Podcast Summary: Breaking Open the Black Box of Healthcare: A Conversation with CEO Mark Newman

Podcast: The Digital Executive by Coruzant Technologies
Episode: 1036
Guest: Mark Newman, CEO and Co-founder of NOMI Health
Date: March 28, 2025

Episode Overview

In this high-impact 10-minute episode, Mark Newman discusses his journey from pioneering AI-driven talent assessment at HireVue to co-founding NOMI Health, where he’s working to overhaul America’s healthcare system. The conversation centers on making healthcare transparent, direct, and data-driven for employers, providers, and patients. Newman shares NOMI Health’s approach to tackling the industry's systemic problems—especially the opaque and cumbersome financial processes—and highlights both cultural and technological strategies that can enable profound industry-wide change.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. From AI & HR Tech to Healthcare Innovation (01:14–03:21)

• Transition Motivation: Newman’s move from HireVue to NOMI Health was rooted in a passion for HR and improving the worker experience both at work and in life.
  • Quote (01:43, Mark Newman):

    “Everything I do is about working with business owners and HR to transform the worker experience.”

• Impact and Meaning: Building HireVue empowered people to achieve dream jobs, while NOMI Health aims to solve “supposedly sticky and unfixable problems” of U.S. healthcare using lessons and technologies from other industries.
  • Quote (02:46, Mark Newman):

    “I’ve been able to build NOMI for the last six years where, you know, we take something as broken as U.S. Healthcare and make it affordable, make it accessible, make it usable... and it’s working.”

2. Exposing and Fixing the ‘Black Box’ of Healthcare (03:21–05:58)

• Systemic Problems Identified:
  • The lack of data transparency for employers and the convoluted, delayed payment process for providers.
  • Quote (03:39, Mark Newman):

    “Employers don’t know what they spend their money on, what they’re buying, what they pay for, who needs what… You want to break open that black box.”

• NOMI’s Approach:
  • Acts as an “operating system” for self-insured employers, enabling them to buy healthcare directly, with real-time payments and transparent data.
  • Compares healthcare purchasing and payments to seamless experiences in other industries (like travel), highlighting the inefficiency of healthcare’s processes.
• Potential Impact:
  • By simplifying provider payments and increasing transparency, healthcare costs could drop by 30–50%.
  • Quote (05:51, Mark Newman):

    “If you make it really simple for a doctor to get paid... Healthcare costs somewhere between 25, 30 and 50% less than it does today.”

3. Building a Culture of Transparency with Technology (06:38–08:12)

• Role of Technology:
  • Real-time analytics and transparency are critical. NOMI Health’s analytics platform already serves 15 million lives and 1,500 employers.
  • Emphasizes that employers are the true buyers and owners of healthcare data.
• Stakeholder Alignment:
  • Technology isn’t just about clinical care; it’s necessary for transparency in payment and business operations.
  • Quote (07:32, Mark Newman):

    “An employer is the true buyer of healthcare here and it is their data and they get to do whatever they want with it… Unless we solve the black box of healthcare problem at its core, how can we address and solve anything else?”

• Cultural Commitment:
  • States that NOMI Health will “pound the table” and advocate for the employer’s rights at every level of government.

4. Trends and Innovations Shaping the Next Decade in Healthcare (08:40–10:51)

• Beyond Buzzwords:
  • While AI, machine learning, and cloud technologies are impactful, the real driver for change is relentless stakeholder demand—patients, employers, and HR collectively saying “enough’s enough.”
• Industry Comparison:
  • Contrasts healthcare with other sectors that have streamlined digital payment and data solutions, marveling at outdated practices like using paper checks and even CD-ROMs for data transfer in healthcare.
  • Quote (09:28, Mark Newman):

    “The most important emerging trend… is the fire, the anger, the… ‘let’s end this nonsense’ belief that is now coming from individuals, patients, families, business owners, HR leaders, everyone that says, you know what, enough’s enough. It’s time to change this industry.”

• Vision:
  • Predicts imminent and profound change, with technology and demand for transparency aligning to push healthcare into a long-overdue digital transformation.
  • Quote (10:32, Mark Newman):

    “These are all digital tools and technologies… but it goes along with consumers...pounding the table saying it’s time for change. And I believe we’re at that cusp, that moment…”

Memorable Quotes

• On the systemic inefficiencies in healthcare payments:
  “Only in America can a doctor show up to an appointment, give you the care that you came in to ask for, and they have no idea when they get paid, how they get paid, who they get paid by, who they’re supposed to be collecting from…” (04:20, Mark Newman)

• On the universality of digital, seamless payments elsewhere:
  “When you swipe a credit card, it goes through 400 plus systems in less than three seconds. Yet in healthcare, from the time that you go to the doctor, to the time that the bill is processed... can be two to nine months…” (03:52, Mark Newman)

• On the urgency for change:
  “Everything else in our personal life can be transparent and easy to understand what you buy, what you pay for and how to do it. Why not in healthcare?” (09:40, Mark Newman)

Key Timestamps

• [01:43] – Mark Newman on the passion that drives his career transitions
• [03:39] – Diagnosing healthcare’s ‘black box’ and NOMI Health’s operating system solution
• [05:51] – The case for dramatically reduced healthcare costs via transparency
• [07:32] – Employer data ownership and the necessity for business transparency
• [09:28] – The real trend: stakeholder-driven demand for industry-wide reform

Conclusion

Mark Newman’s conversation delivers a concise but powerful argument for why and how U.S. healthcare must embrace radical transparency, direct payments, and business process innovation—leveraging both advanced technology and cultural pressure from stakeholders. Drawing on both deep industry insight and an outsider’s perspective, Newman expresses palpable urgency for change and highlights NOMI Health’s practical efforts already underway. The episode is both a call to action and a glimpse into the near future of a potentially transformed healthcare industry.