Fixing the $1 Trillion Healthcare Bottleneck with AI

In this episode, we sit down with Chuck Feerick, founder and CEO of Latitude Health, a MedTech startup tackling one of the most overlooked — yet critically expensive — problems in healthcare: prior authorization and utilization management.

Chuck shares how a personal experience in his early 20s inspired him to transform the way health plans make care decisions, using AI to reduce administrative burdens and accelerate patient access to treatment. With a background spanning health plan operations, venture capital, and startups, Chuck brings a 360° perspective on what it really takes to build a successful health tech company.

We dive into:

• The $1 trillion administrative crisis in U.S. healthcare
• Why prior authorization delays hurt patients and providers
• How Latitude Health uses AI to empower—not replace—clinicians
• The real challenges of selling to health plans
• What every health tech founder must understand about procurement, ROI, and building painkiller products
• The future of AI in care decision-making

Whether you're a health tech entrepreneur, investor, or healthcare executive, this conversation is full of practical insights on solving big, unsexy problems with massive impact.

00:00 – Intro: Can AI Fix Healthcare?

01:03 – Meet Chuck Feerick, Founder of Latitude Health

02:15 – A Personal Story That Sparked a HealthTech Mission

04:10 – The Broken Prior Authorization Process Explained

06:32 – Automating Utilization Management with AI

08:44 – What Latitude Health Actually Does

10:05 – How Patients, Providers & Payers Benefit

12:20 – Chuck’s Journey: Operator, Investor, Founder

14:15 – Lessons from VC for Startup Fundraising in MedTech

16:01 – How to Sell to Payers: Complex Sales in Healthcare

18:30 – The Role of AI vs. Human in Clinical Decision Making

21:04 – How Latitude Uses LLMs to Structure Medical Data

23:19 – Training AI with Clinicians: Nurses, Doctors, CMO Input

25:12 – Building a HealthTech Startup the Right Way

27:00 – Tackling Long Sales Cycles in Healthcare

28:42 – AI is Moving Fast — Building for Flexibility

30:18 – The Unsexy Problem That Needed Solving

33:07 – Why Utilization Management Is the Key to Controlling Costs

35:45 – Administrative Waste: The $1 Trillion Opportunity

37:02 – Why Latitude Focuses on High-Impact Painkiller Tools

38:49 – Consumers, Behavior, and the ROI of Innovation

41:00 – Closing Thoughts: What Founders Must Understand About Healthcare

Roupen Odabashian:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roupen-odabashian-183aaa142/

X: https://twitter.com/RoupenMD

Email: [e-mail]

Tigran (Tiko) Bdoyan:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckfeerick

Watch Our Podcast at:

https://youtu.be/Xj89GFyPpxw

#MedicalStartup #Telehealth #SimulatedPatients #Fundraising #MedicalSchoolTools #CME #AIinMedicalEducation #CasperExam