Podnosis

Clinical AI must prove its value beyond a controlled demo. In this sponsored episode of Podnosis, host Irena Luo speaks with Chad Dodd, vice president of product management at Athenahealth, about how healthcare leaders can evaluate AI governance, safety and performance. Dodd explains why organizations should examine how a solution handles real-world data, edge cases and workflow variation, not only its ideal output. He discusses governance across the product development lifecycle, including testing for bias, accuracy and data validity, as well as validation across specialties, datasets and patient samples.

The conversation also covers practical clinician oversight through clear labeling of AI-generated information and links to source content. After deployment, Dodd says organizations should monitor model outputs, drift, telemetry, feature adoption and user feedback. For practices comparing AI partners, the discussion highlights four priorities: demonstrated workflow value, data privacy and security, transparent failure points, and evidence that the technology delivers its intended result safely and compliantly. Listen to the full podcast to learn more.

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Pediatric developmental care is notoriously difficult to navigate. Providers often find it challenging to accept insurance, and provider shortages mean long waitlists for families at a time when every day without care counts.

One startup operating in Southern California aims to simplify pediatric therapy and improve care coordination. Village offers a two-sided platform that streamlines communication between providers and families and brings documentation together in one secure place. Families can find providers through Village, while providers can manage their practices and collaborate with others.

To explain the model, Fierce Healthcare Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya sits down with Brandon Terry, co-founder and CEO of Village.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• Survey: Parents struggle to navigate fragmented pediatric, specialty care
• UnitedHealthcare expands behavioral coaching program for youths
• Amid spending growth scrutiny, CMS unveils toolkit for states to safeguard autism care

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Breakdowns in patient navigation can have consequences beyond patient frustration, contributing to missed appointments, avoidable emergency department visits and lost revenue for healthcare organizations.

Nichole Davis, founder and CEO of Wayfinder Patient Advocates, believes healthcare organizations should treat these breakdowns, which she calls "trust leaks," as operational problems that can be identified, measured and addressed. Her approach focuses on improving care coordination, equipping patients to make informed decisions and translating patient feedback into meaningful changes.

In this week's episode of "Podnosis," Fierce Healthcare Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya speaks with Davis about the connection between patient trust and organizational performance, practical strategies for improving care navigation and why these efforts are particularly important as healthcare organizations face growing financial pressures.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• Who do Americans believe have the most influence in healthcare?
• Three-quarters of Americans disillusioned with costs, say healthcare is defining voting issue
• Industry Voices—Return to trust: How lack of transparency can damage relationships in healthcare

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Serious mental illness (SMI) is challenging to address. Individuals with SMI die significantly earlier and are nearly twice as likely to have co-occurring physical health conditions as the general population. Yet the current system remains geographically inaccessible, fragmented and burdened by unaddressed social determinants of health.

Sonia Garcia, co-founder and chief growth officer of Amae Health, has seen the system's shortcomings firsthand while caring for her own family. Amae is trying to transform SMI care by combining psychiatry with medical care, nutrition, behavioral coaching and long-term monitoring.

To explain the approach, Fierce Healthcare senior writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya talks with Garcia.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• Behavioral health utilization is up with anxiety disorders leading demand, report finds
• Amae Health teams up with Google Health to integrate wearables data into SMI care
• Psychiatrists' use of biomarkers could open a new window into mental health diagnoses

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A growing number of clinicians are looking to work in healthcare as independent contractors, giving them more flexibility over when and how they work.

While this can sound straightforward in theory, a lack of clarity around worker classification can complicate opportunities for these professionals.

The Department of Labor has proposed a new rule, currently undergoing final review, that could change how businesses engage with independent contractors. One expert argues the change would be for the better.

To explain what the rule could mean for healthcare workers and employers, Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya sits down with Regan Parker, chief legal and public affairs officer at ShiftKey, a platform that connects independent healthcare workers with open shifts at healthcare facilities.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

Department of Labor's proposed foreign worker wage increases are more tough news for healthcare staf…

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As health plans confront rising medical and administrative costs, payment integrity is evolving from a collection of discrete interventions into an enterprise-wide strategic capability. In this sponsored episode of Podnosis, host Irena Luo speaks with Michael Axt, CEO of ClarisHealth, about why adding specialized vendors alone does not guarantee stronger performance. Without orchestration and end-to-end visibility, payers risk duplicative findings, missed savings, fragmented workflows and greater provider abrasion.

