This Week Health: Newsroom

March 20, 2025: Sarah Richardson and Kate Gamble discuss Satya Nadella's recent comments on AI's limited value generation despite massive investments. They explore the gap between AI expectations and outcomes in healthcare, examining productivity challenges, cost-benefit concerns, and security implications. Subscribe: This Week Health   Twitter: This Week Health   LinkedIn: This Week Hea...

March 19, 2025: Troy Ament , Industry Leader for Healthcare at Palo Alto Networks Joins Drex for the News. The conversation delves into the importance of establishing relationships with law enforcement before a crisis occurs and why including them in tabletop exercises is crucial. Troy examines why threat actors deliberately target healthcare systems during weekend hours when staffing is minimal....

Kate Gamble and Sarah Richardson discuss Epic's initiative to integrate AI agents into its EHR system, exploring the impact on healthcare organizations. They examine key benefits including AI-powered clinical documentation through Nuance's Dragon Ambient Experience, patient self-service through MyChart, predictive analytics for early intervention, and enhanced interoperability. Subscribe: This Wee...

March 17, 2025: John Kirkman , VP of Government, Healthcare, and Education from Island , joins Drex for the news. With organizations managing an average of 76 different security tools—up from 64 the previous year—what approaches to rationalization and accountability might create more sustainable security postures? As John introduces the concept of user-centric guardrails rather than purely data-fo...

Critical Microsoft Patch Tuesday release includes near-record number of zero-days with six already being exploited. Apple releases patches for Safari browser engine affecting all devices. Analysis of leaked Black Basta ransomware gang chat logs reveals valuable insights on attack strategies and evasion techniques. Recent DDoS attack against X (formerly Twitter) remains largely unattributed despite...

March 14, 2025: Kate Gamble and Sarah Richardson discuss the impending telehealth policy cliff set for April 1st, 2025. They examine how the expiration of pandemic-era flexibilities will impact healthcare organizations, particularly regarding originating site requirements and reimbursement structures. The hosts outline how these changes may create access challenges for rural and underserved popula...

March 13, 2025: Sarah Richardson and Kate Gamble discuss NYU Langone Health's groundbreaking integration of Amazon One palm scanning technology for patient check-ins. They explore how this contactless biometric system is streamlining the authentication process with six nines accuracy while maintaining HIPAA compliance. Subscribe: This Week Health   Twitter: This Week Health   LinkedIn: T...

Drex analyzes three significant cybersecurity developments: the widespread outage of a major social media platform (formerly Twitter) caused by a DDoS attack claimed by hacker group Dark Storm Team, NIST's recent addition of the "govern function" to their cybersecurity framework that emphasizes optimizing existing tools over acquiring new ones, and concerning reports that OpenAI's latest GPT-4.5 m...

March 12, 2025: Jacob Hansen , Chief Product Officer at AvaSure , joins Bill for the news at HIMSS 2025. How will the delicate balance between augmentation and automation reshape clinical workflows? As Jacob envisions a future where AI models collaborate without human intervention, what does this mean for patient care across the continuum? With healthcare margins under pressure, the discussion hig...

March 11, 2025: Kate Gamble and Sarah Richardson discuss the alarming trend of violence in healthcare settings, highlighted by recent shootings at Honor Health Scottsdale Shea Medical Center and UPMC Memorial Hospital. Subscribe: This Week Health   Twitter: This Week Health   LinkedIn: This Week Health   Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer  

March 10, 2025: Our three former CIOs Sarah Richardson, Drex DeFord, and Bill Russell discuss the news from the floor of HIMSS 2025 in Vegas. What's the difference between robotic process automation and emerging agentic AI systems that adapt to changing conditions? As cybersecurity threats evolve with AI assistance, how can health systems make security training engaging rather than tedious? The co...

Broadcom reports three actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities affecting VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion products that require immediate patching. Leaked chat logs from the Black Basta ransomware group reveal internal conflicts, operational tactics, and efforts to circumvent cybersecurity tools. Lastly, A demonstration of Sesame's new voice AI technology shows concerningly realistic capab...

