As 2026 kicks off, telemedicine faces evolving federal policies, data battles, and innovation opportunities. In this monthly recap episode of Telemedicine Talks, hosts Phoebe Gutierrez and Dr. Leo Damasco unpack Medicare rate flatlines, flexibility extensions, Epic's lawsuits over patient data, a massive rural health grant, and predictions for AI integration, new startups, and market shifts.
Kicking off 2026 with a bang: telemedicine is navigating government uncertainties, tech-driven oversight, and fresh funding avenues.
In this January recap on Telemedicine Talks, hosts Phoebe Gutierrez and Dr. Leo Damasco dive into key developments: flat Medicare rates for 2027 causing stock market ripples, potential extensions of telemedicine flexibilities through 2027 amid shutdown risks, and how the AI-first administration could ease fraud monitoring with real-time audits. They explore ongoing litigation in the EHR space, including Epic's lawsuits against companies like Health Gorilla over data access, contract breaches, and oversight failures, highlighting the fight for patient data ownership and network integrations.
The episode also covers a $50 billion rural health grant over five years, aimed at underserved communities, and how telemedicine entrepreneurs can position themselves through proposals, compliance focus, and value-based metrics. Looking ahead, Phoebe and Leo discuss expectations for innovative niche startups (beyond GLP-1s), AI's potential bubble, deeper healthcare integration (like Utah's prescription AI), mergers/acquisitions in mental health and primary care, and the race to the bottom in GLP-1 pricing versus concierge value.
This episode encourages listeners to reach out for collaboration or advice on building telemedicine ventures, emphasizing the altruistic potential of reaching underserved patients while embracing entrepreneurial opportunities.
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Telemedicine Talks explores the evolving world of digital health, helping physicians navigate new opportunities, regulatory challenges, and career transitions in telemedicine.
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Hey, welcome back everybody to telemedicine talks. Happy January, 2026. This is the end of the first month of 2026 and a lot of things going on. So this is gonna be our, kind of monthly wrap up. As always, it's Phoebe Gutierrez and Lita Masco here at Telemedicine Talks.
So Phoebe, what do you wanna start out with? what is the biggest thing that stuck out to you in, the beginning of this year? Well, I think that, you know, there's been a lot of really like interesting movement in this space. I think one of the big things, of course is always, right around this time, there's a lot of changes that come with the federal government.
And so to me, you know, one of the key things that I've been paying attention to, of course, is what flexibilities are, being extended or codified in law. So, I mean, I think, you know, talking a little bit about how, Telemedicine does appear to be here to stay.
I think is good for all of us and how, those extensions are, being pushed [00:01:00] out. I think there's also been some interesting stuff that's happened in terms of, just our, insurance subsidies. So there has been, different, packages in order to extend those, tax.
you know, like little perk and in the subsidies for insurance through the a CA marketplace, and such. And so, those actually aren't completely stalled in the Senate at the moment. that was one of the reasons why, you know, they were, potentially hoping to halt.
Different increases and whatnot. And then, you know, of course looking at like what, you know, services are gonna be compensated for in, Medicare and Medicaid. Of course. And the big thing that actually just came out this week, literally drove shockwaves through people was the Medicare released.
Rates for next year. And they're flat. So every year [00:02:00] typically, you see a little bit of an increase, right? Health plans, you know, they forecast, they have all their risks, the providers rates are always based on, of course, like what they're going to be, receiving. And there's just usually, a typical.
Increase every single year. And they have basically said it's gonna be flat for 2027, which sent the stock market into chaos this week. So those are kinda like some of the three big areas. Of course, like lots going on in telemedicine. I'm sure we'll talk about it too. but those are some of the key things that I noticed.
Yeah. you know, we talk about this a lot, right? Just kind of the Medicare flexibilities, right? And really when, you know, we had a little snappy, right? Because in 2025, right, the Medicare flexibilities were set to expire in September. we were all saying, Hey, don't worry, it's gonna get extended.
And we had a government checkout. And it got stuck. But, [00:03:00] once the government opened up again, they extended the flexibilities through the end of this month. it's set to expire again January 30, 20, 26. And I think, you know, bouncing around in the government right now is the bill to extend the flexibility out through 2027.
Which is amazing. which, kind of what we were talking about. Telemedicine is here to stay, but we're not at a point where we're gonna make it, you know, these flexibilities concrete because of, the issues of how are we gonna regulate it so forth and so on.
