Can a new generation of health plans actually bend the cost curve—and did AI-assisted coding just add nearly $1 billion to healthcare spending?

This week, Oura walks away from a hot IPO despite massive demand, Julie Yoo and Tim Wike debate whether employers are finally ready to abandon the traditional health plan, and Caroline Zhang joins us fresh off Knowtex being named a prime awardee on the VA’s massive new ambient AI contract.

00:00 — Intro & Bookmarks What’s on the docket this week.

13:20 — Oura Ring Postpones IPO Oura delays its IPO despite profitability, 90% growth and a reportedly 4× oversubscribed offering.

19:15 — Julie Yoo & Tim Wike Are employers finally ready to switch to alternative health plans—and can those plans actually lower costs?

40:41 — Did AI Add $1B to Healthcare? Blue Cross says AI-assisted coding may have contributed to nearly $1 billion in additional healthcare spending without more care being delivered.

46:27 — Caroline Zhang / Knowtex Knowtex CEO Caroline Zhang joins us to unpack its massive VA win and what it takes to deploy clinical AI at government scale.

58:14 — Wrap Up We recap the biggest takeaways from the week.

58:42 — Final Thoughts / Close Final thoughts to close the show.

Who’s actually winning the GLP-1 race—and can embryo screening deliver on its promises? This week on HCN, we unpack the fight over patient recordings, the proposed crackdown on corporate medicine, and the science behind some of healthcare’s biggest promises. Special guests Otto Sipe, CEO and cofounder of Photon, and Cremieux join us to debate AI doctors, weight-loss drugs, embryo selection, and cancer screening.

00:00 — Intro & Bookmarks The week’s healthcare headlines, what caught our attention, and what’s on the docket.

11:37 — Patient Data: Who Owns Your Doctor’s Visit Recording? A Washington court denies a patient access to an AI-scribe recording of her appointment. We debate patient access, physician control, and why getting care can feel like assembling a legal case.

19:49 — Otto Sipe: AI Doctors & the GLP-1 Race Photon’s CEO and cofounder joins us to discuss who’s winning in GLP-1 prescribing, pills versus injections, the FDA’s pressure on compounders, and which parts of a doctor’s job AI could actually take over.

40:09 — PE $ In Health: AOC, Warren & the Future of Private Practice Would restricting private equity and insurer control of medical practices protect doctors—or push more of them toward hospital systems? We unpack the proposed legislation, the role of management services organizations, and the hospital exemption.

46:24 — Cremieux: Embryo Selection & Cancer Screening Cremieux joins us to scrutinize Nucleus Genomics’ embryo-selection claims and GRAIL’s Galleri cancer-screening test. What does the evidence support, where does the marketing get ahead of the science, and what would make these tests worth using?

1:06:01 — Wrap Up Closing out this week’s conversations.

1:06:30 — Final Thoughts: AI’s Patience Problem

AI promises unlimited productivity. Is it also making us unwilling to work through anything that isn’t instant? A closing thought on the difference between faster output and better work—and why, especially in healthcare, some things still deserve the time to get them right.

This week on HCN: the FDA approves ISEMBYLD, a myostatin-targeting muscle drug for SMA — is this the next GLP-1 story? Employer health costs keep climbing while 91% of premium growth still tracks care spending. The Medicare Advantage gold rush faces tighter CMS rules. Oura opens the books ahead of an IPO, Apple pushes to become your health home, and we ask whether menopause supplements actually work after 25 years of thin evidence.

Special guests: Stuart Blitz, cofounder and COO of Hone Health, and Scott Law, partner at Meridian Street Capital.

Segments:

— The Muscle Drug Is Here (ISEMBYLD / myostatin)

— Research Backup — The Health Plan Rebuild (employer plans / a16z / JAMA)

— The MA Gold Rush Is Over (Medicare Advantage / risk adjustment)

— Oura Opens the Books (IPO / consumer health)

— Apple Wants to Be Your Health Home

— Do Menopause Supplements Actually Work?

— Guest: Stuart Blitz, Hone Health

— Guest: Scott Law, Meridian Street Capital

— Final Close — The Health Plan Death Spiral