Healthcare Strategies

A podcast for healthcare professionals seeking solutions to today’s and tomorrow’s top challenges. Hosted by the editors of Xtelligent Healthcare Media, this podcast series focuses on real-world use cases that are leading to tangible improvements in care quality, outcomes, and cost. Guests from leading provider, payer, government, and other organizations share their approaches to transforming healthcare in a meaningful and lasting way.

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Episodes

Monday May 05, 2025

The first 100 days of the second Trump presidency were marked by new, wide-ranging tariffs and executive orders along with workforce cuts and leadership changes. What are the immediate and long-term impacts of these shifts? And how has the healthcare industry responded?
 
Featuring: Alivia Kaylor, senior editor for Pharma Life Sciences at Xtelligent
Jacqueline LaPointe, executive editor of Editorial at Xtelligent
 
In today’s episode, we’ll cover…
Tariffs and their impact on drug supply chain
The impact of deregulation and workforce cuts on wasteful healthcare spending
Understanding the role of executive orders in healthcare policy
and more!
 
To learn more about these topics, check out techtarget.com/healthcarepayers and techtarget.com/pharmalifesciences.
To watch clips from our podcast, subscribe to our YouTube channel, @HealthcareStrategies.
References:
Trump to expand, enforce healthcare price transparency
How Trump's pharma tariffs disrupt drug supply chains
Trump administration policies could create headwinds across healthcare: Fitch

Monday Apr 28, 2025

Fortra, the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Health-ISAC), and Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit teamed up to combat abuse of Cobalt Strike, a legitimate adversary simulation tool that cyberthreat actors have taken a liking to. The collaborative efforts resulted in an 80% reduction in unauthorized copies of Cobalt Strike observed in the wild. What does this success story say about the value of industry collaboration in healthcare cybersecurity? 
Featuring: Bob Erdman, associate vice president, research and development at Fortra 
In this episode, we'll cover 
The threat that abuse of legitimate security tools by cyberthreat actors poses on healthcare organizations 
Joint efforts by Fortra, Microsoft, and Health-ISAC to crack down on Cobalt Strike abuse in the wild 
The value of industry-wide collaboration in making healthcare more secure 
and more! 
References 
Cobalt Strike abuse drops 80% following takedown campaign  
Microsoft, Fortra, Health-ISAC Crack Down On Cobalt Strike Abuse 
To learn more about healthcare cybersecurity, check out our Healthtech Security site. 
To watch video clips from the conversation, subscribe to our YouTube channel, @HealthcareStrategies. 

Monday Apr 21, 2025

The Connecticut Poison Control Center receives on average a hundred calls a day and operates 24/7. To handle such an immense workload, the Center relies on one tool to sustain and improve its emergency response: the state's health information exchange (HIE), Connie. How does this HIE help the Center save lives? Listen to find out!
Featuring: Suzanne Doyon, MD, medical director of the Connecticut Poison Control Center at UConn Health
In today's episode, we will cover: 
What drove the Connecticut Poison Control Center to integrate the state's health information exchange
How the tool has impacted efficiency and even staff morale
The potential that other agencies have/could actualize by leveraging the health information exchange
...and more!
References: 
Definition: What is a Health Information Exchange?
More on Connie: Once an underdog, Connecticut’s HIE network gains traction
Health information exchange barriers hamper telehealth adoption

Monday Apr 14, 2025

The healthcare industry has been shifting from fee-for-service to value-based care and payment for decades now with not much to show for it as a whole. How can employers and other healthcare purchasers achieve value amid soaring costs and worsening disease burden?  
Featuring: Shawn Gremminger, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions 
In today's episode, we will cover: 
Why the current definition and implementation of value-based care in healthcare isn't working effectively, and a major rethinking is needed to create a truly value-driven system. 
The core challenges employers face in achieving value-based care, especially around data access, price transparency and practical strategies. 
Strategies for achieving higher quality, affordable care, such as narrow network design, increased pricing data access and direct contracting. 
References: 
Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network;s APM Measurement effort 
What the Transparency in Coverage rule means for healthcare price transparency 
How to accelerate value-based care despite looming healthcare crisis 
To learn more about value-based care, check out our site Healthcare Payers.  
To watch video clips from our podcast, subscribe to our YouTube channel, @HealthcareStrategies. 
 

