Improving Healthcare Finance

Turns out the best investment opportunities in healthcare are hiding in nausea, gallstones, and constipation. In recent conversations with several large healthcare private equity funds, the consensus is clear: GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro are not just transforming obesity care. They are quietly creating a secondary gold rush in treating the side effects of weight loss. And it is not small. More than 6 million Americans are already on GLP-1s. Global GLP-1 sales are expected to exceed 130 billion dollars annually by 2030. Up to 40 percent of patients experience significant gastrointestinal side effects. Around 5 to 7 percent end up with gallbladder complications. Sarcopenia is now a real concern. Mental health utilization among GLP-1 users is rising by nearly 20 percent. Fertility clinics are seeing double-digit growth from GLP-1-related cases. So while everyone is applauding the miracle of weight loss, the savviest investors are looking at the flip side. They are rolling up GI clinics, expanding ASC platforms with cholecystectomy capacity, funding digital fitness and nutrition programs to fight muscle loss, backing behavioral health services for body image and binge relapse, and building analytics tools to help payers track it all. It is not just a new drug. It is a new healthcare economy. I have unpacked this trend in detail in my latest white paper: a playbook for investing around the GLP-1 explosion by targeting the ripple effects no one is talking about. Because in healthcare, what goes down (appetite) must come up (utilization of something else). #PrivateEquity #Healthcare #GLP1 #OzempicEconomy #HealthTech #DigitalHealth #VentureCapital #ObesityCare #PEInvesting

As a physician and advocate, I've seen the stark realities of healthcare inequality up close. It's a multifaceted challenge, deeply rooted in socioeconomic disparities, systemic barriers, and historical injustices. Yet, it's not insurmountable. We have the tools, the knowledge, and the collective will to forge a more equitable future in healthcare. The path forward involves a holistic approach: 1️⃣Embrace Preventative Care: Early intervention can prevent conditions from escalating into serious diseases. Community-based health education and accessible preventative services are key. 2️⃣Expand Telehealth: Telehealth can transcend geographic and transportation barriers, making healthcare accessible for all, but we must ensure it's equitably deployed. 3️⃣Diversify the Healthcare Workforce: A workforce that reflects the diversity of the population it serves can improve patient outcomes and trust. 4️⃣Advocate for Policy Change: Systemic change is essential. We need policies that ensure universal healthcare access and tackle the social determinants of health. Change won't happen overnight, but each step brings us closer to a healthcare system defined by its inclusivity and equity. Let's work together to make healthcare a right, not a privilege. #HealthcareEquity #SystemicChange #PreventativeCare #Telehealth #DiversityInMedicine #PolicyChange

“I am going to kill a Black woman today.” 👆. I highly doubt that any doctor, nurse, or midwife wakes up thinking this. And yet, the data tells a different story. 👉. In the U.K., Black women and birthing people are 3 times more likely to die during pregnancy or within six weeks postpartum than White women. Asian women face 1.8 times the risk. 👉. In the U.S., Black women are 3.5 times more likely to die. Indigenous women face 2 to 3 times the risk. 👉. In Nigeria, maternal mortality stands at 576 per 100,000 live births—the fourth highest globally. Each year, 262,000 newborns die at birth, the second highest national toll worldwide. 👉. In Norway, immigrant women—especially from countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and in particular, Somalia—experience significantly higher rates of adverse maternal outcomes, even in low-risk settings. 👉. Across Europe, perinatal mortality is consistently higher for non-European migrants. This is not just a crisis. It is a pattern. A system functioning exactly as it was designed. So when Astrid Sundberg asked me on a panel (by Operation Smile Norge) what’s needed to shift health equity over the next 5–10 years and who’s responsible, my response was clear: Health Equity Requires More Than Access—It Requires Power Redistribution. 🔺. Four Critical Actions: 1️⃣ . Redesign Healthcare for Equity: Move beyond a one-size-fits-all model. Healthcare must be community-driven, culturally competent, and centered on prevention, not just treatment. Fund solutions co-created with those historically excluded. 2️⃣. Reform Funding & Policy Structures: Shift from short-term, reactive funding to sustained investment in public health, workforce diversity, and the social determinants of health. Policies must dismantle the economic inequities driving health disparities. 3️⃣. Reclaim Data & Narrative Power: Who collects, interprets and controls health data controls who gets prioritized. Decolonize research, center lived experiences, and redefine what "health outcomes" mean on our terms. 4️⃣. Enforce Accountability for Health Justice: Pledges are meaningless without enforcement. Governments, corporations, and institutions must be held to measurable commitments—not performative inclusion, but real shifts in power. ⭕. Who is Responsible? Everyone with power to shape outcomes. 👉. Governments must legislate systemic protections. 👉. The private sector must invest in ethical, inclusive healthcare innovation. 👉. Researchers & medical institutions must challenge biases in care and treatment. 👉. Communities most impacted must not just have a seat at the table—they must set the agenda. The real question isn’t just who is responsible—it’s who is willing to surrender power to create real change? ---- I finally had the honor of sharing the stage with the incredible Ishita Barua, MD PhD—She's absolutely phenomenal. Also on the panel were exceptional practitioners Lumbwe Chola, Jennifer Gilbertson, and Tish Gilbert.

