I Don't Care

The U.S. healthcare system is facing a quiet but accelerating crisis: a widening gap between where specialists are needed and where they actually practice. In urology alone, there are roughly 1,100 open positions but only about 400 new specialists trained each year—a mismatch that’s only getting worse. As physician burnout rises and more clinicians seek autonomy and flexibility, traditional care delivery models are being pushed to their limits. The stakes aren’t abstract—they show up in delayed diagnoses, long travel distances, and communities left without access to care.

So how do you deliver specialty care differently in a system that no longer fits how physicians want to work?

On this episode of I Don’t Care, host Dr. Kevin Stevenson sits down with Dr. Joe Pazona, CEO of VirtuCare, to unpack a deeply personal and highly practical journey: from clinical frustration to entrepreneurial innovation. The conversation explores how one physician turned systemic gaps into scalable solutions—rethinking how specialty care can be delivered across underserved communities while improving physician quality of life.

Top insights from the talk…

• The physician workforce shortage is no longer just a rural problem—it’s spreading into urban markets due to shifting lifestyle priorities and structural inefficiencies.

• “Top-of-license care” and team-based models are essential to scaling access without overburdening physicians.

• Entrepreneurship in medicine isn’t glamorous—it’s messy, risky, and full of failure—but it may be one of the most viable paths forward.

Dr. Joe Pazona is a board-certified urologist and CEO of VirtuCare, where he develops scalable, team-based specialty care models that expand access and drive revenue for rural hospitals through hybrid care delivery. He has over a decade of clinical and leadership experience, including launching robotic surgery programs, building private practices, and pioneering telehealth-enabled service lines. As an entrepreneur, he specializes in healthcare innovation, physician workforce optimization, and aligning clinical operations with sustainable business models to address systemic gaps in specialty care.

Healthcare is being pushed to modernize faster than ever, as AI tools, virtual care, and digital patient experiences shift from innovation to expectation. Recent survey data from McKinsey & Company indicates that about half of U.S. healthcare leaders say their organizations have already put generative AI into practice, underscoring how quickly the technology is moving from experimentation to real-world use. But this acceleration comes with real tension: while AI makes it easier than ever to build software, healthcare still demands systems that are secure, scalable, and clinically reliable—raising the stakes for how these platforms are designed, developed, and deployed.

So here’s the real question: In an era where AI can build healthcare platforms faster than ever, what actually separates a solution that works for the long haul from one that looks good at launch—but fails under real-world pressure?

Welcome to I Don’t Care. In the latest episode, host Dr. Kevin Stevenson sits down with Princy Dhupar, Director and Global Partnerships Head at Ditstek Innovations, for a conversation grounded in experience—not theory. Drawing on years of building healthcare platforms across global teams, Dhupar pushes back on the idea that speed and automation alone can deliver results. Instead, the discussion focuses on what actually drives success—clear communication, understanding the “why” behind a product, and combining AI with human expertise to build systems that can scale and last.

What you’ll learn…

• How to use AI without over-relying on it: Why the strongest healthcare platforms combine AI speed with human oversight—and where AI alone falls short.
• Why defining the problem matters more than writing code: How getting clear on the “why” early can dramatically reduce rework and set the foundation for scalable systems.
• What actually makes offshore development work: The communication habits, transparency, and trust-building steps that separate successful partnerships from failed ones.

Princy Dhupar is Director and Global Partnerships Head at Ditstek Innovations, with over a decade of experience in sales, business development, and strategic partnerships across healthcare and technology. She specializes in driving digital transformation through SaaS solutions, AI-driven automation, and legacy modernization, helping organizations scale efficiently while reducing operational costs. Her work spans startups and enterprises globally, where she has led high-growth initiatives, built long-term client partnerships, and delivered measurable outcomes across healthcare platforms and enterprise systems.

The U.S. healthcare system is under real strain—and it’s something both patients and physicians are feeling in everyday care. In Texas, those pressures are even more visible, where rapid population growth, rural access challenges, and regulatory complexity are making it harder for patients to get timely care and for doctors to focus on medicine instead of administrative work. These challenges aren’t driven by a single issue, but by a combination of workforce gaps, growing bureaucracy, and structural inefficiencies that have been building for years.

So what happens next? As policymakers, insurers, and healthcare systems compete to shape the future of care, one central question emerges: Can physicians reclaim control of patient care in an increasingly corporatized system?

That’s the question at the heart of this episode of I Don’t Care. Host Dr. Kevin Stevenson sits down with Dr. Brad Holland, President of the Texas Medical Association, to unpack the organization’s top priorities for 2026. Their conversation spans workforce shortages, regulatory reform, insurance power, and the evolving role of physicians in modern medicine.

