Michael McCarty

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺, 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗲. "We have the best product in our category. Why aren't we winning?" I've heard this frustration dozens of times from medical device founders. Disruptive technology. Solid IP. Clinical data that should turn heads. And yet... they're stuck. Here's what I've learned after 25 years placing executives in orthopedic and spine companies: 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗜 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱: Believing product innovation was the primary predictor of success. If the technology was superior, the market would respond. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱: Watching brilliant products languish under mediocre leadership while decent products soared with exceptional teams. The pattern was undeniable. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱: I shifted my entire approach. Now I evaluate leadership capability before I evaluate the product. Because Marcus Lemonis was right: People, Process, Product. In that order. In large organizations, a weak hire gets absorbed. There's redundancy. Bench strength. Systems that compensate. But in a 5-30 person medical device company? - One struggling VP derails an entire function - One exceptional hire transforms your trajectory   - Culture isn't written on walls; it's embodied by who's in the room Your product might be revolutionary. Your process might be refined. But if the people driving execution lack the horsepower, emotional intelligence, resilience, and industry savvy to navigate this landscape? You're building on sand. The smaller the team, the more each person multiplies or divides your odds of success. Choose like everything depends on it. 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀. #startups #medtechinnovation #orthopreneur Orthopedics This Week MSK Innovations

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When $298M flows to diagnostics and AI, the message is clear: episodic care is out, continuous insight is in. Function Health’s $298M round at a $2.5B valuation is not just a big funding round. It is a signal. Health solutions are moving from “nice-to-have” to core infrastructure. Labs, imaging, wearables, and now AI coaching-Function’s Medical Intelligence Lab brings them together as one system. This is the next chapter in health. No more single-use gadgets or apps you forget after a month. Function Health scaled to 50 million tests by focusing on subscription, not one-off sales. Retention matters. - Data from millions of tests builds a real-time map of health, not a snapshot. - You see your health as a living process - this model will shape the future. The winners will not be those with the flashiest tech. They will be the ones who deliver true value. ROI is now the key question. When companies reach billion-dollar valuations, everyone asks: what outcomes do you deliver? Proof matters more than promises. As a health futurist, I see this shift every day. Prevention is no longer a side project. It is now the main event. Function is teaming up with Equinox, pro sports, and health insiders. They want to build a Personal Health OS-labs, imaging, wearables, and AI in one place. This is the arms race for intelligent prevention. Big labs like Quest and Labcorp are powering the foundation. Continuous health insight replaces episodic care. I see this as the blueprint for the next decade. If you are building or investing in health tech: - Focus on outcomes. - Build for long-term engagement. - Prove your value with real data. Wellness is evolving fast. Let’s make sure we build health that lasts. Picture Source: Function Health and Popsugar

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In this video, Prof. John Skinner dives into how AI is reshaping decision-making in orthopedics—from evaluating ligament quality to planning surgeries with precision. It’s transforming how we analyze X-rays, manage surgical scheduling, and predict outcomes. Prof. Skinner showcases how AI can optimize every stage of patient care. #MicroPortOrtho #MedialPivot #TKA #AI #Orthopedics #GMPS2024

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Doximity just bought Pathway for $63M and its stock rose ~6% after beating Q1’26 estimates. Doximity powers the daily workflow of 80%+ of U.S. physicians, covering scheduling, secure communication and patient engagement. Pathway is an AI-powered clinical reference tool with one of the largest structured medical datasets. Doctors use it to make quick, evidence-based decisions at the point of care. Doximity + Pathway: 1. Completes the loop: Doximity already powers scheduling (Amion), communication (Dialer voice/video/text), digital fax and clinical support (Doximity GPT). Pathway adds real-time decision support into that flow. 2. Workflow depth: A physician can now schedule, consult, communicate and reference the latest guidelines, all on Doximity. 3. AI scale: Pathway’s dataset gives Doximity more fuel for its AI products, complementing the free scribe they just rolled out. This acquisition signals Doximity’s intent: moving from a network + utility tools into the workflow backbone for clinicians.

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Health-tech founders love the extremes They either talk about futuristic AI, or clinical trials But the real battlefield lies in the middle: implementation Most products don’t fail in the lab They fail in hospitals, when real doctors and real patients start using them. Why? → Data isn’t clean or connected → Staff training takes time → Compliance and IT approvals drag for months Innovation doesn’t die in design It dies in deployment Founders build tools that look brilliant on pitch decks, But crumble in messy, high-stakes environments If your product can’t survive the chaos of a Monday morning OPD, It won’t scale, no matter how good your algorithm is The startups that win? → Co-build with clinicians → Pilot in real hospitals, not just sandboxes → Design for the “missing middle” the humans who actually use it. Healthcare doesn’t need more vision. It needs execution that survives the real world. _______ ♻ If this resonates, share this post. It might just push someone to take action, And protect patients for good. Follow Vibha Jain for more on healthcare. I advise health-tech founders on growth, strategy, and systems that scale. Drop a DM to explore how I can help.

