Healthcare,
but funny

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John Doe

CEO, Tesla

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John Doe

CEO, Tesla

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit."

John Doe

CEO, Tesla

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit."

John Doe

CEO, Tesla

"Just referred to myself as a Nikhil-Stan, I've trademarked the term."

Otto Sipe

CEO of Photon

"OOP is my pulse on the health tech space"

Isaac Palka

Sr Director at GeneDx

"A realistic take on healthcare/tech that eschews the industry standard"

Melissa Hinckley

Network Integrity & Innovation Program Director

"You sir are 'the Tim Ferriss of healthcare': funny, insightful, never boring, always useful"

Vishnu Rachakonda

Data Scientist at firsthand

"OOP helps you laugh instead of cry at healthcare"

Julia Lin

Product Manager at Tendo

"Informative, in-depth, and appropriate, reckless humor. Education 2.0."

Daniel Kaplan

Daniel Kaplan, Senior Associate, Generator Ventures

"Topical, engaging, and funny af."

Rachel R.

Marketing Manager

"This looks unprofessional, what do the pictures mean?"

Nikhil's Dad

"Out-of-Pocket? So on point, it should be called 'in-the-pocket!'"

Ben Schwartz

"A how things work newsletter about our most convoluted - and important - industry"

Phil Weiss

VP of Customer Success @ CipherHealth

"Literally the only newsletter that manages to be relevant, important, AND laugh-out-loud entertaining."

Shannon Hooper

Chief Strategy & Product Officer BehaVR

"Nikhil's newsletter literally saved my marriage"

Anonymous

"OOP would’ve made my life 10x easier if it was around when I first entered digital health."

Eric

CEO/Founder @ Ratio

"Deep insights, with a side of fun - a recommended read for anyone in healthcare."

Kyle Giddens

CEO Medcase

"Out of Pocket: Deep health tech thinking combined with joie de vivre."

Ali Khan

Chief Medical Officer, VBC Strategy Oak Street Health

"How does anyone not love @nikillinit‘s newsletter? It’s rigorous, insightful, and downright hysterical."

Z Reitano

CEO of Ro

"Just referred to myself as a Nikhil-Stan, I've trademarked the term."

Otto Sipe

CEO of Photon

"OOP is my pulse on the health tech space"

Isaac Palka

Sr Director at GeneDx

"A realistic take on healthcare/tech that eschews the industry standard"

Melissa Hinckley

Network Integrity & Innovation Program Director

"You sir are 'the Tim Ferriss of healthcare': funny, insightful, never boring, always useful"

Vishnu Rachakonda

Data Scientist at firsthand

"OOP helps you laugh instead of cry at healthcare"

Julia Lin

Product Manager at Tendo

"Informative, in-depth, and appropriate, reckless humor. Education 2.0."

Daniel Kaplan

Daniel Kaplan, Senior Associate, Generator Ventures

"Topical, engaging, and funny af."

Rachel R.

Marketing Manager

"This looks unprofessional, what do the pictures mean?"

Nikhil's Dad

"Out-of-Pocket? So on point, it should be called 'in-the-pocket!'"

Ben Schwartz

"A how things work newsletter about our most convoluted - and important - industry"

Phil Weiss

VP of Customer Success @ CipherHealth

"Literally the only newsletter that manages to be relevant, important, AND laugh-out-loud entertaining."

Shannon Hooper

Chief Strategy & Product Officer BehaVR

"Nikhil's newsletter literally saved my marriage"

Anonymous

"OOP would’ve made my life 10x easier if it was around when I first entered digital health."

Eric

CEO/Founder @ Ratio

"Deep insights, with a side of fun - a recommended read for anyone in healthcare."

Kyle Giddens

CEO Medcase

"Out of Pocket: Deep health tech thinking combined with joie de vivre."

Ali Khan

Chief Medical Officer, VBC Strategy Oak Street Health

"How does anyone not love @nikillinit‘s newsletter? It’s rigorous, insightful, and downright hysterical."

Z Reitano

CEO of Ro

"Just referred to myself as a Nikhil-Stan, I've trademarked the term."

Otto Sipe

CEO of Photon

"OOP is my pulse on the health tech space"

Isaac Palka

Sr Director at GeneDx

"A realistic take on healthcare/tech that eschews the industry standard"

Melissa Hinckley

Network Integrity & Innovation Program Director

"You sir are 'the Tim Ferriss of healthcare': funny, insightful, never boring, always useful"

Vishnu Rachakonda

Data Scientist at firsthand

"OOP helps you laugh instead of cry at healthcare"

Julia Lin

Product Manager at Tendo

"Informative, in-depth, and appropriate, reckless humor. Education 2.0."

