Sean K Mehra

It takes a village to build an innovation-driven company. In the early days of Scalpel AI, everything felt like a 100% risk with very little proof. In Healthtech, you’re not just building tech, you’re proving that what you’re doing matters to clinicians, patients, and the overall economy. And in markets like the UK and Europe, where commercial traction with the NHS is harder to come by early on, this risk feels even more pronounced. That’s why non-dilutive funding can make or break you. We’re incredibly grateful to Innovate UK and NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) for stepping in when our idea had more ambition and vision than evidence. Their belief in our R&D efforts gave us not just capital, but breathing room to explore, test, and fail forward. We experimented with everything from cameras, sensors, voice assistants in the OR, SPDs, and Supply Chain. We performed security assessments, data quality assessments, clinical evidence generation, and gathered patient feedback before landing on what Scalpel AI is today. Alongside our first believers at Deep Science Ventures, government-backed innovation grants and Innovation Loans became the backbone of our early journey. They didn’t just fund us—they signaled to private investors that this was something worth backing. That signal mattered. A lot. And these programs offer more than money. Access to advisors, events, validation platforms, and a whole community of builders makes a difference that most people don’t see from the outside. Looking back, I sometimes wonder: without this kind of government support, would we have been able to build Scalpel at all? We’re one of many examples showing that UK innovation funding is not just helpful, it’s essential. Thank you, Innovate UK and NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research).

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It had to be said! 🎯 Epic's stranglehold on healthcare IT has stifled innovation for too long and the writing is on the wall. The consolidation myth needs to die already. We were promised efficiency and lower costs, but what we got was bloated bureaucracies that prioritize profits over patients. The data doesn't lie: smaller, agile providers consistently outperform these healthcare monopolies on both outcomes and patient satisfaction. Time for a major reset in how we think about healthcare delivery.

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I was so glad to participate in this insightful study with Kyra Gardner and Andy Wang as part of their program at Columbia led by Halle Tecco, MPH, MBA. I do believe AI will massively accelerate healthcare innovation, but right now it is stuck in a hype cycle and much of the early AI applications in healthcare just seem to be making the status quo more efficient rather than really transforming the system. We will get there....but there will be bumps and bruises along the way.

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The biggest barrier to innovation in healthcare isn’t technology. Healthcare systems today are surrounded by promising startups. Yet many still struggle to work with them. Across the health innovation ecosystem, the same pattern keeps appearing. The bottleneck isn’t capital. And it isn’t even technology. It’s the internal infrastructure required to engage with innovation. Research from Rock Health shows that many digital health solutions remain stuck in pilot phases, as health systems struggle to scale external innovation. Many startups encounter what industry leaders call “pilot purgatory”: solutions are tested, sometimes successfully, but rarely scaled across the organization. At the same time, a Health Tech Alliance (2025) report highlights that complex procurement processes and fragmented decision-making remain major barriers to adopting new health technologies. In practice, a single procurement cycle at a large hospital or pharma company can easily outlast a startup’s runway. By the time IT, legal, compliance, finance, and clinical teams align, the startup may have already pivoted, raised funding under new terms, or shut down. The result? Healthcare organizations invest heavily in innovation, but too many initiatives fail. Not because the solutions are weak. But because the system isn’t designed to absorb external innovation. The leading organizations will be the ones building the internal capability to identify, test, and scale external innovatio. At the speed startups actually operate. This is not primarily a technology problem. It’s a leadership, governance, and organizational design challenge. 📖 Sources • Rock Health — Digital Health Market research - 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eeFaMARe • MIT–Roche Report on Digital Health Adoption 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eqyiUjZy • Health Tech Alliance — Procurement Barriers to Health Technology Adoption (2025) - 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eHAN7Cqb #HealthInnovation #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #FutureOfHealthcare

