Scott Becker - Tempus AI: A Tempus and a Teapot 8-27-25 - Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Summary4 min read

Podcast Summary
Podcast: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Episode: Scott Becker - Tempus AI: A Tempus and a Teapot
Date: August 27, 2025
Host: Scott Becker

Overview

In this episode, Scott Becker delves into the growing role and critical importance of Tempus AI, a predictive analytics and artificial intelligence company, within the contemporary healthcare system—especially in the realm of oncology. Becker discusses the pressures oncologists face, the evolution of Tempus AI, and the broader need for advanced clinical decision tools. He frames Tempus AI as a response to overwhelming clinical workloads and knowledge gaps exacerbated by the complexity of modern cancer care.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Tempus AI and Its Founder

Tempus AI specializes in data analytics and AI-driven predictive analytics, aiding health systems, oncologists, and medical groups in making sense of oncology diagnoses and determining optimal steps forward.
Founder: Eric Lefkowski, noted as a "brilliant, brilliant entrepreneur" from Glencoe, Illinois. The company has been around for about a decade.
(00:21)

2. The Growing Need for AI Solutions in Oncology

Becker highlights an "intersection in time" making companies like Tempus AI widely relevant and vital.
Oncologists are described as "overwhelmed" by the explosion of treatment options, care protocols, and the ever-expanding field of oncology knowledge.
The immense workload means doctors "have limited bandwidth because they're exhausted."
(00:48)
The resulting strain is not a "knock on them," but shows the need for supportive, scalable technology.
(01:22)
"It's almost impossible" for individual oncologists to keep up, leading patients to seek care at major centers such as MD Anderson, Mayo Clinic, City of Hope, and Cleveland Clinic.
- These institutions are credited for having a "depth of talent," which becomes a reason for repeated patient referrals.
  (01:33)

3. Tempus AI’s Value Proposition

Companies like Tempus AI and Private Health Management are “so, so valuable and so important in different ways because of the space that they fill that our medical professionals, our physicians can’t fill because they’re often just overwhelmed or work in a silo.”
- Highlights the support AI provides outside traditional, overburdened systems. (01:52)
Tempus AI is on an upward trajectory, described as being up 117-118% year to date, reflecting its increasing adoption and market confidence.
- Quote: “It’s up 117, 118% year to date.”
  (02:18)

4. Personal Experience with Tempus AI

Becker shares a personal anecdote: when his nephew was diagnosed with brain cancer, he discovered the health system was cross-checking all decisions with Tempus AI.
- Portrays Tempus as moving from an entrepreneurial experiment to “a real, real thing.”
  (02:42)
- Quote: “I was actually shocked to learn that the health system we were working with checked everything they did with Tempus AI that had been assigned to me, that had moved beyond just sort of this guy Eeroka Afkowski’s company to a real, real thing.”
  (02:42)

5. Oncology Workforce Pressures and the Future

The ongoing shortage of healthcare professionals and the high rates of cancer emphasize the invaluable contribution of AI-driven tools.
The episode concludes by reiterating that such tools are “so, so important because quite frankly, the doctors are overwhelmed.”
(03:20)
- Quote: “It’s no question why these types of things, these types of AI, clinical helpful tools are so, so important because quite frankly, the doctors are overwhelmed.”
  (03:20)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Oncologist Burnout:
"They have limited bandwidth because they’re exhausted. Two, there are so many different things going on in terms of care and treatment and ways to handle diseases that they just can't keep up and they're exhausted and it's almost impossible."
— Scott Becker (00:48)
On AI’s Real-World Value:
"That had moved beyond just sort of this guy Eeroka Afkowski’s company to a real, real thing."
— Scott Becker (02:46)
On The Need for AI Tools:
“It’s no question why these types of things, these types of AI, clinical helpful tools are so, so important because quite frankly, the doctors are overwhelmed.”
— Scott Becker (03:20)

Timestamps: Important Segments

00:21 – Introduction to Tempus AI and Eric Lefkowski
00:48 – Oncologist exhaustion and the rising complexity of oncology care
01:33 – Why patients flock to top cancer centers
01:52 – Tempus AI’s niche and growing importance
02:18 – Tempus AI’s market performance and credibility
02:42 – Personal anecdote underscoring Tempus’s legitimacy
03:20 – Final emphasis on systemic need for AI augmentation

This episode, delivered in Scott Becker’s plainspoken and urgent tone, serves as a concise exploration of why advanced analytics and AI are quickly becoming non-negotiable in modern oncology—and the ways these tools are already shaping clinical practice, patient care, and healthcare workflows.

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Transcript1 lines

[00:00]
A
This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. Today's discussion is Tempus AI, a tempest in a teapot. So Tempus AI is a data analytics, predictive analytics AI, artificial intelligence firm that deals with helping health systems and oncologists and groups look at their oncology diagnoses and what could be done and what are the opportunities and what should be done. The company was founded now a long time ago, maybe 10 years ago, by Eric Lefkowski, a Glencoe, Illinois native and a brilliant, brilliant entrepreneur. What's happened is you've had this intersection in time as to why what they do and companies like Private Health Management do are so, so important. And it comes back a lot to the fact that oncologists and physicians are just overwhelmed. So when you work with an oncologist on a disease in a cancer diagnosis, one, they have limited bandwidth because they're exhausted. Two, there are so many different things going on in terms of care and treatment and ways to handle diseases that they just can't keep up and they're exhausted and it's almost impossible. That's not a knock on them. We're just overwhelmed. It's the reason why people keep on going back to places like MD Anderson to Mayo Clinic, to City of Hope to Cleveland Clinic, because of the depth of talent they have in these places. But in this backdrop, you have companies like Tempus AI, like Private Health Management, who becomes so, so valuable and so important in different ways because of the space that they fill that our medical professionals, our physicians can't fill because they're often just overwhelmed or work in a silo. Again, this is the story of Tempus AI. It's up 117, 118% year to date. I got more familiar with it years ago when we had a nephew with a brain cancer diagnosis. And I was actually shocked to learn that the health system we were working with checked everything they did with Tempus AI that had been assigned to me, that had moved beyond just sort of this guy Eeroka Afkowski's company to a real, real thing. But as you watch what's going on in oncology and the shortages in the people to take care of people and the huge extent of people that have cancer, it just, it's no question why these types of things, these types of AI, clinical helpful tools are so, so important because quite frankly, the doctors are overwhelmed. Thank you for listening to this version of the Beckers Healthcare Pod podcast.