What it takes to achieve value-based oncology care: how Thyme Care's model aligns incentives, reduces spend, and improves outcomes at scale

In this episode, Health Tech Nerds Kevin and Martin interview Thyme Care President and COO Bradford Diephuis about the U.S. oncology market, highlighting rapid therapeutic advances alongside outdated care delivery and misaligned “buy and bill” incentives that tie practice economics to drug margins.

They discuss Thyme Care’s growth and care model: contracting with risk-bearing payers and entities to manage a claims-attributed oncology population, deploying a 500+ person wraparound care team to reduce avoidable acute care utilization, and partnering voluntarily with oncology practices on high-value drug interventions, waste minimization, and palliative/advanced care planning.

Bradford also outlines contracting approaches using concurrent benchmarks and how Thyme Care uses AI mainly to automate back-office care workflows rather than patient-facing tools.

Listen to the full episode here.