A taste of Redesign Health’s fascinating report on how to beat Epic

I keep having this dream. I’m the founder of a digital health startup, the clients are rolling in, and I’ve got more VC money than I know what to do with. All the sudden, Epic expands into my exact niche. That’s always when I wake up, but I’m pretty sure I know how the rest goes.

-Jack

Providers

Epic Dominates, But Don’t Discount Competitors

Epic’s empire has reached, well, epic proportions. The software goliath’s grip on health systems gets tighter by the day, but a new report from startup studio Redesign Health doesn’t count out David just yet. Pencils up, founders. 

Redesign Health talked to the big wigs. Here’s a quick look at the survey group. 

• A total of 112 execs at U.S. health systems served by Epic gave their thoughts. 
• Two-thirds get final say on clinical and administrative purchasing, and the rest hold at least some official sway in these decisions. 

Most seemed pretty content with Epic. The platform has a quality edge to some, though its sheer size looks to be influencing things. Blink twice and we’ll call Oracle.

• A huge majority (71%) described their system as “Epic-first.”
• 80% expect prioritization of Epic going forward vs. 6% for external solutions. 
• Epic is winning because of easy integration (50%), superior capabilities (48%), being “good enough” vs. alternatives (48%), and cost effectiveness (47%).

There’s room for competition. Execs placed the likelihood of another vendor matching Epic in various arenas on a one-to-five scale, and were generally open to outsiders. 

• The greatest opportunities lie in imaging (3.52), quality tracking (3.51), and discharge and transfers (3.51).
• Epic is most entrenched when it comes to patient flow (3.16), interoperability and integration (3.21), and non-imaging clinical decision support (3.22). 

But if you come at the king, you best make sure your product rocks. To ditch Epic, decision-makers must be confident they’ll get major results, and fast. 

• Nearly half (49%) said external vendors must show significantly higher ROI and/or better outcomes, while just 18% grade Epic and its competitors on the same scale. 
• It tracks that 63% ranked easy integration as important, with faster time to value close behind at 59%.

The Takeaway

Redesign Health’s report on Epic could serve as a roadmap for other companies to score some victories in the battle for market share. Those looking for one simple trick that Epic doesn’t want you to know will be disappointed, though. The broad strokes lesson is to make a product so good it’s irresistible. 

Virtual-First, Local Always

The humans of healthcare can get lost in the background at conferences full of robo-docs and AI assistants, but deep personal connections are just as key as new technologies for driving better outcomes. Find out how Ovatient is keeping care “virtual-first, local always” in Digital Health Wire’s rapid-fire interview from the ViVE exhibit hall.

Clinician-First Copilot for Value-Based Success

Navina’s AI copilot brings clinical intelligence directly to care teams, turning fragmented data into actionable insights that transform value-based workflows from the back office to the point-of-care. Designed for and loved by physicians, Navina’s Best in KLAS AI reduces missed diagnoses while improving quality metrics and risk adjustment accuracy. Discover how practices are leveraging Navina to enhance VBC performance and improve the clinician experience.

The Wire

• Doctronic + Summer Health: Doctronic is going cradle to grave by taking over virtual pediatric provider Summer Health. This isn’t one of those set-it-and-forget-it deals. Doctronic will use Summer Health’s repository of 100,000+ text conversations to train AI models, and transition the platform into an algorithmic triage service that escalates to Doctronic pediatricians. Doctronic said this could be the start of an acquisition spree, so brace for more news out of the buzzy telehealth firm. 

• NSA Software for Payers: Payers are getting their butts kicked in No Surprises Act disputes. Claims and pricing software maker Daffodil Health says it can help turn the tables. The firm’s new AI-powered platform creates a centralized NSA work queue, offers strategic tips, and prepares arbitration documents so insurers and TPAs don’t lose cases because of administrative missteps. The launch comes shortly after reduced NSA filing fees went into effect, opening the door to a flood of low-value disputes. 

• Function Scores $450M: Searing hot biometrics startup Function banked $450M in growth financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund, bringing its lifetime raise to over $800M in just three years. The platform gives subscribers access to 160+ lab tests for everything from heart issues to heavy metals, then offers health and wellness recommendations based on the results. Just last quarter, Function acquired Getlabs, a blood draw network, and supplement platform SuppCo. 

• Flourish Works: Mental health app Flourish escaped the anecdotal wilderness and entered the palace of clinical data with a new RCT in NEJM AI. The trial was just six weeks, so durability remains a question, but the platform showed clear short-run benefits. Of ~500 undergraduates, those who used the free-with-upgrades app reported more mindfulness, less loneliness, higher resilience, and all sorts of other nice feelings. To the company’s delight, average usage exceeded the twice-weekly recommendation. 

• Birches Health Works, Too: A new paper in JMIR Mental Health found the Birches Health therapy app eased gambling addiction in 71% of 1,305 adults. The retrospective study spanned 12 weeks, but the median time to meaningful improvement was just two weeks. People with higher baseline depression symptoms saw some of the quickest progress. Again, we don’t know if the results stick long term, but Birches says it has more peer-reviewed research coming down the pike.