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Hippocratic AI, Commure, Nabla, Tandem... AI agents are now scaling… And outpatient care needs a tech upgrade. Otherwise, agentic AI will just be a painkiller on a broken leg.   I wrote down a few additional thoughts:   1️⃣ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐄𝐇𝐑/𝐄𝐌𝐑 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 In one of my earlier posts, I made a comparison with FinTech, where traditional banks were "unbundled" into focused, specialized services:   B2C Payments → PayPal B2B Payments → Stripe Banking → Revolut Lending → Klarna Investing → Robinhood ...and so on.   We’re seeing the same thing with EHR/EMR systems in outpatient care.   Vertical AI agents (like medical scribes, decision support, billing tools, or agentic outpatient systems) are solving specific problems much better than legacy systems.   2️⃣ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 One-third of GPs (typically covering 40% of practices) are set to retire within 5 years (in Germany).   They’ll be replaced by a younger generation of doctors who prefer to work in modern, tech-enabled practices.   The share of employed physicians (vs. resident/self-employed) has already jumped from 5% to 20% over the past 15+ years (in Germany).   The practices that win will be those that attract this new generation, by offering cutting-edge tech and keeping admin work to a minimum.   This will only speed up the move away from legacy systems.   3️⃣ 𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐧? 𝐀𝐈-𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 … 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 Point solutions (these vertical #AI agents) need to be “rebundled” into platforms.   That’s what AI-native operating systems like ETERNO are doing.   But it’s not just about integration.   These operating systems also curate the right tools and give them market access, both technically (via APIs and architecture) and commercially (through distribution and go-to-market support).   4️⃣ 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠... I speak weekly with private equity firms about the #outpatient care software space in Germany and across Europe.   Everyone feels this is a turning point.   CVC went for the incumbent CompuGroup, acquiring 28%.... but it was their distressed assets team that made the move: that says a lot.   Meanwhile, 20% of outpatient practices in Germany (and growing) are already PE-owned.   For private equity, building this new AI-driven tech stack in outpatient care is the next frontier for value creation. -------- Follow HGM Advisory for daily reposts of the most relevant #healthtech news. #agentic #healthcare

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Healthcare moves fast when the pain is obvious. EHRs took seven years with incentives while ambient scribes scaled in two years without subsidies. Providers and payers are building AI labs, which turns the buyer into a builder. Startups win by owning the workflow, delivering turnkey integration, proving ROI fast, and co developing with internal teams. Sell to the C suite, price on outcomes, and show repeatable production rather than pilots that never end. https://lnkd.in/gYxYDnBe

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The clinical AI market has raised $2.1 billion to address a critical issue: documentation. Each year, 12 million diagnostic errors occur, and clinicians often spend more time navigating electronic health records (EHR) than interacting with patients. The solution: Integrates text, voice, clinical file uploads, and diagnostic reasoning within a single workspace. BulletTrain's 360° Care Assistant is designed for the next phase beyond the ambient scribe, focusing on AI that supports clinicians' thought processes rather than merely transcribing. It features: - Quadrimodal input - Dual-agent diagnostic reasoning - Governance by auditable policy engines - Testing across 1,000+ clinical scenarios Check out our new blog: "The Clinician's Blind Spot," which explores the architecture, competitive landscape, and the existing gaps in the market. https://lnkd.in/dhKTQbMs #HealthcareAI #ClinicalAI #BulletTrain #SymphonixHealth #DigitalHealth #FHIR #Interoperability #EnterpriseArchitecture #Health Information Exchange (HIE)

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What makes a healthcare startup truly "venture-backable" in the age of AI? I recently sat down with Abhinav Balu on the Kellogg Healthcape podcast (link in the comments) to stress-test the realities of building in healthcare. We didn't just talk about the hype; we broke down the mechanics of how the asset class is shifting. In this episode, we unpacked three core frameworks for where the industry is heading: 1️⃣ The Unit Economics Shift: AI is making what was recently uninvestable, investable again. By taking labor out of the equation for care coordination and admin workflows, we are seeing gross margins climb from that 35% range up to 60-70%. We are finally moving back toward true software margins in care delivery. 2️⃣ The First-Check Advantage: Early-stage startups are "fragile organisms." If you drop them into a massive incumbent without protection, they suffocate. We discussed how the founders we back can partner with organizations like Cedars-Sinai from day one—creating alignment on the cap table so the health system isn't just a vendor, but a partner. That's the leverage that comes from having the right institutional capital at the earliest stages. 3️⃣ Custom on the Edges, Scalable at the Core: There is a dangerous trap in building too close to a single partner: you end up with a solution so specific that it becomes a consulting project, not a product. We talked about how founders can ensure their solutions are "custom on the edges" for workflow integration but scalable in their fundamental architecture. Building in healthcare is hard and not for the faint of heart. It requires audacious founders. But if we back the right people and support them in every step of their journey, I think the next several years are going to be awesome. Thanks to Abhi and the Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management and the Kellogg Healthcare Club team for the sharp questions. #HealthTech #VentureCapital #AI Redesign Health

