Carbon Health. What the Hell Went Wrong and What Went Right? [Part 1 of 2]

Former employees are finally coming forward following the bankruptcy of what was once one of the most promising health tech startups.

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Disclosure: The author has no financial interest in Carbon Health or any of its investors.

$622 million.

That’s how much venture capital was poured into Carbon Health Technologies before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on February 2, 2026. (Sources: Fierce Healthcare, Stretto/Chapter 11 Cases)

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Alright, now back to the lessons of Carbon Health’s bankruptcy…

A $3.3B valuation. Blackstone. CVS Health. BlackRock. Silver Lake. Dragoneer. Celebrity athletes as angel investors. A proprietary EHR. An AI scribe. COVID testing at Dodger Stadium. The myth of 1,500 clinics coast to coast. (Sources: Fierce Healthcare, MobiHealthNews)

And in the end? 93 clinics. $100M+ in debt. 1,400 employees at a crossroads. A founder who had moved on to his next startup long ago. And a sexual assault scandal that exposed what happens when you scale clinics faster than you can staff or supervise them. (Sources: Kroll Restructuring, Bondoro Case Summary)

I don’t want to say “I told you so.” And in fairness, I’m basically a coin toss when it comes to predictions. 😉 But I’ve been warning about Carbon Health since January 2024, when I wrote in my Digital Health Predictions for 2024: “Carbon Health was supposed to be a success story, but unfortunately, it ended up being a ‘champagne and cocaine’ story.” (Source: AI Health Uncut, Digital Health Predictions for 2024)

Now the former employees are finally talking. And what they’re describing is even worse than what the financial statements show.

Part 1 of this two-part series dissects the mistakes and former employees’ insights into what led to Carbon Health’s bankruptcy. Part 2 argues that Carbon’s story was never just about Carbon. The deeper failure is a primary care reimbursement system so broken that no amount of AI, innovation, or digital health hype can overcome it.

TL;DR:

1. The Carbon Health Lie. This Was Never About Primary Care.

2. The COVID Pivot: Good Strategy, Catastrophic Extrapolation

3. $3.3B for a Number Bali Pulled Out of His A**

4. They Had the Chocolate Chips. They Never Built the Muffin.

5. Amazon Got One Medical. CVS Got Carbon’s Dumpster Fire.

6. Carby the AI Scribe: Innovation or AI Tourism?

7. Carbon Health Built Care. Then Treated It Like a F*cking Toy.

8. “Green Leadership” and the Culture of Well-Intentioned Dysfunction

9. The Clash Between Tech and Medicine. “In Real Time.”

10. A Criminal Scandal That Exposed Systemic Failures

11. Burned $600M in Healthcare. Walked Away to AGI. Left the Corpse to the Landlord.

12. Carbon Health, Olive, Watson. Different Logos. Same Bullshit.

13. “Chapter 11 Is About Not Taking Accountability”

14. How Do We Prevent the Next Carbon Health?