What you’ll learn…

• How prior authorization and insurance barriers are getting worse, delaying patient care while placing an increasing administrative burden on physicians.
• Why physician shortages aren’t about lack of interest, but instead driven by systemic training bottlenecks that turn away qualified candidates each year.
• How healthcare consolidation and insurance dominance are reshaping care, pushing costs higher and weakening the core physician-patient relationship.

Dr. Brad Holland is a board-certified otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon with specialized expertise in voice and swallowing disorders, pediatric ENT, oncology, and facial reconstructive surgery. He currently serves as President-Elect of the Texas Medical Association and has held multiple leadership roles, including Speaker of the House for TMA and President of the Texas Association of Otolaryngology, reflecting deep influence in healthcare policy and physician advocacy. He also serves as clinical faculty at Baylor University and holds an Executive MBA, bringing both medical and leadership expertise to healthcare.

Healthcare leadership is being redefined in real time. With the rise of AI, mounting financial pressures, and workforce burnout, executives today are operating in an environment of continuous disruption and uncertainty. In fact, industry leaders now rank workforce shortages and digital transformation among their top concerns—forcing a new kind of leadership that blends decisiveness with humility.

So what does it actually take to lead through uncertainty, especially when you don’t have all the answers?

On I Don’t Care, host Dr. Kevin Stevenson sits down with Joel Allison, former CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health and current Chairman of the Baylor University Board of Regents, for a candid conversation about leadership, faith, and legacy. This episode explores the defining moments of Allison’s career, the risks that shaped one of the nation’s largest faith-based health systems, and the personal principles that guided him through decades at the top.

The conversation delves into…

• The high-stakes decision to merge Baylor Health Care System with Scott & White—a bold, controversial move that initially alarmed board members and nearly derailed Allison’s career, yet ultimately became one of the most transformative and successful healthcare mergers in the country.

• How great leaders operate without certainty—why Allison believes you don’t need all the answers to lead effectively, and how mentorship, trusted advisors, and humility become far more valuable than projecting confidence in rapidly changing environments.

• The enduring role of faith, purpose, and personal values—how Allison’s sense of calling and belief system shaped his toughest decisions, grounded his leadership style, and helped him navigate decades of high-pressure challenges with clarity and conviction.

Joel Allison is a veteran healthcare executive who served as President and CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health, leading its transformation into one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the United States. Over his decades-long career, he has been recognized for his commitment to quality care, leadership development, and faith-based service. Allison earned his degree from Baylor University and has remained deeply connected to the institution, currently serving as Chairman of its Board of Regents. Throughout his career, he has driven large-scale transformation, including system expansion, quality improvement initiatives, and the development of accountable care models focused on patient-centered outcomes.

Healthcare systems are facing a workforce crisis that’s no longer temporary—it’s structural. Even before COVID-19, staffing shortages across nursing, technical, and administrative roles were already straining capacity; today, those gaps are wider, costlier, and directly impacting patient access. With labor shortages persisting and burnout rising, health systems are being forced to rethink not just hiring—but the very composition of their workforce.

So here’s the question: What if the solution to healthcare’s staffing crisis isn’t just hiring more experienced workers—but strategically building a pipeline from those who haven’t entered the field yet?

On this episode of I Don’t Care, host Dr. Kevin Stevenson sits down with Brock Hughes of Propel Clinical to explore how pre-clinical students—pre-med, pre-PA, pre-nursing—can be deployed to fill critical, hard-to-staff roles across healthcare systems. The conversation dives into workforce innovation, the economics of staffing, and how early-career exposure could reshape both patient care and clinician pipelines.

This episode breaks down how…

• Healthcare systems are shifting toward workforce development strategies that prioritize pipeline-building over short-term staffing fixes.
• Pre-clinical students can fill entry-level and support roles effectively, often improving efficiency and reducing costs while gaining critical experience.
• “Planned turnover” among these students isn’t a liability—it’s a feature that enables continuous talent flow and long-term workforce sustainability.

Brock Hughes, MBA, is a healthcare entrepreneur with over a decade of experience building and scaling solutions across clinical and operational domains. At Propel Clinical, he focuses on addressing workforce shortages by integrating pre-clinical talent into healthcare systems through structured, managed programs. Hughes has co-founded multiple ventures—including Chartpro, Chartjoy, and Zup—and previously led strategic expansion as SVP of Strategic Growth at CareATC and as a growth and strategy leader at CareTeam (acquired). His expertise spans business development, healthcare innovation, and building scalable models that improve access, reduce costs, and enhance operational efficiency.

Healthcare systems are entering 2026 under mounting pressure. A growing, aging population and rising disease burden are colliding with persistent workforce shortages—highlighted by projections that new cancer diagnoses in the U.S. will surpass two million this year alone. The stakes are no longer theoretical: delays in care, limited specialist access, and widening disparities are becoming everyday realities across the system.

