Definitively Speaking

Health equity is a hot topic these days. There’s no question that certain populations have better and more frequent access to healthcare – not to mention sometimes dramatic variations in the quality of care. Health inequities drive roughly $320 billion in annual healthcare spending – money that could be better spent elsewhere if we could just figure out a way to address this issue. While there is...

Most everyone agrees that basic healthcare is a human right, but having a right to care doesn’t necessarily make it easily accessible or reliable for everyone. Charles Nader , CEO and founder of Doc.com , is on a mission to deliver free basic healthcare to the entire world using a foundational philosophy of access, analytics, and transparency. Charles joins Justin to explain how artificial intelli...

Hospitals might seem like the quintessential healthcare setting, but only about 11% of care episodes actually occur in these facilities, according to the National Institutes of Health. The other 89% of care is delivered through a complex continuum of outpatient settings that span everything from primary care offices to ambulatory surgery centers to long-term care facilities, just to name a few loc...

Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent on medical research and development each year by large corporations, small start-ups, and university labs around the world. If you’re working in a lab, and you discover a game-changing innovation, it can seem daunting to build a business around it. But it doesn’t have to be—and Dr. Matthew MacEwan , chief science officer and co-founder of Acera Surgical In...

Medical professionals are leaving the industry in droves, and those who remain are burning out over untenable workloads and business pressures. Our doctors are responsible for caring for us. But who’s responsible for caring for them? And why do so many doctors not take the time to take care of themselves? Dr. Gail Gazelle , a physician coach, author, and Harvard assistant professor, joins Justin t...

What’s it like being an investor in the healthcare space? It’s a little like dating for a living, if all your dates only want to talk about work and money. Sam Hendler , managing director of business development at Thomas H. Lee Partners , joins Justin to discuss what’s hot—and what’s not—in the world of healthcare investment, from major M&A activity to the growing challenges of interoperabili...

Whether you place the blame on wonky demand curves or misaligned incentive structures, there’s no getting around it: the massive U.S. healthcare system just isn’t delivering on its $4.3 trillion investment. Is it time for a medical Manhattan Project? In this special episode, Justin is joined by Jonathan Bush , founder and CEO of Zus Health , and Robert Musslewhite , Definitive Healthcare CEO, to d...

It’s tough being an executive at a healthcare delivery network these days. Competition for patients is brutal, doctors are leaving in droves, and insurance companies are squeezing your margins. And by the way, your board wants you to grow your revenues and your profits at the same time. So what’s the magic answer? Well, there isn’t really one, but Bill Moschella has some ideas on what you can do....

The American healthcare system is far from perfect—which makes it a pretty perfect environment for entrepreneurs and innovators. But it takes more than an unmet need and some startup capital to find success in a crowded market. Lesley Solomon , venture chair at Redesign Health , joins Justin to talk about the joys and challenges of creating news businesses in the healthcare space. She walks throug...

More than 131 million people in the U.S. take a prescription drug every day, but nearly half don’t take their medications as directed. Charles Gellman , CEO and co-founder of HiDO Health , joins Justin to discuss how technologies like AI, RFID, and robotics can help patients and caregivers adhere to complex drug regimens without direct support from a doctor or pharmacist. Charles explains how his...

In the U.S., payors and providers need each other to deliver the highest-quality care at the lowest cost—but they don’t always get along. Russ Thomas , CEO of Availity , joins Justin to discuss the systemic factors driving the misalignment between payors and providers. Russ and Justin discuss how technology and a new perspective might be able to simplify two of biggest points of friction: utilizat...

On a snowy January day in 2022, Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin , director of cardiac xenotransplantation at the University of Maryland School of Medicine , oversaw the first transplantation of a pig heart into a human body. Dr. Mohiuddin joins Justin to discuss this landmark procedure—from the selection of patient David Bennett to the complications that ultimately led to the transplanted heart’s failure 6...

More than 4.8 billion prescriptions were filled in the U.S. in 2022, and a medical affairs team had a hand in each one—even if the average patient doesn’t know they exist. Steve Casey , managing partner of Omni Healthcare Communications , joins Justin to explain the evolving role of medical affairs and why life science organizations are struggling to find KPIs that accurately measure the impact of...

