Moving to Value Unscripted

The legacy insurance machine is running out of time, and the pendulum is swinging back toward employers. Healthcare innovation pioneer François de Brantes lays out a ruthless, no-compromise blueprint for self-insured employers to reclaim control of their healthcare spend. Currently the Executive Vice President of Payment Innovation and Network Performance at XO Health, de Brantes pulls zero punche...

The American healthcare system is financially engineered to wait for expensive medical disasters rather than preventing them. Perhaps no one has a clearer view of how to dismantle this "rescue medicine" trap than Dr. Bill Bestermann. A preventive cardiologist and former President of the South Carolina affiliate of the American Heart Association, Bestermann has spent decades fighting the...

Picture a healthcare plan with free primary care visits, physicals and health screenings, $0 copays for most services and prescriptions and negotiated direct contracts for most major procedures, as well as on-site fitness, flu shots, vaccines, family planning, nutritional services and more. This is the reality for thousands of employees of Rosen Hotels & Resorts in Orlando, Florida, leading to...

In Ohio's rural Ashtabula County, employers and patients struggled with rising costs and accessing services until a community coalition built a localized healthcare ecosystem. The results? A transparent financial structure that cuts out middlemen, direct primary care and community contracting, zero-dollar copays for many services and improved trust, satisfaction and population health outcomes....

ER visits account for roughly six percent of health plan spend, with costs rising faster than almost any other hospital service. Why is ER spending is spiraling out of control? And what should we do about it? Al Lewis, founder of The Validation Institute and the gamified health literacy platform Quizzify, has built a career exposing the financial sleights-of-hand many healthcare programs use to dr...

Tired of muddled pitches, point solution fatigue and hours of endless meetings? You're not the only one. Chris Fisher is on a mission to fix one of the biggest bottlenecks in the employee benefits industry — the noise. As the founder of BenefitsAlly, Fisher created the 3x3x3 Challenge, which asks vendors to explain what they do, how they’re different and who they’re for in three minutes. This...

The American healthcare system is facing market failure driven by consolidation by industry profiteers. Perhaps no one has a clearer view of how this took place — and what to do about it — than Wendell Potter. Called ‘the ideal whistleblower’ by Time magazine, Potter was a senior executive at insurance giants like Humana and Cigna until a crisis of conscience in 2008. As the Editor-In-Chief of the...

"We could probably think of dozens of brilliant ideas on this very podcast to improve healthcare," says AJ Loiacono, Co-Founder & CEO of Judi Health. "Good luck implementing any of them on our aging infrastructure." Loiacono founded Capital Rx, transforming the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) industry by introducing a transparent, flat-fee model. Now, that mission has evolve...

"Now is the time to strike when the iron is hot. People need healthcare." Join us in the halls of the Connecticut General Assembly, where lawmakers are considering a bill to authorize Association Health Plans in the state. This would let small employers pool risk and receive health insurance as one group, boosting their power to negotiate better value for employees. Grace Brangwynne, Pol...

Why do savvy business leaders track every penny of office spend but ignore the "black box" of what's often their second-largest expense? With renowned healthcare advisor Ann Lewandowski, we dive into the systemic blind spots that make it difficult for even the most sophisticated plan sponsors to manage healthcare with the same fiduciary rigor they apply to other parts of their busine...

From the ball park to the operating room, Michael LaFauci spots solutions with an innovator's eye. The idea for his current venture, Midas Healthcare Solutions, began with a lint roller. LaFauci discusses the "innovator’s DNA" that led him from pharmacy assistant to serial entrepreneur. He developed technology that allowed sports fans to order refreshments from their seats. He create...

Are we approaching the "401(k) moment" of health insurance? We're joined by Chris Ellis, co-founder and CEO of Thatch, a platform that helps employers offer personalized healthcare experiences to employees using Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs) . Ellis explains how his team of fintech veterans is leveraging ICHRAs to decouple benefits from the employer-c...

What does healthcare look like when a community-centered approach takes the lead? New York State Assembly Member Chantel Jackson, a licensed social worker representing New York’s 79th District, joins us to discuss increasing access to and trust in healthcare services. With a background in New York City public schools, Assembly Member Jackson brings a unique, holistic perspective to the legislature...

