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In this episode, Vic and Marcus cover a wide range of developments shaping the healthcare, economic, and tech landscapes. They begin with inflation concerns, interest rate policies, and Powell’s positioning, then dive into Starbucks' return-to-office mandate as a signal for white-collar layoffs and broader workforce trends. The conversation shifts to AI’s impact on productivity, rare earth material independence in the U.S., and startup funding in nurse scheduling and medical AI tools. They di...
In this episode, Vic and Marcus cover a wide range of developments shaping the healthcare, economic, and tech landscapes. They begin with inflation concerns, interest rate policies, and Powell’s positioning, then dive into Starbucks' return-to-office mandate as a signal for white-collar layoffs and broader workforce trends. The conversation shifts to AI’s impact on productivity, rare earth material independence in the U.S., and startup funding in nurse scheduling and medical AI tools. They dissect the CMS’s proposed rule eliminating the inpatient-only list and its ripple effects across SaaS reimbursement, telehealth, and digital therapeutics. The pair also examine policy shifts affecting Medicare, Medicaid, and cell and gene therapy pilots. Payer market turmoil, hospital M&A dynamics, and pharma’s contrasting success round out the business update. They close with reflections on U.S.-China AI competition, regulatory loopholes in talent acquisitions, and how stablecoin and voice AI advances could transform healthcare.
Links:
3:57 - Inflation Picks Up to 2.7% as Tariffs Start to Seep Into Prices WSJ
5:15 - Starbucks Tells White-Collar Workers to Come to the Office More—Or Take a Buyout WSJ
15:36 - America’s Biggest Rare-Earth Producer Makes a Play to End China’s Dominance WSJ
18:15 - M7 Health nabs $10M to modernize nurse staffing and scheduling Fierce Healthcare
20:17 - OpenEvidence raises $210M, unveils AI agents built for advanced medical research Fierce Healthcare
23:33 - Fellow Health: $24 Million Series B Raised For Expanding Male Reproductive Test Offerings Pulse 2.0
24:32 - CMS Eliminating the Inpatient Only (IPO) List CMS website
29:04 - Trump 2.0 backs digital health in proposed CY2026 physician fee schedule rule Fierce Healthcare
34:11 - CMS officially names participants in Cell and Gene Therapy Access Model Fierce Healthcare
36:18 - F.D.A. Panel to Reassess Hormone Therapy Warnings NYT
40:08 - Elevance Health lowers 2025 guidance amid cost pressures in ACA, Medicaid markets Fierce Healthcare
41:17 - Centene, Elevance, Molina squeezed as exchanges deteriorate Modern Healthcare
43:57 - Geisinger layoffs hit insurance division Modern Healthcare
44:43 - Nonprofits ChristianaCare, Virtua Health explore merger Health Care Dive
46:00 - M&A Quarterly Activity Report: Q2 2025 KaufmanHall
47:46 - Private-Equity Firms Bain and Kohlberg Make Another Big Bet on Biopharma Industry WSJ
48:35 - Trump Says 200% Pharma Tariffs Are Coming. Wall Street Shrugs. WSJ
50:03 - J&J Raises Full-Year Outlook After Beating Profit Expectations WSJ
53:17 - Upended by Meth, Some Communities Are Paying Users to Quit NYT
57:32 - Crypto rises on renewed optimism House will pass key stablecoin le
Every week, healthcare VCs and Jumpstart Health Investors co-founders Vic Gatto and Marcus Whitney review and unpack the happenings in US Healthcare, finance, technology and policy. With a firm belief that our healthcare system is doomed without entrepreneurship, they work through the mud to find the jewels, highlight headwinds and tailwinds, and bring on the smartest guests to fill in the gaps.
If you enjoy this content, please take a moment to rate and review it.
Your feedback will greatly impact our ability to reach more people.
Thank you.
Alright.
How's it going?
It's going well.
Had a good week.
Yeah.
Going along in Nashville.
I was, uh, I was traveling a little bit this week, uh, crazy travel day this morning.
I, I, I booked, he almost didn't make it, make it in for the show.
No, dude, I booked, I booked a 6 45 flight outta Maryland to avoid Yeah.
