Radio Advisory

In 2018, Wellmont Health System and Mountain States Health Alliance, who both served regions of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, merged to create one organization – Ballad Health. The merger was seen by leadership as essential but led to a host of difficult decisions and even public backlash. So, how did leaders work to navigate such a complex environment? In part two of Radio Advisory'...

The past few years have been filled with complexity. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, financial pressures, workforce challenges and more, it has become increasingly difficulty to make sense of such an uncertain environment. One thing is for sure: this complexity isn't going away, so how can leaders work to navigate this ambiguity? In part one of Radio Advisory's leadership series, host Rachel Woods...

Demand – and concern – is growing for the newest generation of weight loss drugs. Approved by the FDA to treat type 2 diabetes, drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have set off a media frenzy as celebrities and the wealthy touted their weight loss benefits. Leaders have a lot of questions about protocol, supply, and coverage of these drugs, and the consequences of patients using them for their unintende...

Advisory Board has been giving guidance to healthcare leaders since 1979 – and we've seen a lot of changes in those 40+ years. In this episode, host Rachel (Rae) Woods invites her Advisory Board co-spokespersons Ford Koles and Aaron Mauck to reflect on their experiences delivering insights in an ever-changing industry and the power of peer-to-peer conversations. Links: 16 Things CEOs Need to Know...

Data show that women still lag behind men in representation in senior leadership positions. In part two of Radio Advisory’s Allyship in Action series, Advisory Board’s managing director of workplace culture Micha’le Simmons talks with women in healthcare leadership roles about times when they could have used an ally and what they think could make a real difference in the professional trajectories...

Melanie Ho has spent many years advising organizations about diversity, equity, and inclusion, and oftentimes uses art and comics to convey difficult topics. In part one of Radio Advisory's _Allyship in Action_ series, Advisory Board digital health expert (and ally) John League talks with Melanie about her approach to having difficult conversations with leaders and teams, "mental auto-completes",...

As facilities continue to grapple with staffing shortages and financial distress, an unprecedented number of skilled nursing facilities are cutting beds or shutting down entirely. And, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Despite misconceptions about the value of skilled nursing facilities, these closures impact the entire healthcare ecosystem, and leaders can no longer ignore what is happeni...

Host Rachel (Rae) Woods passes the microphone to equity and behavioral health expert Darby Sullivan to guest host a conversation on behavioral health solutions. Darby sits down with provider expert Sophia Duke-Mosier, health plan expert Sally Kim , and lifesciences expert Amanda Okaka to share tactics for advancing behavioral health and discuss how different stakeholders can come together to addre...

U.S. hospitals are the biggest emitters of carbon per square foot than any other building in the world, contributing to a climate crisis that poses serious risk to human health. But in today's healthcare landscape, it's easy for reducing carbon emissions to fall off leaders' list of top priorities. In this episode, host Rachel (Rae) Woods talks with Neal Hogan, chairman of Healthcare Climate Actio...

When we look outside the U.S. healthcare system we're finding more similarities with other countries than ever before when it comes to industry challenges. Globally we are seeing more health system operations converging, bigger pushes for diversification, and rising staffing costs (and shortages). In this episode host Rachel (Rae) Woods invites international healthcare experts Alex Polyak and Paul...

Fifty to seventy percent of provider-vendor partnerships fail. Both sides often describe these arrangements as "chaotic," "bureaucratic," and "burdensome" but does it have to always be this way? In this episode, host Rachel (Rae) Woods invites health system expert Paul Trigonoplos and digital health expert John League to talk about why these relationships fail so often and what leaders can do to c...

Medicare Advantage (MA) is a public-private hybrid health plan that allows eligible seniors to receive health insurance through a commercial insurer. It has a high satisfaction rate among enrollees and is projected to crest fifty percent of all Medicare enrollment this year. In part two of Radio Advisory's senior care series, Host Rachel (Rae) Woods talks with senior care expert Aaron Hill and hea...

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage is expected to surpass 50 percent of the eligible Medicare population this year, and its rise has created new opportunities for experimentation and savings in senior care. An example of this is the rising demand for senior-focused primary care. In part one of Radio Advisory’s senior care series, host Rachel (Rae) Woods invites experts Sebastian Beckmann and Elysia...

