Nicole Scola

An MSO leader told me: 'We have fee-for-service, capitation, shared savings, and direct pay contracts. We have no idea which ones actually make money.' Sound familiar? Digital health companies scaling across markets often end up with a portfolio of payment models: Fee-for-service with traditional payers Value-based contracts with progressive ACOs Direct pay arrangements with self-insured employers Hybrid models with Medicaid managed care The successful ones? They track performance across ALL models: ✓ Margin analysis by contract type  ✓ Administrative burden per payment model  ✓ Cash flow predictability across payers  ✓ Scalability assessment for each arrangement Enabling doubling down on your most profitable contracts types and sunsetting the ones bleeding money. We want to get you paid consistently. Good growth means knowing which arrangements serve your mission and which just serve your ego.

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It is incredible what care.fi has built - an OS for healthcare players —unifying RCM, claims intelligence, and embedded finance into a single execution layer. Welcome to July Family, Care.fi

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Hardware in HealthTech Has Been Wrongly Dismissed Too many people point to Google pulling back from medical devices and say, “See, hardware doesn’t work.” That’s a lazy conclusion. What it actually proves is that big tech cannot navigate the adoption curve, regulatory cycles, or clinical workflow. The mistake is assuming that means the category doesn’t work. Look at the numbers: most of the venture dollars right now are flowing into AI-driven workflow, clinical software, and data platforms. But reality is that AI without hardware is just a theory. Devices are where you capture the data and deliver the therapy. Software can analyze, optimize, and monetize, but hardware is what makes the intervention real. At Respira Global Inc. and Invatio GmbH, I’m seeing this every day. Clinics are installing HypoxBreath® IHHT systems, pairing them with hBot, Red Light Therapy Beds, stem-cell protocols, peptides, and AI recovery analytics. The future isn’t AI or devices. It’s the integration of AI + hardware + infrastructure into full-stack, patient-facing systems. For family offices, fund managers, and credit providers who we advise, the takeaway is simple: don’t underwrite hype, underwrite the system. Look for defensible IP in devices, recurring SaaS or licensing layers, service contracts, and receivables. We’re already seeing medical software receivables packaged as an asset class where private credit is stepping in to finance growth without equity dilution. Google may have walked away. The real operators and VC dollars are leaning in. Full PitchBook Q2 2025 report here: https://lnkd.in/gm3EaiK4

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2026 Predictions: The Year Healthcare Finally Scales Modern Care Delivery I’m starting a new tradition this year: my predictions for 2026. 2026 will be the year health systems shift from projects to platforms, and the year we stop talking about “the future of care” and finally start operating in it. Here’s what I believe will reshape the industry: 1.             Virtual care becomes the default first touch. Health systems can’t hire their way out of shortages, but they can redesign workflows. Organizations that embrace hybrid bedside + virtual models will move faster and take pressure off their teams. 2.             AI moves from “insight” to “action.” The winners won’t be the ones with the most dashboards. They’ll be the ones who embed insights directly into workflow and use automation to remove the predictable work that drains capacity. 3.             The bedside and the OR go fully digital. Virtual presence and workflow intelligence converge into unified enterprise platforms. The line between “in the room” and “from anywhere” will fade for good. 4.             Workforce productivity becomes a board-level priority. Every strategic conversation will come back to the same question: Are we giving clinicians more time with patients, or taking it away?  The systems that protect nurses’ time will lead in satisfaction, outcomes, and economics. I’m excited for what’s ahead, and even more excited to help build the platforms that make this transformation real. At Vitalchat, we spent 2025 building the muscle for this moment. In 2026, we’re ready to help health systems turn these predictions into performance.

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Complex patient journeys in US made simpler by tech. It shouldn't be so complicated in the UK but still room for improvement "When he dug further, he learned that while one-third of Americans are referred for specialty care or some follow-up form of treatment every year, more than half of those never make it to the next step. The goal for Tennr was to create a system that would help decipher the convoluted web of paperwork to help automate the process, figuring out key details like eligibility, benefits, and payer rules." https://lnkd.in/euh3cpK6

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I don’t know about you, but I find much of the AI landscape a “fact free” zone. This is for real at Advent portfolio company Proximie….

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Great to have J. Thelander Consulting's private company compensation data featured in Halle Tecco, MPH, MBA and Carly Newhouse's latest article. CMOs are a hot job right now!

