Podnosis

Clinical AI must prove its value beyond a controlled demo. In this sponsored episode of Podnosis, host Irena Luo speaks with Chad Dodd, vice president of product management at Athenahealth, about how healthcare leaders can evaluate AI governance, safety and performance. Dodd explains why organizations should examine how a solution handles real-world data, edge cases and workflow variation, not only its ideal output. He discusses governance across the product development lifecycle, including testing for bias, accuracy and data validity, as well as validation across specialties, datasets and patient samples.

The conversation also covers practical clinician oversight through clear labeling of AI-generated information and links to source content. After deployment, Dodd says organizations should monitor model outputs, drift, telemetry, feature adoption and user feedback. For practices comparing AI partners, the discussion highlights four priorities: demonstrated workflow value, data privacy and security, transparent failure points, and evidence that the technology delivers its intended result safely and compliantly. Listen to the full podcast to learn more.

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Pediatric developmental care is notoriously difficult to navigate. Providers often find it challenging to accept insurance, and provider shortages mean long waitlists for families at a time when every day without care counts.

One startup operating in Southern California aims to simplify pediatric therapy and improve care coordination. Village offers a two-sided platform that streamlines communication between providers and families and brings documentation together in one secure place. Families can find providers through Village, while providers can manage their practices and collaborate with others.

To explain the model, Fierce Healthcare Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya sits down with Brandon Terry, co-founder and CEO of Village.

To learn more about the topics in this episode: 

• Survey: Parents struggle to navigate fragmented pediatric, specialty care
• UnitedHealthcare expands behavioral coaching program for youths
• Amid spending growth scrutiny, CMS unveils toolkit for states to safeguard autism care 

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Breakdowns in patient navigation can have consequences beyond patient frustration, contributing to missed appointments, avoidable emergency department visits and lost revenue for healthcare organizations.

Nichole Davis, founder and CEO of Wayfinder Patient Advocates, believes healthcare organizations should treat these breakdowns, which she calls "trust leaks," as operational problems that can be identified, measured and addressed. Her approach focuses on improving care coordination, equipping patients to make informed decisions and translating patient feedback into meaningful changes.

In this week's episode of "Podnosis," Fierce Healthcare Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya speaks with Davis about the connection between patient trust and organizational performance, practical strategies for improving care navigation and why these efforts are particularly important as healthcare organizations face growing financial pressures.

To learn more about the topics in this episode: 

• Who do Americans believe have the most influence in healthcare?
• Three-quarters of Americans disillusioned with costs, say healthcare is defining voting issue
• Industry Voices—Return to trust: How lack of transparency can damage relationships in healthcare

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Serious mental illness (SMI) is challenging to address. Individuals with SMI die significantly earlier and are nearly twice as likely to have co-occurring physical health conditions as the general population. Yet the current system remains geographically inaccessible, fragmented and burdened by unaddressed social determinants of health.

Sonia Garcia, co-founder and chief growth officer of Amae Health, has seen the system's shortcomings firsthand while caring for her own family. Amae is trying to transform SMI care by combining psychiatry with medical care, nutrition, behavioral coaching and long-term monitoring.

To explain the approach, Fierce Healthcare senior writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya talks with Garcia.

To learn more about the topics in this episode: 

• Behavioral health utilization is up with anxiety disorders leading demand, report finds 
• Amae Health teams up with Google Health to integrate wearables data into SMI care
• Psychiatrists' use of biomarkers could open a new window into mental health diagnoses 

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A growing number of clinicians are looking to work in healthcare as independent contractors, giving them more flexibility over when and how they work.

While this can sound straightforward in theory, a lack of clarity around worker classification can complicate opportunities for these professionals.

The Department of Labor has proposed a new rule, currently undergoing final review, that could change how businesses engage with independent contractors. One expert argues the change would be for the better.

To explain what the rule could mean for healthcare workers and employers, Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya sits down with Regan Parker, chief legal and public affairs officer at ShiftKey, a platform that connects independent healthcare workers with open shifts at healthcare facilities.

