Radio Advisory

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) has a surprisingly long history in healthcare. As technology improves, RPM can expand physician capacity, better manage complex patients, and improve total cost of care. Despite RPM’s potential, leaders often struggle to root RPM in a clear business case, or they underinvest in implementation, never fully integrating RPM into existing workflows and systems. This wee...

For years, the best word to describe Medicare Advantage (MA) was “untouchable.” Hugely popular among seniors, profitable for health plans—the hybrid public-private payment model grew to the point that it now covers more seniors than traditional Medicare. But in the past few years, the tide has started to change. And if you’ve been paying attention in recent months, you’ll have seen headlines annou...

As care delivery becomes more complex and new disruptors join the scene, one thing has become clear: operational excellence is now table stakes in ensuring your organization’s financial sustainability and winning patients. In this episode, recorded live from Advisory Board’s 2024 Strategy Summit, guest host and Managing Director of Physician and Medical Group Research at Advisory Board, Sarah Roll...

For years, health systems have been holding their breath to see if patient volumes would finally return to pre-pandemic levels. Because—per conventional wisdom--if volumes return, then so will operating margins. Right? Not so fast. In this episode, host Abby Burns invites Advisory Board experts Sebastian Beckmann and Elizabeth Orr to explore why with the positive volume forecast we see in our proj...

Two weeks ago on Radio Advisory, we told our listeners that the number one area of focus for health system growth is operational excellence, and a major part of that is capturing all of the revenue on the table from your medical group. Healthcare organizations have spent the last decade buying up medical groups and physicians, in part because of the “promise” of downstream referrals. It is a long-...

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services released the Acute Hospital Care at Home payment waiver. The action was expected to usher in a new era of home-based care. But while it’s certainly grown in recent years, frankly, that massive shift hasn’t happened. The question is, why? This week, host Abby Burns invites Dr. Matthew Richards, Senior Medical Di...

(This episode originally aired on September 26, 2023.) Value-based care has been dominating industry conversations in recent years. Here on Radio Advisory, we talk a lot about best practices, how to make the right investments, and how to best prepare leaders for the future of value-based care. But given all this momentum, we want to spend time asking the question: what are the misconceptions or mi...

In the last few years, all eyes have turned to GLP-1s as an industry-altering answer to obesity treatment and weight management. But the fact is, these drugs can’t – and shouldn’t – work in a vacuum. There is a fear that attention on GLP-1s may even blind leaders to the other services that go into providing effective obesity care. So, what should leaders be thinking about when designing and and de...

When we talk about “health systems,” it can sound like we’re talking about a monolith. But in reality, the $1.4 trillion dollar health system sector is made up of a diverse range of players. Academics and safety nets; urban and rural systems; 1,000-bed systems and 25-bed critical access hospitals. The question is, especially as systems emerge from the financial hardships of the past few years, how...

We’ve talked a lot about AI on Radio Advisory, with a particular emphasis on generative models and their capabilities. But are there other models of AI that are flying under the radar? Today’s episode focuses on computer vision and its potential to shift how we think about the use of technology in healthcare. For the second episode in our series leading up to Advisory Board’s upcoming Strategy Sum...

It's no secret that climate change has had a massive effect on population health, but it’s also impacting healthcare business. Did you know that energy costs have gone up by 28% in the past five years? Health systems in particular can shave percentage points off their annual costs by reducing their energy consumption—but there is both a knowledge gap and an action gap keeping leaders from taking a...

This week, host Abby Burns invites Advisory Board expert Sebastian Beckmann back to Radio Advisory to provide an update—as promised—on what his team has uncovered about site-of-care shifts in the six months since he first brought this research to the pod. Hint: there’s about $50B at play. This episode is a modified encore of Episode 195: Site-of-care shifts: It’s time to go on offense.” In that ep...