We haven't figured that out. So it's a good sign that, government's willing to push it out to 2027 right now. It's funny 'cause Just looking at the news right now, there may be another government shutdown, if people don't agree. are we gonna be stuck back to where we are back in September, right?
Like, the flexibilities will expire and we're expecting it to go through, but because government shuts down, it's not gonna go through and we're gonna have another period where there's just gonna be. [00:04:00] Just unknown, right? we think it's going to, you know, once a government, if it does shut down, opens back up again.
You know, the flexibilities are gonna extend, but it's this whole thing all over again, right? So it's gonna be interesting to see what happens. Honestly at the time of this taping this next few days. Right. So, yeah. Well, I mean, I think too, like, one of the things I think that's interesting and is an interesting correlation is like, you know, all of this does tie into, you know, our current administration and what our, current administration initiatives are.
We know that this is a tech first, an AI first administration. And so part of that is, again, historically me going, I know when I was a regulator and when I, had my caseload and the amount of manual work that went into overseeing everything, layering in some of the technology that is now kind of at our fingertips, it does make it a little bit easier to oversee and verify and validate certain things.
[00:05:00] I think, you know, one of the big fears always in the telemedicine space is fraud. And how you can confirm that it's, you know, the right person and so on and so forth. And, now with some of these different technologies with more frequent audits, almost like real time audits versus doing your, retrospective reviews, I think it does kind of open up and pave a little bit easier of a way for the government to be extending some of these delivery
methods . yeah.
And I know that we did a little bit of a podcast about this in, you know, past months, but there have been tons and tons and tons of lawsuit and litigation, between what you can call, I guess like software companies. Mainly in the EHR space. And so it's been interesting because it has seemed like it is this race to have patient data and who is the owner of data.
And [00:06:00] so there are, you know, lots going on with Epic right now where, technically. In the United States, they pass legislation where if you are, a patient and you want your health records, your health data, the company has to give it to you. And in order for them to do that, they tap into these like massive, massive data networks.
And it's this whole idea of like, they share data back and forth. We are gonna give you some patient data, but in return when you chart and you do notes, you also have to give us your data back. And so it's this really kind of like interesting, you know, thing that goes on behind the scenes. Providers get it.
So if you're a physician and you ever open up medical records or you know, an EHR and you see somebody's past medical records that have been transferred, most likely they're tapping into one of those networks so that you can make an easier treatment decision and you don't have to like rely solely on their word.
Now with [00:07:00] that said, it's been interesting because there's all these tech companies battling. Because Epic kind of has a monopoly on, patient data and Epic is shutting people's access off going, Nope, you can't do it. you're not in compliance here. You're not in compliance there. So it's been really interesting to see behind the scenes, these massive companies argue over patient data now.
do you know what criteria Epic is using to say, Hey, you're not in compliance. Is it, you know, I'm thinking it's HIPAA compliance. Right. But are they saying that, Hey, company, no, It's actually not HIPAA compliance. it is more on. They're violent.
a lot of it has to do with contract terms. So it has to do with like, they're either breaching their contract or they are violating, some sort of clause within a contract. In some instances it's a little bit even like harsher where they're accusing them of, you [00:08:00] know, like misusing data, fraudulent things.
But for the most part, it's this interesting thing where like. Epic can just kind of do what they want, right? A lot of these companies will come and either try to like Sue Epic for shutting that off. There are companies out there that their sole purpose is to tap into these networks and to get data and get it to providers.
And so if Epic is outside of that or going we're shutting down your access, it creates a really massive hole. In their ability to do their jobs. On the flip side, now, who's hiring these companies to get the access? Is it doctors hiring these companies to get the access?
Is it just kind of mass access like. I would say usually it's large telemedicine companies. Yeah. So if you have worked at any telemedicine company that was able to pull in all your patient's history for you and pre-populate it in some nice little cool thing where you just have to like push a button to prescribe [00:09:00] something.
They most likely are tapping into a network. Got it. Large hospital systems are tapping into them because you're able to share. interestingly enough, just because I work with some companies that do this, Kaiser is not in there, so Kaiser does not tap into the network. So they have their own network, which is kind of funny.
so yeah, Kaiser kind of picks and chooses, you know, a little bit. So I think it's interesting. do you need. More data. Is it gonna help your, potential, operations? Is it gonna yeah. The goal of this is to really reduce patients from having to share the same crap over and over again.
