11/3 - Is It Finally the Moment for Alternative Plan Design? https://streamyard.com/watch/ereM3aB58XK4 —LINKS:FDA clears Motivista (CT-155): https://www.clicktherapeutics.com/news/fda-clears-motivista-ct-155-the-first-therapeutic-indicated-for-the-treatment-of-the-negative-symptoms-of-schizophrenia CT-132, Click’s episodic migraine program: https://www.clicktherapeutics.com/products/ct-132 FDA draft guidance, Regulatory Considerations for Prescription Drug Use-Related Software (PDURS): https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/regulatory-considerations-prescript ion-drug-use-related-software Click acquires Better Therapeutics’ assets, 2024: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240522194752/en/Click-Therapeutics-Accelerates-Expansion-into-Obesity-and-Cardiometabolic-Disease-With-Acquisition-of-the-Assets-of-Better-Therapeutics-Inc  Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr Chrissy Farr on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/ Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books  —FOLLOW:David:https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbklein/ Chrissy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/ https://x.com/chrissyfarr Second Opinion Media:https://www.instagram.com/second.opinion.media/ https://x.com/second_op_media —TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Lead in(00:30) Intro(01:46) First for schizophrenia(02:20) What digital therapeutics means(04:01) Software treats disease(05:35) Drugs plus software(06:55) Negative symptoms explained(09:56) Designing adaptive goals(13:50) Safety and autonomy(16:03) Generative AI in care(22:48) Regulation and evidence(26:55) Digital therapeutics graveyard(27:51) Digital therapeutics graveyard(28:40) Why programs fail evidence(29:38) Click survival playbook(30:50) Commercialization and coverage(31:46) Pharma launch gap(33:42) AI driven prescribing wave(36:37) FDA guidance and pharma cycles(40:56) Pricing value and access(43:48) Hiring for scrappy commercial(46:38) Future of venture and consumers(51:31) OTC migraine and AI assistants(53:42) Text messaging engagement engine(55:15) Wrap

    Surviving the digital therapeutics graveyard—and thriving | David Benshoof Klein, Click Therapeutics
  3. Oct 9

    Healthcare runs a 1980s model in 2026 | Aaron Miri, Baptist Health

    Christina Farr sits down with Aaron Miri, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital & Innovation Officer, Baptist Health, to talk about where AI is changing how a health system runs, and where liability, privacy law and payer friction still slow it down. Aaron explains why Baptist hasn’t hired a help desk agent in over 18 months and why he thinks AI will replace future hiring more than current roles. He also makes the case for a universal patient identifier, calling it the “primary key” AI in healthcare is missing.—Join Christina for upcoming webinars:10/8 - Why Are Hospitals Hiring Chief AI Officers? https://streamyard.com/watch/VjvVZiDN8ZMH 10/13 - Verifying AI in Medicine: Is Healthcare AI Actually Ready for Deployment? https://streamyard.com/watch/GwsSXwdikhMw 10/28 - Type 2 Diabetes & Cardiometabolic Care: Wearables, AI & GLP-1s https://streamyard.com/watch/uAuwCzUEJTCF 11/3 - Is It Finally the Moment for Alternative Plan Design? https://streamyard.com/watch/ereM3aB58XK4 —LINKS: Nature Medicine study comparing general-purpose LLMs with clinical AI tools: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04431-5 Utah’s AI prescription renewal pilot (Doctronic agreement): https://ai.utah.gov/agreements/doctronic/ NHS Spine: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/spine HITAC: https://www.healthit.gov/hitac/committees/health-information-technology-advisory-committee-hitac  Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr Chrissy Farr on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/ Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books —FOLLOW:Aaron:https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronmiri/ https://x.com/AaronMiri  Chrissy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/ https://x.com/chrissyfarr  Second Opinion Media:https://www.instagram.com/second.opinion.media/ https://x.com/second_op_media —TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Lead in(00:29) Intro(01:22) ER experience breakdown(03:39) Fixing intake friction(06:26) Clinical AI shortcuts(10:04) Liability and tort reform(14:04) Universal patient ID debate(20:54) Patients versus clinician AI(24:50) Automation and admin jobs(27:42) Automation shrinks back office(29:18) Claims and same day payment(33:20) Cutting costs without knee jerks(35:50) Profit pools and public programs(39:06) Ending payer provider resentment(43:57) Free markets and funding innovation(46:45) Paying for clinical AI(48:26) Good enough AI in practice(50:59) AI risk versus status quo(53:03) Wrap