For hospitals and health systems, the lifetime value of a patient is around $1 million. So why are more than half of U.S. hospitals operating with outdated tech that adds friction to the patient experience and increases the likelihood of losing that patient to a different system? David Bennett , CEO of pCare , joins Justin to discuss how technology, amenities, and basic bedside manner intersect in...

Women make up more than half of the U.S. population and over two-thirds of the global healthcare workforce, but within the American healthcare system, they face significantly poorer outcomes than those in other similarly wealthy countries. Jo Lim , SVP of growth and engagement at Babylon , joins Justin and guest contributor Kate Shamsuddin, chief product officer at Definitive Healthcare, to explor...

Drug development is a highly expensive, risky venture for investors and researchers alike. Dr. Sasha Krupnick , chief of thoracic surgery and director of the lung transplant program for the University of Maryland Medical System , joins Justin to discuss why biotech needs more outsider perspectives, government support, and risk-takers to get the next industry-shaking innovation off the ground. Dr....

What does it mean to be transgender? Dr. Ben Haseen , an openly transgender author, health advocate, and physician resident at Duke University Health System , joins Justin—and returning colleague Catherine Wright—to dig deep into the science, politics, and cultural factors underlying this deceptively simple question. Dr. Haseen dispels common misconceptions around gender identity and sexuality, ou...

The American Colleges of Nursing projects a shortage of 230,000 nurses by 2031, a figure that spells trouble for the country’s aging, increasingly sick population. Sean Burke , president of healthcare for Ascend Learning , joins Justin to examine the challenges facing the nursing pipeline—including workforce attrition, lack of professional preparedness, and constraints to educational capacity and...

In the last five years, retail care has grown 200%, giving patients a more accessible and affordable pathway to preventive primary care outside of the traditional practice model. Is specialty care the next frontier for retail medicine? Network Eye CEO Jeremy Kirsch and Executive Chairman Steven Wisch join Justin to discuss how their company is using AI to bring ophthalmology into the retail settin...

Why is it easier for a gastrointestinal (GI) specialist to order an endoscopy than schedule a simple consultation with a patient? Dr. Sameer Berry , CMO and co-founder of Oshi Health , joins Justin and new podcast contributor Catherine Wright to examine the current approach to GI care that Dr. Berry calls “flawed to its core.” Dr. Berry shines a light on gastroenterology’s perverse incentives, mis...

Healthcare software solutions have come a long way in the last few decades: Once consider nice-to-have workflow enhancements, electronic health records (EHRs) and revenue cycle management (RCM) tools are now ubiquitous in the world of care delivery—leaving vendors to seek competitive advantages through expanded feature sets, agnostic data integration, and other specialized solutions. A. Hadi Chaud...

Mid-sized physician groups face a lot of the same problems as major health networks—they just have fewer resources to work with. Blake Wylie , chief technology officer at Montecito Medical , joins Justin to discuss how AI and data-driven strategies can help smaller practices operate more efficiently and overcome common challenges related to recruiting, no-show patients, lack of market insight, and...

Nurses consistently rank among America’s most trusted professions, and for a good reason—they're the folks delivering the compassionate care that everyone needs. And yet, nurses are burnt out, striking, and leaving in droves. So, what’s the treatment plan? Rachel Schiff , Chief Product Officer at IntelyCare joins Justin and Todd to shed some light on recent trends in the nursing profession. Rachel...

Doctors’ patient loads keep growing, and reinforcements are nowhere in sight. Could the solution be somewhere in cyberspace? Dr. Nayan Kalnad , CEO and co-founder of Avegen , talks with Justin about how digital therapeutics—healthcare software prescribed independently or alongside a drug—are helping overworked physicians focus on the patients who require face-to-face time while still supporting th...

International shipping has improved since the start of the pandemic, but hospitals are still shouldering the burden of a disrupted supply chain. Kelly Starman , chief marketing officer at PartsSource , talks with Justin about what supply chain recovery really means, how equipment management strategies can save money and improve performance at hospitals and other care facilities, and why macroecono...