So I understand and I appreciate it. But to your point, Most of the time it's these larger telemedicine companies that are trying to, enable physicians or enable clinicians with easier prescribing. I've seen a lot of this too, in working a lot of telemedicine platforms.
I think it's useful, right? a lot of times, you know, these platforms, have their own EHR, they're not plugged into the [00:10:00] big health system, EHR where most of the patient's data lives, right. And, you know, we're practicing medicine and the smaller platform, without,
All the prior data or trusting in the patient giving that data, right. Or trusting in the patient's history and you know, the physicians or the provider's know that, you know, and maybe sometimes this is not the most trustworthy source, right? The patients don't know specifically exactly when they were taking the drugs.
You know, what drugs are on. It's amazing how many holes there are just trusting in the patient's history, right? So, mm-hmm. I think. I've worked in these companies where it is a fight to get those records and, I've seen companies use those data acquisition companies to try to get and consolidate data.
So I think, it's super useful and I think it's good for, patient care. And it's interesting that, what Epic is probably the largest EMR out there. that most people use that they're gatekeeping the data from that.
other than like contract breaches, what is the [00:11:00] argument that Epic is using to say, Hey, you know, this data doesn't belong to you. Is it because the patient hasn't given permission to, because like the traditional thinking or teaching is that, hey, it's your data, you're the patient, right?
You have. All the right to this data, and if you say that you want your data or you want somebody else to have it, then you have to give it up. Yeah, I mean, it looks like, they are, ultimately.
Saying that it's fraudulent that they're acquiring patient data with no real reason to do so. Again, in theory this is where it gets You're in court. It has nothing to do with legislation or law. It really has to do with. Oh gosh. we all know what a nightmare it is to be thrown into litigation.
So they're basically saying, you should never have had access to this patient data anyways. You're taking our data, you're packaging it up. You are actually reselling [00:12:00] data back to another, entity, right, as an integration tool, which doesn't meet the use case of what needs to happen or what's supposed to be happening, where providers are supposed to integrate directly and tap directly into these networks.
you know, health systems are supposed to, tap directly into these networks. There's not supposed to kind of be that middleman. And so there's accusations there. There's accusations around their lack of oversight. So one of the big things that's interesting about tapping into these networks is the person that you contract with.
So let's say you're going through the third party, it's epic, you know, and I'll use, health Gorilla. I mean, it's all in the news. Health Gorilla is one that is, being sued by Epic over this. You know, health Gorilla has a responsibility to verify and validate all vendors underneath them.
Are your vendors using this correctly? Is there adequate oversight? Are you, [00:13:00] confirming and attesting and doing your compliance due diligence? as I've said many times on this podcast, compliance is always delegated down, right? It's delegated from the federal government to the states. The states then delegate it.
To different agencies. The agencies then delegate, everything is delegated down. so there is always gonna be a compliance layer when you delegate services down that you have to make sure those people, that you actually gave that thing, to are using it correctly. So, part of it is like their lack of oversight on their part.
They're not monitoring and making sure that people are meeting the compliance requirements. The interesting thing is this is not the first lawsuit, these are becoming more and more frequent.
Epic is always somehow involved because Epic, view it as due diligence to make sure that you are, appropriately. Using patient data, which is again,this really interesting dynamic is just being [00:14:00] taken up in the courts. Yeah, no, and it is an interesting argument and looking into it further.
Right. You know, Epic's argument is, These companies that are gathering this data, they're not using it for clinical care, they're using the data to give to parents legal firms to, you know, make their case. And it's not, their argument's not meeting the use case.
On the other hand These companies, and even. What states too, have sued Epic. Say, Hey, you know, you're limiting interoperability, you know, good patient care because you're trying to corner the market, right? Mm-hmm. Like, you don't want to share because, well, you think it's proprietary data and you know, that's a big argument, you know,
Is patient data proprietary. And honestly, in my opinion, it shouldn't be. Yeah. it's on your system, but it shouldn't be. So it's interesting that, you know, they make these cases, right. I think the hard part and I will just say this.
because in healthcare, in health tech, in telemedicine, in this [00:15:00] industry, it's this interesting thing where it's like, this is proprietary. Everybody wants to monetize and market something that is literally not even the greatest idea. it is what it is.
