The Beastwood Files: July 2024

Long time, no type. This is the first of what I’m hoping will be a monthly roundup of recent bylines and other projects, along with healthcare and technology stories that caught my eye.

I’m aiming to do this instead of infrequently updating what I used to call my Clips page but have since rechristened my Clients page. The idea over there is similar – to highlight the types of work I can do – but with some context and without a largely static list of articles from a long time ago.

In this edition, there’s a bit of an explanation for the method to my madness in each section. In the future, I’ll probably leave that out, with the hope that it kinda sorta goes without saying.

Anyway, enjoy. Feel free to subscribe if that’s your sort of thing. Feedback welcome, too – it’s been a while since I’ve done anything remotely resembling a newsletter. (Though it’s worth noting at the moment I have no interest in turning this into an honest-to-goodness newsletter and m0neT1Z1ng it.)

Things I Wrote

(If I listed the name of the publication here, that means it’s a piece with my name on it. If there’s just a short description, that means it’s a ghostwritten piece.)

• An article for FedTech Magazine on how to build a software factory as a federal agency
• A feature from Ideas Made to Matter (MIT) on why AI is everyone’s business in the enterprise, not just tech leaders
• A roundup from Ideas Made to Matter on the latest faculty researched featured in MIT Sloan Management Review
• Custom content for companies in enterprise healthcare tech, digital health, network infrastructure, and life science

Tabs I Kept Open

(This is a list of interesting articles, studies, or the like that I kept in an open browser tab for a good portion of the month, either until my browser crashed or I found something to do with it.)

• A Health Affairs study found telehealth utilization contributing to modest increases in per patient, per year Medicare spending – to the tune of $250, or about three dozen orders of avocado toast (tip not included). That said, telehealth users had better medication adherence and fewer ED visits. We’re never going to know if telehealth saves money, are we?
• Let me see if I can follow this … The company that used to be Zipnosis, got acquired by Florence, rebranded as Fabric, and acquired GYANT just acquitted MeMD, which Walmart had been holding onto for three years and could only seem to be able to offload on a company that recently closed a Series A funding round. No wonder there’s so little customer loyalty in virtual care (on the B2B or B2C sides).
• Please tell me I wasn’t the only one to thoroughly appreciate this interview with R.E.M. on the eve of their induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Adventures in Fatherhood

(This will be a running tab of fun, random, trying, or otherwise noteworthy moments in my recent life.)

• My son is saying “Well, actually…” waaaaaaaaay too much for my liking. Either that or I’m raising a little CEO.
• He’s also referring to the local movie theater as “the popcorn factory,” as we go in often to buy popcorn but not to actually see a movie. It’s kind of endearing.
• Right now we have several half-finished art projects strewn about the house – since, you know, preschoolers have no attention span – and it makes me feel seen as someone who has started and not completed no less than a dozen novels in my lifetime.

May you have a happy August. Like many, I have some vacation time coming up, so we’ll see if the pledge to do this monthly actually works or not.