    Healthcare runs a 1980s model in 2026 | Aaron Miri, Baptist Health
  4. Oct 1

    Rounds: Take the Money and R1, Megan Scheffel, Dan Bise, and Jeremy Friese

    In Episode 5 of Rounds, Stephanie Davis and Christina Farr break down the latest healthcare headlines — including Oura's step toward an IPO with its S-1 filing revealing $1.4 billion in revenue, and a former Anthropic researcher's warning to the BBC that AI staff are "genuinely frightened" for humanity's future — before sitting down with Megan Scheffel, Head of Life Science and Healthcare at SVB, Dan Bise, Executive Vice President of Strategy & Corporate Development at R1, and Jeremy Friese, CEO and Founder of Humata Health. We'll cover: Oura's S-1 filing and what it signals about the company's path to IPO Key takeaways from SVB's Healthcare Investments and Exits report — including why fewer specialized funds (not less capital) are driving the fundraising slowdown, why deal volume hit a multiyear low even as total dollars held steady, and why investors are increasingly rewarding proven commercial viability over pure technology hype The diverging exit landscape between biopharma (a record M&A year driven by looming patent cliffs) and healthtech (strong IPO performance, but few companies actually going public) How blurring lines between Dx/Tools, device, and biopharma are reshaping where capital flows The thesis behind CD&R and TowerBrook's take-private of R1, and the company's shift from tech-enabled services to a true AI-native, technology-first approach to automating the healthcare revenue cycle R1's first two acquisitions, Phare Health and Humata Health, and how Humata's prior authorization platform fills a key gap in R1's strategy to reduce downstream payer denials Dan Bise's investment approach — from setting strategy to evaluating the competitive landscape to aligning investors and the Board — and how it mirrors a thesis-driven, PE-style playbook Jeremy Friese's perspective as Humata's founder on what set R1 apart from other potential acquirers, and what convinced him to sell Hosts and Guests: Christina Farr, CEO, Second Opinion; GP, Scrub Capital Stephanie Davis, Healthcare Industry Analyst Megan Scheffel, Head of Life Science and Healthcare at SVB Dan Bise, EVP, Strategy and Corporate Development at R1 Jeremy Friese, Founder and CEO of Humata Health Sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank.