March 7, 2025 Kate Gamble and Sarah Richardson examine Paul Keckley's comprehensive report on "The Perfect Storm Facing Healthcare Workforce." They break down eight critical issues shaping healthcare's workforce challenges. Subscribe: This Week Health   Twitter: This Week Health   LinkedIn: This Week Health   Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

March 6, 2025: Sarah Richardson and Kate Gamble discuss Ohio becoming the first state to mandate hospital price transparency. The hosts explore the technical challenges CIOs face in implementing these requirements, potential impacts on hospital-insurer negotiations, and implications for healthcare competition as similar legislation is being considered in Hawaii, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washingto...

March 5, 2025: Christian Boucher , Head of Healthcare Strategy and Solutions at Island , joins Drex for the news. How can healthcare organizations better leverage cloud solutions to shift IT resources from merely "keeping the lights on" to actually improving clinical workflows? How might healthcare leaders create more meaningful partnerships with clinicians to ensure technology enhances rather tha...

March 4. 2025: Kate Gamble and Sarah Richardson discuss Banner Health's innovative "Text the CEO" program that has revolutionized patient feedback collection. The initiative allows patients to text feedback directly to leadership via SMS or QR codes, creating immediate communication channels between patients and executives. Subscribe: This Week Health   Twitter: This Week Health   Linked...

According to Kroll's cyber risk team, healthcare leads as the most breached industry in 2024 at 23% of all incidents, with medical data valued up to $1,000 on dark markets compared to just $5 for credit card information. Drex provides updates on the Change Healthcare breach one year later, noting that notifications are still ongoing for the incident that affected nearly half of all Americans. The...

March 3, 2025: Laura O’Toole , Founder and CEO of SureTest , joins Bill for the news. They discuss what makes a conference experience truly valuable in healthcare for both health leaders and vendors. Laura shares insights on meaningful relationship-building versus transactional sales approaches, explaining how pre-work determines conference success long before booths are even set up. As the confer...

Febuary 28, 2025: Kate Gamble and Sarah Richardson discuss potential implications of leadership changes at HHS on healthcare policy, technology, and operations. Learn how healthcare leaders can stay informed about policy shifts affecting compliance requirements, maintain public trust, and navigate complex dynamics in healthcare administration. Subscribe: This Week Health   Twitter: This Week...

Darkula's new "Darkula Suite" phishing-as-a-service platform that makes creating sophisticated phishing campaigns accessible to non-technical users. Then, Warby Parker's $1.5 million fine for a 2018 security breach affecting nearly 200,000 customers. Lastly, CrowdStrike's Chief Security Officer Sean Henry announcing his retirement after serving as a key executive at the company Remember, Stay a Li...

February 27, 2025: Sarah Richardson and Kate Gamble discuss the critical physician shortage facing U.S. healthcare, with projections showing a deficit of up to 124,000 physicians by 2034. Learn how health systems are implementing innovative solutions, from Ochsner's $5M workforce development programs to expanded telehealth and advanced practice provider integration. Subscribe: This Week Health &nb...

February 26, 2025: Jacob Hansen , CPO of AvaSure , discusses their new groundbreaking virtual assistant Vicky while exploring the possibilities and difficulties of managing multiple AI systems in a single room. How will the delicate balance between technological advancement and patient privacy shape the future of healthcare delivery? What does the future hold as healthcare technology continues to...

February 25, 2025: Kate Gamble and Sarah Richardson discuss Tufts University and Kaiser Permanente's groundbreaking Food is Medicine National Network of Excellence. The initiative brings together major healthcare organizations including Blue Cross Blue Shield NC, CVS Health, and Geisinger to integrate food-based interventions into standard medical care. Subscribe: This Week Health   Twitter:...

February 24, 2025: Toby Eadelman , CTO of AvaSure , explores the intricate dance between technological advancement and healthcare delivery. With China's DeepSeek challenging U.S. AI dominance will it force more innovation? As healthcare systems grapple with increasing energy demands due to AI technology, how do we ensure that our pursuit of cutting-edge solutions doesn't overshadow our primary mis...

Drex covers major developments in cybersecurity including significant staffing changes at CISA, where the DOJ has laid off 130 employees and controversially granted facility access to 19-year-old Edward Korrestien. We also discuss a critical vulnerability (CVE-2025-0111) discovered in Palo Alto firewalls that requires immediate attention. The episode concludes with news of HealthNet Federal Servic...