Radio Advisory

How are OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google shaping healthcare experiences both within and outside the walls of the traditional delivery and payment system? There are hundreds of AI applications for healthcare. But when we look under the hood, they all come back to a small handful of foundational models. These models are not only powering your patients’ healthcare experience with direct-to-consumer tool...

With a new payment model, CMS may have quietly created the first reimbursement pathway for AI-delivered, value-incentivized behavioral healthcare. Is that a good thing? In this episode, host Abby Burns and Dr. Tristan Gorrindo delve into how the behavioral healthcare landscape in the U.S. has changed with the pandemic-era explosion of virtual BH platforms, and consider what that change has—and has...

Health system margins have recovered from record lows, but the median margin remains just over 1%, leaving organizations with little room for error. Sustainable margin isn't simply the biggest number an organization can generate. It's the ability to reliably fund operations, reinvest in the future, absorb unexpected shocks, and avoid destabilizing cuts. In this episode, host Rae Woods speaks with...

For years, healthcare leaders have debated whether the industry faces a true physician shortage or simply a physician capacity problem. But as physicians near retirement, workforce fatigue persists, and organizations struggle to recruit providers fast enough to meet growing demand, that debate is taking on new urgency. In this episode, hosts Rae Woods and Abby Burns sit down with Advisory Board ex...

While most health plans have at least begun testing AI tools to improve operational efficiency, a far smaller number have moved beyond pilot stage. The challenge is not merely adopting AI – it is deciding which processes to reimagine and which solutions merit investment; doing the work of embedding solutions in end-to-end workflows; measuring success; and, crucially, establishing the organizationa...

Healthcare organizations may be investing in AI, but many struggle to advance use cases beyond a single specialty, site, or workflow. At Sutter Health, leaders approached AI not as a series of technology pilots, but as a systemwide operational challenge. They set out to ensure that investments in AI centered on supporting clinicians across the enterprise before, during, and after patient visits. T...

Health systems across the country started calling Advisory Board with the same question: Why are our volumes down? In this episode, Abby Burns, Clare Wirth, and Vidal Seegobin walk through what happened after our research team dug into the data to find out whether those concerns were isolated incidents or part of a broader national trend. What they found raises a much bigger question than whether...

For years, the story of ambulatory surgery centers was all about moving care out of the hospital. But the most important ASC trend today isn't growth. It's variation. Organizations are using ambulatory surgery centers to pursue very different goals. Some view ASCs as a way to relieve inpatient capacity. Others are trying to lower costs, protect market share, recruit physicians, expand access, or c...

Protecting provider margins has never been easy. But today’s combination of policy shifts, reimbursement changes, labor pressures, and evolving care models is forcing health systems to rethink where margin comes from and how to sustain it. In this episode, Abby Burns sits down with Optum Advisory’s Samantha Wyld and Jess Garber to explore how both sweeping policy changes and smaller regulatory upd...

(This episode originally aired on February 10, 2026. Dr. Omar Lateef has since announced his intention to retire from Rush Health in June 2027.) As financial pressure mounts and the healthcare safety net continues to strain, academic medical centers are drawing on their culture of innovation to pursue better outcomes — and narrow life expectancy gaps in the communities they serve. In this episode...

(This episode originally aired on February 3, 2026. Stay tuned towards the end of the conversation for an update on the state of pediatric hospitals midway through 2026.) Pediatric hospitals are one of the most important segments in the industry to watch right now. Although children’s hospitals make up only 5% of total hospital market share, more than 40% of U.S. children rely on Medicaid, leaving...

(This episode originally aired on March 17, 2026.) As health systems pursue growth beyond traditional avenues, the role of the strategic planner is becoming increasingly complex. High level directional data is no longer enough — achieving meaningful, differentiated growth now requires leveraging granular, sophisticated data to inform investment decisions. In this episode, host Rachel Woods sits do...

For years, regional health plans benefited from powerful tailwinds: Medicare Advantage growth, Medicaid expansion, and a prospering ACA marketplace. But many of those growth engines have stalled, just as new pressures emerged: rising utilization, runaway spend, pricing uncertainty and more scrutiny from patients and policy makers. The result is a dramatically different financial reality for health...