So it's like there are going to be, Multiple ideas that are similar. The part is, patient data truly belongs to me. It's my data. Yeah. But, 'cause I've given my data to Epic now Epic gets to package it up and sell it and make it again. it's proprietary to them.
My big issue in this whole industry has been that, you know, in the. Government world, we don't think about it like that. we think about it from the greater good. It is a good thing to be able to share patient data appropriately, it is a good thing that doctors can have a person's full health history before they decide to put them on a statin or put them on whatever the heck you guys put people on these [00:16:00] days.
But. You know where I'm going with it is that I think it benefits patient care. Now do I side with Epic where it's like, well, Epic's not gonna carelessly give your data out. Right? And I think that's what Epic's trying to say is like, we're participating, we're doing our part, but you truly have these companies that are coming in and are being loose and reckless with it to make a buck.
I don't know. I mean, that's where I kind of go. Like I understand the whole idea of like, oh, epic's a monopoly and yada yada. Well, they've had time to kind of figure it out and do it the right way. And you know, in first glance I'm like, oh, dang, epic. And that's probably just because, When I work at Epic, it's not the best experience all the time, but looking into further, you have to get that balance right, because Epic's argument is, Hey, I am protecting the patient. I am protecting the patient from, you know, their data getting linked, their info getting linked.
their argument is that, hey, these companies, if the data is linked, they're doing this on purpose. You know, these are not accidental breaches of your [00:17:00] data. they're actually, consciously and purposely, giving your data out to those that don't need it clinically, against hipaa, against, the case use.
Yeah. But again, just on the other hand though, it's difficult to practice medicine nowadays, especially in multiple locations, especially in telemedicine when you're touching patients and you don't know their medical history and you're unable to get it. Yeah, I mean, I err on the side of like this should be a mandatory thing that everybody has to participate in these networks
You know, but again, there is this really weird thing of like, we own the data and, he who has the data, is king. And again, that's where, to me the hard part is like. At the end of the day what benefits patients and what makes it easier for physicians and all of that, so it'll be interesting to see how everything shakes out. this has been going on for quite some time. So it's like every single time I feel like a new lawsuit drops in this space, it's always epic and, right. No, and looking [00:18:00] at it and actually delve deeper in it, right?
There's, multiple actors that are, significant . real health is one. Texas is another. Whole state of Texas is suing Epic for gosh sakes. particle health is another, and this is just looking up in the precursory, kind of Google search, you know?
So, no. interesting to see. Again, you're right where that does shake out. Yeah. So if anybody is looking for job security and is a lawyer. Go work at Epic.
I'm sure their in-house legal team is bz. It's true. How funny.
So interesting transition from like something else that's gonna be really good for patients is, and I actually did a social media post about this because to me, I think this is a really big deal and I wish more people knew about it and were paying attention.
But the federal government came out and said that they are doing some significant investments into [00:19:00] rural healthcare. And we talked a little bit about that. Oh yes. Yeah. When we had sunshine on. And I think the interesting thing is, you know, after digging in, basically anybody in telemedicine qualifies for this because you are closing care gaps and you are providing services where there is no access.
The, prerequisites here are, are you, eligible for, you know, Medicare and are you accepting Medicare? But, some main focuses are just really keeping people out of the hospital, helping people with post-discharge follow, keeping emergency rooms. Yeah, so there's a lot of room, oh, and did I say it's a 50 billion with a B dollars that are being pumped into this, and it has actually been distributed all to the states.
And you can look up [00:20:00] online. I'll actually tell you guys exactly where to go, to see what each state got and where they're planning on spending their money, because those are the areas where they're struggling with. So, yeah, actually this is a good point and you know, yes, we did talk about this when Sunshine was on and, yeah, definitely led to more, but this is, I think one of the next big areas that telemedicine could really affect growth, and really affect change in medicine.
You know, it's this rural health grant. You're right. A lot of states and you have to look state by state to see exactly what they applied for. You know, all the states got some money from this rural health grant, from this big pot of money, and the states, you know, initially had to submit what they were gonna use the money for.
Right. Hey, and one of the points in a lot of states were to build a telemedicine infrastructure within that state. Mm-hmm. there's no specifics on how they do that. A lot of states just said, Hey, we're just gonna build a telemedicine [00:21:00] infrastructure.