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A hospital CEO asked me recently: “AR Days dropped by 3. So why didn’t my total AR shrink at the same scale? I see improvement, but it doesn’t match a 3-day drop.” Here’s the truth. AR Days tell you how fast the system is moving. Total AR tells you how much backlog still exists. When we entered, the historical AR hadn’t been actively worked for a long time. So the first visible win was improving cycle-time on new claims, that’s where the 3-day drop came from. But older buckets don’t disappear overnight. They need deep, sustained clean-up work. It’s like getting traffic moving at the front of a highway, while miles of cars are still stuck behind. The flow improves instantly, but the full clearing takes time. That’s exactly what’s happening here: New claims are moving faster Legacy AR is still heavy New charges offset some of the gains The velocity shift shows up before the full dollar impact The good news: When speed improves first, dollar recovery follows. That’s the phase we’re in now, tightening the process, attacking the older buckets, and turning the AR Days win into a true AR reduction story. Real change starts with momentum. Now the deeper improvement begins. When both align, you see AR Days fall and total AR shrink in tandem that’s when cash flow really transforms. If you’re seeing the same trend in your organization, let’s talk. There’s always a root cause, and the story usually sits in the age buckets.

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💡 𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗺𝗯𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗜 ? A new bipartisan bill (S.1399, the Health Tech Investment Act) would create a dedicated Medicare pathway for FDA‑cleared AI devices: - Automatic Category III NTAPC codes valid for 5 years - Payments based on the manufacturer’s cost estimate - Smoother transition to permanent CPT codes Backed by GE HealthCare, Siemens Healthineers, the proposal could finally solve the “great technology, no reimbursement” dilemma that slows AI adoption. Still early days, but encouraging to see Congress address the business model behind clinical AI. Full story via Brian Casey / The Imaging Wire Wire 👉 https://lnkd.in/eRrdMeT3 #MedicalAI #AI #Radiology #HealthPolicy

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A published poet built a $12 billion healthcare AI company. And he made it free for every doctor. Daniel Nadler First, he built Kensho Technologies — an AI for Wall Street. S&P Global acquired it for $550M. Then he turned to medicine, where doctors are drowning in 4,000 new papers published every day. With co-founder Zachary Ziegler, he built OpenEvidence — an AI trained exclusively on peer-reviewed medical literature. Every answer comes with citations. If the evidence is unclear, it says "I don't know." The numbers speak for themselves: → 400,000+ physicians (~40% of US doctors) → 10,000+ hospitals → 30x growth in 12 months → First AI to score 100% on the US medical licensing exam → Partnerships with NEJM and NCCN → Now valued at $12 billion And the product is completely free for doctors. Sequoia Capital, GV (Google Ventures), and Kleiner Perkins all backed this vision. Pat Grady at Sequoia called it "the AI platform for healthcare." Osama Hyder and I broke down the full OpenEvidence story on the Delta: HealthTech Innovators — from Daniel's childhood in Toronto to the $12B valuation. 🎧 Full episode in the commetns: 🏷️ Daniel Nadler | Zachary Ziegler | Pat Grady | OpenEvidence | Sequoia Capital | GV | Kleiner Perkins | S&P Global | Mayo Clinic | NEJM Group | #HealthTech #MedicalAI #OpenEvidence #AIinHealthcare #DigitalHealth #StartupStory #DeltaHealthTech #FutureOfMedicine

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VerAvanti Inc. just crossed 100 sites worldwide requesting evaluation units. The pattern is crystal clear: → EuroCTO: 21 interventionalists wanted units immediately → Private demos: "When can I get this?" → CTO expert with 20 years of experience: "This is what we've been missing" 100 interventionalist and researchers don't request evaluation units for incremental improvements. They request them when they see the end of navigating blind through CTOs. When they see procedures dropping from 3 hours to 45 minutes. When they see their radiation exposure disappearing. One Belgium interventionalist captured it perfectly: "IVUS shows me where I am. OCT shows me the wall. But SFE shows me where I'm going." That's 100 physicians ready to stop accepting 30% CTO failure rates. 100 physicians who understand forward vision changes everything. 100 physicians who want to see their grandchildren grow up instead of getting brain cancer from radiation. From sketching micro-electronics and fiber optics in a research lab to crossing this milestone - every late night, every rejected pitch, every "that's impossible" led to this moment. The market has spoken. Forward vision isn't the future anymore. It's what 100 physicians are demanding today. Your intravascular eyes are coming. #MedTech #Innovation #VerAvanti #SFE

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