In this episode, Abby Burns welcomes back Megan Zweig, CEO of Rock Health Advisory, to answer audience questions submitted during Advisory Board's Research Summit in Carlsbad, California. Together, they explore how health systems are engaging with the explosion in consumer-generated data, the role of medtech and pharma in AI-enabled innovation, and why AI enablement may be able to unlock personali...

Oncology is simultaneously one of healthcare's greatest success stories and one of its biggest financial challenges. Cancer care continues to benefit from breakthroughs in precision medicine and early detection, even as oncology spending is projected to approach $200 billion by 2029. At the same time, cancer programs are facing rising patient volumes, growing demand for advanced therapies, and mou...

Value-based care is entering its accountability era. Participation in value-based arrangements continues to grow, even as financial pressures weigh down on both providers and payers. But CMMI is setting a clear tone about what it expects from stakeholders moving forward: results. Host Abby Burns sits down with Advisory Board experts Clare Wirth, Payton Grimes, and Rhea Jain to explore what’s chang...

After years of uncertainty, many healthcare executives say they’ve experienced more change in the past five years than in their entire careers. Policy shifts, evolving patient expectations, and rapid advances in AI are all colliding at once — forcing leaders to rethink how they operate and where they invest. But here’s the surprising part: the overwhelming sentiment isn’t panic. It’s clarity. In t...

Digital health funding is heating up—but where are the dollars going? And what does it mean for health systems’ digital health strategies? In this live episode, recorded at Advisory Board’s Research Summit, host Abby Burns sits down with Megan Zweig, President and CEO of Rock Health Advisory, for an update on what’s going on in the world of digital health funding. Together, they unpack what invest...

As health systems anticipate greater downward pressures on margins in the months and years to come, they’re homing their growth strategies accordingly. As we’ve been saying in our research the past couple of years, “sustainability” is now the name of the game. Here’s the conundrum: our research also shows that 90% of systems are betting on the same growth plays as their competition. And more and m...

CMS continues to pull on the levers it has at its disposal to rein in national healthcare spend, including rulemaking around Medicare Advantage. In April, CMS announced the final rate for MA plans for CY2027, after a controversial proposed rule generated animated pushback — and a fair bit of panic — among payers. In this episode, host Abby Burns speaks with Alex Balmes, Vice President of Actuarial...

Maternity care touches nearly every corner of the U.S. health system. About 25% of all hospitalizations involve a mother or newborn, and maternity spending accounts for roughly 0.8% of U.S. GDP — making it one of the most economically significant service lines in health care. Against that backdrop, a little noticed decision to unbundle maternity billing codes represents a generational shift in how...

Health care leaders are navigating one of the most volatile policy environments in decades. The next major reform fight hasn’t arrived yet — but in its place, a steady wave of rulemaking, regulatory shifts, and enforcement actions is driving real change. Policies are evolving faster, reversing more often, and creating a level of uncertainty that makes even the most seasoned strategists question wh...

After a decidedly difficult few years in the world of nursing, things have seemingly gotten better — at least, on paper. And that’s reflective of a lot of hard work on the part of nursing leaders. But when we look at how long nurses plan to stay in the profession, we see a different story taking shape. In this episode of Radio Advisory, host Abby Burns is joined by Advisory Board nursing expert Al...

Across the industry, leaders are talking about a “battle of the bots”—with payers and providers racing to deploy AI across the revenue cycle. But that narrative may be more hype than reality. In this episode, Rae Woods is joined by Advisory Board experts Isis Monteiro and Elysia Culver to separate fact from fiction. They break down where AI is actually delivering value today—and why it’s showing u...

After more than a decade of effort, healthcare still struggles with the same consumer pain points: affordability, access, and trust. Despite investments in price transparency, virtual care, and navigation tools, the patient experience remains fragmented, leaving leaders to wonder whether healthcare consumerism ever truly delivered on its promise. In this episode, host Rae Woods invites Advisory Bo...