DigitalHealth InvestorTalk Show
Looking at key digital health industry topics from the investor perspective.
The New Way To Scale Up Sales with Vinay Nagraj and Steven Wardell
Many digital health companies build their product faster than expected, then face the question of how to scale sales with a lean team. The pharma field-force playbook still works, but few young companies can afford to put large teams of reps in physician offices.
What we'll cover:
From spray-and-pray to precision: why reps should work 50 well-researched accounts instead of emailing 1,000, and how claims and referral data show which physicians and organizations to prioritizeWhat a modern go-to-market stack looks like, mapped to a rep's core jobs: generating qualified leads, preparing for meetings, and converting meetings into signed...What Comes Next: Longevity with Hillary Lin, MD
Is longevity becoming Read Medicine? A talk by Hillary Lin, MD, hosted by Steven Wardell and Alex Fair, at MedStartr in New York, followed by a panel discussion and a startup pitch contest.
What Comes Next: Superintelligence, safety, and the future of humanity with John-Clark Levin
What Comes Next salon discussion at the Cambridge Public Library on Mon. Oct. 26 featuring John-Clark Levin of Kurzweil Technologies, Dan Elton of the Metascience Observatory, and Steven Wardell of DigitalHealth InvestorTalk.
What's Next For Telehealth? With Chris Gallagher and Steven Wardell
Can telehealth deliver more than just convenience and bust healthcare out of the productivity trap?
Telehealth is no longer just about technology or convenience. It's about supporting every step of care delivery and creating new care models.
In this show we’ll look at:
The current state of the art for telehealth and the way forwardThe ongoing hospital budget shock and how this creates a new moment for telehealthThe productivity trap that healthcare has been stuck in for 75 years and the way outAnd we'll answer your questions.
Chris Gallagher, MD...
Boston Health Innovation Night: What's Next In AgeTech? With Kate Brigham and Steven Wardell
This event is co-hosted with Boston Health Innovation Night and AgeTech Boston.
Our Guest of Honor, Kate Brigham, founder of AgeTech Boston, will make opening remarks on the theme of "What's Next in AgeTech."
Thur. Sept. 17, 2026 at the Liberty Hotel in Boston (the Panopticon).
DigitalHealth InvestorTalk: The Battle For Mastry Between Software and AI with Harry Glorikian
In healthcare, the software that people use is now fighting the AI underneath it for the same prize: the customer, the data, and the future.
The next decade of competitive advantage will be decided by who controls the software layer between people and AI. Most companies haven’t noticed that the fight has started.
This show draws on the argument: when software disappears into intent, advantage shifts to whoever owns the defaults, the memory, and the trust.
For thirty years technology shifts have reshaped who wins. This ti...
DigitalHealth InvestorTalk: The new patient journey in the age of AI with Sage Khanuja and Steven Wardell
Pharmaceutical manufacturers spend more than $40B annually on advertising and promotion, patient services, and Hubs. Only about 3% of Americans are even aware they offer resources like co-pay assistance and patient support programs. Little surprise then that between 20% to 30% of prescriptions are never filled.
Emerging AI-powered advocates are now available 24/7 to patients and healthcare providers via the phone, SMS, and web, significantly reducing friction and streamlining the path to therapy. Imagine patient journeys orchestrated by personal concerges that can
Answer any medication-related questionVerify insurance benefits, both Rx and medicalFind and schedule doctor appointmentsTrack down...The Consumer Home Healthcare Revolution with Shilpi Gupta and Steven Wardell
Hormones, Biomarkers, and the End of Annual Lab Work: Empowered consumers monitor hormone levels & more from home to optimize their health.
Health tracking used to mean episodic visits to the clinician, followed by tests to rule out what could be wrong. But today, a growing range of at-home monitoring tools, more convenient and affordable than ever, lets consumers track their hormone levels and other key biomarkers continuously, moving from ruling out illness to actively optimizing their health and vitality.
In this show we’ll look at:
The new pa...DigitalHealth InvestorTalk: Training AI Search Engines To Recommend You
Marketing is about meeting customers' needs. But how do we do this with a changing landscape and what if the customer is an AI agent?
The marketing landscape is changing dramatically. Customers may go to an AI chatbot for answers instead of a search engine, obseleting SEO and ads from vendors in one shot. And what if the customer you're really selling to is an AI agent?
In this show we’ll look at:
- What are modern AI SEO, AI search, and AI marketing?
...
The Future of Digital Therapeutics with Eddie Martucci and Steven Wardell
Digital is a high-potential modality in therapeutics but 10 years later there are few hit products. What can we expect next?
In this show we'll cover:
And we'll answer your questions.
Eddie Martucci, PhD, is the CEO of Alterris Oncology, a cancer biotech company; Advisor and President (US) of ResilienceCare, a digital health company in...