• HealthEx on a Heater: In a pair of major moves, HealthEx dropped a unified medical records app, HealthEx Wallet, and embedded its tech into Sharecare’s AskMD platform. HealthEx Wallet chronicles care, explains results and diagnoses in plain language, and lets users manage who can see their records. As for AskMD, the AI platform will use HealthEx to personalize its health and insurance advice. Consider the recent WHOOP and Microsoft Copilot integrations, and it’s turning into quite the year for HealthEx. 

• RPM for Hypertension: A new JAMA Open cohort study shows patients who switch from traditional Medicare to Medicare Advantage are less likely to receive RPM for hypertension management. Among 282k people, moving to value-based MA was associated with 45% lower odds of RPM use, a figure that fell to 27% for non-value-based MA. This dynamic could shift in the coming years as CMS moves to effectively ban third-party RPM for Part B patients, citing fraud and quality concerns.

• Heidi Takes Notes from Healthcare Pros: Heidi assembled a panel of 12 clinical experts to guide the development and rollout of its AI tools in the U.S. Members of the Customer Advisory Board run the gamut of backgrounds, from a New York hospital executive to an orthopedic surgeon in Arizona. Explaining the move, Heidi cited an AMA survey that found 85% of doctors want a say on AI adoption in their practice. 

• Talk to Me, Doc: Sharing results on patient portals may be easy, but a new JACR study found many patients want to hear them from their PCP. Among ~800 patients who underwent breast biopsy, 70% preferred person-to-person chats with a provider, even if they had to wait longer. Patients whose primary language isn’t English were more likely to prefer talking to a PCP, highlighting the need for multilingual support in telehealth. 

• Teladoc Stumbles: BetterHelp better stop hurting if Teladoc Health wants to regain investors’ confidence. Teladoc saw its shares plummet Thursday after reporting BetterHelp couldn’t meet demand for insurance-covered services, a pretty big hiccup for a business set on moving from cash-pay to coverage networks. That contributed to a 5% trim in 2026 revenue projections. Teladoc is pushing provider incentives to solve these woes, and will cut back on BetterHelp’s aggressive advertising in the meantime. 

• Throne Flush with $10M: A camera. In your toilet. Seriously. Throne Science thinks its product will make a splash, as do the VCs that just invested $10M in Series A funding to help the biometrics startup educate consumers, refine its product, and expand to clinical channels. The camera clips onto the toilet rim (facing down) to track gut health and hydration. Cofounded by an ex-WHOOP exec, Throne Science has lofty aims, hoping to eventually spot warning signs of colorectal, bladder, and kidney cancers. 

Redefining Patient Monitoring for Obesity & Diabetes

Weight management programs live and die by adherence. Discover why partners like Calibrate,
9am Health, and Wondr Health trust Withings to keep members weighing in, with
cellular-connected scales that deliver instant weight insights, full body composition data, and the
lowest possible barrier to action throughout their weight loss journey.

State of Payor Enrollment and Credentialing

AI is changing the way that healthcare leaders tackle provider network management. Medallion’s latest report breaks down the biggest challenges, emerging trends, and how automation is transforming the landscape. Get the insights you need – read the full report today.

How Clinicians Are Using AI to Find Relief

Clinicians are facing a documentation burden that’s outpaced every attempt to contain it, and they’re adopting AI to tackle the crisis faster than health systems can keep pace. Download Heidi’s new report to see how over 1,800 clinicians around the world are already using AI to find relief, and what that means for the institutions still catching up.

The Resource Wire

• The Agentic Platform for Your Environment: Your care plans. Your patients. Every health system is unique, which is why Tucuvi tailors its agentic platform to the day-to-day realities of care delivery at each of its partners. With configurable protocols and seamless EHR integration from day one, LOLA is the AI voice agent care teams trust to reach every patient. See LOLA handle real care workflows with your use cases today.

• The Distance Between an Idea and Reality: Almost every good idea in healthcare already exists. The hard part is building it. Bunkerhill Health CEO Nishith Khandwala believes shortening the distance between ideas and solutions will be the defining feature of healthcare’s next chapter, and his new essay lays out how agentic AI is making it happen – not by being the hero, but by giving heroes the tools they need.

• Expanding Access to Care at FQHCs with AI: Everyone deserves access to high-quality, compassionate healthcare. Abridge developed a deep partnership model to adapt to the unique needs of Federally Qualified Health Centers across the country, ensuring clinicians and care teams can focus more fully on their patients – in 28 languages, across specialties and settings, in every moment of care. Learn more about the real results Abridge delivers by standing with community health centers.

The Industry Wire

1. VA to run GLP-1 trial for alcohol abuse.
2. DR Congo Ebola epidemic becomes second largest.
3. Labcorp sees strong medical testing demand.
4. Cigna’s profits jump from employer-sponsored plans.
5. NYC Legionnaires’ outbreak declared over.
6. Judge rejects pausing Medicaid work requirements.
7. Alignment posts 32% increase in Q2 revenue.
8. Siemens Healthineers & Cleveland Clinic form 10-year alliance.
9. Red Cross declares second-ever blood crisis.
10. Senate committee advances CDC director nominee.