Shows / Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders views healthcare transformation through the lens of prominent leaders across the industry. Through intimate one-on-one discussions with executives, policy advisors, and other “insiders,” each episode dives deep into the pressing challenges that come with changing how we care for people. Hear the unique perspectives of these industry leaders to get a better understanding of what is happening today, the challenges across the healthcare ecosystem, and how…
Episodes
- Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders
Redesigning Work for the AI Era: Oliver Wyman's Ana Kreacic on Talent, Productivity and Human Judgment
As healthcare confronts workforce shortages, rising costs and growing demand for care, the industry cannot simply hire its way out of its challenges, and using…
- Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders
The Capital Behind Care: From Credit Ratings to Strategic Growth
The world is changing quickly, and health systems need to keep up with AI, clinical innovation, therapeutic discoveries, an aging population, the shift toward…
- Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders
Healthcare's Biggest AI Opportunity Isn't Clinical. It's Consumer. A Conversation with CVS Health
CVS Health operates one of healthcare’s largest consumer platforms, with businesses spanning health insurance, pharmacy benefits, retail pharmacy, care…
- Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders
The Pediatric Innovation Playbook: How Dayton Children’s Evaluates AI, ROI and Scale
J.D. Whitlock’s path to becoming a health system CIO began in the U.S. Air Force, where he served in a variety of healthcare management roles, including a…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersDesigning Digital Change for Scale: Sutter Health’s Laura Wilt on AI, Leadership and the Human Side of Transformation
Growing up on a farm in rural Missouri, and even through college, a career in healthcare was never in the forefront of Laura Wilt’s mind. She studied finance…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersWhy Healthcare Leadership Is Harder Than Ever: Cedars-Sinai’s Tom Priselac on Culture, Change and Cost
Cedars-Sinai has evolved from a community hospital to a major academic health system with an international reputation for quality care, community service…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersA Giant Leap for Healthcare: Dr. Bob Wachter on AI, Clinical Workflows and the Patient-Doctor Relationship
Dr. Bob Wachter describes his career as the result of “what happens when a political science major becomes an academic physician.” Rather than focus on one…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersFrom Pilots to Production: Boston Children’s John Brownstein on the Next Phase of AI in Healthcare
Dr. John Brownstein has been on the leading edge of digital health since medical school, where he was drawn to epidemiology because of the opportunity to use…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersDC’s Ambitious Plans for Modernizing Health Tech: U.S. DOGE Service Administrator & CMS Strategic Advisor, Amy Gleason
The daughter of a hospital administrator, Amy Gleason never considered a career in the public sector – she went straight into healthcare. As an emergency room…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersGlimmers of Nonpartisan Progress: Decoding ACCESS, TEMPO and the Latest Government Healthcare Initiatives
After three decades working to deliver easy, fast and cost-effective patient experiences through technology, Ryan Howells is more optimistic about the future…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders340B Unpacked for the Holidays: Policy, Controversy, and Impact
Sitting at the intersection of healthcare policy, hospital finance, and patient access, the 340B drug discount program is a hot button issues in the pharmacy…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersThe Big Beautiful Maze of Health Policy and Innovation
From being at the center of some of the most significant shifts in U.S. healthcare policy over the past two decades, Liz Fowler can offer valuable perspective…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersLessons from Public Sector Leadership: Former CMS Administrator and FDA Commissioner, Dr. Mark McClellan
Dr. Mark McClellan has served as a Member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersEmerging Technologies (Part 3): Microsoft’s Chief Architect for Health on the Saga of Interoperability and AI
Dr. Josh Mandel says his first love was software. But on a whim, while studying computer science and software engineering at MIT, he took a course that opened…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersEmerging Technologies (Part 2): Past, Present & Future of Healthcare Interoperability with HTD Health's Brendan Keeler
Brendan Keeler’s path into healthcare interoperability has been anything but straightforward. After early stints implementing Epic in the U.S. and Europe, he…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersEmerging Technologies (Part 1): Inside Perspectives from Epic’s Seth Hain
Seth Hain has spent two decades at Epic, watching the electronic health record evolve from digital filing cabinet to care-delivery platform. Now he thinks the…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersHow a Tech-Minded CEO Sees the Future: CareFirst’s Brian D. Pieninck on Medicare, Medicaid & the AI-Driven Inflection Point in Healthcare
Brian D. Pieninck didn’t take a conventional path to healthcare leadership. He started his career as an 18-year-old IT contractor and spent two decades working…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersMedicaid Uncovered: Decoding the System
Kody Kinsley has been called many things—operator, innovator, Medicaid “nerd”—but above all, he’s a fierce advocate for the health and well-being of the…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersWhere Medicare Stands—And Where It’s Headed with Aetna’s Dr. Ali Khan
Dr. Ali Khan has spent his career at the intersection of medicine, public policy, and value-based care. He’s also been at the forefront of some of the…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersOpportunities in Oncology (Part 3): Getting Deep Into Patient Care with Mass General Brigham’s Head of Radiation Oncology