Here Comes Telehealth 2.0 with Dr. Lyle Berkowitz and Steven Wardell
In this show we'll cover:
What telehealth has meant up to nowHow patients, clinicians, technology, and care delivery have changedA new vision of telehealthAnd we'll answer your questions.
Lyle Berkowitz, MD, is the founder and Executive Chairman of KeyCare, a network of AI tech-enhanved virtual care providers working on an instance of Epic optimized for telehealth. Follow him on LinkedIn.
Steven Wardell is the Managing Partner of Wardell Advisors, a consulting firm focused on growth, fundraising, and strategic alternatives for digital health companies...
Consolidation in Employer HealthTech with Chris Michalak and Steven Wardell
There's been massive innovation and entry into the Employer HealthTech sector and now consolidation is playing out. The endgame is near.
The right combination of health benefits provided by employers can attract and retain talent, build company identity and morale, promote better health and productivity among employees, and bend the medical cost trend downward over time. So for over 20 years employers have been picking and providing innovative mixes of healthcare and programmatic health benefits to employees to earn these advantages. And the market has responded with massive entry of new products, talent, companies, and...
From GenAI to Patient Agency with David Shaywitz and Steven Wardell
The amount of healthcare data keeps growing. The tools we have keep improving, including new GenAI tools.
But to truly drive better healthcare outcomes, we need to improve the agency of both patients in healthcare systems and of consumers at home.
In this show we'll cover:
- The new landscape of data and tools in healthcare
- Extracting meaningful insight for care delivery
- Using GenAI and digital tools to drive behavior change and improved health
And we'll...
What's Happening at ViVE in February? With Adam Kaufman and Steven Wardell
We look at what to expect from the ViVE Conference in Los Angeles in February, including innovations and investor sentiments
Adam and I offer a preview of the state of digital-health fundraising, enterprise budgets, and innovation that we'll see at the ViVE conference covering payers and providers.
Will the barbell fundraising environment continue? What will be the favored investment themes? Are rollups picking up steam? When will the great shakeout arrive? What will happen to the Zombiecorns?
In this show we'll cover:
What to do now...DigitalHealth InvestorTalk: Strategic Alternatives for Zombicorns
What's next for funded companies with growth issues?
After the euphoria of the Zero Interest Rate Period (ZIRP) when many companies received significant funding at high valuations, reality has set in for many of those companies. Slower than expected growth, missed milestones, and a more selective funding environment are forcing tough choices on the management teams of these companies.
In this show we'll cover:
The changing opportunities and challenges for digital health companiesThe investors' perspectivesThe range of strategic alternatives available to companiesAnd we'll...
What Next-Gen MedTech Brings to Longevity with Lana Caron and Steven Wardell
Building on advances in technology, MedTech is increasingly able to solve health problems and give us more changes for a long life. From spotting health emergencies earlier to replacing failing organs, the investment potential for the sector is growing.
In this show we'll cover:
- New technologies enabling medtech
- Surprising new capabilities in heatlhcare
- The ways that medtech will solve aging
And we'll answer your questions.
Lana Caron Lana Caron is a medtech and digital health veteran on a...
What's Happening at JP Morgan This January?
The JP Morgan Healthcare Investor Conference in San Francisco each January sets the fundraising tone for the year - we preview happenings!
As we head into the new year and the great gathering of healthcare investors in San Francisco in January at and around the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Adam and I offer a preview of the state of digital health fundraising. Will the barbell fundraising environment continue? What will be the favored investment themes? Are rollups picking up steam? When will the great shakeout arrive? What will happen to the Zombiecorns?
<...
GenAI Is Revolutionizing Pharmacy with Harry Travis and Steven Wardell
Pharmacy was based on pills, and PBMs were based on margins. GenAI challenges both.
The practice and business of pharmacy is one of the most, if not the most, data intense medical professions and therefore is more susceptible to disruptive AI than any other healthcare profession.
In this show we'll cover:
How AI is freeing pharmacy operation teams from the tyranny of the screens.There are dozens of early-stage companies powered by AI tools that are working to automate or optimize every step in the process of filling...Should You Avoid Being a Medical Device? With Steven Wardell and Joe Schwendt
What's the line for being classified as a medical device? Is it worth it today to be a medical device? What is going on in medtech?
What's the line for being classified as a Medical Device? Is it worth it today to be a medical device? What is going on in medtech? The promise of Medical Devices used to be that it wasn't that hard to provide great clinical value for an unmet medical need with a new device and with an straightforward FDA process you could have a high-growth, high-margin product. But what...
How Tech Empowers Aging Boomers with Meredith Oppenheim and Steven Wardell
From Crisis to Catalyst - the Silver Tsunami poses a resource crisis for society. But can tech help us meet the challenge?
