Founding A Healthcare Startup (with Russell Pekala)

Russell Pekala , co-founder of Yuzu Health , joined me in studio for this week’s episode. Rather than having the member get care and then deal with lowering costs after the fact, Yuzu pre-adjucates claims when possible, issuing a credit card to members to pay for care and avoiding huge bills on the backend.?Join the conversation using the links below!

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?"I think the more questions the employer asks, and just the deeper that they're willing to think about this and have already thought about it, the more they're able to buy into this mission." - Russell Pekala

Russell Pekala, co-founder of Yuzu Health, joined me in studio for this week’s episode focused on controlling pharmacy costs and emergency claims.?

Yuzu Health is a startup in the TPA space aiming to change how the claims process work. Rather than having the member get care and then deal with lowering costs after the fact, Yuzu pre-adjucates claims when possible, issuing a credit card to members to pay for care and avoiding huge bills on the backend.?

In addition to the claims talk, Russell and I chatted about his Harvard days, what founding a dating app was like, and the ramen-related health accident that pushed Russell into the healthcare startup space.?

Chapters:

0:00 - Meet Russell Pekala

5:53 - Working On A Dating App At Harvard

08:26 - The Art and Science of Stop Loss Insurance

18:47 - Yuzu's Innovative Startup Health Insurance Solution

20:44 - How Did Yuzu Get Started?

21:45 - Improving Healthcare Transparency and Accessibility with Yuzu

28:48 - Navigating Pharmacy Costs with SmithRX

32:51 - Revolutionizing Emergency Claims in Healthcare

39:26 - Employers Seeking Alternative Healthcare Approaches

54:26 - Revolutionizing healthcare through predictive wearables