(This episode originally aired on September 12, 2023.) With rising costs and tightening margins, the industry is continually looking for ways to "bend the cost curve" while maintaining, or even increasing, quality and performance. One stakeholder in particular, employers, are feeling significant pressures from inflation, hospital consolidation, the rise of high-cost drugs, and more. While many leg...

(This episode originally aired on March 12, 2024.) The relationship between health plans and providers has always included an element of friction, but lately, it seems like the temperature is rising. And you've probably noticed – public contracting disputes increased by 69% between 2022 and 2023. That's why, in this episode, host Abby Burns invites Advisory Board experts Max Hakanson and Eileen Fe...

Healthcare leaders have dozens of priorities on their plates, and achieving innovation is not as simple as just buying a new technology or implementing a new care model. Frankly, it can be overwhelming not just to see innovations through, but even to get started. So, what does it really take to innovate? And how do you align your organization’s challenges with the solutions or innovations that are...

It seems like a no-brainer for healthcare organizations to allocate time and attention to a health condition that is guaranteed to affect 50% of adults during their midlife years—but that hasn’t been the case. We’re seeing momentum around making menopause mainstream—from the White House directing research funding, to Hollywood stars talking openly about menopause, to the rise of femtech companies...

In recent years, we’ve seen large retailers like CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and even Amazon add to their care delivery portfolios, specifically through offering low-acuity primary care services. But it seems like the tide may be shifting. In April, Walmart announced that it’s shuttering its primary care operations and virtual care arm—and it’s not the only one scaling back. The fact is, a number of...

Radio Advisory first started production in April 2020 to deliver timely, critical messages to healthcare professionals navigating the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Four years, 200+ episodes, and one million downloads later, Radio Advisory continues to bring insightful conversations and valuable insights to listeners passionate about driving positive change in healthcare. To celebrate our mi...

Generative AI is one of the most widely discussed topics in the industry today. There is continued excitement, mounting anxiety, and dozens of questions for health leaders to answer. While the healthcare industry has been working tirelessly to adapt to the almost unbelievable rate of change, many organizations struggle with how to ethically implement and scale Artificial Intelligence. This week, h...

The healthcare industry has been rocked by the pandemic and thrown headfirst into a new era of technological and therapeutic revolution. Yet, in the midst of all this change and uncertainty, healthcare leaders are expected not just to survive, but actually drive value for their organizations, patients, and communities. The problem is, “driving value” is not only complex, but it’s also ambiguous. L...

The rise of generative AI has impacted healthcare in many ways – one of which is that it’s pushing Big Tech toward becoming not just a relevant, but a central player in the industry. And when we’re talking Big Tech, we have to include Google. Google’s activity in healthcare has been turbulent since it entered the space nearly two decades ago, but it’s impossible to deny the significance of the con...

So far in our series on bespoke care and innovation, we’ve delved into the future of cancer care and the opportunities for equity in precision medicine. But we can’t conclude our series without talking about one of the most exciting developments in the field: cell and gene therapies. We’ve talked about these therapies on the pod before—but like everyone else, we’ve primarily focused on the payment...

It's no secret that healthcare is becoming more and more personalized – or “bespoke” – as increasingly sophisticated diagnostics and therapeutics continue to explode into the market. This vast pipeline is redefining the industry in several ways—but there is real risk associated if the stakeholders responsible for developing, delivering, and paying for these innovations aren’t baking health equity...

There has been a lot of change in the oncology space in the last few years. These changes have brought new pressures, like workforce strain, increased competition, rising spend, and more. While many leaders are worried about the "right now," it is crucial to consider how you can best position yourself for the future of cancer care. That's why, in this episode, host Rachel (Rae) Woods invites Advis...

According to economist Jim Rebitzer and healthcare consultant Bob Rebitzer, the healthcare industry has failed in achieving what many other sectors have accomplished – improving products, while simultaneously reducing costs over time. In this episode, recorded live at The Players 2024 Championship, host Rachel (Rae) Woods invited Jim and Bob to discuss the central premise of their book, Why Not Be...