Health Care Investment with Anita Watkins and Tom White

Robins chats with Anita Watkins, Director for Strategic Innovations at Rex Health Ventures, the venture arm for the UNC Health Care system, and with Tom White, the CEO & Co-Founder of Phynd, one of Rex's portfolio companies. Rex has invested in more than a dozen companies, many of them in the automation and data management space, says Watkins. Rex works with portfolio companies before they're in a position to be bought out by larger companies, Watkins notes. Phynd is a data management system that enables hospitals to use provider profiles that assist in consumer outreach in a full transaction approach, like Amazon or Open Table, says White. The bottom line is that the real customer for Phynd, in building single provider profiles, is the patient.  Health systems have built large campuses — a brick-and-mortar approach. But just as Amazon did in retail in developing its electronic-based, all-in-one approach, the health care industry is changing to a more accessible and data-driven approach, note Watkins and White. This episode is sponsored by Life365, Inc., www.life365inc.com, and Phynd Technologies, www.phynd.com.