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Can a ring become care, and why does America have a million insurance brokers?

This week on HCN, Cedric Kovacs-Johnson and Danish Nagda dig into Aspen Neuroscience's IPO filing on stem cell therapy for Parkinson's, Michigan's antitrust suit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, and HHS's case against the 340B drug discount program. Dr. Ricky Bloomfield, Chief Medical Officer of Oura, joins to talk about turning a consumer wearable into a tool for care. Will Johnson, CEO & Co-Founder of Gyde, explains why insurance still runs on brokers and how AI could change the way people choose coverage.

00:30 — Bookmarks: The Best Things We Found This Week Cedric and Danish share favorite finds: Top hospital systems opening longevity clinics, the future of AI Agents in healthcare, Apoorva Mehta of InstaCart on medicine as consumer products, and the rise of drug-resistant sexually transmitted diarrhea.

11:46 — Parkinson's IPO: Aspen Neuroscience Files to Go Public The San Diego biotech filed to list on the Nasdaq to fund sasineprocel, a one-time therapy that turns a patient's own skin cells into dopamine-producing neurons. The hosts break down the early trial data and what's riding on the Phase 3 planned for 2027.

17:10 — Blue Cross Sued as a Monopoly Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a federal antitrust suit alleging Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, which holds about 65% of the state's market, worked with other Blue plans to keep competitors out. The hosts unpack the "Blue Conspiracy" claims and what they mean for patients and providers.

22:00 — Dr. Ricky Bloomfield: Can a Ring Become Care? Oura's CMO, who previously led the launch of Health Records on iPhone at Apple, discusses how wearable data could move from wellness tracking into clinical care. Cedric and Danish push back and probe.

40:28 — 340B's Billion-Dollar Fight HHS economists argue the 340B drug discount program rewards hospitals for using costlier drugs and buying up practices, backing a proposed Medicare payment cut. The hosts weigh that against hospitals' case that 340B funds safety-net care.

47:15 — Will Johnson: Why Do We Have a Million Brokers? Gyde's co-founder and CEO, who spent a decade at Oscar Health building broker networks, explains why insurance distribution still depends on brokers and how Gyde's AI-native model acquires agencies and automates their admin work.

01:04:40 — Gambling Addiction The gambling addiction is the new opioid crisis, and it's affecting young men more than women for a biological reason

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Can fat cells remember obesity, and are systems of agents about to take over healthcare administration? This week on HCN, Cedric Kovacs-Johnson and Danish Nagda dig into a suspected plague scare in Russia, a Nature paper on fat cell memory, and this year's Nobel for optogenetics. Tanay Tandon, CEO of COMMURE, joins to explain how AI agents could reshape revenue cycle and payer fights. Nikhil Krishnan, Founder/Thinkboi at Out-of-Pocket, shares who is building healthcare companies now and why he's optimistic.

00:00 — Bookmarks: The Best Things We Found This Week

Cedric and Danish share favorite finds: Bjork on creating for yourself, crypto-style investors piling into AI biotech, a debate over late doctors, and Dave Ricks on placebo-controlled GLP-1 trials.

07:46 — The Plague: Mystery Death at a Russian Anti-Plague Lab

A young employee of a Siberian anti-plague institute died after severe pneumonia, with a lab exposure unconfirmed. Danish explains how plague works, how it's treated, and why it's worth watching.

13:59 — Tanay Tandon: Are Systems of Agents Taking Over Healthcare?

COMMURE's CEO explains its system of agents, why it targets non-Epic settings, and why he sees AI-versus-AI payer disputes as an arms race that ends in efficiency. Cedric and Danish push back and probe.

30:17 — Fat Epigenetics: Cells That Remember Obesity

Danish walks through a Nature paper suggesting fat cells keep epigenetic changes after weight loss, which could make keeping weight off harder, and the hosts discuss childhood obesity and what might reverse it.

38:32 — Nikhil Krishnan: Who's Building the Future of Healthcare?

The Out-of-Pocket founder discusses the new founder archetype, why funding rounds are growing, whether AI success is stuck in RCM, financing ideas, a healthcare World's Fair, and his optimism.

57:11 — Nobel Prize: Optogenetics and the Brain as a Circuit

Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel win the Nobel for optogenetics. Danish explains the light-switch method and why he sees it as a precise tool for studying the brain, before the hosts close on optimism.

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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.