What is HCA Healthcare doing in revenue cycle that’s driving 12% margins in a 2% industry? 📈 HCA - the 2nd largest health system in the country - just reported a 12% operating margin. 📉 Meanwhile - most hospitals are fighting to breakeven. On their latest earnings call, HCA didn’t claim they “solved” denials or removed payer pressures. In fact - they called out elevated denials and underpayments, especially with MA plans. In other words - HCA is not immune to the same pressures everyone else is facing. 👉 So what is HCA doing differently? 👈 🎯 They’ve turned rev cycle into a strategic driver of financial performance. Here’s CFO Mike Marks on their latest earnings call: “As you know, we've been working really hard over the last several years to strengthen our revenue cycle. We've added resources, technologies, and a lot of capabilities around dispute resolution to really go after the root cause of the denials. That work has continued to pay dividends.” I found 5 things HCA is doing, that might also help you increase margins: 1️⃣ Advanced denial management + dispute workflows Not just appealing more - but systematizing how to identify, prioritize, and resolve payer issues at scale 2️⃣ Deeper payer integration/connectivity Reducing manual touchpoints, accelerating issue resolution, and tightening the feedback loop between billing and payers 3️⃣ Advanced analytics on payer performance Using technology to more easily identify underpayment trends, denial patterns, and contract leakage in near real time 4️⃣ Relentless focus on cash realization We all know Cash is King - incentivize teams accordingly 5️⃣ Consistent investment in revenue cycle as a strategic function Not episodic fixes, but meaningful sustained multi-year infrastructure build For CFOs and revenue cycle leaders, the takeaway is clear: Revenue cycle isn’t just about managing downside. It’s one of the few remaining levers to actively defend - and expand - margin. *️⃣ Invest accordingly. *️⃣ What are you doing to protect margins right now: denial prevention, payer strategy, analytics, AI investments?

The Hospital Paradox: Why Indian Healthcare Giants Profit Despite Empty Beds A sector where patients are told “no beds available” while hospitals report just 65% occupancy. Sounds like inefficiency? It’s actually a strategy. And it’s reshaping Indian healthcare economics. ✅ The Hard Numbers: ARPOB is the Real Metric Even with empty beds, hospital chains are delivering record revenue per occupied bed (ARPOB): 1. Max Healthcare: Rs 78000/day 2. Fortis Healthcare: Rs 73000/day 3. Medanta: Rs 67000/day 4. Apollo Hospitals: Rs 62000/day That’s 15–20% YoY growth, despite flat occupancy. ✅ The Business Shift: From Volume to Value A) High-Margin Procedures First: Cardiac surgeries: Rs 3–15 lakh each, oncology cycles: Rs 2–20 lakh, organ transplants: Rs 8–25 lakh & complex neurosurgeries: Rs 5–18 lakh. One cardiac surgery = revenue of 50 general medicine admissions. B) Bed Mix Strategy: ICU beds: 25–30% of capacity (vs 15% norm), Super specialty wards: 40–45% & General wards: cut to 25–30%. ICU beds bring 3–5x more revenue than general beds. ✅ Ripple Effects Across Sectors A) Stocks: Apollo up 180% in 24 months, Max market cap jumped from Rs 8k cr to Rs 22k cr & Fortis revenue up 23% YoY. B) Insurance: Claims rose 31% in FY23, Avg claim: Rs 67k (up from Rs 45k), and premiums hiked 15–25% C) Medical Tourism: 12–15% of revenue from foreign patients, ARPOB for them: Rs 1.2 lakh/day. ✅ The Unseen Layer: Capacity Illusion A) Hospitals keep occupancy “low”: To handle emergency surges, maintain exclusivity, optimise staff for high-value units. B) Tech-Driven Pricing Power: Robotic surgeries: 40–60% premium, New imaging: 25% higher scan revenue & AI diagnostics: 20–30% fee premium. C) Two-Tier Model Emerging: Tier 1: Premium, complex, high-margin hospitals, and Tier 2: Volume-driven routine care providers. ✅ Metro vs Tier-2 Divide A) Metros: ARPOB Rs 65k–80k, 68–72% occupancy, 18–22% foreign patients. B) Tier-2: ARPOB Rs 35k–45k, 58–63% occupancy, domestic tourism focus. The Results A) Healthcare inflation: 12–15% annually, way above general inflation. B) Specialist premium: Salaries 200–300% higher than GPs, deepening talent gaps. C) Expansion paradox: Apollo alone added 1200 new premium beds in FY23, even with “empty” general ones This means more pending patients, longer waits for routine care, rising out-of-pocket bills & quality concentrated in urban hubs. Hospitals are now high-growth, not utilities & premium valuations are justified by margin gains. Let me share #Rajsperspectives 1. The healthcare model is shifting to profitability-first, accessibility-later. 2. Empty beds aren’t inefficiency; they’re deliberate capacity engineering. 3. ARPOB is the new heartbeat of Indian hospital economics. Can India balance profit-driven healthcare with the social responsibility of keeping essential services accessible? Do you think healthcare should follow market logic like any other business? #healthcare #india #economy #hospitals #policy #health