Daniel Kaplan

Daniel Kaplan, Senior Associate, Generator Ventures

"Topical, engaging, and funny af."

Rachel R.

Marketing Manager

"This looks unprofessional, what do the pictures mean?"

Nikhil's Dad

"Out-of-Pocket? So on point, it should be called 'in-the-pocket!'"

Ben Schwartz

"A how things work newsletter about our most convoluted - and important - industry"

Phil Weiss

VP of Customer Success @ CipherHealth

"Literally the only newsletter that manages to be relevant, important, AND laugh-out-loud entertaining."

Shannon Hooper

Chief Strategy & Product Officer BehaVR

"Nikhil's newsletter literally saved my marriage"

Anonymous

"OOP would’ve made my life 10x easier if it was around when I first entered digital health."

Eric

CEO/Founder @ Ratio

"Deep insights, with a side of fun - a recommended read for anyone in healthcare."

Kyle Giddens

CEO Medcase

"Out of Pocket: Deep health tech thinking combined with joie de vivre."

Ali Khan

Chief Medical Officer, VBC Strategy Oak Street Health

"How does anyone not love @nikillinit‘s newsletter? It’s rigorous, insightful, and downright hysterical."

Z Reitano

CEO of Ro

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit."

John Doe

CEO, Tesla

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit."

John Doe

CEO, Tesla

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit."

John Doe

CEO, Tesla

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit."

John Doe

CEO, Tesla

"Just referred to myself as a Nikhil-Stan, I've trademarked the term."

Otto Sipe

CEO of Photon

"OOP is my pulse on the health tech space"

Isaac Palka

Sr Director at GeneDx

"A realistic take on healthcare/tech that eschews the industry standard"

Melissa Hinckley

Network Integrity & Innovation Program Director

"You sir are 'the Tim Ferriss of healthcare': funny, insightful, never boring, always useful"

Vishnu Rachakonda

Data Scientist at firsthand

"OOP helps you laugh instead of cry at healthcare"

Julia Lin

Product Manager at Tendo

"Informative, in-depth, and appropriate, reckless humor. Education 2.0."

Daniel Kaplan

Daniel Kaplan, Senior Associate, Generator Ventures

"Topical, engaging, and funny af."

Rachel R.

Marketing Manager

"This looks unprofessional, what do the pictures mean?"

Nikhil's Dad

"Out-of-Pocket? So on point, it should be called 'in-the-pocket!'"

Ben Schwartz

"A how things work newsletter about our most convoluted - and important - industry"

Phil Weiss

VP of Customer Success @ CipherHealth

"Literally the only newsletter that manages to be relevant, important, AND laugh-out-loud entertaining."

Shannon Hooper

Chief Strategy & Product Officer BehaVR

"Nikhil's newsletter literally saved my marriage"

Anonymous

"OOP would’ve made my life 10x easier if it was around when I first entered digital health."

Eric

CEO/Founder @ Ratio

"Deep insights, with a side of fun - a recommended read for anyone in healthcare."

Kyle Giddens

CEO Medcase

"Out of Pocket: Deep health tech thinking combined with joie de vivre."

Ali Khan

Chief Medical Officer, VBC Strategy Oak Street Health

"How does anyone not love @nikillinit‘s newsletter? It’s rigorous, insightful, and downright hysterical."

Z Reitano

CEO of Ro

Latest Posts

View all

Pitching to payers, pilots, and what makes Blue Cross distinct with Tricia Garland

so you want to know what health insurers are looking for?

Answers: Should Physicians Create Lifestyle Plans?

some real-world stories from people dealing with this

Should Physicians Create Lifestyle Plans?

or should it be its own specialized skillset?

It’s Time For Physician Independence

Why it might be easier to start a practice today

Out-Of-Pocket’s Healthcare Crash Course Launches!!

Learn the basics of healthcare in a fun, entertaining, and accessible way

Emerging healthcare business models and the new vendors they need

looking for an idea to build? look at these areas

Turning Conversations Into Documentation Automagically 🪄 with Abridge

How to get more value out of the rich data of patient-provider conversations

Completely new healthcare markets and what to build for them

that new new

Application reminder, new virtual discussion, new course

quick housekeeping things

More Thoughts On Amazon and One Medical

Is this the start of Amazon's business offering? A recession hedge?