Where is healthcare actually headed as we move deeper into 2026—and can advances in technology, workforce strategy, and policy reform realistically keep pace with the growing complexity and demand facing the system?

Welcome to I Don’t Care. In the latest episode, Dr. Kevin Stevenson sits down with Scott Becker, founder of Becker’s Healthcare, to unpack the defining healthcare trends shaping 2026. Rooted in firsthand experience and industry perspective, the conversation explores the growing strain on the healthcare workforce, the practical use cases—and limits—of AI, and the widening gaps in access to care across the system.

What you’ll learn…

• Why specialist shortages—not just overall staffing gaps—are becoming the biggest constraint in healthcare, with some regions facing extreme imbalances in access to care.
• How healthcare is splitting into distinct access tiers, from concierge and commercially insured patients to Medicare, Medicaid, and underserved populations—with very different levels of availability.
• How AI is being used today to automate administrative tasks, assist diagnostics, and support clinicians, while still requiring human expertise for judgment, patient interaction, and complex care.

Scott Becker is the founder, publisher, and chief content officer of Becker’s Healthcare and a longtime partner at McGuireWoods, where he previously chaired the healthcare department and served on the firm’s board. He is a recognized leader in healthcare and private equity, hosting top-ranked industry podcasts, speaking widely on business and healthcare trends, and investing in venture capital and private equity ventures. A graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Illinois, Becker has also interviewed prominent global figures and built a reputation as a trusted voice in healthcare leadership and policy.

Mental health care isn’t a new problem—but it’s finally being treated like an urgent one. After years of being sidelined, the cracks in the system are becoming impossible to ignore: overstretched clinicians, long wait times, and entire communities without consistent access to care. In the U.S., the scale is striking—more than one in five adults live with a mental health condition. What’s different now is the push to rebuild the system itself: bringing mental health into primary care, rethinking how it’s funded, and using technology not as a buzzword, but as a practical tool to close the gap.

So what will it take to redesign mental health care into a system that delivers—one that aligns access, outcomes, and economics at scale?

Welcome to I Don’t Care. In the latest episode, host Dr. Kevin Stevenson sits down with Kacie Kelly, Chief Innovation Officer at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, to unpack how policy, innovation, and real-world healthcare delivery intersect. Their conversation explores how mental health care can evolve from a fragmented, reactive system into a proactive, integrated model driven by both policy and technology.

What you’ll learn…

• Policy as a growth lever: How forward-thinking organizations use policy not just for compliance, but to accelerate innovation, scale solutions, and unlock new market opportunities.
• Early detection & integrated care: Why embedding behavioral health into primary care is essential for improving outcomes, reducing delays in treatment, and lowering long-term costs.
• AI & innovative funding models: How emerging technologies and smarter reimbursement strategies are expanding access to care while optimizing and extending the mental health workforce.

Kacie Kelly is the Chief Innovation Officer at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, where she leads efforts to integrate scalable, data-driven innovation, AI, and public-private partnerships into mental health systems to improve early detection and access to care. She brings deep expertise in policy implementation, funding model reform, and cross-sector collaboration, with a track record of aligning healthcare, government, and private stakeholders to scale high-impact solutions. Previously, she held senior leadership roles at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the George W. Bush Presidential Center, where she led national mental health initiatives, managed multimillion-dollar programs, and advanced evidence-based care for veterans and broader populations.

Healthcare innovation is having a moment. With over 500 startups applying annually to leading accelerators like Health Wildcatters, the sector is seeing a surge of founders eager to tackle inefficiencies in care delivery, diagnostics, and patient experience. At the same time, digital health is regaining momentum—after a period of market correction, funding went up for the second consecutive year in 2025, reaching a whopping $22.3 billion globally, a rebound that signals renewed but more selective investor confidence. Yet unlike consumer tech, healthcare remains highly regulated, capital-intensive, and slow-moving—raising the stakes for entrepreneurs who get it wrong.

So what separates the founders who break through from those who stall out? More importantly, what does a credible healthcare entrepreneur actually look like in today’s environment?

Welcome to I Don’t Care. In the latest episode, Dr. Kevin Stevenson sits down with Dr. Hubert Zajicek, CEO, co-founder, and partner at Health Wildcatters, to unpack what it really takes to build and scale a healthcare startup. From early-stage credibility to funding strategy and founder mindset, the conversation offers a candid look at the realities behind the hype.