A healthcare CFO I deeply respect shared a set of lessons every revenue cycle leader should take to heart: 1️⃣ Documentation is strategy. In healthcare, payment, quality, and compliance all flow from clinical documentation. Treat it like a core operating system, not back-office paperwork. 2️⃣ Incentives and workflow must align. When clinicians have clear, in-workflow prompts and aligned incentives, documentation improves, so do quality measures and appropriate reimbursement. 3️⃣ Real-time beats retro. Support inside the encounter (not after-the-fact queries) reduces friction and improves accuracy, critical in a labor-constrained environment. 4️⃣ Minimize customization; maximize integration. Heavy EHR customization slows you down. Staying close to vendor “foundation” unlocks more functionality, faster. 5️⃣ Technology > temporary labor. Sustainable results come from end-to-end tech that surfaces the right decision at the right moment, not armies of manual reviewers. 6️⃣ This isn’t “coding for dollars” vs. “coding for quality.” Good documentation is a win-win: clearer clinical stories, stronger quality indicators, cleaner compliance, and appropriate revenue. 7️⃣ Measure what matters and publish the score. Track RAF, CMI, query rates, denials, and net revenue impact to drive behavior change. 8️⃣ Tooling gaps show up in outcomes. Teams on integrated platforms consistently achieve stronger CDI and risk capture than those without comparable tools. For CFOs, the playbook is straightforward: make CDI a strategic pillar, align incentives, keep the tech stack integrated, and push decision support into the workflow. That’s how mission and margin reinforce each other. Curious what’s actually moving the needle in your organization and what’s working (and what isn’t) to strengthen CDI? Let's chat!

Value creation in a private equity environment revolves around systematically enhancing a portfolio company’s performance to achieve strong returns at exit. In my recent role as Go-to-Market Advisor for a cutting-edge AI-led health tech startup in the UK at Series B, I developed a comprehensive commercial strategy that rapidly boosted recurring revenue by 30% within 12 months. A key breakthrough emerged when we discovered extended integration timelines were deterring smaller clinics and hospital networks from adopting our solution. By designing a flexible onboarding framework, we reduced implementation time by 40% and reinvested these savings into predictive analytics features—enabling clinicians to forecast patient needs and administrators to allocate resources more effectively. Here’s a concise six-step roadmap for delivering tangible results: 1. Due Diligence: Pinpoint growth levers and operational bottlenecks pre-acquisition. 2. 100-Day Plan: Establish quick wins—revamp pricing structures, refine workflows, and optimise early partnerships. 3. Organisational Excellence: Assess leadership, align incentives with performance outcomes, and foster a culture of continuous improvement. 4. Accelerated Growth: Perfect go-to-market strategies, drive product innovation, and explore targeted acquisitions or strategic alliances. 5. Ongoing Optimisation: Monitor KPIs rigorously, remain agile, and leverage real-time data insights to pivot swiftly. 6. Exit Preparation: Ensure robust financial reporting, demonstrate sustained operational gains, and plan a smooth transition for new owners. Throughout each phase, transparency and collaboration are vital. Regular, data-driven updates to board members, management teams, and front-line staff help secure buy-in and maintain accountability. Ultimately, true value creation goes beyond financial engineering. It’s about generating sustainable growth, driving innovation, strengthening the organisation’s culture, and positioning the business for long-term success. By following a deliberate plan and staying laser-focused on top-line expansion and bottom-line efficiency, we set the stage for a transformative exit that benefits stakeholders and the broader healthcare ecosystem alike.