The first two episodes in this Healthcare is Hard podcast series on “Opportunities in Oncology” explored the relationship between academic medical centers and…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersOpportunities in Oncology (Part 2): Balancing Cutting-Edge Research and Community Care
Dr. Harlan Levine began his career practicing internal medicine but soon moved into business leadership roles at national healthcare organizations to help…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersOpportunities in Oncology (Part 1): The Intersection of Clinical Care, Business and Policy
There’s been a massive gap in oncology where people who have been responsible for a dramatic increase in the standard of care have lacked a solid understanding…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersElection Implications (Part 4): Forecasting For Healthcare As The Second Trump Administration Takes Shape
Elements of the new Trump administration are coming into focus as announcements of key healthcare appointments and nominations provide indications for what the…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersElection Implications (Part 3): JP Morgan’s Read on Trump 2.0 and What’s Next for Healthcare
Healthcare was not a major focus during the 2024 election where other key issues drove most of the discussion. This left a vacuum around specific healthcare…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersElection Implications (Part 2): This Wall Street Analyst Agrees, “Healthcare is Hard”
With the White House and Congress up for grabs this election, anticipation in the healthcare industry is high. Shifts in healthcare policy will influence how…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersElection Implications (Part 1): Angst, Uncertainty and an Urge for Calm from Maverick Health Policy’s Julie Barnes
Julie Barnes has made a career helping health plans, tech vendors, investors and others in the healthcare space decipher health policy. She’s a former Hill…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersWhat’s the Difference Between Innovation and Performance Improvement?
OSF HealthCare stands as a model health system for those who want to do innovation right. One of the defining characteristics of the Peoria, Illinois-based…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersHelp or Harm? How CHAI is Mitigating the Risk of AI in Healthcare
With great power comes great responsibility and in healthcare, those words may have never held more meaning than they do with the advent of artificial…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersLive from DHIS East: Mass General Brigham CIO, Christopher Coburn
Chris Coburn has been driving health system innovation for decades. He is currently chief innovation officer at Mass General Brigham (MGB), the nation’s…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersReinventing Pharmacy (Part 3): Optum Rx CEO, Dr. Patrick Conway, Brings the PBM, Provider and Payer POV
Optum Rx serves more than 62 million people, processes 1.6 billion prescriptions and generates more than $110 billion of revenue annually. Dr. Patrick Conway…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersReinventing Pharmacy (Part 2): Dr. Troyen Brennan Disputes the False Narrative of Good vs. Bad Actors
In the first of a series of episodes exploring opportunities for innovation in the pharmacy space, Mark Cuban offered perspective from an outsider intent on…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersReinventing Pharmacy: Mark Cuban Says Trust Is Missing Across Healthcare. Here’s What He’s Doing About It
Mark Cuban built a career disrupting industries and creating new ones. Now, his sights are set on healthcare. There’s no secret ingredient to Mark’s success…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersIs Innovation Stuck in Healthcare? Two Brothers Get to The Bottom of It
In most industries, innovation leads to an improved product or service while ultimately helping to lower cost. Healthcare is the exception. Despite a constant…
- Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders
Putting Trust at the Center of Healthcare Transformation: Press Ganey CEO, Pat Ryan
Through its work with more than 41,000 healthcare facilities and the industry’s largest database of patient feedback, Press Ganey gives organizations the data…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersDeciphering the New Normal (Part 4): Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ Chief Strategy Officer, Sukanya Soderland
This is the final episode in a four part series with heads of strategy at providers and payers from across the healthcare ecosystem to explore “the new normal”…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersDeciphering the New Normal (Part 3): Humana’s Chief Strategy & Corporate Development Officer, Dr. Vishal Agrawal
The previous two episodes of Healthcare is Hard explored the “new normal” from the provider perspective with heads of strategy at an innovative regional health…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersDeciphering the New Normal (Part 2): CommonSpirit’s Chief Strategy Officer, Sheri Shapiro
CommonSpirit Health is one of the nation’s largest integrated health systems comprising 142 hospitals and 2,200 care sites across 24 states. Three years ago…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersDeciphering The New Normal With OhioHealth’s Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Michael Krouse
There are many reasons why central Ohio is a fertile ground for innovation and why the areas surrounding Columbus are ideal for testing new approaches to…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersNot Just a Side Gig: Government Contracting Takes Commitment, Says Booz Allen Hamilton COO, Kristine Martin Anderson
Before taking responsibility for operational performance of Booz Allen Hamilton – the $9+ billion technology and consulting leader with 32,000+ employees…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersIs AI Policy a Bigger Undertaking Than Meaningful Use? Kristen McGovern Thinks So
