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Oatmeal Health Startup Partners with El Rio Health to Expand Lung Cancer Screenings to Underserved Americans In Arizona
Oatmeal Health, a technology-enabled virtual nodule cancer clinic and patient engagement startup providing high-quality lung cancer screenings for high-risk underserved Americans, today announced a partnership with El Rio Health, an FQHC with 13 locations in Tucson Arizona.
Doug Spegman M.D., MSPH, FACP, Chief Clinical Officer for El Rio Health
“Partnering with Oatmeal Health on this proof-of-concept project is important in terms of advancing lung cancer screening as a public health initiative. Equally important is bringing this opportunity to the patients we serve within the community health center movement who frequently suffer disproportionately, barriers to healthcare and lack of access to innovations in healthcare screening”
We plan to close the care gap by leveraging technology as a service to efficiently identify and screen underserved patients in Arizona for cancer, starting with lung, year after year.
- Patient Identification: Oatmeal plans to help identify high-risk patients for lung cancer using machine learning and AI and facilitate the shared decision-making visit to place the order for the CT scan.
- Patient CT Scan Logistics: Once determined the patient is at high-risk, Oatmeal Health’s team can assist patients with scheduling their appointments and transportation if needed.
- Virtual Cancer Nodule Clinic: After the patient has completed the CT scan, Oatmeal’s virtual AI-enabled nodule clinic ensures patients are directed to appropriate follow-up, which for most is a scan every year.
Co-Founders of Oatmeal Health, Jonathan Govette, Ashish Basuray, and Yuri Ahuja are on a mission to prevent millions of deaths from chronic disease by addressing the $3.7T market in the FQHC and health plan market. The sad fact is each year, more people die of lung cancer than of breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined, and that is why Oatmeal plans to focus on lung cancer before expanding into other cancer screening services in the future.
Having watched firsthand as the founder’s families and friends died of cancer, Oatmeal Health was launched as a resource to deliver white-glove, concierge care to underserved Americans. With backgrounds in radiology, machine learning, computer vision, and data privacy, Govette, prior CEO of a digital health e-consult/referral platform, decided it was time to make a dramatic difference in how patients are screened for cancer.
Jonathan Govette, Co-Founder and CEO of Oatmeal Health
“Improving outcomes for underserved communities drives the importance of partnership and collaboration among health systems,” said Jonathan Govette, Co-Founder, and CEO of Oatmeal Health. “We are excited to partner with a best-of-breed institution like El Rio Health that wants to improve patient access and engagement for its patients and address the health equity gap that exists for 15M patients nationwide.”
Statistics about Lung Cancer
Seniors are sick, have limited financial resources, and dramatically underutilize their healthcare, making them a $750B burden on Medicare.
80% HAVE CHRONIC CONDITIONS
Chronic disease is the cause of 70% of all deaths in America. Given that lung cancer alone claims more lives than the combined total of deaths from breast, prostate, and pancreatic cancers, Oatmeal Health has made it a priority to initially focus on screening for lung cancer.
- 1 in 17 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime
- 16M Americans live with a smoking-related illness
- 84% of lung cancer cases are diagnosed at a late stage
- > 50% of people diagnosed at a late stage with lung cancer die within one year
HEALTH CENTERS ARE NOT EQUIPPED TO SCREEN PATIENTS FOR LUNG CANCER
FQHCs are facing significant challenges due to being overworked and understaffed, which leaves little time for managing preventative lung cancer screenings. On average, clinics have only 13 minutes per patient visit, making it difficult to provide thorough preventative care.
THE RESULT IS THE UTILIZATION OF EPISODIC CARE AS PRIMARY CARE
As a result, these seniors wait until their condition is exasperated and use the Emergency Room for care. The average doctor visit costs Medicare $50, while a hospitalization costs $45K, and lung cancer costs $282K (lifetime).
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About El Rio Health:
El Rio Health’s mission is to provide our patients with integrated comprehensive quality of care with the ongoing vision to optimize their overall health and quality of life. We are dedicated to providing health care for all people. Since El Rio Health began in 1970, we have grown from 10,000 patients to over 125,000 people served. We are proud to be one of the most innovative, highly-regarded, non-profit health centers in the United States. We focus on positive outcomes, treating the whole person. Our health care is delivered by compassionate, professionally trained, integrated health teams who give from their hearts to provide world-class care. “Your Health is Our Passion.” please visit www.elrio.org
About Oatmeal Health:
At Oatmeal, we partner with FQHCs to provide case management services that help make lung cancer screening more accessible to patients who face barriers due to social determinants of health. We plan to implement an AI-enabled, value-based lung cancer screening platform and fundamentally change the lives of underserved patients through early identification, engagement, and comprehensive high-touch virtual care. Please visit www.oatmealhealth.com.
- If interested in a discussion about Oatmeal Health, please contact us
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Author:
Jonathan Govette is a seasoned healthcare and technology executive with more than two decades of experience building, scaling, and advising digital health companies. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Oatmeal Health, an AI-driven Lung Cancer Screening and Diagnostics company focused on expanding access to early detection for underrepresented populations, particularly patients served by Federally Qualified Health Centers and value-based health plans.
With a background in engineering, product development, and strategic partnerships, Jonathan has founded and led multiple health technology ventures across clinical care delivery, regulated medical software, and AI-enabled diagnostics. His work sits at the intersection of medicine, technology, and health equity, with a consistent focus on translating complex clinical problems into scalable, real-world solutions.
Jonathan has spent much of his professional life dedicated to improving outcomes for marginalized and underserved communities. He has designed and implemented frameworks that align clinical quality, reimbursement, and technology to sustainably advance health equity at scale. This mission is deeply personal and informs his leadership philosophy and long-term vision for healthcare transformation.
In addition to his operating experience, Jonathan is an author and long-time writer in the healthcare domain, with over 20 years of published work covering digital health, medical innovation, and healthcare systems. He is a frequent mentor to early-stage founders and regularly advises startups on product strategy, partnerships, and go-to-market execution in regulated healthcare environments.
Before entering industry full-time, Jonathan nearly pursued a career in medicine with an early path toward cardiothoracic surgery, an experience that continues to shape his clinical perspective and respect for frontline care delivery.
CEO | Oatmeal Health | AI Lung Cancer Startup | Engineer | Writer | Almost Became a Doctor (Cardiac Thoracic Surgeon) | 3x Health Tech Founder | Startup Mentor | Follow to share what I’ve learned along the way.
