US healthcare has more unproductive labor and more unstructured data than any other industry, making it both vulnerable to disruption from generative AI and especially unprepared for it.

That’s the provocative thesis of Eric Larsen, president of TowerBrook. In this episode, he joins host Steve Kraus to explain why generative AI is unlike any other technology we've seen—and why the $4.9 trillion healthcare sector is uniquely exposed.

We cover:

🧠 What makes GenAI a true “general purpose technology”—and how it compares to past innovations like the microprocessor or the internet

🏥 Why healthcare has failed to adopt past tech shifts, and why this time could be different

🔐 The role of the “F-150”—the 150 leaders who effectively control the US healthcare system

🤝 Whether incumbents or insurgents will win the AI race in healthcare

📉 Why GenAI will reduce labor costs and what that means for health systems that spend over half their budgets on people

🌐 How China is sprinting ahead in deploying medical superintelligence

🧬 What a compressed century of biomedical discovery could look like—and why Larsen believes we’re approaching longevity escape velocity

—

About our guests:

Eric Jon Larsen is President of TowerBrook Advisors and a member of the healthcare leadership team at TowerBrook Capital Partners, a $30 billion AUM investment firm based in New York and London. TowerBrook invests across private equity, structured minority, and growth opportunities, with a strong focus on healthcare, partnering with health systems, payers, and other strategics. Notably, TowerBrook is the first mainstream private equity firm to achieve B Corp certification, reflecting its commitment to responsible business practices.

Eric is a nationally recognized healthcare strategist with a global advisory portfolio spanning CEOs and boards of leading healthcare organizations. He spent 25 years at The Advisory Board Company—five of those as President—advancing best practices in healthcare delivery worldwide. Following the firm's 2017 acquisition by Optum (UnitedHealth Group), Eric co-led strategic partnerships and market development efforts at UnitedHealth. He is also a Venture Partner at Thrive Capital and SignalFire, and serves on several digital health boards, including Somatus and Contessa Health. Beyond healthcare, Eric is active in the arts as Chairman of The Washington National Opera and trustee of The Washington Ballet. A Georgetown University graduate, he lives in Washington, D.C., and Miami with his wife and three children.

—

🙏 If you're enjoying the show, we would so appreciate it if you left us a review!

—

📍 Connect with us:

Heart of Healthcare website

LinkedIn

Instagram

TikTok

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Over 160 million Americans are served by Optum, yet many still don’t fully understand what it actually does—or why it matters.

Dr. Patrick Conway, newly appointed CEO of Optum and former head of CMS Innovation Center and Blue Cross NC, joins Steve for a wide-ranging discussion on the state of healthcare delivery, affordability, and the potential of value-based care at a national scale. With experience spanning the frontlines of medicine to top government and corporate leadership, Conway breaks down how Optum aims to improve care while controlling costs—and why he continues to practice as a pediatric hospitalist on weekends.

We cover:

💡 What Optum actually does—and how it operates across care delivery, pharmacy, and data

📉 How value-based care is being scaled, and why two-sided risk models matter

🧠 Using AI to reduce cycle times, drive affordability, and improve clinical decision-making

💊 What’s broken—and what’s working—in the U.S. pharmacy system

🧑‍⚕️ What leaders, policymakers, and physicians need to know to truly fix healthcare

🧵 How personal tragedy, frontline stories, and government service continue to shape Conway’s leadership today

—

About our guests:

Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, was named chief executive officer of Optum Rx in August 2023. In this role he leads an integrated pharmacy care services organization that is making drugs more affordable and creating a better experience for consumers, filling more than 1.5 billion adjusted retail, mail and specialty drug prescriptions annually. He joined Optum in February 2020 and

previously served as the chief executive officer of Care Solutions, where he led a portfolio of care continuum businesses serving over 70 million people across acute and post-acute care, care in the home in-person and virtually, mental and behavioral care benefits and delivery, broad population and complex disease health management, specialty care and government health services.

Dr. Conway was president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina from 2017-19. From 2011 to 2017, he served as Deputy Administrator for Innovation and Quality at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and as director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and the agency’s Chief Medical Officer. Before joining CMS, he oversaw clinical operations and quality improvement at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Dr. Conway is a practicing pediatric hospitalist. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2014, received the President’s Senior Executive Distinguished Service Award, and was a White House Fellow from 2007 to 2008. He earned his MD with high honors from Baylor College of Medicine, residency training at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Master of Science in clinical epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania.

—

🙏 If you're enjoying the show, we would so appreciate it if you left us a review!

—

📍 Connect with us:

Heart of Healthcare website

LinkedIn

Instagram

TikTok

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.