The Amazon + One Medical Post

I guess I should say something?

The New Price Transparency Laws And Turquoise Health

Are we actually moving to a healthcare shopping experience?

All of the main problems with US healthcare

let's get all of our problems out on the table

Some Thoughts On Startups Overpromising

the role RFPs play, how it's difficult to define patient harm, and more

OOP Slack final reminder

it's the final countdownnnnn

How much is “too much” when it comes to overpromising as a startup?

navigating the gray area

How Healthcare Payments Work with Candid Health

A walkthrough of how money flows between payers and providers

The New (Experimental) Ways To Tackle The Mental Health Crisis

let's try some new stuff to scale mental health care

Introducing The OOP Talent Collective

if you're hiring, this will help you find the best candidates

Mental Health And The Weird Fixation With Employers

an uncomfortable conversation about mental health access

Some more thoughts on telemedicine

a collection of the best audience responses

Cool Ideas For Dentistry + Medicine With Nisarg Patel

plus what actually happens in the operating room?

What's The Deal With Telemedicine?

we're in the weird in-between stage of adoption

New Health Plans Need New Operating Systems with Flume Health

this claim is automatic, programmatic, hypnotic, funky fresh

Placebos Are Getting Stronger

Should we incorporate them into clinical practice?

Ins and Outs of Fundraising Today

Some stuff I’ve learned doing a little healthcare startup investing

Structuring the Unstructured and ScienceIO

how to train your model, the animated movie

More 2022 predictions

A curation of your 2022 predictions

2022 Healthcare Predictions

Nikstradamus strikes again

Out-Of-Pocket 2021 Predictions

the future is easy to predict right

Some crypto x healthcare ideas

Decentralized EMRs, Insurance DAOs, and Drug Picking Models

Provider Directories, Physician data, and Ribbon Health

why can't I find any important info about my doctor lol

Decentralizing Journals and Peer Review DAOs

the evolution of legitimacy in scientific publishing

The Obstacles To Value-Based Care

taking on risk is easier said than done

How to integrate into an EMR and why Epic won with Brendan Keeler

everything you need to know about EMRs, healthcare data standards, and integrations

Canvas: A Bet On New EMRs

what if EMRs didn't totally suck?

Should more people be using urgent care?

is the rise of urgent care a good or bad thing?

Air Quality, Breathing, and Health

What we inhale is a public health issue

Answers: How should physicians get paid?

What is a "fair amount" for a physician to get paid?

Scaling Organizations, Patient Payments, and Collections with Lora Rosenblum

Why am I getting bills 6 months later, Lora pls help

How should physicians get paid?

Should money and care be separate?

Personalized Health Insurance and the Payer Stack

Stacks on stacks on stacks

How Health Data Gets Sold: Moving From Third-Party to First-Party

The shift from third-party to first-party data consent, and how far should it go?

Answers: Did The FDA Mess Up With Aduhelm?

what if it incentivizes actually good drugs?

Redox and The Future Of Integrations

Actually...what is an integration lol

Announcing the Out-Of-Pocket Job Board!

Recruiting a ton? Get your healthcare jobs in front of the right people

Did The FDA Mess Up With Aduhelm?

Rethinking the approval, coverage, and reimbursement dynamic

Scheduling, Medicaid Opportunities, and Health MBAs with Sandy Varatharajah

misconceptions, opportunities, and more

Fitbits, Bundled Payments, and Rollercoasters

some papers I think are cool

Answers: How Much Info Should A Patient Get?

do we need our physicians to be interpreters?

Particle Health And Pulling Patient Data

One API, one dream

How Much Info Should A Patient Get?

A discussion question

Physicians and Pharma Marketing

oh we getting that drug money

The Reality of Real-World Evidence

Real recognize real...sort of

Free Reports

View all

What's interesting in healthcare? (2023)

This year's halftime report. We go through some of the macro changes in fundraising and regulatory environment, and then a bunch of interesting startup ideas that seem to have gained steam.

The Route To Physician Independence

How do we bring ownership back to physicians? For the last decade plus, physicians have been increasingly finding themselves working for large hospitals or corporations. But today thanks to new changes in the industry, it could be the time we see them go independent.

The Future of EHRs

Is it finally the right time to fix health records? History tells us that those efforts are in vain, but a combination of new regulations + advances in technology + business model shifts might actually create a new opening to fix EHRs. In fact, some companies are already taking advantage of the opportunity.