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KLAS Research recently evaluated Suki's ambient clinical AI and published a detailed report. KLAS evaluated real-world deployments of Suki’s ambient documentation across three large Epic health systems: FMOL Health, McLeod Health, and Rush University System for Health. Highlighted results: • ~27% reduction in documentation time, translating to ~3.6 hours saved per provider per month • ~$1,000+ in additional revenue per provider per month driven by improved E/M coding capture • ~$862 added revenue per user per month at another system from more complete documentation • 21% reduction in time spent on notes • 43% reduction in notes remaining open after seven days These numbers reflect gains across clinician productivity, chart closure, and revenue capture, measured using production EHR data rather than pilot metrics. This kind of validation signals where the market is heading. AI solutions are increasingly being judged on quantified time savings, financial impact and durability at scale. #AIinhealthcare #KLAS

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Thank you, Mary Ann Azevedo, for including Honey Health in your great rollup of Healthcare AI trends and funding on Crunchbase. "It’s clear that the overall AI investment boom has funneled more capital into healthcare as one of the sectors where AI can have a large, measurable impact. Funding is climbing because the technology is better, the need in healthcare is urgent, more providers are starting to adopt AI solutions, and investors are now seeing clearer paths to scale and profit." https://lnkd.in/gj3wHvd7

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It’s incredible that ChatGPT for Health will revolutionize patient access to health insights… BUT I worry about the shift from insights to AI self-diagnosis - and the downstream healthcare costs that will be borne by society. Look, I'm a pro-AI tech startup founder. I use AI daily to solve critical problems in my business. I too consult AI for areas outside my personal expertise. But here’s the difference: if AI gives me bad business advice (which it confidently is prone to do on occasion), I will bear the brunt of that cost. If I get bad corporate legal advice from AI that would otherwise have been caught by a reasonable lawyer, and I choose to follow it, it’s my business that goes under. Society doesn’t pay for that with their tax dollars or their lives. In Healthcare, however, those “costs” are borne by all of society. If a patient uses ChatGPT for Health to self-diagnose (I know they say it’s not meant for that, but c’mon, it’ll happen), it’s going to report a wide range of possibilities - some likely, some not. While someone clinically trained like myself has the judgment to filter through the noise, the average patient won’t have that skillset. With the convenience of AI self-diagnosis, we will see a surge in unnecessary tests, appointments, ER visits and procedures. This doesn’t just potentially harm the patient, but it creates downstream harm to acutely sick patients who will face delays in care. Because with AI self-diagnosis, we will see dramatically increased demand for care while supply remains finite. We’ve discussed this very same concern with the growth of full body MRI startups - except that with those companies, demand was bottlenecked by wealth (i.e. only affluent folks would pay $2,500 out of pocket for a full-body MRI). But as AI like ChatGPT is close to free and universally accessible, these downstream consequences go up 1000x. AI for consumers isn’t designed to think about society. It’ll do whatever the consumer wants. Whereas clinicians, administrators and policymakers work to be stewards of limited healthcare resources. They think about cost-benefit at a population level. They realize we can’t afford to chase every unlikely diagnosis. AI can aggregate your personal health data, analyze your test results, interpret medical images and suggest treatments for infinity… BUT what good is that, if for actual care delivery, the resources - the beds, ERs, nurses, doctors - are all constrained? If we can’t stop the AI self-diagnosis train (and I don’t think we can), then the impetus is on clinicians to ensure we have a hand in designing purpose-built clinical AI that patients will use instead - so that we can help ensure AI can be an ally for sustainable care delivery, rather than a machine for churning out "what-ifs" that break the system.

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2025: The State of AI in Healthcare — and Why We Built Cara Menlo Ventures’ new “State of AI in Healthcare” report couldn’t be more on point: AI adoption in health systems has exploded, but the biggest gains so far come from fixing operations, not replacing clinicians. That’s exactly why we built Cara: for every patient touchpoint and for clinical operations behind the scenes. Most “AI in healthcare” tools focus on one slice — intake, notes, triage, or follow-up. But the real problem isn’t the slice, it’s the fragmentation. Every handoff between systems or staff is friction, lost data, or missed opportunity to care. Cara connects those dots -> from patient discovery to scheduling, intake, labs, pharmacy, and follow-up, while automating the ops layer that burns out teams. My 2 cents as a technical cofounder: Healthcare doesn’t need more single point solutions. It needs workflow intelligence that’s safe, explainable, and embedded where care actually happens. That’s what we’re building: One connected AI layer that helps every patient, every time. #AI #HealthcareInnovation #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #GenerativeAI