All of that.
Right?
And we're sitting in the, you know, this little, it's like the smallest, it was one of these like two gate airports.
Oh, not Baltimore, so, no, no, not b pwi.
No, no, no.
So like, only like the American Eagle planes.
Okay.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, we're sitting there and, and the crew's there.
And like, I'm looking, I realize.
They're not like, there's no plane out there and they just keep talking about how it's in maintenance, it'll be over.
And they just said, okay, it's rolling over now.
15 minutes later it still out and rolled over.
You know, I had like one of those super tight connections in Philly.
Yeah.
And so, uh, blew, blew past that.
Yeah, for sure.
And then they rebooked me for like a three 30 flight, uh, which would've just screwed the whole day.
Yeah, yeah.
00 AM so I was able to get back in.
Yeah.
But the stress of it, like you, you're having to like run around and go on standby.
I don't like to, I don't like travel.
Yeah.
I don't, I don't like it either.
But I, I was kind of resigned to the fact that I probably might Yeah.
Not get home until tonight.
So when I got standby, I was so happy.
I was like, wow, this is, this is amazing.
Um, but yeah.
Other than that, you know, same.
Just, just, uh, you know, trying to track all this news.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, adjust, uh, as the entire industry is what our perspective is on things.
Um, big, big, big news out of DC this week.
Um, yeah.
So, we'll, we'll, we'll dig into, into that.
Yeah, for sure.
Um, any, anything else?
I mean, but I mean, we, we don't have a, we we're not gonna talk about the whole Trump Powell thing.
Yeah.
We don't have a particular story.
Just 'cause it seems like there wasn't one story, just like a constant, I don't know.
Trump.
Trump is, I don't know.
I mean, he's trying to figure out something to do with him, but I, I don't know that anything's gonna happen.
I mean, dude, the clip of him talking about how he's a terrible fed here and he was surprised that he got nominated by the, by the, by the Biden administration.
Yeah.
If Biden Biden did it, it's just like Trump, a Trump appointed him.
How, how can he say he was surprised?
I, I don't, I mean, I mean, that was, it was such a setup for all the memes, all the memes all over social, that that sort of launched all week.
Just showing one video of him saying that, and the very next video of him saying, I'm very pleased to announce Jerome Powell.
I mean, you know, it's just like, yes.
I mean, and people are being very generous, kind of saying it was a, it was a slip up on age.
I, I just think he'll say anything.
Yeah.
I don't think he just think he worries about the truth or not truth.
He just says whatever is convenient to say.
Totally.
A little bit sad to say about our president, but I think is unfortunately true, but it is kind of crazy to, to like literally blame the appointment of the Fed chair on the last president Right.
When you appointed him, right?
Yes.
That's right.
That is crazy.
That's, that's, that's a little, I mean, over the top.
Crazy.
A most people would, maybe you could say I changed my mind and I'm disappointed in him, but blaming Biden.
I mean, Biden did a lot of things that weren't great, but that wasn't, that wasn't one of 'em.
Right?
Right.
Yeah.
And, and we will spend no time talking about the Epstein files.
That's not.
Yes.
This is not that kind of podcast.
Um, alright, uh, with that, let's dig in.
So, talking about Powell, the inflation number ticked up to 2.7.
Uh, tariffs have started to seep into the prices.
Wall Street Journal economists are split on how much tariffs will affect prices in the coming months as tariff policy remains uncertain.
So the overall is, uh, 2.7 and the core is 2.9.
Mm-hmm.
Um, dancing around three, so, you know, where, where do we get down to about 2.3.
Uh, was, was maybe the low point that, that we got down to, and, and now we're finally starting to see, um, you know, some, some creep back in the inflation number.
And I mean, this is just going to justify Powell's wait Andee position, right?
Yeah, I think that's right.
I remain more concerned about job loss than prices getting out of hand, but I, I don't have the data the Fed has and I think this is certainly gonna, there mean, I think they, no one thinks they're gonna cut in the next meeting.
Right.
Which is in a few weeks.
I think maybe the odds are for two cuts this year.
Mm-hmm.
But I don't know.