WTF is happening in healthcare

A combination of COVID-19, new regulations, and better tools have opened up a lot of opportunities for new healthcare entrants in the next few years.

The Six Stages of Health Tech Grief

Starting a health tech company is hard. After seeing so many entrepreneurs face the same trials and tribulations while starting a healthcare company, I thought I'd put a guide together of the common obstacles you'll face in the journey of starting a healthcare company and strategies to be successful.

Healthcare Jeopardy

Want to test your healthcare knowledge? Try playing this game of healthcare jeopardy and see how much you know. Customize this template to include whatever you want! Use it to onboard new team members, have a happy hour, or demonstrate your pseudo dominance of healthcare knowledge to people that don't know anything about healthcare and are wondering why they're playing this game during a baby shower.

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Shop Products

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Six Stages Of Grief Coasters

These coasters are perfect to rest the fourth cold beer you need after realizing you're literally on the six stages journey yourself. Sorry, you're not special.

VBC Hoodie (White)

This joke is only going to make sense to like 2 people in your life, but those should be the only people you keep in your life. This hoodie will probably degrade before VBC becomes a thing, sorry.

Thinkbb Onesie

You thought because you're a baby you can escape healthcare? Absolutely not, who are you a dependent of? What's your coverage? Tell me child!!!!

VBC long sleeve

This joke is only going to make sense to like 2 people in your life, but those should be the only people you keep in your life. This shirt will probably degrade before VBC becomes a thing, sorry.

Thinkboi Onesie

You thought because you're a baby you can escape healthcare? Absolutely not, who are you a dependent of? What's your coverage? Tell me child!!!!

Thinkgrl Onesie

You thought because you're a baby you can escape healthcare? Absolutely not, who are you a dependent of? What's your coverage? Tell me child!!!!

VBC Hoodie (Black)

This joke is only going to make sense to like 2 people in your life, but those should be the only people you keep in your life. This hoodie will probably degrade before VBC becomes a thing, sorry.

Healthcare Meme Box

This box of memes can do so much. You work in healthcare so you 100% have a bunch of printed out shit that needs a paper weight. You can stick your pharma branded pens into it. Or you can use it bash your phone in after getting off the worse customer service call of all time. Idk, the possibilities are endless.

Out-Of-Pocket Socks (White)

Not even gonna lie, these are just straight fire. Makes for a fantastic complement to the extremely boring business casual outfit you keep wearing at HLTH. A great way to find out who's looking at your feet like a weirdo when they ask about your socks.

Out-Of-Pocket Socks (Blue)

Out-Of-Pocket Socks (Pink)

Prior Authorization Coaster Set

These coasters are perfect to rest the fourth cold beer you need after dealing with a prior authrozation request. Can double as a weapon against whoever you had to do a peer-to-peer review call with.

Market Size Dartboard

Not sure what number to use for market sizing? Close your eyes and throw a dart. When people say "top down" analysis, they mean they all have dartboards for this. (This is not actually a good dartboard for darts, but makes an excellent and funny wall decoration)

OOP Hat

When the kids say "no cap", this is what they mean. All your derm friends are telling you to avoid the sun, so use this to make them happy.

OOP Coffee Mug

What'd that latest nutrition study say about the health effects of coffee? Who cares! You're going to drink it anyway, might as well do it out of a mug that looks cool. It pairs nicely with a 10,000+ word Atul Gawande New Yorker article.

The Incentives Cutting Board (Different Sizes)

Let's cut through red tape and onions. Idk I sent this tweet about onions and healthcare and you sickos liked it. This cutting board will let you cut everything but healthcare costs. CHECK THE SIZE AT CHECKOUT BEFORE YOU BUY.

Acronyms Throw Blanket

This throw blanket is a great way to show your guests how many unnecessary acronyms there are that are largely used to keep newcomers out more than actually streamlining conversation! Plus if you're falling asleep, it's a great way to make sure that your last place of escape is slowly permeated by jargon no one needs. I mean QSEHRA? Really? It also doubles as a matador cape for people that work at CMS.

The OOP Pickleball Paddle

Risk injury, contribute to America's massive healthcare expenditure, AND get fit at the same time! Doesn't matter if you're someone that's gotten two knee arthroplasties or you're young enough to not know who your primary care physician is - anyone can play pickleball. Get in on the fun with this pickleball paddle paying an homage to that viral UBS report.

