Jeremy Friese, MD

Who

• Mayo Clinic radiologist turned serial healthcare founder
• Founder/Chairman/CEO of Humata Health — prior authorization platform backed by 40+ hospitals, BCBS, Optum/UHG. Chosen by CMS as primary tech partner for the WISeR prior auth pilot in Oklahoma.
• Harvard Business School MBA (co-authored case study with Michael Porter, edited Clay Christensen's "The Innovator's Prescription")
• Mayo Clinic MD, 19 years there including Senior Medical Director for Global Business Development
• Based in Wilson, Wyoming
• 11,400+ LinkedIn followers — real thought leader in the space

Connection to Us

• Introduced via Brad Fluegel (Wharton professor)
• Mutual connections: Justin Silver, David Vignes + 2 others
• Very open from the start: "It's a big enough problem. We need more people jumping in. I have zero concerns of competitive challenges."
• Explicitly offered to be an ongoing resource: "I would love to be on your list of folks to talk to."
• Critical: Humata Health is a .406 Ventures portfolio company ($25M round). Thomas just cold-emailed .406 — Jeremy is the warm path in.

Current Roles

• Humata Health — Founder/CEO. Prior auth platform, both provider and payer side. CMS WISeR pilot partner. Raised $25M from Blue Venture Fund, LRVHealth, Optum Ventures, .406 Ventures, Highmark Health Ventures.
• The Donna Fund — Founder. Invests in female founders in healthcare/tech. Named after his mother who died of breast cancer.
• Health Evolution Fellow
• Mayo Clinic — Venture Partner Advisor
• Angel investor in Here Now Health, FamilyWell Health, Rezilient Health, Tuesday Health, BASILISK
• CHAI — leads Prior Authorization Workgroup

Career Arc

• Mayo Clinic radiologist (19 years) → healthcare biz dev executive
• Co-founded Evidentia Health (Mayo + UMN joint venture, smart radiology reports)
• Co-founded Verata Health ("frictionless prior authorization") → acquired by Olive AI (Dec 2020). Backed by BCBS Venture Fund, Bessemer, LRVHealth.
• President, Payer at Olive (2020–2022)
• Career break → founded Humata Health (2023)

Why He Matters

• He's building the prior auth equivalent of what DaisyAI is building for utilization management. Adjacent, not competitive — but deeply overlapping ecosystem.
• Knows every investor, health system exec, and payer in this space
• .406 Ventures portfolio company — direct warm path to the fund Thomas is trying to reach
• Has the CMS relationship (WISeR pilot) — policy-level credibility
• Active angel investor — could invest directly or connect us to his network
• Thought leader: publishes on PA regulation, interoperability, healthcare AI

Interactions

Notes

• His tagline: "Mayo Clinic Doc Solving Prior Auth" — he brands around the mission, not the company
• Personal: mom died of stage 4 breast cancer at 50, it drove him to medicine. Very mission-driven.
• Humata's WISeR pilot showing 99% provider satisfaction in first week — real traction
• .406 Ventures invested in Humata → .406 knows and trusts Jeremy → Jeremy could intro us to .406 with credibility
• Brad Fluegel is the connector — worth noting in Brad's file if we create one