Healthcare AI Guy Weekly | 7/8

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Highlights if you’ve only got 2 minutes…

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US to spend $8.6 trillion on healthcare

CMS now projects U.S. health spending will reach $8.6 trillion by 2033, up from $5.6 trillion this year, growing an average of 5.8% annually and outpacing GDP. Spending is expected to jump 7.1% in 2025 before leveling off slightly, but by 2033, healthcare will account for over 20% of the entire economy. Americans already spend more on health care than on groceries or housing, and the industry has quietly become the nation’s largest employer, driving about a third of recent job growth. With an aging population, rising demand, and limited supply of clinical labor, the cost curve continues to steepen. AI won’t solve everything, but if it can automate even a slice of the admin burden or streamline care delivery, it may be one of the few tools that can meaningfully slow the surge. (link)(tweet)

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AI regulation goes local

In a major shift, the Senate dropped a proposed 10-year federal moratorium on state-level AI regulation, paving the way for what could become a chaotic patchwork of rules across the U.S. States have already proposed over 1,000 AI-related bills in 2025 alone. While some argue states should govern issues like child safety or copyright within their borders, others believe AI’s economic, security, and cross-border implications make it a federal issue, comparing it to regulating national defense or the internet. For healthcare AI companies, this fragmentation could mean juggling conflicting rules around clinical use, patient data, and safety disclosures across state lines. Startups will struggle most, while well-resourced incumbents benefit. The big takeaway? Without a unified national policy, the U.S. risks slowing innovation in one of the most strategically vital technologies of our time. (link)

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Healthcare stocks in freefall

Healthcare stocks just hit their lowest point in over two decades, now underperforming the S&P 500 by the widest margin in 24 years, and many analysts think the worst may not be over. Between rising medical costs, shaky Obamacare markets, and looming Medicaid cuts from the Trump-backed tax bill, the pressure is mounting. Centene alone was down nearly ~40%, losing ~$11 billion in market value, last week after pulling its earnings forecast, citing risk pool deterioration and policy uncertainty. Meanwhile, hospitals are bracing for funding shortfalls and potential service cuts. Amid all the bad news, AI-native and AI-enabled players like Tempus, Hinge Health, and Oscar are among the few bright spots, still drawing investor interest thanks to scalable tech and growing demand. The big question: Will AI be the lifeline that helps lead healthcare through this downturn and into long-term transformation? (link)(linkedin)

Tools & Partnerships 🔧

Latest on business, consumer, and clinical healthcare AI tools and partnerships…

TOOLS

• ChatGPT identifies gene defect missed for a decade: A Reddit post went viral after a patient claimed ChatGPT flagged a hidden methylation disorder by reconciling normal B12 levels with chronic nerve pain and fatigue, leading to a clinical breakthrough that unified years of unexplained symptoms. (link)

• Neuralink unveils faster surgical robot and teases brain-controlled robots: Elon Musk introduced a new robot that inserts brain threads in 1.5 seconds and hinted at “Blindsight,” a device to restore vision for the fully blind. Musk also said Neuralink users may eventually control full Tesla Optimus robots with their minds. (link)

• AI helps couple conceive after 18 years of infertility: Columbia doctors used STAR, an AI tool adapted from astrophysics, to find 44 viable sperm cells in a man with azoospermia, where humans found none, leading to a successful pregnancy. (link)

• Chai Discovery unveils AI that designs functional antibodies: The OpenAI-backed startup claims Chai-2 achieves a 20% success rate in antibody generation, cutting drug discovery timelines from months to weeks. (link)

• CMS launches AI-powered pilot to curb Medicare waste: The WISeR model will test tech-enabled prior auth for high-risk services like skin grafts and nerve stimulators, rewarding orgs that reduce inappropriate Medicare utilization. (link)

• Mayo Clinic debuts AI tool for dementia diagnosis: The new StateViewer system analyzes brain scans to identify nine forms of dementia with 3x the accuracy and twice the speed of traditional methods. (link)

• Duke proposes SCRIBE framework to assess AI scribe tools: Amid a wave of VC funding for companies like Abridge and Nabla, Duke researchers introduced a mixed-methods evaluation framework combining human and automated reviews to help health systems better compare and monitor AI scribe performance. (link)