Axt explains how technology and AI can help payers improve payment accuracy, move more determinations earlier in the payment cycle and coordinate interactions with providers. He also considers how orchestration platforms such as Pareo can connect data, give internal teams a shared workspace and provide vendor-agnostic analytics for stronger program oversight. His perspective points toward a future in which payment integrity, utilization management, risk adjustment and other cost-management functions converge around a more connected view of the claim and episode-of-care lifecycle. Listen to the interview to learn more about the operating model shaping the future of payer performance.

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For years, health systems have been working to address their environmental impact. These efforts are largely voluntary and require systemwide buy-in to be effective. Some organizations are more sophisticated in setting sustainability goals and further along in putting them into practice.

Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya talks with Beth Schenk, Ph.D., chief environmental stewardship officer at Providence, about the climate impacts she has witnessed as a nurse and her health system’s sustainability journey.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• New procurement guide for hospitals, payers takes aim at AI's environmental impact
• In next phase of sustainability, UCI Health, Kaiser Permanente, and others turn to electric hospital…
• How policy, reimbursement incentives, could help healthcare address its climate footprint
• 'We can't do this alone': Hospitals share lessons from Hurricane Helene to prepare for extreme weath…

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Racial disparities in breast cancer have persisted for years. Though Black women have a slightly lower incidence of breast cancer, they face a mortality rate that is 38% higher than that of white women. One researcher in Georgia is focused on addressing those inequities in her community.

Lauren McCullough, Ph.D., an epidemiology researcher, is running several studies investigating disparities across breast and gynecologic cancers. She also founded a peer support community to elevate the voices of marginalized patients going through cancer treatment. Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya talks with McCullough about these efforts and what they could mean at scale.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• Women's oncology market will reach $110B by 2030 across therapeutics, diagnostics and care delivery
• The cold cap coverage gap and a cancer survivor’s push for change
• Breast cancer tops list of most-studied diseases for 5th year in a row: report
• Not all patient care access is equal when it comes to mammograms, CDC report finds

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Payers and providers agree on many of healthcare's most pressing challenges. Yet despite broad consensus around rising costs, workforce shortages and administrative complexity, operational friction continues to slow progress. Why? According to Yusuf Qasim, president of payments optimization at Zelis, alignment on the problem does not automatically create alignment on the solution.

In this episode of Podnosis, Qasim discusses findings from Zelis' State of the Healthcare Financial Experience Report and examines where collaboration opportunities remain untapped. He explains why the industry has no shortage of data or analytical capabilities, but often struggles to connect insights across organizations. The conversation explores persistent pain points, including payment reconciliation, claims processing, denials, appeals and administrative burden, while highlighting practical steps healthcare stakeholders can take to improve transparency and strengthen collaboration.

The discussion also looks at how organizations should evaluate new technology investments, why reducing manual work may be one of the most important success metrics, and where payers and providers can make meaningful progress over the next several months. For healthcare leaders focused on operational efficiency, stakeholder trust and financial experience, this episode offers a timely perspective on turning shared priorities into measurable results.

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There are a lot of disparate systems in healthcare that don’t always talk to each other. That can make navigating specialties like behavioral health particularly challenging for patients.

One company believes both payers and providers share responsibility for helping patients navigate to services. Bamboo Health offers a platform that ingests data from traditionally siloed sources to give stakeholders real-time visibility into how patients are moving through the healthcare system so they can act at the appropriate time.

Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya talks to Vatsala Kapur, Bamboo’s SVP of market access, policy and partnerships, about the outcomes the company is seeing and why the future of value-based care has to involve data and AI.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• Delaware sees results following recent launch of behavioral health coordination platform
• Watershed Health rolls out large-scale data sharing platform across Austin, Texas region

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Video games are a massive industry, and they’re successful because they have mastered the art of player engagement. What if you could apply those same tactics to engage doctors?