Yeah.
Yes, it's gonna be, I think probably bumpy inflation right up a little down flat, but I don't think it's going to run away over, over.
Three and a half, four.
So I, I'm not that worried about inflation, but other people are.
Well, let, let's, let's go to this next story about Starbucks because, um, I, I wanna make sure that we.
Have a decent conversation about jobs.
So, yeah.
You know, Starbucks is the latest company, latest large corporation Yeah.
To basically force the white collar workforce back into the office.
They're, they're telling them they have to, you know, do a four day minimum in the office.
Some people are gonna have to relocate to Seattle or Toronto within the next year.
Um, they didn't originate this playbook.
Um, maybe a little off-brand for Starbucks, you know, in terms of what we might expect them to do.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, but I mean, I think it's come to be accepted practice that when large corporations do this right now, it's a, it's a very sort of maybe politically correct way to execute a layoff.
Right.
Um, where you're sort of forcing people to make very, very hard decisions, knowing some percentage of them are gonna take the buyout.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think that's right.
They have a new CEO, it's a turnaround situation.
Yeah.
He was brought in to turn it around and.
I actually think it's, it's kind of a good way to have the employees self select.
I mean, when we were growing up, if you wanted to go work at Starbucks, they headquartered in Seattle.
Sure.
You moved there, you, you gotta move there.
Sure.
And that's just, that's just how work life was.
Sure.
In the pandemic that sort of changed, but I think we're heading back towards that in, in large part.
So I don't think it's bad if, if you don't like your job enough to move, then you, maybe you're the one that should get laid off and someone else who's super passionate, you know, will move and, and come into the office every day.
So I wanna go back to your, your point about being more worried about jobs than inflation.
Yeah.
Um, these cuts, especially white collar worker cuts, I. Don't necessarily feel based on economic performance as much as they are companies realizing that they can do more with less of these types of employees.
And so I'm wondering where you think the Fed changing their position on interest rates would, I mean, I know traditionally it would spur more economic activity and that would result in more, more job creation and more job offers.
But I I, it does seem like we're in an interesting window now where some of the top performing companies, they're worth more than $3 trillion.
They're beating all the estimates.
Mm-hmm.
Now it's not Starbucks, but, and they're, and they're choosing to, you know, decrease their, their workforce.
Right.
So I'm just, I'm just kind of, yeah.
Curious what, what your thought.
So the way I think about it's that with the pace of technology improving and, and allowing the same.
Number of people to do more work.
Mm-hmm.
To me, that's clear that that's already here.
Yeah.
And every quarter Yeah.
Describing report is gonna be more independent of financial performance.
Yes.
You one person can do more than they could do last year.
Right.
Next year they'll be able to do more than that.
Right.
Right.
Especially in white collar work.
Yes.
And so the way I think about it's that if, um, if you don't want to grow, you need fewer people every year.
And so the fed lowering rates, I think would spur capital investment.
The, the theory is it would spur capital investment in the growth into either new geography markets or new business lines.
Mm-hmm.
So you could then at least keep the people you have and repurpose them.
Mm-hmm.
Or, you know, ideally you would need more people and have to hire.
Mm-hmm.
Um, so I, I feel like there's going to be.
Many companies that can, they can grow at 2%, 3% a year and still cut employees.
Mm-hmm.
Because their productivity is, is each employee's productivity is growing quickly.
Mm-hmm.
Now that's good for the shareholders.
Right.
And it's good for the overall economy.
If we spur capital investment and, and growth, productivity is, is the, the best part of a free market economy.
'cause it, it, it helps everyone.
You, you sort of push the gains all around, but, but you have to have enough capital investment and enough growth to take advantage of it.
Sure.
I think there's definitely a strong element of truth to what you're saying.
I am.
I think the thing I'm wondering is whether or not we have lived with this 5% rate.
For long enough that we've sort of infused a different culture in, in leadership now that I'm not sure how much it rebounds once the rates drop and thi this is like a gut feeling and a hunch.
It's not like, you know what I mean?
This is not economic theory or, or based on anything like that.
But I, I just even think about myself like, okay, if the rates drop and there is more capital that comes in, how does that change how I would think about staffing even our small company?