The UK is home to world-class research and scientific talent – but we’re leaving huge untapped value on the table when it comes to healthcare innovation. Our new report shows that changing this could be transformative for both patient health outcomes and the economy. If the UK matched peers such as Denmark or the US in turning R&D excellence into commercial and clinical success, we could add £78 billion to GDP by 2030 – a 76% uplift on current projections. In some areas, such as health tech, even just matching peers with emerging sectors in this space, such as Italy and Spain, would see the UK unlock significant additional value. To show what’s at stake, we analysed four high-burden conditions – cardiometabolic disease, musculoskeletal disorders, mental health and cancer. Scaling proven innovations across these areas could generate £17 billion in annual workforce productivity gains and £3 billion in NHS savings every year. Importantly, unlocking this value is not about being ‘world leading’ or at the forefront of developing innovations; it is simply about scaling proven treatments, as other countries are already doing. At a time when we desperately need to drive economic growth and fiscal savings, this is relatively low-hanging fruit.   So, what’s holding the UK back? We identified four systemic barriers in healthcare innovation: 🔷 Limited workforce capacity and digital skills within the NHS 🔷 Fragmented and siloed data systems 🔷 Weak cross-sector collaboration 🔷 Regulation and policy that too often constrain rather than enable innovation. The report outlines three priorities for action to unlock innovation: 1️⃣ Strengthen the NHS as an innovation platform – with a clear national strategy, pathways to scale and investment in digital capability. 2️⃣ Facilitate cross-sector collaboration – connecting academia, industry and the NHS through coordinated hubs and partnerships. 3️⃣ Incentivise innovation – through smarter regulation, R&D tax credits and IP frameworks that reward impact. Delivering this vision will require collaboration between the NHS, government, regulators and industry – but the prize is clear: a stronger NHS, a more productive economy and better outcomes for millions of patients. Read the full report: https://lnkd.in/eEHky9Jc

Healthcare isn’t sexy. But in 2025, it’s quietly becoming the smartest play in Indian VC. India's VC funding grew 40% in Jan–Feb 2025, even as the global markets cooled. Within this surge, healthcare has emerged not just as a resilient sector but as one of the most strategically favoured verticals. This shift isn’t incidental. It’s being driven by a very real behavioural pivot. 1) Indian consumers, particularly in Tier 1 and urban Tier 2, are moving decisively from reactive to proactive healthcare. 2) There is growing willingness to pay for diagnostics, preventive care, and ongoing wellness services. Healthcare is no longer something to turn to in crisis — it's becoming a monthly subscription decision, a daily app notification, a data-driven lifestyle choice. On the delivery side, investors are moving away from capital-heavy multispecialty hospitals toward scalable, asset-light models. Single-specialty chains in categories like fertility, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, and dermatology are becoming favoured targets. They offer sharper operational visibility, lower complexity, and faster paths to profitability, all of which align perfectly with current VC risk appetite. Diagnostics, too, is undergoing a transformation with significant interest in digital-first, at-home, and B2B diagnostics platforms. When combined with health SaaS, workflow automation, and AI-enabled diagnostics, the thesis becomes not just consumer-facing health, but infra-first healthcare. Parallelly, India’s medtech and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors are benefiting from global realignment. As global players diversify away from China, India’s high-quality, low-cost base is becoming strategically important. Private equity interest is rising in CDMO platforms, API manufacturers, and device exporters. These businesses offer forex-linked revenue, regulatory clarity, and strong M&A appetite from strategic buyers. Across the board, the VC lens in 2025 is more thesis-led and less trend-driven. Investors are optimising for clear profitability paths, clean cap tables, recurring revenue models, and compliance hygiene. Healthtech models with real operating leverage are being favoured over B2C plays chasing vanity growth. In short, this is not a post-pandemic sector play. It’s a structural investment shift. Healthcare in India is maturing, in demand, delivery, and investor mindset. #100DaysLinkedIn #healthcare #VC