Hospitals' Historic Moment & the New Data Rules

03/14/20 • 19 min

This episode of 16 Minutes on the News covers the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' "historic rules" to provide patients more control of their data. They've been a long time coming, and despite recent fights over them, the final rules are now finally here as of this week.

So in this short but deep dive, a16z bio experts -- general partner Julie Yoo and Venkat Mocherla in market development (in conversation with Sonal Chokshi) -- go into:

0:47 how the rules fit into our healthcare system, especially with everything else going on right now in hospitals and beyond;
3:11-8:37 what the rules specifically are and why they matter;
6:21 concrete examples including why things like notifications are important;
8:42 implications for providers and payers, including examples such as prior authorization;
11:10 where privacy concerns do and don't come in, given how much information is contained in records;
13:40 implications for startups, tech incumbents, and traditional players in healthcare, and new types of data down the road; and
18:27 the bottomline.

So in this short but deep dive, a16z bio experts -- general partner Julie Yoo and Venkat Mocherla in market development (in conversation with Sonal Chokshi) -- go into:

0:47 how the rules fit into our healthcare system, especially with everything else going on right now in hospitals and beyond;
3:11-8:37 what the rules specifically are and why they matter;
6:21 concrete examples including why things like notifications are important;
8:42 implications for providers and payers, including examples such as prior authorization;
11:10 where privacy concerns do and don't come in, given how much information is contained in records;
13:40 implications for startups, tech incumbents, and traditional players in healthcare, and new types of data down the road; and
18:27 the bottomline.

Previous Episode

Gaming & Chrome OS/Steam; Going Cashless; Coronavirus Latest

This episode of 16 Minutes on the news covers:

Google could bring Steam support to Chrome OS, according to an earlier unconfirmed report, and what that could mean for the broader gaming ecosystem, developers as well as devices -- with a16z general partner Andrew Chen and Jonathan Lai on the consumer team;
New York restaurants and retail establishments can no longer reject cash payments under legislation that was passed by the City Council there; what this says about the banking system more broadly, why it's a regressive tax on the poor and therefore a progressive move -- at 8:57 with a16z general partner Alex Rampell on the fintech team;
updates on COVID-19 disease -- at 16:44 based on latest reports from WHO and CDC as of Friday March 6.

...with Sonal Chokshi.

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Next Episode

The Economic Virus - Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, and Small Business

The U.S. Federal Reserve recently made a range of moves -- from cutting interest rates to near zero (which it also did in the 2008 financial crisis) and using other tools -- to support "the flow of credit to households and businesses, thereby promote its maximum employment and price stability goals" during this current pandemic and public health crisis.

However... what does this mean for small businesses, which may be most impacted? What's the difference between monetary and fiscal policy here; where does rhetoric (such as around buybacks vs. dividends) confuse; how does adjudication and disbursement work... and where could technology come in?

In this short-but-deep dive episode of 16 Minutes on the News, a16z general partner on fintech Alex Rampell -- who also covered quantitative easing and more on a previous episode -- breaks it all down in 18 minutes, with useful analogies, in conversation with Sonal Chokshi. How do we stop not just the novel coronavirus, but the economic virus, too?

image: Edna Winti / Flickr