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I haven't seen tech adoption like this in healthcare since the move to EHRs in the mid-2000s. AI is clearly a transformational "ingredient technology" (shout out Shawn Carolan!) that will reshape how much of our economy works. 700+ executives have spoken and healthcare is leading the charge - a sector that was once seen as a tech laggard is now pioneering AI deployment. At Menlo Ventures we expect this to be a catalyst to change a system that was in deep need of a transformation. https://lnkd.in/gF43EYyj CC: Greg Yap, Derek Xiao, Johnny Hu, Croom Beatty

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Three weeks ago I launched Healthcare M&AI with zero subscribers and a thesis. Here's where things stand: Nearly 100 newsletter subscribers. PE partners and principals. Investment bankers running buy-side and sell-side mandates. Corporate development leaders at PE-backed platforms and health systems. Health tech executives. 60%+ open rates across all newsletters. My most recent issue hit nearly 70%. Discovery calls booked back-to-back for three straight weeks with fund managers at $500M+ funds, vice presidents at Big Four advisory, and senior corp dev professionals at PE-backed platforms. I've never been more certain I'm building the right thing at the right time. The inbound demand is real. The conversations I'm having every day confirm it. The need exists. The timing is now. I'm going to be real with you: the first three weeks have not been smooth. I've fumbled pitches on calls with people I respect. I've volunteered too much information in meetings I wasn't prepared for. I've learned the hard way what "solo founder risk" actually means when you're running sales, delivery, content, legal, and operations all at once. I'll be sharing more of these lessons in the coming weeks. Starting this week, I'm expanding the newsletter to cover four areas: 1. Healthcare M&A market intelligence 2. AI-powered deal workflows 3. Deal execution insights from the operator seat 4. The raw, unfiltered founder journey If you're in healthcare M&A, corporate development, or PE and you want to see how AI is reshaping deal execution in real time, the newsletter is where it all lives. Link in comments.

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What if a merger wasn’t a finish line but a launchpad? In an insightful piece by Harvard Business Review, the CEO of Advocate Health outlines how scale, strategy, & partnerships are redefining healthcare innovation. Here are three key take-aways worth sharing: ✅ By bringing together two major health systems to create Advocate Health, leadership didn’t stop at consolidation—they used their 69 hospitals and 1,000 care sites as a “living laboratory” for transformation. ✅ Innovation for them isn’t about tech alone—it’s about who you co-build with. They’re rejecting passive vendor relationships in favor of deep partnerships where companies “design, iterate and build” alongside them. ✅ Purpose and equity are embedded in the strategy. The organization is leveraging its platform not just to experiment, but to extend specialist access into rural communities and build an AI-enabled “hospital room of the future.” If your organization is looking to scale innovation, the Harvard Business Review sets a clear reminder: it’s not enough to adopt technology—you must embed it into ecosystems of purpose, partnerships and people. #HealthcareLeadership #Partnerships #HealthcareInnovation #Business

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Premiering now on the Digital Health Heavyweights Podcast I have a conversation with the co founder and CEO of Bonfire Analytics Vinay Nagaraj! One great moment was when Vinay says that while business moves at the speed of trust, so does sales. I could not agree more. It requires a huge level of authenticity, being able to connect with a person, as a person. Building deeper relationships. There is a lot to learn on this weeks episode. Vinay shares his journey from biomedical engineering to healthcare sales, discussing the challenges and successes he faced while scaling revenue at Roundtrip. He emphasizes the importance of authentic relationships in sales, the role of data in healthcare, and the key traits he looks for in salespeople. Vinay also discusses the inspiration behind Bonfire Analytics, its mission to accelerate healthcare technology adoption, and the common mistakes healthcare companies make in sales. He provides insights into market opportunities, the importance of making data actionable, and offers advice for founders seeking funding. I always love asking my guests the 3 things they look for when hiring for sales roles, Vinay shares three traits he likes to seek out: 1. Hunger to LEARN, someone always focusing on learning, growing, improving themselves personally, and professionally. 2. Taking Initiative- startups are all the hats, building the plane while you're flying it. So if you see a process that needs fixing, fix it. 3. Strong Communicators- communications that is clear, direct, and easy to understand. I would add radical transparency to this list, but I did only give him 3 traits to distill. Check in to learn if you're a vitamin, or a pain killer, emerging markets, and of course all about Bonfire's impact, and goals, and more! Check out our key takeaways: 🎯 Salespeople should focus on understanding customer pain points to be effective. 📊 Bonfire Analytics aims to provide actionable insights to healthcare companies to improve sales efficiency. 🌍 Vinay's global upbringing fostered adaptability and resilience, essential traits for a startup founder. 🏥 Healthcare companies often make the mistake of relying too heavily on large health systems for sales. 🔑 Data must be actionable; Bonfire helps clients leverage data effectively for their sales strategies. Check it all out here: https://lnkd.in/dnvucCrF

