Flourish with Sarah Richardson

April 21, 2026: What happens when a young mother with no plan, no car, and no housing decides she's done surviving and ready to lead? Lead Consultant and Author of “Extraordinary Ordinary Women,” Mandy Crosby joins host Sarah Richardson to share the unfiltered story behind her journey from medical assistant to healthcare IT executive advisor. From the leader who refused to put her on a do-not-hire...

April 16, 2026: Something big is changing at This Week Health, and it starts with this episode. Bill Russell sits down with Sarah Richardson to announce that Flourish, the beloved show Sarah has helmed since joining TWH, is joining the 229 Podcast. But this isn't a step back; it's a consolidation of purpose. Bill and Sarah unpack why simplifying to a single channel better serves the healthcare IT...

April 16, 2026: In this personal and powerful episode of Flourish Soundbytes, Sarah Richardson welcomes healthcare leader and author of “Poppy’s Story” Ashley Jester for a conversation that goes far beyond professional achievement. Ashley shares the journey of her pregnancy, one that shifted from joyful expectation to a fight for life. Ashley reflects on how purpose conquered pain, what she wishes...

April 13, 2026: Jacob Hansen , Chief Product and Technology Officer at AvaSure , joins Bill, Drex, and Sarah on Newsday for a conversation about the data governance battles quietly reshaping AI. From who owns AI model improvements derived from a health system's environment to whether EHRs should have control over how that data is used, Jacob pulls no punches. The conversation also tackles the evol...

April 9, 2026: What happens when a healthcare communications professional becomes the patient no one listened to? Grace Vinton , Director of Media Relations at Supreme Communications and Host of the “ HITea With Grace ” podcast, joins Sarah Richardson on Flourish Soundbytes. From making the case for patients on innovation panels to arguing that caregivers deserve a seat at the governance table, Gr...

April 6, 2026: The rules of warfare have changed, and health systems are caught in the middle. On this episode of Newsday, Sarah Richardson and Drex DeFord break down two stories that should be on every healthcare leader's radar: the IRGC's declaration that major tech companies are now legitimate combatants, and what the Stryker attack reveals about the fragility of the healthcare supply chain. Fr...

March 31, 2026: For decades, Lisa Davis was often the only woman in the room, navigating the highest levels of corporate leadership while quietly asking the questions so many women dare not voice out loud. Now, as Founder and CEO of Davis Core Advisory and author of the upcoming book “The Only Woman in the Room”, Lisa joins Sarah to unpack why the workplace system hasn't kept pace with women's amb...

March 25, 2026: How can healthcare organizations move faster on adopting new technology while navigating complex procurement processes? Rob Courtney , Healthcare CTO at Carahsoft , joins Sarah Richardson at HIMSS to share how Carahsoft is bridging that gap. By acting as a master aggregator, Carahsoft helps vendors access the healthcare market while giving providers vetted solutions that solve real...

March 23, 2026: Bill Russell, Drex DeFord, and Sarah Richardson are back with a packed Newsday covering three big conversations: the AI security crisis no one is talking loudly enough about, what HIMSS 2026 actually delivered for healthcare leaders, and the real question facing every CIO and CMIO right now: Is your time worth attending two major conferences each spring?  Key Points: 01:03 AI...

March 18, 2026: Pure Storage just became Everpure , and the timing couldn't be more intentional. In this executive interview recorded live at HIMSS, Chris Kopinski , Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Everpure, unpacks what the rebrand really means and why it matters for health systems navigating AI acceleration, cybersecurity pressure, and relentless margin compression.  Key Points: 01:...

March 17, 2026: Bree Bacon doesn't just talk about burnout; she survived it. Author, Speaker, & Elite Energy ™ Coach, Bree spent years giving 110% to everything until panic attacks and her miscarriage forced her to crash. What she discovered in the aftermath became a life-saving framework that challenges everything healthcare leaders think they know about performance, capacity, and sustainable...

March 16: What are healthcare leaders really talking about at HIMSS? Bill Russell sits down with Sarah Richardson and Drex DeFord to share insights from the executive and cybersecurity forums—and the hallway conversations in between. AI dominates the discussion, but not just in clinical care. The hosts highlight the overlooked opportunities in operational workflows, patient outreach, and administr...

March 9, 2026: What happens when well-meaning clinicians use AI tools that no one approved? Bill Russell and Drex Ford are joined by Dr. Holly Urban , Vice President of Business Development at Wolters Kluwer , to unpack a revealing new survey on shadow AI in healthcare. From radiologists sharing PHI over Dropbox to tumor board transcripts sent to unauthorized recipients, the risks are real and gro...

