In the inaugural episode of The Changemaker Podcast, Alison Connelly-Flores, CMIO at Bronx-based Urban Health Plan, describes the hard-hit early days of COVID-19, strategies for vaccine distribution and the value of social determinants of health.

Medical, social services organizations advocate for passage of a new social determinants of health bill; Fitbit files patent for a ring that collects medical data . Plus: Supreme Court to hear challenge to HHS move to cut 340B drug reimbursement.

Links to the stories:

Hundreds of stakeholders support passage of SDOH bill in Congress

Fitbit patent reveals it could be working on a health monitoring ring

Supreme Court to decide legality of drug payment cuts to 340B hospitals

CMS lacks authority to ensure hospital preparedness for next pandemic, says OIG; Virtual health company Ro plans to buy Kit in second acquisition in two months . Plus: Telehealth usage starting to decline as the pandemic wanes.

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OIG says CMS lacks authority to ensure hospital safety during pandemics

Ro purchases at-home diagnostic company Kit, marking its second M&A in two months

Report: Telehealth use beginning to taper

The last 18 months in digital health have been tumultuous, to say the least, but as companies consolidate and go public some order is starting to emerge from the chaos. Scott Shreeve, CEO of Crossover Health, has some theories about what that is going to look like. Scott and host Jonah Comstock discuss payers, employers, providers, and patients and their relationships of trust and incentives in the newest episode of HIMSSCast.

Talking points:

• Consolidation in the telehealth space
• Comparing today’s telehealth landscape to the platform wars of the past
• A Cambrian explosion in digital health
• The pillars of “full stack” primary care
• Different approaches to digital health plays, and how they’ve evolved
• Why the employer makes sense as a customer, and how that dovetails with patient-centricity
• The role for a new kind of provider entity
• Trust as a currency in healthcare
• The future of healthcare payment models
• The difference in incentives between insurers and employers
• What effective incentive alignment looks like

More about this episode:

The Great Consolidation, Part 1: The Employer Health Platform Wars

The Great Consolidation, Part 2: The Four Pillars of Full Stack Care

The Great Consolidation, Part 3: The Three Organizing Categories for Employer Health Services

The Great Consolidation, Part 4: Trust as the Currency of Future Health

Digital-backed care provider Crossover Health hauls in $168M Series D

Why Crossover Health shut down Sherpaa, and how it's taking its lessons into the future

Scripps Health hit with multiple lawsuits following a ransomware attack; Amazon Web Services seeks to boost technical training for 10 digital startups. Plus: Five Blues plans launch for-profit pharmacy solutions startup.

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Scripps Health hit with class action suits after ransomware attack

AWS looks to digital health with new accelerator

Five Blues plans launch Evio, a for-profit company focused on lowering drug prices

At WWDC this month, Apple announced new health sharing features that allow users to share their health records and patient-generated data with family, caregivers, or their healthcare provider.  On today's HIMSSCast, Michael Abrams, managing partner at Numerof & Associates, joins host Jonah Comstock to discuss the news and how it fits in the larger context of the healthcare system.

Talking points:

• Context for Apple’s latest health records announcement
• The impact of the new Apple capabilities
• How Apple is set up against the competition
• Apple’s ecosystem play
• Are patients ready to own and control their health data?
• Are physicians ready for patient-generated health data?
• Injecting coaches and other stakeholders to fill the data usage gap
• Wellness, prevention, and systemic incentives
• Do tech companies see value-based care on the horizon?
• The rise of the "payvider"
• Technology and the bottom line

More about this episode:

Apple adds walking stability, family and provider health sharing, and more at WWDC 2021

Apple's new health data sharing feature is part of the patient-controlled data trend

Apple Health Records launches out of beta with 39 health systems

How patient-generated data contributes to clinician burnout

The real-time health system: Adapting healthcare to the new normal

Earlier this week, HIMSS Trust Partners from the HIMSS, the Chartis Group, Accenture, and ZS came together to share new data and insights at the HIMSS State of Healthcare event. If you missed it, you can still register and check out the event on demand here.

But on this week's HIMSSCast, host Jonah Comstock and MobiHealthNews Managing Editor Laura Lovett discuss some of the most interesting things they heard at the event. Then stay tuned for a special segment with HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf, who talks about what's to come at the companion, in-person event Future of Healthcare, scheduled for HIMSS 21 in Las Vegas in August.

Talking points:

• Changes in consumer attitudes about telehealth
• The state of healthcare from the patient’s perspective
• What’s holding back the “low-hanging fruit” technologies?
• Which changes are staying and which are going “back to normal”?
• AI & ML: Providers are bullish in general but light on specifics, while patients are generally uncomfortable but excited when they hear specifics
• Hospitals are bouncing back financially, but were lessons learned?
• Are hospitals underestimating new competitive threats?
• Looking ahead at the Future of Healthcare event
• How COVID-19 changed everything, and the role technology has to play
• How healthcare could follow in the footsteps of auto manufacturing
• Future of Healthcare highlights

More about this episode:

68% of health system execs plan deeper AI investments to meet strategic goals

Payers focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning

To make new tech implementations work, patient consultant says to focus on the person

Oscar Health's CEO on how insurance companies have transformed during COVID-19

Atrium Health's quick turnaround allowed for digital innovation during the pandemic

A direct-to-consumer telehealth company looks to expand globally with new acquisition; AHA asks Express Scripts to rescind its 340B claims policy. Also: EHRs say customers can establish greater patient control over record-sharing with Apple Health app.

Links to the stories:

Hims & Hers eyes UK expansion with Honest Health acquisition

AHA wants Express Scripts to rescind 340B claims reporting policy

Cerner, Meditech to support record-sharing via Apple

Health Current’s CIO Keith Parker and IMO’s Chief Strategy Officer Dale Sanders discuss big data management in healthcare: challenges and lessons learned.

UnitedHealthcare institutes policy allowing it to retroactively deny ED claims; Apple unveils walking stability assessments in iPhone update . Also: Mount Sinai Health System teams with Caregility and Language Line to help cater to patients with limited English proficiency.

Links to the stories:

UnitedHealthcare looks to retroactively deny emergency room claims

Apple adds walking stability, family and provider health sharing, and more at WWDC 2021

Mount Sinai eases translation in 200 languages through its Epic telehealth platform