Sam Glassenberg, EVP at Relevate Health Games, formerly Level Ex, helps design video games for medical professionals and, more recently, patients. The goal is to equip them with new knowledge and skills to improve care delivery or build healthier habits.

Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya sits down with Glassenberg to discuss the company’s latest innovations, engagement data and the future of video games in healthcare.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• Level Ex study shows efficacy of game-based training for experienced dermatologists

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The 2026 Fierce 50 brings together scientists, physicians, public health leaders, patient advocates and organizations working in very different ways to move healthcare and the life sciences forward. This year’s honorees are developing new medicines, closing gaps in access and representation, tackling health literacy and misinformation, rethinking disease prevention and finding new ways to bring public health information into the communities that need it.

In this episode of "Podnosis," Fierce Healthcare and Life Sciences Editor-in-Chief Ayla Ellison looks at some of the stories that stood out from this year’s honorees, from Revolution Medicines’ bet on the once “undruggable” RAS cancer target and the protein-design work of David Baker, Ph.D., to Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., and his decision to delay stepping back from public health. The episode also explores how honorees including Lisa Fitzpatrick, M.D., Hip Hop Public Health, Eric Topol, M.D., and Mary Owen, M.D., are rethinking trust, communication, prevention and health equity.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• Fierce 50 of 2026

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The U.S. is facing a rapidly aging population alongside a dearth of primary care physicians, who play a crucial role in catching health issues early and keeping costs low. Everyone agrees technology should play a role in filling care gaps, but where its value truly lies is up for debate.

Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya talks to David Carmouche, M.D., chief medical and commercial officer of Lumeris, a health tech company that supports providers. Carmouche shares creative ways providers can use technology more effectively and the payment models needed to support those efforts long term. He also discusses lessons learned from leading Walmart Health centers, which shuttered in 2024, and his current work on a federal healthcare advisory committee to the Department of Health and Human Services.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• Walmart Health's shutdown underscores major challenges for retail health 'disruptors'
• Weekly Rundown: Lumeris adds symptom-checking tool to AI platform; DeepIntent rolls out agentic AI t…
• Primary care is in trouble. So doctors band together to boost their market power

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This podcast episode is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech. Dr. Paresh Patel and multiple myeloma patient Julia P. have been compensated by Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech for their time to participate in this podcast.

In this episode of Podnosis: The Pulse of the Healthcare Industry, listeners hear a candid conversation about multiple myeloma from the patient and physician perspectives. A patient who underwent CAR-T therapy and her community oncologist, Dr. Paresh Patel, share how early education, trust and collaboration shaped her treatment journey.

The patient walks through her experience from diagnosis to CAR-T, describing how informed decision-making and self-advocacy helped her navigate an evolving treatment landscape. She reflects on the emotional and practical challenges of multiple myeloma therapies, the importance of caregiver support and what the possibility of a treatment-free interval meant to her.

Dr. Patel discusses the role of community oncologists in managing complex diseases like multiple myeloma, emphasizing why CAR-T should remain part of the treatment conversation early on. He explores timing, referral considerations and the value of clear communication as patients move between local care and specialized centers. At its core, this episode is about partnership and what is possible when patients and care teams navigate complexity together.

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Consumer wearables are popular for a reason. People like to have their health data on demand. These insights can encourage healthy habits and may flag early signals of an underlying illness.

The problem is interpretability. Without a doctor’s input, many people are left to puzzle over their results and what they imply. Timely medical advice is important, yet often missing.

Reperio Health aims to address that gap. It combines at-home health screenings, an app and virtual clinical visits to help patients make sense of it all. Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya sits down with Reperio’s co-founder and CEO, Travis Rush, to explain.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• At-home testing company Reperio teams up with Amazon One Medical on preventive care
• Doctronic, Simple HealthKit partner to connect at-home screening with AI-powered clinical care
• Noom launches at-home biomarker test kit for metabolic health monitoring

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Elevated medical costs and policy turmoil continued to affect the financial performance of payers and providers in the second quarter. Providers are still feeling the sting of fluctuations in ACA plan enrollment, while payers pointed to the No Surprises Act’s arbitration process as a major challenge.