To learn more about the topics in this episode: 

Department of Labor's proposed foreign worker wage increases are more tough news for healthcare staf… 

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As health plans confront rising medical and administrative costs, payment integrity is evolving from a collection of discrete interventions into an enterprise-wide strategic capability. In this sponsored episode of Podnosis, host Irena Luo speaks with Michael Axt, CEO of ClarisHealth, about why adding specialized vendors alone does not guarantee stronger performance. Without orchestration and end-to-end visibility, payers risk duplicative findings, missed savings, fragmented workflows and greater provider abrasion.

Axt explains how technology and AI can help payers improve payment accuracy, move more determinations earlier in the payment cycle and coordinate interactions with providers. He also considers how orchestration platforms such as Pareo can connect data, give internal teams a shared workspace and provide vendor-agnostic analytics for stronger program oversight. His perspective points toward a future in which payment integrity, utilization management, risk adjustment and other cost-management functions converge around a more connected view of the claim and episode-of-care lifecycle. Listen to the interview to learn more about the operating model shaping the future of payer performance.

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For years, health systems have been working to address their environmental impact. These efforts are largely voluntary and require systemwide buy-in to be effective. Some organizations are more sophisticated in setting sustainability goals and further along in putting them into practice.

Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya talks with Beth Schenk, Ph.D., chief environmental stewardship officer at Providence, about the climate impacts she has witnessed as a nurse and her health system’s sustainability journey.

To learn more about the topics in this episode: 

• New procurement guide for hospitals, payers takes aim at AI's environmental impact
• In next phase of sustainability, UCI Health, Kaiser Permanente, and others turn to electric hospital… 
• How policy, reimbursement incentives, could help healthcare address its climate footprint
• 'We can't do this alone': Hospitals share lessons from Hurricane Helene to prepare for extreme weath… 

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Racial disparities in breast cancer have persisted for years. Though Black women have a slightly lower incidence of breast cancer, they face a mortality rate that is 38% higher than that of white women. One researcher in Georgia is focused on addressing those inequities in her community.

Lauren McCullough, Ph.D., an epidemiology researcher, is running several studies investigating disparities across breast and gynecologic cancers. She also founded a peer support community to elevate the voices of marginalized patients going through cancer treatment. Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya talks with McCullough about these efforts and what they could mean at scale.

To learn more about the topics in this episode: 

• Women's oncology market will reach $110B by 2030 across therapeutics, diagnostics and care delivery 
• The cold cap coverage gap and a cancer survivor’s push for change 
• Breast cancer tops list of most-studied diseases for 5th year in a row: report 
• Not all patient care access is equal when it comes to mammograms, CDC report finds

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Payers and providers agree on many of healthcare's most pressing challenges. Yet despite broad consensus around rising costs, workforce shortages and administrative complexity, operational friction continues to slow progress. Why? According to Yusuf Qasim, president of payments optimization at Zelis, alignment on the problem does not automatically create alignment on the solution.

In this episode of Podnosis, Qasim discusses findings from Zelis' State of the Healthcare Financial Experience Report and examines where collaboration opportunities remain untapped. He explains why the industry has no shortage of data or analytical capabilities, but often struggles to connect insights across organizations. The conversation explores persistent pain points, including payment reconciliation, claims processing, denials, appeals and administrative burden, while highlighting practical steps healthcare stakeholders can take to improve transparency and strengthen collaboration.

The discussion also looks at how organizations should evaluate new technology investments, why reducing manual work may be one of the most important success metrics, and where payers and providers can make meaningful progress over the next several months. For healthcare leaders focused on operational efficiency, stakeholder trust and financial experience, this episode offers a timely perspective on turning shared priorities into measurable results.

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There are a lot of disparate systems in healthcare that don’t always talk to each other. That can make navigating specialties like behavioral health particularly challenging for patients.

One company believes both payers and providers share responsibility for helping patients navigate to services. Bamboo Health offers a platform that ingests data from traditionally siloed sources to give stakeholders real-time visibility into how patients are moving through the healthcare system so they can act at the appropriate time.

Senior Writer Anastassia Gliadkovskaya talks to Vatsala Kapur, Bamboo’s SVP of market access, policy and partnerships, about the outcomes the company is seeing and why the future of value-based care has to involve data and AI.

To learn more about the topics in this episode: 

• Delaware sees results following recent launch of behavioral health coordination platform 
• Watershed Health rolls out large-scale data sharing platform across Austin, Texas region

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