Earning a Presidential Management Fellowship after law school gave Kristen McGovern firsthand experience working inside many of the agencies and offices that…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersAI Hype vs. Reality: A Conversation With Nuance (Microsoft) CSO, Peter Durlach
Peter Durlach grew up around computers and was exposed to innovative technology at an early age by his father, who helped run a lab in the electronics…
- Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders
Scaling Up (Part 2). How Dr. Rasu Shrestha is Steering AI & Innovation After the Megamerger that Created Advocate Health
Many physicians today choose to pivot their careers and apply their clinical knowledge to the innovation and digital transformation side of healthcare. Dr…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersFollow the Money: Harvard Professor & MedPAC Chair, Michael Chernew, Illuminates the Causes & Consequences of Healthcare Spending
Understanding healthcare spending growth in America is a critical component of any initiative attempting to improve care quality and affordability. This holds…
- Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders
The Healthcare Data Goldrush (Part 2): Chief Information & Digital Officer at Hartford Healthcare, Joel Vengco
When Joel Vengco started his thesis during the third year of a MD-PhD program, it was the beginning of the end of his time in medical school. It changed his…
- Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders
Scaling up. Scott Powder Talks About the Merger of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health to Build One of the Nation’s Largest Health Systems
Advocate Health is the nation’s fifth largest nonprofit health system, operating 67 hospitals and more than 1,000 sites of care to generate revenues topping…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersThe Healthcare Data Goldrush: Leavitt Partners’ Ryan Howells & IMO’s Dale Sanders Lay Out A Guide for Prospectors
The digital transformation of healthcare has been a long and winding road, but one that is starting to open new possibilities in every aspect of business…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersWhy Health Systems with Data-Driven Strategies will be the Ones to Survive Turbulent Times: A Conversation with Vizient’s John Becker
As the world emerges from the pandemic and U.S. health systems navigate a unique set of challenges they’ve never faced before, they’re fighting a battle on two…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersProvidence’s Sara Vaezy Tells the Tale of Two Health Systems: Fixing Fundamentals While Focusing on Innovation
It’s a difficult time for health systems who are struggling with financial pressures brought on by rising costs, patient volumes that continue to remain below…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersFormer Department of Defense Leader Interprets the Real Cyber Risks in Healthcare
Tim Kosiba was first exposed to the healthcare industry while working at the FBI in the 1990s as part of its Computer Analysis Response Team (CART). For more…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersAmazon, One Medical and the Acquisitions Moving Healthcare: Walmart’s Former SVP of Health, Marcus Osborne, Weighs In
Marcus Osborne started his professional life as a White House intern and never intended to pursue a career in healthcare. In fact, he says he has a phobia of…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersPeering Inside Home Health and VBC with Clinician, Investor, Operator and Public Servant, Dr. Julian Harris
Dr. Julian Harris developed a personal passion for home health and shifting care towards value watching his father and his grandfather serve as caregivers for…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersMayo’s John Halamka on AI, ML and the Government’s Role in Digital Health’s Future
As a self-described latchkey kid growing up in Los Angeles, Dr. John Halamka says riding his bike to Raytheon, Hughes Aircraft and Aerojet – and pulling…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersYou Can’t Improve If You Don’t Measure: IHI CEO Dr. Kedar Mate Talks Care Quality
At the beginning of the pandemic when nursing homes were a hotbed for COVID-19 infections and many untimely deaths, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersThe Surgeon & Economics PhD Leading Medicare: Dr. Meena Seshamani
Dr. Meena Seshamani is responsible for the health care coverage of more than 63 million Americans and nearly one in every five healthcare dollars spent in the…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersGoogle Cloud’s Aashima Gupta on Big Tech’s Platform Play in Healthcare
Aashima Gupta was a rising star in the financial technology world at organizations including Fidelity Investments and JPMorgan Chase, but after her father…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersMona Siddiqui on Humana’s Evolution to a Healthcare Company
Dr. Mona Siddiqui says she loves solving problems at the intersection of health policy, strategy, data and operations. After earning a medical degree from…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersAmazon Web Services’ Phoebe Yang on Bringing Digital Transformation to Health System Boards
Phoebe Yang holds one of the most instrumental roles at the intersection of tech and healthcare. As general manager for healthcare at Amazon Web Services, she…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersThe Biggest Surprise at JPM 2022 Is What Wasn’t Being Discussed: COVID
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Dan Michelson has held at least three to five zoom calls per day with hospital CFOs across the country. As the industry…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersSize Doesn’t Matter: Innovation Happens Everywhere, Says Anthem’s Bryony Winn
Bryony Winn is a Zimbabwe native and Rhodes Scholar who says her background growing up in the developing world contributed to her innate desire to pursue a…
Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for InsidersThe Retailers are Coming (Part 3): Walmart’s Chief Medical Officer
Walmart is the world’s largest retailer with revenues surpassing $120 billion and more than 10,000 locations across the globe. With nearly 5,000 locations in…