  5. Sep 29

    Doctors demand tech. Nurses should too | Mary Varghese Presti, Microsoft

    Mary Varghese Presti, Corporate Vice President and COO, Microsoft Health & Life Sciences, started her career as a pediatric nurse. She joins Christina Farr to talk about why she wants nurses to demand technology the way physicians do, and what AI has to prove before it's trusted on the clinical side. They get into why nurses have nobody to delegate to, Microsoft's work with Stanford on an agentic tumor board aimed at treatment decisions in days rather than weeks, and her pick between GLP-1s and AI at one, five and ten years. —Join Christina for upcoming webinars:10/8 - Why Are Hospitals Hiring Chief AI Officers? https://streamyard.com/watch/VjvVZiDN8ZMH 10/13 - Verifying AI in Medicine: Is Healthcare AI Actually Ready for Deployment? https://streamyard.com/watch/GwsSXwdikhMw 10/28 - Type 2 Diabetes & Cardiometabolic Care: Wearables, AI & GLP-1s https://streamyard.com/watch/uAuwCzUEJTCF 11/3 - Is It Finally the Moment for Alternative Plan Design? https://streamyard.com/watch/ereM3aB58XK4 —LINKS: Microsoft Dragon Copilot: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/health-solutions/clinical-workflow/dragon-copilot Healthcare Agent Orchestrator: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-cloud/blog/healthcare/2025/05/19/developing-next-generation-cancer-care-management-with-multi-agent-orchestration/ "Nursing Is the Surefire New Path to American Prosperity.": https://www.asrn.org/journal-nursing/3467-nursing-is-the-surefire-new-path-to-american-prosperity.html Lifers episode with Peter Lee: https://youtu.be/lxWYV1rNqR4  Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr Chrissy Farr on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/ Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books  —FOLLOW:Mary:https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryvarghese/ https://x.com/MaryVPresti  Chrissy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/ https://x.com/chrissyfarr  Second Opinion Media:https://www.instagram.com/second.opinion.media/ https://x.com/second_op_media  —TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Lead in(00:32) Intro(02:08) AI in healthcare hits scale(03:40) Why nursing is the next frontier(05:24) The LLM lightbulb moment(07:35) From hype to pragmatism(11:28) Nurses fear and job security(15:02) Admin bloat and incentives(18:24) Burnout and nursing documentation(20:55) Agentic workflows at the bedside(25:42) Caregiving and consumer copilots(30:20) Learning to trust AI answers(34:28) Clinical AI trust and regulation(39:35) AI and expanding disease definitions(44:22) How AI could reshape care teams(51:41) One five ten year predictions(52:45) Wrap

    Doctors demand tech. Nurses should too | Mary Varghese Presti, Microsoft
  6. Sep 17

    Healthcare AI works best on jobs no one thought to do | Hippocratic AI CEO Munjal Shah

    Christina Farr sits down with Munjal Shah, Co-founder and CEO, Hippocratic AI, to ask whether clinical AI will shrink healthcare's workforce, and who is on the hook when it makes a mistake. Munjal explains his Copilot, Autopilot, and Infinite Pilot framework, and why the use cases that have worked best are ones healthcare never thought to try, like calling 50,000 people during a New York heat wave. He also walks through a lung cancer screening outreach that he says found three cancers for $1,700 in AI costs. Dive into the Granola notes from this episode: https://notes.granola.ai/t/4789bb35-2eae-443a-b661-87336b480365-009c2hma —SPONSOR: Granola If meetings are eating up your day, Granola is a no-brainer. You can try it totally free - just head to https://granola.ai/LIFERS  —Join Christina for upcoming webinars:9/17 - Top Employers Share What Healthcare Startups Need to Know in 2026 - https://www.secondopinion.media/employers-as-healthcare-purchasers-how-startups-can-break-in/ 9/22 - Where are AI Agents Actually Working in Healthcare, and Why? - https://streamyard.com/watch/42HnpJFgxNT4 9/24 - Healthcare AI Has an ROI Problem - https://www.secondopinion.media/ama-with-aaron-miri/ 10/8 - Why Are Hospitals Hiring Chief AI Officers? - https://streamyard.com/watch/VjvVZiDN8ZMH —LINKS: Dr. John Whyte & Zeke Emanuel on Lifers: https://youtu.be/WTnZ6W7qsLQ Hippocratic AI: https://hippocraticai.com/ "Will Autonomous AI Exceed AI-Aided Physicians as the Best Medical Care?" on JAMA: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2852952 Taking doctors out of the AI loop (on Second Opinion): https://www.secondopinion.media/taking-doctors-out-of-the-ai-loop/ Orca paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.02707  Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr Chrissy Farr on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/ Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books  —FOLLOW:Munjal:https://www.linkedin.com/in/munjalshah747/ https://x.com/munjalshah  Chrissy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/ https://x.com/chrissyfarr  Second Opinion Media:https://www.instagram.com/second.opinion.media/ https://x.com/second_op_media  —TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Lead in(00:42) Intro(01:51) AI extinction panic weekend(04:47) Healthcare as AI risk target(06:56) Hippocratic safety system(09:20) Avoiding the AI doctor trap(12:34) Sponsor: Granola(13:33) Liability and taking responsibility(16:08) Building redundancy and clinical team(18:30) Will AI shrink healthcare jobs(20:38) Infinite Pilot ROI examples(26:41) Business traction and growth metrics(31:53) Simple pricing per minute(34:36) Fixing AI PR with specifics(40:06) Wrap