• AI mimics flawed human reasoning in new psychology-trained model: Researchers trained Meta’s LLaMA on millions of psychology study results, creating “Centaur,” an AI that mirrors human decision-making biases and errors. (link)

• AI2 launches SciArena to benchmark scientific reasoning in AI: The new platform tests models on science literature tasks, with OpenAI’s o3 model currently leading the rankings. (link)

• Cadence launches AI-powered advanced primary care program under new CMS model: The remote monitoring company now offers longitudinal primary care for Medicare patients, combining AI and connected devices to support 50K daily users across 18 systems. (link)

• Janus Health launches JanusIQ, a unified AI RCM platform: The new solution brings together Janus Health’s AI tools for revenue cycle management into a single platform, aiming to reduce denials, speed up payments, and boost efficiency. (link)

• Codametrix debuts contextual coding automation and ED solution: The company rolled out a next-gen platform that adapts coding to clinical context and launched a specialized product for Emergency Departments to streamline coding workflows. (link)

• Ushur unveils Ushur Intelligence to power patient engagement: The new suite adds generative and conversational AI to automate communication, improve response rates, and reduce burden on call center staff. (link)

• Elation Health introduces AI Actions for primary care workflows: The new EHR features automate key clinical tasks like follow-ups, documentation, and care gap alerts, helping clinicians save time and improve patient outcomes. (link)

PARTNERSHIPS

• Johnson & Johnson + AWS + NVIDIA: The trio launched the Polyphonic AI Fund for Surgery to invest in and mentor startups developing AI-enabled surgical technologies. (link)

• Puppeteer + Healthie: Puppeteer’s AI call agent is now natively integrated into Healthie’s EHR, automating routine calls and notetaking directly within the platform while maintaining full HIPAA compliance. (link)

• Infinitus + Salesforce: Infinitus’ AI voice agents are now embedded in Salesforce Health and Life Sciences Clouds, helping large health systems automate payor calls and reduce therapy delays. (link)

• UChicago Medicine + Salesforce: UChicago Medicine is implementing Agentforce to streamline operational workflows using Salesforce’s AI-driven automation tools. (link)

• Suki + Meditech: Suki is expanding its ambient AI integration with Meditech Expanse, enabling voice-to-text dictation and automated note generation directly in the EHR, with plans to extend access to nurses and home care staff. (link)

Deal Desk 💸 

Spotlight on latest capital raises, M&A, and investments…

FUNDING

• Argon AI, a ChatGPT-style software service for pharma, raised $5.5M in seed funding. Crosslink Capital and Wireframe Ventures led, joined by YC and Pioneer Fund. (link)

• LogicFlo AI, a Boston-based AI agents developer for life sciences, raised $2.7M in seed funding. Lightspeed led the round and was joined by others. (link)

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

• Nordic Capital + Arcadia: PE firm Nordic Capital has acquired healthcare data platform Arcadia, which helps payers and providers improve outcomes using AI and analytics. The deal marks an exit for Peloton Equity; terms weren’t disclosed. (link)

• symplr + Smart Square: symplr has acquired Smart Square, adding predictive scheduling and real-time staffing tools to its healthcare ops platform. This expands its already broad workforce management suite. (link)

• Commure + healthcare AI startups: General Catalyst’s Commure plans to acquire more businesses such as struggling AI scribe startups and is targeting an IPO in the next 18 months. (link)

Other Relevant News 🔍

News, podcasts, blogs, tweets, resources, etc…

• How 7 health systems are leveraging AI (link)

• ChatGPT flagged a hidden gene defect that doctors missed for a decade (link)

• Indiana health system on track to save $10M with AI (link)

AI Job Opportunities 💼 

Contact us to feature roles in our newsletter…

• Director of AI Engineering at Talkiatry, a digital health psychiatry company

  $230 - $270K | Remote (link)

• Technical Product Manager at Healthie, an EHR platform

  $160 - $180K | NYC (link)

• Founding Engineer at Autoblocks AI, an LLM proactive testing startup

  $NA | NYC (link)

• Product Marketing at Infinitus, a voice AI platform for healthcare

  $NA | Remote (link)

• AI Engineer at Tennr, an AI-powered referral management platform

  $NA | NYC (link)

Visuals of the Week 📸

Funny memes, cool pics, and interesting data from around the web…