Brandon Ballinger

@HiHenry_IA @EmpiricalHLTH It's a partnership: x.com/bballinger/sta…

@bballinger @EmpiricalHLTH I don't get it—have they merged? So now there's only one? @EmpiricalHLTH Thanks!

Doctors would need 27-hour days to keep up with modern care. So we built something better. Beacon Health (YC W26) × @EmpiricalHLTH (YC S23) are partnering to make AI-enhanced preventive cardiovascular care available to all, starting with Medicare’s ACCESS model. 2/3 of Medicare beneficiaries are eligible. If you're a primary care practice who wants better heart health for your patients, get in touch.

@Hihihqi3 @EmpiricalHLTH It's a partnership where Beacon refers patients to Empirical (and in turn, that's good for Beacon's customers -- primary care practices). The companies will stay independent, we're just working together.

@bballinger @EmpiricalHLTH This is amazing! Are the two companies merging or how will you differentiate from each other?

@cwhogg @EmpiricalHLTH Traditional Medicare launches in July, but most MA plans have pledged to adopt ACCESS by Jan 2028.

@bballinger @EmpiricalHLTH It’s only traditional Medicare right? Or are some MA Plans covering it? Trad Medicare is now <50%

@ColtonOrtolf I like the way @morgancheatham described dissolving the boundary between research and care. The future should be a closed-loop system that gets smarter with every patient.

I imagine AI in the hands of primary care will be a major boon for the diagnosis of rare diseases - including developing a data set that will accelerate finding treatments. These conditions are too nuanced for most PCPs to diagnose, but AI will close that gap

@cremieuxrecueil Plus the new guidelines recommend everyone test Lp(a): x.com/bballinger/sta…

This is good! More people should be on statins. They are basically a wonder-drug. They have very few side effects and almost no serious ones, and they deliver huge reductions in cardiovascular risk and extension in lifespans, for $2 to $10 per month.

@Lpa_Doc Congratulations! This was a long time coming.

@ElliotHershberg Congrats!

New hobby: urban rucking.

@seanluomdphd @IterIntellectus I think the mechanisms behind fiber are pretty believable -- for example, we know fiber reduces LDL cholesterol (or ApoB), which drives down cardiovascular mortality. Plus the effect of colon cancer. So I don't think it's just confounding due to rich people eating more fiber.

@IterIntellectus The all-cause mortality data are confounded. Rich people have higher fiber intake. The effect size for the colon cancer incidence data is more believable, but it's a lot of work -comparing the highest quartile vs. the lowest, both daily and total years

if you read enough fiber research you either start thinking you’re going insane or realize the entire nutrition industry has a financial incentive to keep you buying protein powder instead. you need to eat your fiber and i’m not even trying to be nice about it. 95% of Americans are *deficient* while enough fiber alone reduces all-cause mortality by 30%, colorectal cancer by 26%, and your gut bacteria literally digest your own intestinal lining when you starve them of it. fiber should be a bigger supplement category than protein but since it actually makes you healthier there’s no interest in selling it

@sdamico Interesting. Did you only do lifestyle or also medications?

consulted zero doctors but managed to get: - blood pressure down from 140/96 to 112/77 - weight down 45lbs - alcohol consumption cut in ~half (without changing how often I go out to bars) - hairline partially grown back - side effects include fixed liver enzymes & raised T

@rblument1 @SethShayMartin Congratulations!

Great to celebrate our Preventive Cardiology Guideline release with my colleague & key writing group member ⁦@SethShayMartin⁩ - special thanks to the Prevention Dream Team Writing group & my co-chair, the Amazing Dr. Pam Morris

@SinaHartung Lp(a) causes heart attacks, so if there’s a drug that removes it, of course you’d want to test for it.

it’s almost as if there’s a drug for elevated Lp(a) about to hit the market and we need testing to prescribe it oh wait

@MasalaFry69 @Drlipid I think you might have been misled. ApoB is one of the strongest risk factors for heart disease, alongside Lp(a), hsCRP (inflammation), blood pressure, HbA1c, and eGFR. Fortunately, great treatments exist!

@bballinger @Drlipid LDL(ApoB) isn't causal of disease

The AHA is now recommending everybody check their Lp(a) at least once. New 2026 guidelines released today.

Summarized what's new here: empirical.health/blog/cholester…

@KevinUnkrich Congrats on all you've accomplished! The future of preventive health is bright and I'm excited to see what you do next.

After 3+ amazing years, today I'm sharing that I've decided to step away from Superpower Health, the company I co-founded and served as CTO. I'm incredibly proud of everything the team has accomplished, grateful for their belief and support, and still believe in the power and importance of proactive, personalized, data-driven medicine made accessible to everyone. I'm certain the team will continue to push the mission forward and build the future of healthcare, and I'll be rooting them on the entire way. Next for me - I'll be taking some time to explore the next professional adventure to embark on. If you want to stay up to date with my journey, feel free to subscribe to updates at unkri.ch Until then, please feel free to reach out and chat!

@ramez You should be able to see it in high res here: pbs.twimg.com/media/HDQd0GrW…

@bballinger Very cool. Any chance of one high res so we can read the labels?

Correlation matrix of human biomarkers. Arranged block diagonally to make clusters more visible:

@mwseibel I like @pahlkadot's framing of The Cascade of Rigidity: eatingpolicy.com/p/understandin…

Solving problems in government is a process of navigating a nearly infinite number of rules that create massive unintended consequences. Experimental laws of the past that aren’t working handcuff leaders in the present.