Healthcare is the second or third largest expense of most employers. As costs continue to rise, hidden incentives, legacy brokerage models and lack of transparency keep employers stuck in the same expensive cycle. Donovan Pyle, CEO of Health Compass Consulting, offers a sharp diagnosis of the barriers employers face in reforming this system, as well as the strategies employers can put in play to g...

Rural healthcare is in crisis, and few people understand the stakes better than the National Rural Health Association’s Brock Slabach . In this episode, Slabach cuts through the noise to explain why many rural hospitals are struggling and where real solutions are taking shape. He breaks down the core pressures facing rural providers — thin margins, stretched workforce, volatile policy — and makes...

This is part two of our Health Systems at a Crossroads webinar. Click here to catch part one , or find it earlier in our podcast feed. Join us as we discuss a vision for value-based care and practical steps to challenge the status quo. With special guests: Mark Gwynne, Chief Value Officer, UNC Health Jeffrey Hogan, President, Upside Health Advisors Blair Childs, President and CEO, Childs Associate...

This is part one of our Health Systems at a Crossroads webinar. Part two will take place on Friday, November 14 at 12 ET. Click here to register. Join us as we survey the structural, financial and cultural forces shaping hospital behavior. Our expert guests unpack where hospitals truly make money, how consolidation impacts access and what stands in the way of a systemic shift toward value-based ca...

This is part two of a two-part episode. Click here to catch part one , or find it in our podcast feed. What would healthcare look like if it were truly built around the people it serves? In this episode, we take a closer look at Alaska’s Southcentral Foundation and its internationally acclaimed  Nuka System of Care  — a model that has redefined what value-based care can mean when relationships, tr...

What would healthcare look like if it were truly built around the people it serves? In this episode, we take a closer look at Alaska’s Southcentral Foundation and its internationally acclaimed Nuka System of Care — a model that has redefined what value-based care can mean when relationships, trust and community ownership are at the center. Joining us are April Kyle , President and CEO of Southcent...

Convenience, flexibility, value. Subscription-based models could disrupt the paradigm of accessing (and paying for) healthcare. But can they build buy-in and consumer trust? We discuss with special guest Christina Farr . As a health tech investor, general partner at Scrub Capital and author of the industry-leading Second Opinion newsletter, Christina offers her perspective on how business model in...

Surgeons getting sticker shock? MTVA discusses transparency in health system spending and optimizing for better long-term patient outcomes with special guest Derek Haas . Derek is the CEO and founder of Avant-garde Health , which provides surgeons, health systems, and ASCs with comprehensive insight into their surgical care and empowers them to improve their profitability and care quality. "W...

Are your bags packed for Denver? Gear up for RosettaFest 2025 by listening to this conversation between MTVA and Dave Chase!  If you don’t yet know the pioneering disruptor Dave Chase , he’s on a mission to restore hope, health and economic prosperity to communities through healthcare transformation. Dave is a Co-Founder and CEO of Health Rosetta , a blueprint for high-performing health benefits u...

“The only thing that actually reduces mortality and morbidity in primary care is a long-term relationship with a PCP.” In this conversation, MTVA explores the fast-growing movement of direct primary care (DPC) with special guest Peter Lazzopina, MD - Founder of Frontier Direct Care in Texas. Based in the Rio Grande Valley, Frontier has grown organically from a single-man operation to a thriving ne...

What does “value” in health care actually mean—and how do we get there? MTVA sat down with a top leader in the value movement who’s put the value philosophy into practice!  Kevin Bozic, MD, MBA is Chair of Surgery and Perioperative Care at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. He’s internationally recognized in the field of orthopaedic surgery (a Past President of the American...

“I really do think it's as simple as waking up the buyer, because if the buyer is going to define what they want and hold people accountable, everything else will happen naturally.” One often overlooked stakeholder in the U.S. healthcare system is business leaders. Our guest this week, Darrell Moon , is on a mission to mobilize these decision makers. Darrell is the CEO and Founder of Orriant a...