Mario covers technology in health care, FDA regulation of artificial intelligence, how Medicare pays for health tech, the use of AI in clinical care, mental health chatbots and consumer wearables. Mario is also the co-author of the twice weekly STAT Health Tech newsletter.
Artificial intelligence is improving doctors' ability to make accurate diagnoses. The other half of a doctor's job is deciding what to do about a patient's health condition. The art of medical management is prioritizing which of these options is best for the patient.
In May 2026, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration filed a suit against the company behind the popular chatbot platform Character.AI. A state investigation found that a chatbot character named “Emilie” claimed to have a medical degree, seven years of practice and a Pennsylvania medical license and was providing users with a fabricated license number. Gretchen Chapman is a professor of behavioral decision research at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
The dominant Medicare Advantage insurers denied rehabilitative care for older and disabled Americans at higher rates than industry peers. They hired a UnitedHealth subsidiary called NaviHealth to evaluate requests for rehabilitation care. When patients appealed their blocked care, the insurers overturned the company's denials of nursing home care 97% of the time.
There are more than 1,000 AI radiology tools, but the number of radiologists has risen by 17 percent since 2016 and the average salary has increased from about $350,000 to $570,000. According to Luis Garicano, most white-collar jobs combine two different kinds of work: "clean" and "messy".
Abivax (ABVX) crashed 60% on a cancer signal Adam May argues is statistical noise. Abivax posted maybe the best ulcerative colitis data anyone's seen, then crashed 60%. We also look at Nectar (NKTR), its alopecia areata data, and the Eli Lilly lawsuit.
Mario covers technology in health care, including FDA regulation of artificial intelligence, how Medicare pays for health tech, the use of AI in clinical care and mental health chatbots. He's also the co-author of the free, twice weekly STAT Health Tech newsletter.
John Wilkerson writes about the politics of health care and is the author of the twice-weekly D.C. Diagnosis newsletter. RFK Jr.’s most recent podcast might be worth a listen. Casey Ross and Bob Herman have a follow-up to their reporting on how large Medicare Advantage insurers used artificial intelligence to override clinicians’ judgment and deny care to seriously ill and disabled patients.
In Festus, Missouri, the city council voted to approve a $6 billion project to build an AI data center. Many people are asking the wrong questions about the moral value of artificial intelligence. AI is a tool that can be used for good or for ill, depending on the choices we make now.
President Trump signed an executive order on artificial intelligence on Tuesday. Sen. Josh Hawley gave a speech at a gala hosted by American Compass, a new right-wing think tank with ties to Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He warned about the dangers of AI and its potential to disrupt the American labor market.