Solving for Healthcare’s Broken Doorway: Interview with OnMed CEO Karthik Ganesh

In this episode of Medsider Radio, we sat down with Karthik Ganesh, CEO of OnMed.OnMed is the healthcare technology company behind OnMed CareStation, a “Clinic-in-a-Box” designed to expand access to primary and urgent care. Before OnMed, Karthik served as CEO of EmpiRx Health, leading the company through rapid growth and a successful private equity transaction in 2021. Throughout his career, he’s held leadership roles at QualCare, CareAllies, and Aetna, and advised healthcare organizations through Deloitte and EY.In this interview, Karthik discusses why hybrid care models still require a human touch, how enterprise healthcare buyers evaluate value propositions differently, why brand and culture should shape execution early, and how operating under constraints can sharpen innovation.Before we dive into the discussion, I wanted to mention a few things:First, if you’re into learning from medical device founders and CEOs and want to know when new interviews are live, head over to Medsider.com and sign up for our free newsletter.And if you’re ready to level up your medtech game, you should check out Medsider Courses — 8-week masterclasses covering topics like fundraising, M&A and exit planning, design and development, clinical and regulatory strategy, and commercialization.These courses, featuring hard-earned lessons from elite medtech CEOs, can be purchased individually or come free with our All-Access Pass.If you'd rather read than listen, here's a link to the full interview with Karthik Ganesh, which includes a link to ScottBot — an AI version of host Scott Nelson trained on every Medsider interview and playbook. Feel free to ask ScottBot any questions you'd like!KEY MOMENTS FROM THE INTERVIEW(03:04) - Karthik’s obsession with healthcare access, and the “broken doorway” problem behind OnMed (05:51) - How OnMed combines telemedicine and brick-and-mortar care into a “Clinic in a Box” (09:04) - The OnMed metrics that surprised Karthik most, including a 37% patient return rate, and the reasons behind the company’s success (09:22) - What OnMed designed differently after realizing that patients approach healthcare with their guard up (15:27) - The pitfalls of B2C healthcare and how OnMed was built as a B2B company by intention (22:01) - How Karthik reshaped OnMed around clarity, structure, and high performers (30:23) - What “brand” actually means to Karthik (39:37) - How OnMed tailored its value proposition for payers, providers, employers, and universities (45:45) - Karthik’s fundraising philosophy: constraints keep companies inventive