Yeah. Well, they don't, it's wide open. They're not gonna tell you They don't know. I don't think most states know what that really means. Most states, the way that it works is that. The government decides to fund something, or they have a pilot or they have an initiative and they put out, a request for proposal,
Or a request for initiatives, and you basically put in your best effort and you always overshoot because typically they're gonna talk you down a little bit. It's a negotiation with the federal government. So if you've never been through one of those, they're long and painful. But again, you're gonna kind of shoot for the stars.
Hope to see where you land. And then from there you kind of have to guess you are constantly making guesses. I used to have to do this at the state level where I would be like, almost have to like guess of how many staff I need and how many resources this, and what funding I need here and what you're like, I don't know what the next year is gonna look like, let alone the next five years.
'cause you do them in five year batches. And the states submit their requests. They basically say like, we're struggling with this, we're struggling with that. Some had, you [00:22:00] know, technology infrastructure issues, right? They wanted money for technology. Mm-hmm. Some needed help, figuring out a telemedicine strategy and how to execute on that.
again, I want to just be like really clear, is no state provides healthcare services right. We are the overseer. We are the funder. We're the payer. So we need partners to help us deliver those services. We need partners to tell us what to build and how to do it, and all of those things.
And so it's an interesting place for, you know, a company or a telemedicine, platform or provider group to kind of come in and go, well, we can do that for you. we have, all these. Compliance infrastructure in place, and we have the ability to report back to you directly.
We can, you know, really drive, access and quality and like lower your costs. Like that's really all they care about. And they're gonna give you a ton of money, probably more money than you need to do it [00:23:00] because.
They want you to succeed and they want you to help make their life easier. And that is kind of like the ebb and flow. So this is where you typically see they're called FQHCs, federally Qualified Health Centers, nonprofits, tap in RHCs. Rural health clinics. And the interesting piece is in every single zip code in every single place.
Those have to exist, right? Like that again was something I used to monitor at the state level was like, oh, I see that in the middle of nowhere. We don't have a PCP, we don't have a primary care physician. Oh, and you actually don't have a dermatologist. I'm gonna go find this, health plan, $300,000.
They're gonna go find the right provider so they don't have those care gaps. So the interesting piece here is just that for many people who traditionally didn't feel like they had a place in a federal program, you know, Medicare rates are so low, I don't wanna do this, I don't wanna do that. They're basically saying like, there's money here for you.
You just need to figure out how to [00:24:00] position yourself and the worst part about anything in this. Space is the reporting. So you just have to figure out how you're gonna report the data back, show your value and ultimately you're gonna be able to reach probably a lot more patients than you ever anticipated.
Yeah, and you're gonna be submitted to the compliance and, you know, to the regulatory kind of laws of that state, right? Because it is state regulated. So it's definitely something, yeah, you're gonna be in like a provider directory and you're gonna have all those things.
The interesting piece though, is if you go this route where you almost like write a proposal to a plan, you're not just a network provider. You're like, we're gonna actually bring you this massive program. We're gonna build it around. Yeah. You know, this community or whatever you're, hoping to support and yeah, you're just subject to, like, before you even get in the door, they're gonna be asking you, they, all they care about is compliance.
So if you think you're gonna get in there and, talk about, I do, you know, this is how I provide care, and they really are not gonna ask those questions. They're gonna go, what percent of our [00:25:00] quality scores can you increase? Yeah, yeah, exactly. What value do you give? Yeah. What are your right and what KPIs, you know, you're gonna start talking about, you know, metrics, so forth and so on.
Yeah. Who's your compliance officer? Right? Who's your compliance officer? and to me, again, that's the different world where to them, because those are the things that they monitor, and so they're gonna be asking you all the things that they monitor, all those little check boxes before you are even greenlit to go in.
Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see, how telemedicine platforms, how these entrepreneurs are going to utilize this grant. Right. You said it's 50 bill over what?
I think it's over five years But the point is, there is an avenue to create a space for yourself, using this grant. Again, the big question is, if you are interested in utilizing this and tapping in, what's the best way to do it?
Right? can you just go up to the state and be like, Hey, I don't think so, you know, I guess first of all, you'd [00:26:00] have to try, and this is a telemedicine space, right? You have to try to figure out, in the state's proposal if you can, who they tap to be in charge of that part of the proposal.
