Healthcare Strategies

Saving lives with a state health information exchange

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

Reimagining value-based care to unlock quality care

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. 
 

Industry Perspectives HIMSS25 recap: Shifting AI conversations

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

Industry Perspectives: Leading healthcare AI integration

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

Industry Perspectives: Navigating Environmental Health and AI

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
 

Industry Perspectives: Acting on social determinants of health data in rural healthcare

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. 

Industry Perspectives: Finding the sweet spot for AI in EHRs

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

Industry Perspectives: Navigating the legal landscape of PHI and AI innovation

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. 

Industry Perspectives: Using risk mapping to improve healthcare cybersecurity

Healthcare organizations dodge cyberattacks daily, even from service providers with multiple degrees of separation. What if there was a standard way to prioritize cybersecurity actions across the healthcare sector so that organizations can know their risk level and be more prepared? The Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) Cybersecurity Working Group is working on something that might do just that.
Featuring: Greg Garcia, executive director, Health Sector Coordinating Council Cybersecurity Working Group
In this episode, we'll cover
What risk mapping looks like for the healthcare sector
The HSCC's work on developing health sector risk maps
How healthcare stakeholders can build cyber resiliency by knowing their risk level 
and more!
References
What is a risk map?
Mitigating risk as healthcare supply chain attacks prevail
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.

Advancing reproductive choices for men

Despite decades of advancements in reproductive health, male contraception methods remain limited to condoms or vasectomies. This leaves few options for those seeking alternatives and leaves women shouldering the physical and hormonal burdens of birth control. Today, with 85% of men aged 18–45 actively seeking new family planning solutions, the demand for a long-acting, reversible alternative is greater than ever. 
 
As male contraception advances in the wake of the Dobbs decision reversal, this episode examines market prospects, regulatory hurdles, and the future of reproductive options for men. 
 
Featuring: Darlene Walley, Chief Executive Officer, NEXT Life Sciences  
 
In this episode, we will cover… 
The growing demand for male contraception in the wake of shifting reproductive rights policies. 
How Vasalgel technology works and why it's a reversible alternative to vasectomies. 
The regulatory approval pathway for Plan A as a medical device. 
The economic and public health impact of expanded contraceptive options for men. 
The role of strategic partnerships with organizations like Planned Parenthood and the Male Contraceptive Initiative in advancing male birth control. 
 
To stay up to date on the latest developments in male contraception, check out our Pharma Life Sciences sites.  
 
To watch video clips from the conversation, subscribe to our YouTube channel, @HealthcareStrategies. 
 
References: 
U.S. men's interest in new male contraceptives 
A reversible alternative to vasectomies 
Pipeline of male contraceptives