Monday Mar 31, 2025

HIMSS25 ran from March 3-6 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It attracted thousands of industry leaders and featured a predominant theme: artificial intelligence. How did the industry approach this topic in 2025, and what surprising talking points arose?
Featuring: Rebecca Pifer, senior reporter at Healthcare Dive
In today’s episode, we’ll cover…
The evolution of the AI conversation in healthcare
AI governance and oversight
Current trends in agentic AI
and more!
To learn more about AI in healthcare, check out Healthtech Analytics.
To watch video clips from our podcast, subscribe to our YouTube channel, @HealthcareStrategies.
References:
HIMSS25: Navigating the cost-benefit dilemma of health AI
Exploring emerging health tech at HIMSS25
What is artificial intelligence (AI) governance?
More from Rebecca Pifer on AI in healthcare

Thursday Mar 27, 2025

It is easy to get swept up in the AI hype. But healthcare leaders cannot afford to lose sight of their true priorities when evaluating AI solutions. How has this technology influenced healthcare leadership styles?
Featuring: Brian Spisak, senior partner and chief people and communication officer at Csuite Growth Advisors; program director of AI and leadership at the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard University
In today’s episode, we’ll cover…
Avoiding the hype cycle in healthcare technology
Understanding organizational ambidexterity
Effective applications of AI in healthcare
and more!
To learn more about AI in healthcare, check out Healthtech Analytics.
To watch video clips from our podcast, subscribe to our YouTube channel, @HealthcareStrategies.
References:
How healthcare organizations can prioritize AI governance
AMA Report Outlines Considerations for AI Integration in Healthcare
More on organizational ambidexterity
More on leading through AI adoption

Monday Mar 24, 2025

AI can have a negative effect on the environment, largely due to increased electricity consumption. How should that shape when and where AI is used in healthcare, if at all?
Featuring: Manijeh ('Mani') Berenji, MD, MPH, associate clinical professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine and School of Public Health
In today’s episode, we’ll cover…
The impact of environmental changes on patient health
The intersection between AI, the environment, and healthcare
How to use AI in healthcare in an environmentally-responsible way
and more!
To learn more about AI in healthcare, check out Healthtech Analytics.
To watch video clips from our podcast, subscribe to our YouTube channel, @HealthcareStrategies.
References:
Recognizing the growing impact of climate change on infectious diseases
What is sustainable AI?
Using Analytics Tools to Drive Care Coordination for Wildfire Victims
 

Wednesday Mar 19, 2025

Some might balk at the idea that a healthcare system would struggle to gather social determinants of health data in 2025. But for a rural healthcare system where every employee already fulfills multiple roles and the workforce is stretched thin, collecting this data can feel impossible to add to the workflow. Today's guest shares how to make this impossible task more possible for rural healthcare.
Featuring: Susan Gutjahr, HIT Director and Compliance Officer, Sparta Community Hospital
In this episode, we'll cover 
Why collecting social determinants of health data is so challenging for rural healthcare systems
How Sparta Community Hospital navigated these challenges
Putting rural healthcare challenges in perspective
and more! 
References 
Top Patient Engagement Challenges Affecting Rural Healthcare
State of U.S. rural hospitals: No margin, no mission
Building a care team to address social determinants of health
To learn more about healthcare cybersecurity, check out our Patient Engagement site. 
To watch video clips from the conversation, subscribe to our YouTube channel, @HealthcareStrategies. 

Wednesday Mar 12, 2025

Many have postulated that AI could solve--or, at least, bring us closer to solving--the clinician burnout crisis stemming from EHR adoption. But what use cases for AI integration into EHRs are the most ideal?
Featuring: Sean McGunigal, Director of Artificial Intelligence at Epic
In today's episode, we cover
The ideal use cases for AI and EHR integration
Metrics and KPIs for AI success
How scalability challenges impact AI integration into EHRs
Addressing provider concerns about AI dependency
...and more!
To learn more about health IT, check out Health IT and EHR site.
To watch video clips from our podcast, subscribe to our YouTube channel, @HealthcareStrategies.
References:
Top 12 ways artificial intelligence will impact healthcare
How ambient AI is cutting burnout, upping patient experience
How generative AI in healthcare is helping cut admin burden

Monday Mar 10, 2025

AI innovation requires patient data in order to develop accurate models that can bolster healthcare functions. But, legally, there is only so much one can do with protected health information. How should healthcare organizations walk the line between innovation and privacy? This conversation was recorded at HIMSS25.
Featuring: Adam Greene, partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP
In this episode, we'll cover 
The legal limits on using patient data for AI development
What CEOs and healthcare leaders should know about privacy and AI innovation
 How the new administration's regulatory approach to AI may shape healthcare organizations' privacy responsibilities
and more! 
References 
What is electronic protected health information (ePHI)?
Fostering health AI development with confidential computing
Examining Health Data Privacy, HIPAA Compliance Risks of AI Chatbots
To learn more about healthcare cybersecurity, check out our Healthtech Security site. 
To watch video clips from the conversation, subscribe to our YouTube channel, @HealthcareStrategies. 

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