    Healthcare AI works best on jobs no one thought to do | Hippocratic AI CEO Munjal Shah
  7. Sep 15

    Miriam Paramore on becoming a caregiver and the $500 gap that kept her father off Medicaid

    SHOW NOTES Miriam Paramore, Founder and CEO of RxUtility, joins Christina Farr for a conversation that moves from caregiving for aging parents to the hidden economics of American healthcare. Miriam, who has spent over 40 years in health tech and finance, argues that AI won't fix rural health's transportation and staffing gaps, that hospitals should redeploy billing staff into home care roles instead of cutting them, and that pharmacist gag laws keep patients from ever learning a drug's real cash price (in one case, $2.18 versus a $10 copay for the same generic). Miriam also pushes to get women talking openly about money, deal flow, and investing, the same way men already do. Dive into the Granola notes from this episode: —SPONSOR: Granola If meetings are eating up your day, Granola is a no-brainer. You can try it totally free - just head to https://granola.ai/LIFERS  —Join Christina for upcoming webinars:9/17 - Top Employers Share What Healthcare Startups Need to Know in 2026 - https://www.secondopinion.media/employers-as-healthcare-purchasers-how-startups-can-break-in/ 9/22 - Where are AI Agents Actually Working in Healthcare, and Why? - https://streamyard.com/watch/42HnpJFgxNT4 9/24 - Healthcare AI Has an ROI Problem - https://www.secondopinion.media/ama-with-aaron-miri/ 10/8 - Why Are Hospitals Hiring Chief AI Officers? - https://streamyard.com/watch/VjvVZiDN8ZMH —LINKS: RxUtility: http://rxutility.com/ WBL, Women Business Leaders of the US Health Care Industry: https://www.wbl.org/  Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr Chrissy Farr on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/ Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books  —FOLLOW:Miriam:https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriamparamore/ https://x.com/mparamore  Chrissy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/ https://x.com/chrissyfarr  Second Opinion Media:https://www.instagram.com/second.opinion.media/ https://x.com/second_op_media  —TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Lead in(00:34) Intro(02:25) Sandwich generation caregiving(03:32) Rural health reality check(07:21) Human care vs AI hype(10:38) Redeploying rev cycle labor(17:37) Value based care skepticism(21:08) Sponsor: Granola(21:54) Cutting admin friction(24:41) Incentives and who loses(28:02) Rise of cash healthcare(30:44) Universal basics and deductibles(32:13) Concierge and telehealth wins(33:26) Opting out with DPC(35:01) Health systems missed UX(35:46) Cash care and HIPAA(37:32) Drug pricing blind spots(39:39) Cash prices and savings(40:41) Who to trust navigating(43:48) Consumerism and AI future(46:01) Women talking money(51:15) Investing in friends(57:25) Mentorship and rejection(58:25) Where to find Miriam(59:03) Wrap

    Miriam Paramore on becoming a caregiver and the $500 gap that kept her father off Medicaid
4.8
out of 5
25 Ratings

About

Veteran journalist, investor, and Second Opinion Media founder Chrissy Farr talks with the CEOs and founders who've been in the trenches long enough to know that healthcare doesn't move at startup speed. These aren't the entrepreneurs chasing quick exits—they're the "lifers" who understand that building in healthcare requires endless pivots, regulatory navigation, and decade-long timelines. No hype, just honest conversations about what it really takes. Each episode explores healthcare innovation, startup strategy, medical technology and AI, health system transformation, and investment insights from operators who've navigated regulatory challenges, clinical trials, reimbursement complexities, and the unique dynamics of the healthcare industry.

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