Eric Lefkofsky’s Post

I firmly believe that AI has the potential to be a gamechanger in healthcare, based on 10 years of experience navigating the system, from insurance to research and hospitals. AI's impact could span across many sectors of the industry. However, one challenge is that tech companies often treat their technology like a hammer, trying to apply it to every problem without fully understanding the issues they aim to solve. For AI to truly make a difference, these companies need deeper expertise in the specific problems they’re addressing. While I’m cautiously optimistic, it’s crucial that the ultimate priority must be the patient, not the company shareholder.

I completely agree having been in the Med-Tech space in Oncology for ~20 years, waste is rampant. With the entry of companies like Microsoft in the Healthcare space, this is now shifting. Leveraging standardized data frameworks alongside enterprise hyperscaler technologies, there’s finally an exponential opportunity to address the root inefficiencies in healthcare (data mapping). Standardizing data requirements isn’t just a technical fix; it’s the only type of oversight truly needed to lower costs. The billions spent on managing customized, fragmented data across different healthcare systems don’t serve the patient or taxpayer effectively, it’s a system that ultimately perpetuates unnecessary corporate layers without meaningful patient impact. By establishing a unified data platform (e.g. MS Fabric with Healthcare Data Services & Healthcare Data Explorer) where AI can thrive, hyperscalers like Microsoft are positioned to streamline processes, reduce redundancies, and remove the high costs associated with customized, isolated data management. This shift allows healthcare professionals to focus on providing better care, creating a system that finally aligns with both patient needs and fiscal responsibility.

Eric Lefkofsky. Excellent POV. Can't agree with you anymore. You are hitting the nail on the head. It is a shame that 1/3 of our healthcare spend is wasted. Value-based care has met with limited success. Majority of healthcare is still channeled through fee-for-service reimbursement models. As a passionate healthcare leader, I am a firm believer that prevention is better than cure. I recommend "4-keys to perfect health" which, if adopted by the three key stakeholders - patients, providers and payers along with leveraging Al will start to turn the wheel for all of us: 1. Focus on diagnostics  2. Use screening tests to diseases years in advance 3. Promote patient education - using food and exercise as medicine 4. Deploy Precision Medicine

We need a preventative healthcare system as opposed to the sick care system we have now. Insurance that changes coverage options as technologies progress. With AI new treatments will be a reality--yet patients will be denied by insurance. I would love to work as an AI prompt engineer to help people win insurance battles. For 18 years, I have been fighting insurance battles for my son with 90% win rate.

Single payer healthcare system would go a long way to reducing coast as well, but technological advances are critical as well.

You raise an important issue regarding healthcare spending. Leveraging technology like AI could certainly transform the landscape and drive efficiencies. What specific areas do you believe offer the greatest potential for cost reduction?

That’s a great start, but there are other solutions too. Capping prescription drug costs, moving to a single-payer model (like every other developed country) and developing new models for care that create incentives and pathways for wellness.

Eric, Tempus is on the right path to streamline inefficiencies in the healthcare system, but how do we reduce the root causes of many preventable diseases? AI can help optimize treatments, but what about tackling the factors driving these health problems in the first place? The FDA allows food ingredients banned in most first-world countries, which contributes to poor health outcomes. We also see a disturbing trend of over-prescribing medications that can lead to addiction rather than addressing underlying issues like poor diet, chronic stress, and lifestyle. Until we confront these systemic problems, AI’s impact on healthcare will be limited to treating symptoms rather than preventing disease. Would love to see more focus on that.

Can’t disagree that tech could help increase efficiency, but it’s not the only area that’s ripe for change. Check out what Dr Casey Means is saying about the costs of chronic and preventable health issues in US She was in Rogan pod recently: https://rumble.com/v5hyo02-joe-rogan-experience-calley-means-and-casey-means-md-oct-2024.html