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Great time at the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference in London today discussing the future of healthcare and the impacts to M&A with Anastasya Molodykh (Cinven), Guy Blomfield (Affidea), Kevin O'Neill (GEHC), Maily Miglani (S&N) and moderator Anthony Bruce (PwC) 💡 US healthcare spend is $5t annually and expected to grow ~8% near term. While care delivery is siloed, patients are yearning for change that technology can and will enable. 📍 The moat is no longer the molecule or the machine, the future will be shaped by the ecosystem builders that turn lifespan patient data into durable clinical outcomes. 💵 M&A will be critical to unlock portfolio moves and fund frontier science to drive sustainable outcomes. Read our detailed perspectives here: https://lnkd.in/dPVdZGww Glenn Hunzinger, Greg Rotz, James Woods, Stephen Aherne, Jaymal Patel, Claude Fuhrer, Anthony Bruce, Bronwen Alexander, Nicholas Randel, Suzanne Ellis, Kevin Desai, Meghan Boudreau

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Healthcare isn’t evolving gradually anymore. It’s being forced forward. That was the consistent message from the 300+ CEOs and healthcare leaders we had the privilege of hosting at our Wing at JPM Summit. Following the event, my teammate, Ansuman Satpathy, and I put together a 2026 predictions survey to capture how leaders across pharma, providers, payors, regulators, technologists, and investors see the next phase of healthcare unfolding. 👉 The therapeutic modality predicted to have the most impact in the next 5 years? CELL AND GENE THERAPIES, voted #1 by a whopping 44% of leaders (small molecules only got 12% of the votes). Take note, early-stage investors! 👉 Drug development is accelerating, with leaders predicting a 52% INCREASE in FDA approvals over the next decade 👉 Cost pressure is intensifying, with a median 15% expected reduction in administrative costs from AI within three years What excited me most wasn’t just the numbers. It's the shared belief that this moment will unlock truly personalized medicine, better interventions earlier in the care journey, and real progress on access that goes far beyond prescriptions. This is no longer an experimentation phase. It’s an acceleration moment for healthcare and biotech. See how healthcare leaders are thinking about 2026 in the full survey: https://lnkd.in/gt3YREWk @Wing Venture Capital

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One of the primary metrics that venture firms and their LPs use to track fund performance is internal rate of return (IRR). This statistic shows the annualized percent return that a fund has already returned or expects to return. Across recent funds that have been in the market for at least five years, IRRs tend to be higher for the smaller funds than the $100 million-plus funds. For instance, in the 2017 vintage, median IRR among funds in the $1 million to $10 million interval is 13.8%, compared to 9.8% for funds larger than $100 million. The smaller funds also produce higher IRRs than the larger funds at the 25th percentile, the 75th percentile, and the 90th percentile. The same holds true across the 2018 and 2019 vintages, too. https://lnkd.in/em4mbbke

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Dutch Rojas and I built PhyCap Fund around this exact principle. As co-founders, we saw the same pattern from different angles: physicians create enormous healthcare value but capture almost none of the upside when innovations scale. Meanwhile, investors without clinical context fund solutions that look good in pitch decks but fail in deployment. 👉 We've reviewed 155+ deals together. The pattern is clear—companies that gain traction are built by founders who understand healthcare operations from the inside. Yet physician capital remains dramatically underrepresented in cap tables. "Clinical insight isn't advisory. It's foundational." This is why PhyCap Fund exists. My decades in the OR and boardroom, combined with Dutch's investment expertise, create the operator-investor bridge healthcare needs. We're not guessing at pain points. We've lived them. 🏥 If you're a physician who's ever thought "someone should build this" or "this existing solution misses the point"—that clinical instinct is exactly what Dutch is writing about. Worth the read 👇

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Excited to announce Underscore’s investment in Quilt Health, a company on a mission to accelerate access to transformative care for millions of people living with complex diseases. Today, Quilt also announced a significant partnership with the National Alliance of Sickle Cell Centers (NASCC) to bring forward a bold new future for people navigating complex conditions. Quilt co-founders Andy Ellner MD and Jazmine Coleman's bring the required industry and digital health startup experience needed to execute on their vision. Andy’s experience co-founding and building Firefly Health combined with Jazmine’s expertise across health plans, clinical development, and health equity will enable Quilt to effectively navigate critical problems and stakeholders. We’re proud to support Quilt as they work to bridge care and research in service of better outcomes alongside MaC Venture Capital with participation from Meridian Street Capital, BoxGroup, Watershed VC, and Coalition Operators.

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Alan - this was another great Inside Reproductive Health podcast with Griffin discussing the importance of re-focusing on the underlying economics of IVF to help lower cost to baby to increase affordability and expand access to many more with Bret, Heather and Shruti. Bret is on the money in saying "over the last decade or so, there has probably been a greater focus on the revenue side and less so on the cost side." I have seen the same issue in many high growth industries where true demand exceeds the capacity to serve, leading to a much higher price that balances supply with demand. It also leads to a greater focus on acquiring new customers than on retaining existing customers, who are churning out because their expectations were not properly set and met. Given the range of cycles needed to have a baby, you would expect more multi-cycle bundles being offered with better economics to retain patients until they achieve what they started the process of fertility treatment for - having a baby! Not only do few clinics understand their true activity-based economics to properly price multi-cycle bundles given the value of retention, few clinics also know what % of their patients churn out after a failed cycle.