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Big step forward—congrats to the team. This is exactly the kind of signal that the market (and policymakers) are ready for a more connected, patient-facing model. Bringing dental into the broader health ecosystem has been a blind spot for a long time, despite how critical oral health is to overall outcomes. The combination of conversational AI + real-world access + cost transparency is where things start to get very interesting—not just for engagement, but for actually changing behavior and improving prevention. Excited to see how KELLS helps push this forward within the CMS ecosystem.

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Introducing the Health Innovation Strategy Framework After two decades of building health startups, advising Fortune 500 life sciences firms, and designing care delivery programs at scale—I've distilled what works (and what fails) in transforming healthcare. 💡 That’s why I created the Health Innovation Strategy Framework—a blueprint to help healthcare leaders and organizations move beyond the buzzwords and into measurable outcomes. This framework is designed for: Health tech founders navigating go-to-market chaos Provider groups launching digital-first services Employers, payers & PBMs aiming to improve access, cost & experience Investors evaluating scalable models in a complex care ecosystem Organizations looking for the next best health innovation to partner, adopt or acquire 📊 Core pillars: •Innovation Culture and Infrastructure •Partnership Readiness •Product-Market Fit in Healthcare •Regulatory & Payer Navigation •Clinical Workflow Alignment •Patient Engagement •Sustainable Growth Strategy Here’s a quick look ⬇️ I’ll be diving into each of these in subsequent posts. 🔍 Want to see how this applies to your organization? 📬 DM me or contact me directly for a custom Innovation Readiness Assessment. Let’s build smarter, faster, and with real impact. #HealthcareInnovation #HealthTech #PartnershipStrategy #DigitalHealth #GoToMarket #ValueBasedCare #HealthEquity #LifeSciences #StrategicGrowth #HealthStrategy

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Build for the 3 Waves of Innovation in Healthcare Healthcare is poised for a dramatic shift. It's not just incremental change; we're talking about a fundamental rewrite driven by three converging waves of innovation. Imagine the landscape of healthcare being completely reshaped, leaving no aspect untouched. This isn’t a gradual evolution; it's a rapid transformation. The 3 Waves of Innovation AI is accelerating everything from diagnostics to personalized treatment plans at an unprecedented pace. It's like having a supercharged research and development team at your fingertips. Simultaneously, Web3 is laying the groundwork for secure, decentralized data, effectively putting patient records back into the hands of the individual, much like how you built your businesses by empowering your teams. Finally, Biotech is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in human health, from gene editing to regenerative medicine. This convergence isn’t just adding up; it’s multiplying, creating a new paradigm for healthcare delivery. It's akin to identifying and capitalizing on a market disruption before anyone else. Healthcare access will be redefined, with remote diagnostics and personalized medicine reaching underserved populations. Professionals will evolve, with AI handling routine tasks, allowing them to focus on complex cases. Data-driven decisions will become the norm, with predictive analytics anticipating health crises before they occur. Picture a world where healthcare is proactive, not reactive. It's like moving from reactive problem-solving to proactive strategic planning, a skill you’ve honed over your career. A Builder’s Market We're moving beyond the Information Age, where data was king. Now, intelligence is the driving force. This shift will democratize knowledge and empower individuals and small teams to innovate, much like your own journey in building successful businesses. Millennials, with their unique perspectives, will lead this transformation, shaping healthcare for generations to come. This transition will be dynamic, and we need to be prepared. Elevate Health 2050 is designed to help navigate this change, providing the insights and connections needed to capitalize on these emerging trends. It's about staying ahead of the curve, something you understand well. How will these three waves of innovation impact your role in healthcare? What opportunities do you see emerging? Join the conversation and explore the possibilities of the Intelligence Age at the Elevate Health 2050 substack: https://bit.ly/4efm4BE Let's discuss and learn together. Join our community and discover how to leverage these innovations.

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