Steve Lewis: Empowering Patients Through Technology

Unknown Source October 02, 2025 40 min

artificial-intelligence startup investment google

50 Companies

76 Key Quotes

3 Topics

🎯 Summary

Comprehensive Summary of Healthy, Wealthy, and Smart Podcast Episode with Steve Lewis (Naboo.ai)

This episode of the Healthy, Wealthy, and Smart podcast, hosted by Dr. Karen Litzey, features Steve Lewis, founder of Naboo.ai, focusing on the critical need for comprehensive, patient-centric health information management. The discussion transitions from Lewis’s unique background to the development of a technology solution addressing significant gaps in patient support and care coordination.

1. Main Narrative Arc and Key Discussion Points

The episode follows a narrative arc driven by personal necessity:

The Catalyst: Steve Lewis recounts leaving a high-profile career working with celebrities (like Lenny Kravitz) after his daughter, Bowie, was born with significant health challenges requiring intensive care (NICU).
The Problem Identification: Over 18 years, Lewis observed a massive technological disparity: clinicians have sophisticated EHRs, but patients and families are left with fragmented paper records, disparate apps, and overwhelming information silos, especially during transitions of care (e.g., pediatric to adult services).
The Genesis of Naboo.ai: The idea solidified when his daughter sought independence, prompting the question: “What does it mean to be a good patient?” This led to the concept of a single source of truth for the patient. The name “Naboo” was inspired by the Mesopotamian god of wisdom and literacy.
Product Development & Validation: Lewis details the journey from initial low-code prototyping to securing developer quotes (noting the high initial costs quoted) and focusing on proving the concept with real user feedback before scaling.
The Patient Experience: The latter half focuses on how the app empowers the patient (Bowie is now a major advocate) to manage her own data, track observations, and ensure continuity of care across multiple providers.

2. Major Topics, Themes, and Subject Areas Covered

Patient Advocacy and Empowerment: Shifting the patient role from passive recipient to active self-advocate.
Health Information Fragmentation: The failure of current systems (EHRs, paper binders) to provide a unified, portable patient record.
Care Coordination: Improving communication among family members, support workers, and multiple clinicians.
Adherence and Outcomes: Linking better information access directly to improved patient adherence (e.g., physiotherapy compliance).
Safety and Vetting: Integrating safety features, specifically background checks for support workers.
Startup Journey: Navigating early-stage funding, developer selection, and avoiding common structural pitfalls.

3. Technical Concepts, Methodologies, or Frameworks Discussed

Single Source of Truth (SSoT): The core architectural goal of Naboo.ai—a centralized, patient-owned repository for all health data.
Interoperability vs. Patient Utility: A key insight shared by a hospital CIO was that focusing immediately on complex EHR interoperability is often a distraction; the immediate need is organizing the patient’s view of the data.
Low-Code/No-Code Development: Used initially for rapid prototyping and concept validation.
Ambient Note-Taking: Utilizing technology (likely AI-assisted) to capture provider instructions during appointments.
Compliance Frameworks: Mention of necessary standards like HIPAA, GDPR, and ISO 27001 as critical considerations for scaling health tech.

4. Business Implications and Strategic Insights

Focus on the “Everything Else”: Lewis stresses that the hardest part of founding a health tech startup is often not the product-solution fit, but the business structure, shareholding, and legal setup required for scalability.
Validation Over Funding: The strategy was to achieve feature validation (users saying, “I would pay for this”) before seeking major funding or getting bogged down in complex enterprise integration.
Community Support: The value of joining specific health tech innovation communities (like Innovation Bay in Australia) over generic startup accelerators.
Strategic Partnerships: The early relationship established with Google following the initial presentation.

5. Key Personalities, Experts, or Thought Leaders Mentioned

Steve Lewis: Founder of Naboo.ai, driven by his daughter Bowie’s complex health journey.
Bowie Lewis: Steve’s daughter, who is actively using the app and becoming a public advocate for the technology.
Dr. Peter Steer: CEO of the Royal Hospital for Children in Melbourne, who quoted Frederick Buechner: “Your true calling is where your gladness and the world’s deep need meet.”
Leigh Ann Cuncello: Expert in child protection (UN experience), whose insights spurred the integration of rigorous background checks into Naboo.
Ben King: Developer ally who helped guide the product build with an understanding of the entrepreneurial journey.
James Mellie: Provided crucial advice on avoiding structural pitfalls in startup formation.

6. Predictions, Trends, or Future-Looking Statements

Global Expansion: Plans to expand compliance checks (like those for support workers) beyond Australia.
Patient Experience Congress: Naboo.ai is scheduled to be showcased at major international forums (Abu Dhabi, Dubai).
Reframing Disability: Lewis praises the UAE term “People of Determination,” suggesting that what is often labeled a disability can be viewed as a “superpower.”

7. Practical Applications and Real-World Examples

Family Coordination: Eliminating the need for multiple family members to repeatedly ask for updates or search for shared

🏢 Companies Mentioned

MyDoc ✅ tech/healthcare IT

Best Practice ✅ tech/healthcare IT

Special Olympics ✅ unknown

Check Yosemite ✅ unknown

If Bowie ✅ unknown

Best Practice ✅ unknown

Salesforce Health Cloud ✅ unknown

Al Noor Center ✅ unknown

Patient Experience Congress ✅ unknown

Abu Dhabi ✅ unknown

Medical Technology Association ✅ unknown

Australian Parliament House ✅ unknown

And Bowie ✅ unknown

Or I ✅ unknown

Can I ✅ unknown

💬 Key Insights

"They said, 'We had access to a platform to use, but it only did part of what we needed. So we just, you know, we went back to paper because that was the easiest for everybody.'"

Impact Score: 10

"I'm not the guy who shows up and says, 'The health system is broken and I'm the solution,' and have my stats laid out. I'm the biggest problem in health when you look at it. I'm the most costly problem in health."

Impact Score: 10

"Don't be shy. Don't be shy with your ambitions, but be very mindful of everyone who plays a role in the problem that you're facing."

Impact Score: 10

"I think the stats are like 35% of an ER doc's time is spent trying to find information about somebody."

Impact Score: 10

"We're developing a 911 script. If Bowie has to call emergency, what should they know? Check Yosemite 4.0, oxygen in the past, so make sure you've got it. Medication, preferred hospital where she's known, who her providers are."

Impact Score: 10

"Can we talk to it? In 2025, that is not a stretch to set it up for that. I can say, 'Naboo, what was I supposed to do tonight?' and start to have the AI side, not artificial intelligence for going out to find information, just connecting me to the information that I need to have in the simplest form."

Impact Score: 10

📊 Topics

#artificialintelligence 32 #startup 10 #investment 4