The Silver Tsunami will strain the healthcare system and be taxing for workers. But could new tech help seniors remain active and productive while reducing the strain on the system?
In this show we'll cover:
- How to think about approaching seniors as a market with new solutions
- New enabling technologies
- Novel ways that tech keeps seniors active
<...Key Longevity Insights You Need To Know with Soheil Saadat and Steven Wardell
Longevity care is making advances and growing more popular among consumers. What is a framework to start extending your healthspan?
Longevity isn’t just about adding years to life, it’s about adding life to those years. What steps can you take today to extend your healthspan and enhance your quality of life? What framework can help you identify major risks and set yourself up for long-term vitality?
In this show we'll cover:
- A practical framework for extending your healthspan
- The major health risk...
The Healthcare AI Arms Race with Fawad Butt and Steven Wardell
Payers and Providers are looking for greater efficiency using GenAI. But what happens when they unleash the latest AI tools on each other?
There are many opportunities in the healthcare system for GenAI to make contributions in billing, coding, medical records, and administrative. But what happens when providers use the latest in AI to supercharge billing to payers and payers arm up to manage and mitigate and deny?
In this show we'll cover:
- The problems of inefficienty in administrative processes in healthcare
- Opportunities...
GenAI is not the endgame in Digital Health with Lisa Suennen and Steven Wardell
You need more than GenAI. Entrepreneurs need to keep the focus on solving the buyers' biggest pain points.
GenAI is the hottest buzzword in healthcare, and it seems almost necessary to be a "GenAI Native" company in order to win VC funding today.
As founders debate whether to have a proprietary LLM and where how to have a moat in the age of GenAI, it's important not to lose sight of the most basic ingredient for an innovative product: to solve a major pain point for the buyer using...
Fundraising With Crowd Challenges and Competitions
As digital health retrenches and AI explodes, what are creative ways for entrepreneurs to raise money?
Digital health fundraising is tough as business uncertainty grows and VCs retrench. But buoyed by positive regulatory shifts and new technologies, crowdfunding and competitions are emerging as a new way for innovators to win visibility, validation, and funding for their companies.
In this show we'll cover:
1. What's the state of the fundraising environment for young digital health companies
2. How has the environment for crowdfunding and competitions evolved?
3...
DigitalHealth InvestorTalk: NextGen ConsumerTech Is Revolutionizing Care with Maheen Adamson and Steven Wardell
New capabilites in the consumertech we buy is bringing to our fingertips new sensors, new data, better data, and new forms of care
Therapeutic videogames for kids with ADHD, giving voice to people who have lost the ability to speak, preventing nightmares, predicting heart attacks. . .
Modern consumertech has new sensors and capabilities giving us better data, analysis, prediction, diagnosis, monitoring, and therapeutic options.
In this show we'll cover:
The new tech in consumer devicesWhere it is working in careThe regulatory environmentCreative applications of...The Revolution in ObesityCare with Sloan Saunders and Steven Wardell
New therapies are shaking up the super-category of obssity and diabetes care but it's not enough to just take a drug
DigitalHealth InvestorTalk: Will GenAI Win This Time? With Steven Wardell and Marco Smit
GenAI business models in healthcare look different than the digital health revolution of 2009, which was about SaaS and workflow automation.
GenAI business models are about intelligently converting free data into structured fields, making decisions, and taking action, which puts them ahead of older digital health models of simple workflow automation powered by software licensing and SaaS business models. Will that be enough to create winner GenAI companies where the last generation failed?
In this show we'll cover:
Looking at reasons old digital health business models failedHow GenAI is...Why So Few Good Exits in Digital Health? With Steven Wardell and Steve Rubis
Looking at the business models and trends in digital health, few have led to successful exits. We look in to what it means for the future.
Electronic medical records, revenue cycle management, telehealth, digital care management, virtual clinics, clinical decision support tools, employer health benefits, clinical trial automation software, drug discovery software. There have been few successful exits in digital health. We look at why.
In this show we'll cover:
Specific cases like Teladoc, Livongo, 23andMe, Epic, and more.SPACs and Chinese reverse mergersThe structure of the industry...What's Working in Digital Health with Steven Wardell and Amrit Panjabi
The Digital Health sector is driving into new opportunities along with technology and economic shocks. We take a look at what's working.
The digital health sector is uncovering new opportunities for technology in healthcare and new business models while being roiled by technological and economic shocks. Meanwhile there is a cloud over the industry - why so few big tech winners and successful exits?
In this show we'll cover:
What products are working in the marketplace?What new technologies, products, and business models are appearing?What do the...Now We Need To Win 'The Scale Game' with Steven Wardell, Alyssa Jaffee, and Chrissy Farr
Healthcare incumbents are bigger than ever. To matter to them and to sell to them, digital health companies need to scale up.
