Navigating Health Plans and Building for Kids

Two guests. Two very different challenges in pediatric healthcare, and two candid conversations about what it actually takes to build and scale in this space. Shruti Kothari has worked inside a health plan, sold to health plans as a startup, and run a venture fund inside Kaiser Permanente. She breaks down how health plans actually think, and what founders building for children and families need to understand before walking in the door. Werner Vorster is the co-founder and CEO of Vitls, a wearable patch that continuously monitors all five vital signs for pediatric patients. His origin story: his son had febrile seizures as a baby, and the right wearable technology simply didn't exist. A decade later, that patch does. Topics covered in this episode: -Why clinical outcomes alone are not enough to get a solution adopted by a health plan -How health plans think about incentives, and why employers hold more power than most founders realize -How to find the right internal front door at a health plan, and why there is no single magic title -Why Kaiser Permanente can crush a startup before it gets started -The scale problem: what happens when startups say yes before they're ready Why building a medical device for children is fundamentally different from shrinking an adult product -Skin adhesives, FDA clearance, and multi-site pediatric trials -The reimbursement catch-22: you need data to get approved, but getting the data requires partners willing to collect it -Adding blood pressure as the fifth vital sign, and what that regulatory pathway looks like A Dose of Optimism is a podcast from KidsX, dedicated to the innovators, ideas, and solutions shaping the future of pediatric healthcare. Hosted by Omkar Kulkarni. 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... 📺 Subscribe on YouTube:    / @dose_of_optimism   Connect with Shruti Kothari: →Shruti Kothari LinkedIn (  / shrutikothari  ) Connect with Werner Vorster: →Werner Vorster LinkedIn (  / wernervorster  ) →Vitls Website (  / vitlsinc  ) →Vitls LinkedIn (https://vitlsinc.com/) →Vitls X (https://x.com/VitlsInc) Connect with us: →Children's Hospital L.A. Website (https://www.chla.org/) →Children's Hospital L.A. Instagram (  / childrensla  ) →Children's Hospital L.A. LinkedIn (  / childrensla  ) →KidsX Website (https://www.kidsx.health/) →KidsX LinkedIn (  / kidsx  ) →For more episode resources, please check out our blog (https://kidsx.health/podcast/) The content, views, opinions, and information presented on this podcast do not reflect the views of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles or of the sponsors of the podcast. CHLA does not endorse the views, opinions and information presented on this podcast and CHLA specifically disclaims any legal liability or responsibility for the podcast’s content. #ADoseOfOptimism #HealthcareInnovation #PediatricHealthcare #ChildrensHealth #KidsX #HealthPlans #PayerInnovation #PediatricWearables #HealthTech #DigitalHealth #StartupHealth #RemotePatientMonitoring #WearableTech #HealthcareStartups #HealthcareLeadership