Medical Bankruptcy: The Game

Have you ever wanted to understand why healthcare expenses are one of the leading causes of bankruptcies in the US in a fun educational way that also lets you destroy your friends? No? Well too bad, this game exists.

If You Give A Mouse Metformin

A scientist and a mouse learn what it takes to develop a drug. Along the way they'll encounter a cast of characters including doctors, the FDA, other animals, and the clinical trial complex.

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What is Out-Of-Pocket?

Healthcare is confusing, but it doesn't need to be. The goal of Out-Of-Pocket is to make healthcare accessible, entertaining, and understandable for anyone that wants to learn how it works. We're building a newsletter, crash courses, educational novelty products, and more to help cut through the noise and explain plainly the business of healthcare and where the industry is heading.

I say we but right now it's just me, Nikhil. I did some stints at CB Insights and TrialSpark, and now I'm trying to get more smart people interested in tackling problems in healthcare.

You can read more about the full Out-Of-Pocket game plan here.

Healthcare,but funny

Latest Posts

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit, consectetur adipiscing

Lorem ipsum dolor sit, consectetur adipiscing

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How Data Transformed Small Group Underwriting

The New Wave of Concierge Medicine

How do hospitals spend money?

More weird rules in healthcare

Silly little rules in healthcare

AI in healthcare - defensibility, capabilities, and cost reduction

Breaking Down Electronic Data Interchange, X12, and Stedi

“Mission-driven” should be more specific

Musings on CVS, two-way negotiation, and venture studios

Healthcare Ideas That Look Good But Are Bad

How To (Properly) Text Patients

Medical Tourism: A Tarpit Idea

The Change Healthcare Debacle

Some Common Mistakes to Avoid When Pitching Angels

Start your healthcare company outside of the US

Clinical Pharmacists, Generative AI, and InpharmD

Time Toxicity in Healthcare - A Real-World Example

But actually good 2024 predictions

2024 Healthcare Predictions, Out-Of-Pocket Style

Let’s Talk About Obesity Drugs

Maternity Care and Payer Contracting with Marta Bralic Kerns

Transforming Healthcare Data with Tuva Health

Why don’t healthcare companies say what they do?

Patient Messaging Conundrum pt. 2

Should we charge for patient messaging?

How Value-Based Care Contracting Works with Accorded

How to analyze public healthcare datasets (even if you're non-technical)

Research papers and the patient perspective

Dental Insurance, Value-Based Dental, and Beam Benefits

Things I’m watching in healthcare 2023

Healthcare in India

The weird CPT code process you need to understand

Healthcare Private Equity, More Thoughts

Is healthcare private equity that bad?

Why don’t we screen healthy people to catch diseases early?

Is vision insurance a scam?

OOP's 3 year anniversary

More (GPTish) healthcare startup ideas

GPT healthcare startup ideas

Rethinking organization structures

Digital health needs more creative financing options

More 2023 predictions

Out-Of-Pocket’s 2023 predictions

The Ro Breakdown

New Healthcare Crash Courses + Some Updates

Ways to give power to the patients

Pitching to payers, pilots, and what makes Blue Cross distinct with Tricia Garland

Answers: Should Physicians Create Lifestyle Plans?

Should Physicians Create Lifestyle Plans?

It’s Time For Physician Independence

Out-Of-Pocket’s Healthcare Crash Course Launches!!

Emerging healthcare business models and the new vendors they need

Turning Conversations Into Documentation Automagically 🪄 with Abridge

Completely new healthcare markets and what to build for them

Application reminder, new virtual discussion, new course

More Thoughts On Amazon and One Medical

The Amazon + One Medical Post

The New Price Transparency Laws And Turquoise Health

All of the main problems with US healthcare

Some Thoughts On Startups Overpromising

OOP Slack final reminder

How much is “too much” when it comes to overpromising as a startup?

How Healthcare Payments Work with Candid Health

The New (Experimental) Ways To Tackle The Mental Health Crisis

Introducing The OOP Talent Collective

Mental Health And The Weird Fixation With Employers

Some more thoughts on telemedicine

Cool Ideas For Dentistry + Medicine With Nisarg Patel

What's The Deal With Telemedicine?

New Health Plans Need New Operating Systems with Flume Health

Placebos Are Getting Stronger

Ins and Outs of Fundraising Today

Structuring the Unstructured and ScienceIO

Healthcare,
but funny