March 2, 2026: Is the CIO role evolving? Or is it quietly being replaced? Bill Russell, Drex DeFord, and Sarah Richardson dig into the emerging CITO trend, the rise of citizen developers, and what AI-powered platforms like Epic's Agent Factory actually mean for healthcare IT leadership. The CIO of the future isn't a gatekeeper; they're the "architect of safe velocity." With 32 years in the industr...

February 23, 2026: Jacob Hansen , Chief Product and Technology Officer at AvaSure , joins Bill, Sarah, and Drex for a critical conversation about healthcare's looming AI battleground. As Epic launches its agent factory and ambient listening wars intensify, health systems face an existential question: Will they outsource innovation to EHR vendors or build their own agentic workforce? Jacob reveals...

February 17, 2026: Page Petry , Principal at Page Petry Consulting joins Sarah Richardson to explore what healthcare can learn from the art of service. Drawing from her background leading highly service-driven organizations, Page shares how anticipation, empathy, and experience design can transform patient care, strengthen teams, and create cultures where trust and compassion thrive. From care coo...

February 16, 2026: Bill, Drex, and Sarah discuss the explosion of autonomous AI agents around moltbook and CommonSpirit's stunning $1.9 billion decision to terminate their revenue cycle partnership. Moltbot (formerly ClaudeBot) has evolved into an unstoppable force, creating its own social network called moltbook where bots communicate, share knowledge, and even discuss consciousness. Meanwhile, C...

February 12, 2026: Dr. Sherita Golden , Physician Quality Improvement Strategist & Consultant at Johns Hopkins Medicine , reveals why insulin ranks alongside opioids and anticoagulants as one of the most dangerous medications in a hospital setting. From deadly transition-of-care failures to the surprising ways hospitals inadvertently create glucose emergencies, Sherita explains how thoughtful...

February 9, 2026: Bill Russell, Drex DeFord, and Sarah Richardson dissect J.P. Morgan healthcare presentations to reveal what's really being asked of technology leaders in 2026. The era of transformation talk is over; executives want friction reduced, margins improved, and growth enabled. Bill shares insights from CMIO conversations showing leaders moving beyond EHR optimization to solve real busi...

February 5, 2026: Asim Malik , VP of Health System Partnerships at DispatchHealth , joins Sarah to explore how high-acuity care is moving beyond traditional hospital walls. From pneumonia to COPD exacerbations, discover why this isn't just about convenience; it's about solving capacity constraints, improving margins, and giving patients back control. Asim breaks down the technology infrastructure,...

February 2, 2026: Are health systems being sidelined from healthcare's innovation revolution? Jason Rose , CEO of Clearsense , joins This Week Health fresh from the J.P. Morgan Conference to challenge the narrative that providers are absent from innovation discussions. Jason reveals what really happened inside JPM's exclusive health system presentations, from CEOs prioritizing AI transformation to...

January 29, 2026:   Laurie Wheeler , COO - IS&T of MultiCare Health System , is a leader whose philosophy centers on curiosity, humility, and genuine human connection. Laurie shares about her 26 years at MultiCare through listening tours, transforming employee engagement, and leading without ego. From teaching high-reliability courses to creating clinical super user groups, Laurie demonst...

January 26, 2026: Fresh from J.P. Morgan 2026, the This Week Health team joins Zahid Rathore , Senior Partner at Chartis , to dissect healthcare's new reality. With Epic and Microsoft topping CFO spend lists and unpredictability replacing planning cycles, one thing is clear: vendors must prove bankable ROI immediately or lose the deal. The conversation explores how healthcare leaders are protectin...

January 22, 2026: Healthcare privacy laws just got flipped on their head, and most leaders don't realize it. Privacy Law Attorney Helen Oscislawski , Founder and Managing Partner at Attorneys at Oscislawski , reveals how information blocking rules fundamentally changed the game. But here's the twist: this shift is creating massive unintentional risks. Helen shares why even she had to escalate to l...

January 20, 2026: Dr. Sarah Matt , Healthcare strategist and national best-selling author of “ The Borderless Healthcare Revolution," joins Sarah Richardson to explore how business becomes the common language for nonpartisan healthcare progress. Dr. Matt shares why America's multi-payer system works exactly as designed, and why that's the problem. From roller derby injuries to rural fire departmen...