ONSCREEN at Verizon’s Healthcare On Air Summit — San Francisco Recap - ONSCREEN, Inc.

ONSCREEN at Verizon’s Healthcare On Air Summit — San Francisco Recap

What a day! The Verizon Healthcare On Air Summit brought together leaders across digital health, wearables, biopharma, and payers to push on what’s now, near, and next in connected care. The conversations spanned AI companions for seniors, access and outcomes, mental wellness, and the rapidly maturing world of at-home care technologies—exactly where ONSCREEN lives.

The panel I joined: “The future of AI agents is here and now.”

I was honored to be a panelist on the 4:30 PM Spotlight session, moderated by Matt Cybulsky, PhD, alongside Barghavi Govindarajan, Ajit Rajasekharan, and Rithika Naik.

Our panel explored some of the most pressing and practical questions around AI Agents in healthcare and agetech:

  • Gaining trust and engagement from seniors
    Older adults need AI that feels approachable, transparent, and human. The design challenge is helping them clearly understand what the AI can do, building confidence so they see it as a supportive companion rather than a confusing piece of technology.
  • The need for calculated risks in healthcare adoption
    For healthcare to truly benefit from AI, organizations will need to embrace measured, thoughtful risk-taking. Staying only within the safest and smallest use cases may limit progress. The real opportunity lies in creating frameworks that allow experimentation while still protecting patient safety, ethics, and trust.
  • The promise of agentic AI
    The vision ahead is for AI agents that act as full assistants, not isolated tools. Imagine every senior having an AI companion that can help navigate the complexities of aging, healthcare, and daily living—providing medication reminders, coordinating appointments, offering companionship, and conducting health check-ins. This is the path toward deeply personalized, proactive support for millions of older adults.

What we showcased

We were excited to demo our suite built for older adults and their caregivers, all powered by Joy, our AI companion designed for seniors’ wellbeing and independence. We were able to demonstrate all of the modalities that Joy can support patients through:

Across TV, tablet, and telephone, Joy reduces loneliness, supports daily routines, and gathers lightweight wellness signals families can actually use.

Joy's Impact on Aging Patients

AI agents, companions, and assistants for older adults represent one of the greatest opportunities of our time to reshape aging. By empowering seniors with a personalized companion that is always available, we can improve aging in place, extend healthspan, and bring real independence back to millions of lives.

Imagine a senior living alone who can simply ask Joy to schedule a follow-up doctor’s appointment, receive an immediate confirmation, and get a gentle reminder the day before. No waiting on hold, navigating phone IVRs, or having to repeat yourself over and over again.

Or a caregiver who knows their mom has taken her medication on time because Joy asked and recorded her response. Consider the peace of mind when Joy can read through test results aloud and explain them in plain language, so a confusing diagnosis feels less overwhelming.

Beyond healthcare, Joy also supports the rhythms of daily living. Seniors can ask Joy to order groceries, arrange rides to a community center, or even find a local handyman when something breaks in the house. And in moments of loneliness, Joy can step in with conversation, memory-sharing, or lighthearted activities that keep the mind engaged and the heart connected.

These are the very activities that begin to create stress and vulnerability as we age, and Joy is designed to step in with compassion, intelligence, and simplicity. We believe the future of aging well includes every older adult having their own trusted AI companion by their side — not as a replacement for human connection, but as a bridge that strengthens it. This is what we are building in Joy.

Gratitude

Huge thanks to Brian Urban who set out to create this phenomenal event in just 2 short months and was kind enough to invite us! Big shout out as well to Robin Goldsmith, and the rest of the Verizon team, the moderators, speakers, and everyone who spent time with us. Special shoutouts to friends and collaborators who made the day meaningful:
Mike McSherry, Alexander Ding, MD, MBA, Daniel Kraft, MD, Ricky Y. Choi, MD, MPH, David Ko, Brian Ko, Tia Newcomer, Jessica Moreland, Hon Pak, Dan Setterby, Sarah Mastrorocco, Dani Pietro, James Kirby, PharmD, BCPS, FAPhA, Barghavi G, Ajit Rajasekharan, Rithika Naik, MBA, Sunita Mishra MD, MBA, Matt Cybulsky, PhD, Jason H., Punit Singh Soni, Kate Brinks, Michael Houser, MarketScale, Paula Johnson Moore, Irene Mak, Perfecting Peds, Dorothy Kilroy, and many others that I might have missed.

If you were there—what was your biggest takeaway? If you couldn’t make it, which topic should we unpack next?

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