Fierce Healthcare editor Dave Muoio and senior writer Paige Minemyer sit down for another deep dive into the biggest trends emerging from second-quarter earnings calls.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• Insurers see positive results in managing health costs in Q2
• Ardent Health offsets Q2 volume stumble by tightening costs, renegotiating contracts
• CVS enhances supports for patients taking GLP-1s
• Universal Health Services tops Q2 expectations, but dials back full-year earnings
• Tenet Healthcare shrugs off ACA headwinds with sweeping Q2 outperformance, boosts 2026 guidance
• HCA Healthcare's H1 ACA volume dropoffs 'almost one for one' shifted to uninsurance
• UnitedHealthcare exec says 'ineffective' No Surprises Act IDR process demands reform

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Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune disease that requires proactive early intervention and treatment to achieve the best long-term outcomes. But recommendations for MS patients who are pregnant can be murky.

Driven by knowledge gaps and concerns about the effects of disease-modifying therapies on the fetus, providers have often advised MS patients not to become pregnant. However, emerging research shows that patients can safely continue certain MS medications during pregnancy.

Katrina Bawden, a family nurse practitioner and MS-certified nurse at Rocky Mountain MS Clinic, is working to fill the research gap by tracking pregnancies among women with MS. She discusses the outcomes she is seeing with Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• 'We want to feel heard': Jamie-Lynn Sigler on how pharmas can better serve patients
• As Roche eyes busy 2026, Vabysmo undershoots targets and Tecentriq fails early lung cancer study
• Fewer than 1% of clinical trials in the US include pregnant patients, study finds

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It’s no secret that healthcare is complicated. Patients face escalating costs and significant complexity as they try to navigate their own health journeys.

That’s why CVS Health is making significant investments to improve the consumer experience and simplify patients’ interactions with the healthcare system. Amy Compton-Phillips, M.D., the company’s chief medical officer, joins senior writer Paige Minemyer to unpack initiatives such as CVS Health 100 and discuss what the ideal patient experience might look like.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• CVS unveils Health 100, its new Google-powered consumer engagement platform
• A look at how CVS is leaning on 'agentic twins' in developing consumer tech
• Inside Aetna's investments to build provider trust
• Consumers' satisfaction with health plan apps improves with familiarity: JD Power

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In this sponsored episode of Podnosis, host Irena Luo speaks with Patrick Velliky, chief external affairs officer at HaloMD, about the No Surprises Act and the ongoing challenges surrounding the independent dispute resolution process.

Velliky reflects on the original expectations behind the legislation, including the goal of creating a fair arbitration framework where insurers and providers could resolve payment disputes in good faith. He discusses concerns that have emerged around arbitration award payments, highlighting how delayed or missing payments can affect providers despite favorable rulings.

The conversation examines potential enforcement pathways, including regulatory oversight and bipartisan legislative proposals intended to address compliance gaps and establish clearer penalties. Velliky also shares his perspective on the financial pressures facing physician practices and how reimbursement challenges may influence healthcare consolidation trends.

Listen in for an expert discussion on the evolving implementation of the No Surprises Act, the future of IDR enforcement and what these developments could mean for providers, payers and patients.

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Despite the importance of prenatal care, recent CDC data show that access is declining. Fewer women are beginning prenatal care in the first trimester, while the share starting later in pregnancy or receiving no prenatal care is rising.

Unified Women’s Healthcare supports women’s health practices and provides fertility services, maternity analytics, care coordination and other technology-enabled services. The company is exploring how those tools can help patients enter care earlier and receive more tailored support throughout pregnancy.

Unified Chief Medical Officer Elizabeth Cherot, M.D., joins Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya to discuss the company’s approach, the barriers keeping patients from prenatal care and the role technology can play in expanding access.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• Family health provider Nest Health launches in-home prenatal services
• Why UnitedHealth Group is betting big on doulas
• Wavelet Medical, Aegis Ventures partner on first AI non-invasive fetal EEG monitoring platform
• New Medicaid-focused doula provider Malama launches with $9.2M

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