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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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Healthcare doesn’t have a shortage of innovation. It has a challenge translating innovation into sustainable, operational value. A big part of the work we do at the Healthworx Accelerator is helping founders navigate that reality: aligning with real healthcare workflows, incentives, and ecosystem needs early on. I shared a few thoughts on the growing capital efficiency conversation in healthcare innovation in this op-ed for Healthcare Business Today.

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Martin Cech and I had a lot of fun chatting with Andie Steinberg and Andy Slavitt from Town Hall Ventures this morning about some of their policy-related predictions for 2026. Given the backdrop of the 2027 Advance Notice being released yesterday, we had some interesting discussions about the implications of that news on the stability of the MA program, the opportunity ahead for VBC, the path forward in Medicaid, and the use of AI in clinical care. On that last point, I thought it was really interesting to hear Andy close with this rebuttal of an article in The Guardian this weekend. The article made the case that we shouldn't use AI for low-income populations: https://lnkd.in/gNnkjYn5 🔗 Check out our full conversation with Andie and Andy here: https://lnkd.in/g5Vk9PKi

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Why differentiation will become the key phrase in HealthTech in 2026 https://lnkd.in/eFMvnc2B The healthtech market is moving quickly and past its "wild west" phase. The initial flood of innovation is giving way to a more disciplined and mature market where the ability to prove a unique, valuable and sustainable advantage is paramount. In this next phase of HealthTech's growth and maturation, differentiation will be the single most important factor for success in 2026 and beyond. 1. Market Saturation and Consolidation The healthtech landscape has seen a massive influx of companies, especially following the acceleration of digital health during the pandemic. However, the funding environment is now shifting from a "growth at all costs" mentality to a more disciplined one. 2. Shifting Demands of Healthcare Buyers Healthcare providers and systems are no longer interested in a patchwork of unintegrated digital tools. 3. The Rise of "Infrastructure, Not Add-On"   The most successful healthtech companies in the coming years will be those that provide fundamental infrastructure, not just a standalone product. In summary, the healthtech market is maturing. The initial wave of innovation has paved the way, and now the next phase is about separating the truly valuable solutions from the noise. In this new landscape, a company's ability to clearly articulate and prove its differentiation will be the defining factor for its success in 2026 and beyond. To discuss any of these trends and how Nelson Advisors can help your Healthtech company, please email lloyd@nelsonadvisors.co.uk

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For most of modern medical history, the “default human” in research was a 160 pound white man. Women were routinely excluded from clinical trials until the early 1990s. Even after policy changes, much of medicine — from cardiovascular research to sleep science — continued to rely on male-dominant data sets. The downstream effect? Gaps in understanding women’s physiology and health needs that we’re still working to close today. That’s why this announcement from Tom Hale and ŌURA matters so much. Today, ŌURA introduced its first proprietary large language model — purpose-built for health, and designed specifically to advance and empower women’s health insights. This isn’t a generic AI layer. It’s grounded in peer-reviewed clinical research and powered by the longitudinal biometric data Oura has been building for nearly a decade. Women’s bodies are dynamic — hormonal cycles influence temperature, sleep, recovery, cardiovascular strain. Personalized health requires context and pattern recognition over time, not one-size-fits-all advice. And just as important: privacy. As AI becomes a first stop for health questions, we Forerunner believe trust IS the product. Building a private, secure model reflects a commitment to responsible AI and long-term stewardship of deeply personal data. I’m especially proud that Oura is partnering with webAI — another Forerunner portfolio company I’m fortunate to be involved with — on this ground breaking initiative. Bringing together biometric intelligence, secure AI infrastructure, and a mission to advance women’s health is exactly the kind of ecosystem thinking that moves markets forward. As an investor and board member at Oura, I couldn’t be more inspired about this meaningful step forward towards what the future of healthcare can and should look be for us all. Congratulations to Tom Hale, Dorothy Kilroy, Ricky Bloomfield, Holly Shelton, Shyamal Patel and the entire ŌURA team. Onward and upwards!

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We're excited to partner with A. J. Loiacono and the Judi Health (formerly Capital Rx) team as they close on $400M in new funding. Judi's vision for Unified Claims - across both medical and pharmacy - are an enormous step in the right direction in addressing some of the most pressing issues in healthcare infrastructure.

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