Do they have a telemedicine office? Do they have a rural health office? So forth and so on. And then. Tracking that down, you have to figure out who the rural health officer, whatever, but basically who that entity is going to use to enact. Whatever proposal they have.
Right. And then I think that's where, the telemedicine companies and we're able to go in and be like, oh, that could be me. You know, that could be something that I build. But yeah, it's not just as easy as going to a state and being like, oh, I could be your solution. I could do this for you.
Right. Yeah, there's a lot of research there going on. Yeah. Nope. I agree. I mean, I think the big thing is it's like you do have to have a commitment to compliance. You do have to have a commitment to kind of wanting to do the right thing. And you do also have to understand that like you're gonna have to take a little bit [00:27:00] of like what I'm gonna call sweat equity.
Like you're gonna have to pay a little bit of your time upfront to get everything for it to make sense. Yeah. Long term. So you have to kind of do the work and you know, ultimately, it will pay off. And I don't just mean pay off from a financial standpoint. I mean from a moral standpoint, I think that all the doctors I know you, you know, you guys get into this to provide care and to, meet people where they are and to
Bridge that access gap. And I think if you're really looking to make a difference and have some, warm your little heart, I do think it is a good thing to try and think about wanting to support. It's a really great, program. And the worst part, about it is these programs don't have technology.
They don't have a lot of infrastructure. They're extremely outdated. yeah. And patients unfortunately have to jump through so many different hoops to get the same level of care that, you know, us get, from a general, commercial [00:28:00] plan. it's funny, you know, when the telehealth boom came in and there was a lot of these, direct to consumer companies that showed up.
You know, one of the big criticisms from a lot of my colleagues were, Hey, you're just pushing pills. You've gotten away from the practice of medicine. It's kind of a money grab. And this kind of brings it back to you know, the feeling of that, right? That you're actually reaching out and helping?
Honestly, I think, I don't agree with the prior kind of argument to begin with. Even the direct to consumer stuff, they are offering a service that. Patients want and need, and they're offering it in an avenue where, it's easier to get for the patients and sometimes it's the only avenue they have, right.
To get the services they need. But, you know, with this rural Health grant, you know, it kind of spreads out to the altruistic nature of it. the whole goal is that these programs are reaching out to the people that actually. Is in most need of [00:29:00] what telemedicine can do. Right? The underlying, vision of telemedicine is that hey, you could provide care anywhere and you could spread, your care out to where non-traditional brick and mortars can't reach.
So it's gonna be. a very positive thing and I'm excited to see how, telemedicine could help extend this out. So yeah, I agree. We shall see. Well, cool. Yeah, so it's been a busy, January, 2026 so far, and again, it's gonna be interesting to see how the rest of the year pans out, as things settle and, as, telemedicine becomes.
More mainstream, how our regulations, how it's gonna get incorporated into that. You know, I kind of talked about that when I was talking about, the end of the year recap that I did. But yeah, I'm interested to see, how that evolves. anything that you could think of, you know, what you're expecting to see the rest of the year?
I think [00:30:00] for me, there's a couple things that I'm looking at, for the rest of the year. I think it's gonna be really interesting to see a lot of new companies pop up. And what I mean by that is we have the emergence of ai, we have, This new emergence of the physician, founder and CEO.
And so I am really interested to see, some new companies pop up new and innovative models of care that just don't necessarily exist. I don't wanna see any more GLP one companies. Yeah. we know your version. but I would love to see you know. Some really cool GLP one companies that are, marrying that with other types of things or, again, I wanna see some cool stuff.
So I'm fairly confident that we are going to see some really interesting creative, super niche down. Telemedicine companies, actually. You mentioned ai. I'm gonna be interested to see the extent of how deep [00:31:00] AI is gonna get integrated into healthcare. we already talked about what Utah is doing right, and how Utah is using AI to.
Prescribe repeat prescriptions. it's gonna be interesting to see how that program pans out and if the regulators will allow it to pan out and if so, is it gonna spread to other things? is it gonna spread to true diagnoses? basically ai, true Total AI healthcare. I hope not personally, but it's gonna be You know, is AI gonna hit a ceiling and, just like, kind of the argument there. Well, I think, this has nothing to do with healthcare, but there's a lot of like, talk about like an AI bubble.