Top insights from the talk…

• Credibility comes from experience and proximity to the problem. Most successful founders have deep domain knowledge or firsthand exposure to the issues they’re solving.
• The biggest pitch mistake? Over-indexing on the tech. Investors care more about the problem, go-to-market strategy, and execution than technical minutiae.
• Money doesn’t fix bad fundamentals. Poor product-market fit, weak teams, or the wrong partners can sink a startup regardless of funding.

Dr. Hubert Zajicek is a healthcare entrepreneur and investor who co-founded and leads Health Wildcatters, a leading seed accelerator that has supported over 130 early-stage companies and helped them raise more than $350M in funding. He specializes in venture capital, strategic planning, and startup development, with deep expertise in guiding healthcare innovations across digital health, medtech, and biotech from concept to commercialization. In addition to his entrepreneurial leadership, he founded the Health Hacking Crisis Network during COVID-19 and serves as the Austrian Honorary Consul in Dallas, reflecting his broader impact across healthcare, innovation ecosystems, and international relations.

Hospitals and surgery centers own millions of dollars in equipment — but owning assets and having actionable visibility into them are two different things. Most systems maintain inventories, yet many struggle with outdated records, fragmented tracking, and limited insight into useful life or service contracts. With nearly half of U.S. hospitals reporting negative operating margins in recent years, that gap between ownership and visibility is no longer just an operational nuisance — it’s a financial risk.

So here’s the real question healthcare leaders are asking: How can we measure the true health of our capital assets — and what does that mean for long-term revenue stability?

That’s the question at the heart of this episode of I Don’t Care. Host Dr. Kevin Stevenson sits down with Grant Luke, Strategic Account Manager at CapExpert, to explore how healthcare organizations can diagnose their capital asset health. The conversation dives into the operational blind spots that drive unnecessary spending and how AI-powered inventory technology is helping hospitals and ASCs gain baseline visibility over their medical equipment, service contracts, and lifecycle data.

Top insights from the talk…

• Many organizations unknowingly repurchase equipment they already own due to lack of system-wide visibility. Without a reliable, consolidated inventory across facilities or departments, teams often buy new devices instead of reallocating existing assets — driving redundant capital spend.

• Surplus and underutilized equipment consumes valuable space and capital that could be redeployed more strategically. Idle devices sitting in storage rooms or clinical areas tie up square footage, inflate depreciation schedules, and represent missed opportunities for resale or redistribution within the system.

• Vendor fragmentation and non-standardized preventive maintenance contracts create avoidable financial waste. When multiple vendors service similar equipment across locations, organizations lose leverage, complicate oversight, and miss opportunities for consolidation and cost containment.

Grant Luke is a healthcare technology and SaaS leader with more than a decade of experience spanning sales, ASC operations, IT project management, and supply chain strategy. He has held leadership roles with organizations including Surgical Care Affiliates (SCA Health), United Surgical Partners International (USPI), and HST Pathways, where he led ASC innovation initiatives, EHR implementations, operational efficiency projects, and enterprise vendor evaluations. Now serving as Strategic Account Manager at CapExpert, Luke helps ambulatory surgery centers leverage AI-driven supply chain and asset visibility solutions that deliver measurable cost savings, operational efficiency, and strong first-year ROI.

Behind every city vote, hospital budget or zoning decision is a leader navigating tough, often conflicting priorities. Right now, public leaders are operating in an environment of rising healthcare costs, workforce shortages and heightened community expectations—especially within safety-net systems that collectively provide billions in uncompensated care each year. The stakes are real—they affect patients and their families on some of the hardest days of their lives.

When the pressure is loud and the resources are limited, how does a leader decide what’s right—and how do they stay grounded in purpose along the way?

On this episode of I Don’t Care, host Dr. Kevin Stevenson sits down with Ann Margolin, former Dallas City Council member, investor, community leader and artist. The conversation explores how values-driven leadership operates under pressure—from contentious zoning battles to healthcare budget crises—and how creativity and civic engagement remain essential tools for effective governance.

Top insights from the talk…

• Why principled leadership matters when representing 85,000 constituents—and how to make tough public decisions amid vocal opposition.

• How creative governance can stabilize a safety-net health system, from managing budget shortfalls to launching cost-saving care models like nurse midwife programs and community-based clinics.

• The overlooked role of art and creativity in strengthening communities, improving healthcare environments and helping leaders reconnect with purpose.

Ann Margolin is a former Dallas City Council member and the first woman to serve as Chair of the Parkland Hospital Board, where she led finance and strategic planning efforts and oversaw the launch of the system’s first community-based primary care clinics. She brings deep expertise in public governance, budget oversight, economic development and nonprofit leadership, having chaired and served on numerous civic and philanthropic boards while advancing initiatives in healthcare, arts advocacy and education. Furthermore, she is a founding member of the Texas Women Ventures Fund and an active investor in technology, real estate and women-led enterprises.