| Over the past few months, there seems to be a run of new venture funds that overlap with health tech. In my chats with investors, I’ve been asking: Why now? |
| Frist Cressey Ventures partner Olivia Capra said it comes down to having tools like virtual care, AI and data at our disposal that can actually change healthcare. (Frist Cressey raised $425 million in its fourth fund in February. The Nashville-based firm has about $1 billion under management.) |
| “We can actually rebuild and retool how healthcare is delivered,” Capra told me. |
| Existing health systems are driving that rebuilding, she said. Their leaders have come around to accepting the role technology will play, a departure from the past when it was a hard sell to introduce new ideas. |
| “What's interesting is how the tables have turned, where I actually feel like now health systems, if you're not implementing that new technology, there's an understanding that you might be left behind,” she said. |
| It reminded me a lot of what Shelby reported on Friday, about how insurers are sensing an urgency, too, to embed new technologies into their businesses. |
| One area in particular where health systems are looking is the consumer experience, Capra said. Tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, for instance, have made it possible for people to be more active participants in their medical care. That can put pressure on places like hospitals to upgrade parts of their operations, such as changing the way calls to a department are fielded. |
| This feels like the moment where disruptive, tech-driven forces are really starting to impact how the incumbent healthcare industry does business. We'll, of course, be following along closely. |
| - Lydia |
| P.S. - I’m flying out to San Francisco today to take part in Lux Capital’s Health x Intelligence Forum. I’ll be moderating a discussion on agentic AI in healthcare on Wednesday. If you’re around, be sure to say hi! |
