For decades, Elina Onitskansky said she struggled with her weight, even as she tried an array of purported solutions to no avail.

“If there’s a diet, weight loss, spa, fitness trend, or other solution someone has thought of in the last 30 years, I can almost guarantee I’ve done it,” she told Healthcare Brew.

After giving up on counting calories, the physicist turned healthcare executive sought out obesity treatment and bariatric surgery—an experience she said inspired her to help others struggling with weight loss.

Onitskansky leveraged her past experience as Molina Healthcare’s SVP of health and strategy to found Ilant Health, which partners with Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers to provide an affordable, value-based approach to obesity care. The startup publicly launched on October 17 after generating $3 million in funding.

Ilant’s entrance into the market comes amid a larger focus on comprehensive approaches to obesity care, sparked in part by new and expensive injectable weight loss drugs.

Keep reading here.—SY

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Shannon at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Shannon for her number on Signal.

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Patients in Cleveland could soon get their prescriptions flown directly to them.

Cleveland Clinic, one of the largest health systems in the US, announced on October 31 that it plans to begin delivering prescriptions via drone in 2025. The drones would first deliver specialty drugs and other prescriptions, but the health system said it plans to eventually expand drone delivery to “lab samples, prescription meals, medical and surgical supplies, and items for hospital-at-home services.”

“Not only are deliveries via drone more accurate and efficient, the technology we are utilizing is environmentally friendly,” Bill Peacock, the health system’s chief of operations, said in a statement. “The drones are small, electric, and use very little energy for deliveries.”

How would drone delivery work? A Cleveland Clinic pharmacy technician would be responsible for loading a prescription into a drone that could autonomously fly to a patient’s home and use a delivery droid to drop off the prescription at the residence. The delivery droid can safely place the package on small surfaces like a doorstep or a patio table, the health system said. Once delivered, the drone would fly itself back to its dock at Cleveland Clinic. Patients would also be able to track the whole process in real time, the health system said.

Keep reading here.—MA

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Maia at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Maia for her number on Signal.

Wondering who got a new job or what new positions healthcare companies have filled recently? Healthcare Brew’s got you covered. Each month we highlight some of the major job changes in the healthcare industry as part of our new Movers and Shakers series.

Have a job announcement to share? Drop Shannon an email at [email protected].

Movers and Shakers

Megan Baldwin: Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) named the former New York State Department of Health acting executive deputy commissioner as its SVP of government and community relations.

Nicole Bradberry: Cloud-based health equity platform Spatially Health appointed the MIND 24-7 co-founder, ValueH Network founder, and Florida Association of ACOs CEO to its board of directors.

Kevin Browne: Northwell Health named the nursing leader associate executive director, chief nursing officer for Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital, Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital, and Lenox Health Greenwich Village.

Keep reading here.—SY

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: 2,500. That’s the number of daily steps you need to take to see an improvement in your health, according to a new study. (Medical News Today)

Quote: “It’s not just bad, but worse than people can imagine.”—Camille Richoux, director of health policy at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, on how Medicaid unwinding is going (KFF Health News)

Read: Apple wants to take over healthcare. (Bloomberg)

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