156 - Fixing Kids’ Care Delays: How Ladder Health Attacks 6-Month Waitlists w/ Mitch Mudra

Author: Marcus Whitney & Vic Gatto
Published: Sat 06 Sep 2025
Episode Link: None

Vic hosts the weekly Health Further rollup with guest cohost Mitch Mudra (Ladder Health) while Marcus is abroad; they open with the Minneapolis mass shooting’s human toll, then cover Mitch’s background at United/Optum and digital therapeutics, Ladder Health’s virtual-first pediatric PT/OT/speech model addressing long wait times (NICU follow-up, Medicaid access, nights/weekends care) and expansion beyond Massachusetts and North Carolina; the economy segment hits Walmart’s inflation-era gains, a stagnant job market, and a K-shaped recovery, plus Nashville’s proposed Boring Company tunnel; venture/biotech news spans LSAI’s $250M back-office automation, allogeneic CAR-T advances, phone-call automation funding, sleep-tech skepticism, and iBot’s mall eye-exam kiosks; policy and payers include Medicare prior auth pilots, the abrupt CDC leadership shake-up and vaccine guidance clash, 340B rebate pilot pushback, a broader DOJ probe into UnitedHealth, a Hopkins–United contract rift, No Surprises Act arbitration costs, LA Children’s layoffs, health-system lab outsourcing, and Walgreens’ breakup; pharma and tech touch Novo hiring freezes, Lilly’s oral GLP-1, Ethereum and stablecoin payments for cheaper rails, Nvidia’s tempered but massive AI buildout, Apple eyeing Gemini for Siri, a Gmail credential scare, Perplexity’s publisher rev-share, Anthropic’s copyright settlement, deepfake avatar abuse, and a NYT case of a teen confiding suicidality to a chatbot prompting AGs’ call for stronger child protections.

Links

14:29 U.S. Economy Grew Faster in Second Quarter, New Estimate Shows WSJ

17:25 US Initial Jobless Claims Rise to Highest Level Since June Bloomberg

20:50 U.S. Stocks Are Now Pricier Than They Were in the Dot-Com Era WSJ

23:31There's new evidence the job market is softening Axios

25:27 Oracle lays off thousands—or more—globally amid rapid AI shifts Fast Company

27:49 Predoc raises $30M to scale AI health information management platform Silicon Angle

29:34 NewDays Secures $7M To Expand Treatment for Cognitive Impairment, Dementia MedCity

32:01 Welcome Tech raises $7.5M to expand AI immigrant services Mobi Health

32:39 VCs Had No Time Off This Summer. Blame AI. WSJ

36:59 We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health NYT-Op

37:58 Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: We’re Restoring Public Trust in the CDC WSJ-Op