Physicians have more options than ever before when it comes to employment as more organizations move to acquire practices. In this episode, host Rachel (Rae) Woods talks with physician experts Eliza Dailey and Sarah Hostetter about the new era of physician employment, what it means for the rest of the industry, and striking the right balance between autonomy and integration. Links: Physician happi...

Factors like labor, supply costs, and rising costs of capital are making it harder than ever for leaders to develop and implement growth strategies and are showing no signs of letting up anytime soon. In this episode, Rachel (Rae) Woods invites healthcare strategy experts Colin Gelbaugh and Vidal Seegobin to discuss how health systems' growth strategies have shifted and what leaders can do to impr...

In the last Radio Advisory episode host Rachel (Rae) Woods spoke with executive strategy experts Natalie Trebes and Aaron Mauck about the immediate challenges (and opportunities) facing healthcare leaders in 2023. In this episode, Rae continues that conversation with Natalie and Aaron by looking beyond this year to understand where leaders need to focus their attention on longer-term industry chal...

Healthcare leaders are entering the new year with an unusually high number of short-term crises – things like rising costs, increased competition, and staffing shortages. So where should you be focusing your attention in 2023? In this episode host Rachel (Rae) Woods talks with executive strategy experts Natalie Trebes and Aaron Mauck about the complexities of today’s market and what should be on a...

Every day it seems like there is a new challenge in the healthcare industry that requires immediate attention, making agenda and goal setting for the new year an even more difficult task. To help you decipher the signal from the noise host Rachel (Rae) Woods hands the microphone over to Advisory Board experts who will share the big questions on their radar in 2023 and the hypotheses that they plan...

In Part 1 of Radio Advisory's Hospital of the Future series, host Rachel (Rae) Woods invited experts to discuss cost-cutting strategies for hospitals facing financial hardships. But what if there are no more costs to cut? In Part 2 of the series, Rae invites Optum Executive Vice President Dr. Jim Bonnette to discuss the sustainability of modern-day hospitals and why scaling down might be the best...

The majority of hospitals are predicted to have negative margins in 2022, marking the worst year financially for hospitals since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Part 1 of Radio Advisory's Hospital of the Future series, host Rachel (Rae) Woods invites Advisory Board experts Monica Westhead , Colin Gelbaugh, and Aaron Mauck to discuss why factors like workforce shortages, post-acute finan...

Healthcare typically lags behind other industries when it comes to digital transformation. However, growing competition in the field means a solid digital consumer experience is becoming more crucial for organizations. In this episode, Rachel (Rae) Woods invites digital health experts Jordan Angers and Ty Aderhold to discuss what healthcare leaders need to consider when revamping their digital con...

In this episode, Radio Advisory is LIVE at Advisory Board’s 2022 Service Line Summit in St. Louis. Host Rachel Woods invites Advisory Board expert Fanta Cherif , Optum Rx senior director of pipeline and drug surveillance Bill Dreitlein, and Pear Therapeutics chief medical officer and head of development Dr. Yuri Marcich to have a gamified conversation about disruptive clinical products and how org...

More and more health plans are shifting away from their traditional “risk aggregator” roles and ushering in a new era of payer-provider relationships. In this episode, Rachel (Rae) Woods invites health plan, workforce and value-based care experts Mallory Kirby , Eliza Dailey , and Katie Everts to explain payvider relationships, why they’re becoming more common, and how to determine if becoming a p...

Equity is top of mind for health leaders—but revelations about bias in artificial intelligence is giving increasing cause for concern. In this episode host Rachel (Rae) Woods invites Microsoft’s Director for Artificial Intelligence Tom Lawry to discuss how bias creeps into AI. Together, they discuss the ethical principles leaders can adopt to ensure AI is used responsibly, and what we can all do t...

More and more employees are rejecting hustle culture and embracing a workplace attitude called “quiet quitting” in which they meet the minimum requirements of their job. In this episode, Rachel (Rae Woods) talks with Joe Folkman, co-founder and President of the leadership and organizational development firm Zenger Folkman, about why he thinks quiet quitting is more of a reflection on leadership an...