Yeah, yeah. Is it gonna pop? Which I think is really interesting because I haven't thought about like, you know, you have to think we're pumping so much money into these AI companies. I mean, chat Chi PT is not profitable. Can you believe Chat Chi BT is not profitable. So you have to understand that all the money that's going [00:32:00] in, if it's not able to reproduce and actually start to drive revenue, then there's a bubble that's going to pop.
Yeah. Yeah. the big thing is it's like at this point you have one of these massive AI companies go under. They're gonna take down the 150, 200, 500,000 other companies that they are powering. And so then it's this. Full flat. Yeah. we can save that conversation.
I can talk about it for days. How am I gonna do my research again? I know, what the best thing to shop for is. I don't know. No, but I mean, I think, so those are some areas that I'm really interested in for, you know, 2026. I also think that, you know, there's already been so many, I would consider them very large mergers.
Or acquisitions in the telemedicine space, whether it's, mental health or primary care or even, just you're seeing these, larger [00:33:00] telemedicine companies come up and kind of like scoop up these others to, maybe dabble into, additional care here, maybe dabble into, this service line there.
So I think that's gonna be another interesting thing again, where I'm excited to see. The new generation of companies come up and really start some cool things. A lot of it has to do with some of these larger companies that are, I don't wanna say being swallowed, but you know, everybody wants to build a company so you can one day sell it and then, yeah.
That's kind of what happens. So, those are some of the areas. Of course, I'm gonna be paying attention to what happens at the state and federal level because I can't get away from it if I tried, but. You know, always interested to see kind of what shakes out with our administration where different funding, changes Yeah.
Are gonna go. Of course. what about you? Yeah, no, it's just, one, the AI thing too. you know, now that you mentioned it, just excited to see [00:34:00] the roles that. Know, telemedicine's going to, take in this rural health grant. I'm personally interested in it 'cause I think that's something that, you're talking about the physician, CEO, entrepreneur.
This is, a great market to just kind of jump into that. And yeah, and also, you know, how is Telehealth gonna settle in terms of. this is, we're now how many years out from COVID and now that things are settling, now that telehealth is becoming more I don't know, call it mainstream, you know how that market is going to kind of just level set.
So We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, for me, I think like GLP ones are gonna be it's all, at the end of the day, gonna be a race to the bottom. Price. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I think you're gonna see like a teeter of like, it's gonna be the race to the bottom, or are you providing so much value as a concierge clinic that like people go to you?[00:35:00]
Yeah. Otherwise, there's like a hundred other companies to choose from. Yeah. that's the only way to go, right? And there's gonna be new GLP one drugs, you know, the patents for the old GLP ones are gonna run out. And so how are companies going to gonna adjust And it's not like, it's glide and, zeta, all that stuff is still working, right?
Like Yeah. You know, how are you gonna convince people to go for kind of the new drugs that come out and not stick with the old ones. Once all that pans out. Yeah, you're right. It's gonna be erased to the bottom. Who's gonna be able to provide the bottom basement barrel prices for this and still survive?
So we shall see. cool. yeah, that's about it for January 20, 26. Looked in the future a little, but Another thing I'm looking forward to is we have guests schedule out until March, right? And this is amazing. People are actually listening and wanting to come on and talk.
part of me is just like sitting here and I'm like, oh, great. I'm talking to Phoebe, talking to myself. I don't know who's listening out there, but totally [00:36:00] appreciate, everybody listening out there. If you have ideas, if you want to come on, just, email us at info@telemedicinetalks.com and, say, Hey, let's have a conversation about whatevs, really.
I would love to have you on. and just because I inadvertently, don't check my telemedicine emails so much, so many of you are reaching out, wanting to build really amazing companies. So if I did not respond to you, please reach out again. I would love to, spend some time to learn more about what you wanna do, what you're trying to build.
Tell you what I think we could potentially do together or, you know, let you continue to marinate on it. But, for all the people who are listening and are taking this in, I hope hopefully it's giving you some motivation to, you know, get in that driver's seat of, your own care journey.
absolutely. You know, part of why we started this was. Really one hear myself talk. But two is really just reach out there [00:37:00] and that's awesome that people are reaching out and saying, Hey, I need help . How can you do that?
And I think, we are good resources for that. And, no that's a good plug. You know, we're here and we do have experience and just reach out. All right, y'all. Until next time. All right, see you later.