The competitive marketplace is changing and healthcare incumbents -- like providers, payers, and pharma -- are bigger than ever. In order to be relevant and sell into the incumbents, digital health vendors need to solve bigger problems than ever before. And many will need to scale up through acquisitions.
In this show we'll cover:
- The changing marketplace for healthcare solutions . . . and the supersized incumbents...
Innovators move to Tech-Enabled Services with Steven Wardell and James Hueston
The last decade has seen unprecedented innovation in digital health and agetech but software companies still have trouble selling and there have been few compelling exits. Innovators are now turning to tech-enabled services (TES).
In this show we'll cover:
- What's going on in the innovation economy?
- Why are TES companies attracting attention, winning in the product marketplace, and winning with investors?
- Will AI speed up the move of innovators into TES?
And we'll answer your questions.
Where is AI working today?
AI is reshaping digital health investment and creating winners and losers
In this show we'll cover:
And we'll answer your questions.
Barbara Kohler is a Partner at Fletcher Sp...
Investor Themes for a New Era with Amir Lubin and Steven Wardell
Where are the new pain points in the healthcare sector, and what are the new themes that investors are betting on?
In the show we’ll dive into:
- What has the "regime change" of higher interest rates meant for the healthcare system and the innovators who sell into it?
- What are the pain points and themes in healthcare that innovators can address?
- What are the favored technologies and products for the new era?
And we'll answer your questions
Am...
How Employers Are Advancing Mental Health witih Steven Wardell, Jarred Bressner, and Pierce Crowley
Americans face a mental health crisis made worse by COVID stress and lockdowns. Will tech ride to the rescue of employers?
The mental health crisis has never been greater with growing demand, strained care resources, and a growing problem of junk care -- and employers are looking for answers.
In this show we'll cover:
The crisis of supply and demand for mental health careNovel solutions for employers enabled by techWhat's working now and what does the future holdAnd we'll answer your questions.
Jarred Bressner...
Where Can Healthcare Best Use AI? With Steve Wardell and Chad Pytel
What are the new capabilities of modern AI and where can they be best used in healthcare to solve problems?
There's been a flurry of healthcare AI startups since the arrivel of ChatGPT, and the sector is white hot with investors. What are the problem areas in healthcare that are amenible to the capabilities of generative AI?
In this show we'll cover:
- The capabilities of generative AI
- The problem areas where AI can help and where startups are buidling products
- The obstacles like...
A Tech Framework for Aging In Place with Steven Wardell and Neal Shah
Tech can help the Silver Tsunami age in place. Here's a framework for what is needed at each level of care.
Aging is the biggest demographic trend in the US and the world. There isn't enough skilled care available so tech will fill the gap.
Seniors want to age in place, and there is a greater opportunity than ever to meet the needs of aging seniors in-home with technology.
In this show we'll cover:
- What are the needs of seniors as...
What Will Happen to Employer HealthTech? With Steven Wardell and Marcus Osborne
In the show we’ll dive into:
- How the employer healthtech sector is evolving
- Trends at employer benefit leaders and their changing buying preferences
- Signs that a consolidation wave is building
And we'll answer your questions
Marcus Osborne is the executive chairman of Rightmove Health, a virtual movement health company. He is a former SVP of Walmert Health. You can follow him on X.
Steven Wardell is the Managing Partner of Wardell Advisors, a consulting firm focused on gr...
DigitalHealth InvestorTalk: What Digital Health Sectors Are Hot Now? with Adam Kaufman
What are the changing priorities of the software budgets of the major healthcare sectors?
The problems facing healthcare incumbents keep changing and so their budget strength and priorities also change. We take a look at the problems and budget strengths today for buying tech by Providers, Payers, Employers, and Pharma.
In this show we'll cover:
- Today's significant problems facing the different sectors of healthcare.
- The strength of healthcare budgets and spendiness on tech.
- Conclusions investors are drawing and where they're...
Who are the Digital Health Consolidators?
Digital health sectors are maturing and consolidators are circling. Have some recent acquisitions kicked off the game of musical chairs?
In the show we’ll dive into:
- There has been tremendous entry of innovators into healthcare since 2009 but consolidation has typically been weak
- Some recent acquisitions like Virgin Pulse & HealthComp and Veradigm's acquisition of ScienceIO show that the pace is picking up
- We look at the different subsectors of digital health, the consolidators in each subsector, and the potential for big tech and other outsiders to...
The Consolidation Wave Is Coming
We've lived through an unprecedented period of new digital health products and companies. Consolidation follows.
In the show we’ll dive into:
- There has been tremendous entry of new products and companies into all the subsectors of digital health since 2009 but sector consolidation has been consistently weak
- As the sector matures, we're seeing product buyers move toward the enterprise buy and suite-level functionality, driving new consolidation activity
- Will we see a seller's market for digital health companies or a buyer's market
And we'll an...