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
And I, I'm not, it, it's unclear, right?
Because like.
I think I've endured so much pain through this, through this process, and I think this is true for all these CEOs, right?
Yeah.
We've all endured so much pain that I think for a little while we're gonna be a little gun shy of like taking the candy, you know, when, when the rates drop, maybe this opens up, um, you know, capital from the big institutions and they shift away from fixed income, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Maybe, but I, but I think you'd have to really move the rates down fairly significantly for that.
Like, I don't know that, you know, a hundred basis points get you there.
You know, I, I think you, you, you're gonna have to get probably sub three again before the floodgates really kind of open up.
Yeah.
So I, I agree completely that people get anchored in their current state and are slow to change.
Mm-hmm.
I agree with that completely.
Mm-hmm.
I guess where I, my point is that we want to encourage.
Investment in new things.
Sure.
And that should lead to the creation of new jobs.
And then the other side of this productivity gain is I think prices are gonna come down.
Yeah.
I mean this eventually, eventually, yeah.
I mean, mean you can do more with fewer people Yes.
But that, that's gonna, it's not gonna offset as quickly as the tariffs ramp things up.
Right.
The tariffs are kind of an immediate shock to the system.
Mm-hmm.
They go into effect, you know, we're already starting to see, uh, the impacts of them.
And they're not even like, fully rolled out.
You know, we're still, we're, we're, we're, yeah.
We're like in a dance right now.
Um, I think it will take quite a while, so I look.
I, I, I'm not trying to argue against myself here.
I, I want Yeah.
Some rate cuts too.
Um, I, I just, I, I guess I just am.
Yeah, we'll see.
I don't think that worried about how impactful they'll, they'll really even be at this point.
Like things just, it just feels like we've moved pretty fully into this new era.
I don't think we're ever going back to Zer.
Right.
I, I just don't think we're getting back there.
See, I disagree with that.
I, I think that it's gonna be difficult to pass the costs on with the terrorists because people aren't gonna buy the products that the, the economy is not so strong that if you increase the price of things by 30%, I think it will affect volume.
Sure.
Yes.
So I, I think, and then technology, starting with ai, but.
Across the board SaaS and, and all the technology is very deflationary.
It makes things less expensive.
Yeah, I know.
But also earning is, is impaired cost of living is going up.
Credit card balances are up, and credit ratings pretty much across the board are down.
So, you know, I don't know that that freeing up more credit is like the play in, in that like, like, like that's, we're not in a healthy place to un unleash more credit.
Well, that's fiscal, that's fiscal dominance.
I mean, like, so, right?
Yes.
That, that is because we have mismanaged our government for a long time.
Right.
But it's where we are.
But the Fed, the Fed only has two levers to pull.
I I And so I, I understand that, but I, but I think that as, as economists, they are considering all these things and they're, and you know, they're probably realizing they really need to use.
The rate cut when it's undeniable that it should be used.
Like I, I, I, I think the complexity of the situation has just, um, expanded beyond the, when, when we first started talking about this, this things were not this complex.
We didn't, we didn't have tariffs at all.
Yeah.
We didn't have sort of the, the, the, the threats to globalization that we currently have in place.
AI was not nearly as far along as it is.
Right.
Right.
So there's a lot, there's a lot of things that were different, even like one year ago.
Yeah.
I agree.
Even one year ago.
I agree.
And, but I would say a lot of the complexity that you're pointing to, which I agree with, people are stressed.
They have significant credit card debt.
Yeah.
Corporations have a lot of debt.
Yeah.
The cost of everything is going up.
Yes.
And people's salary or, or hourly wages and hour, and the number of hours they get, they get to work is not keeping pace.
No.
Those are all signals of a struggling economy.
Yes.
That I think needs to be stimulated.
Stimulated.
Yeah.
I, yeah, I, I, I get your point.
I get your point.
But you're, I think you're right that, that the, the Fed's tools are not as effective as they were a long TA long time ago.
Even a year, even ago.
Yes.
I I, I think even a year ago they were more, yes.
They were more effective.
Um, yeah.
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