The Business of Healthcare Podcast

Dan Klein, president and CEO of Patient Access Network (PAN) Foundation, joins host Dr. Bob Kaiser to discuss how the charity he helms helps underinsured people pay for out-of-pocket expenses. Prescription medications that can treat life-threatening, chronic and rare diseases are often very costly. Klein discuss how PAN has put together a robust network of patient advocacy groups to link patients with resources and support to help defray those costs.

Andrew Thorby, CEO of Care Continuity, joins host Dr. Bob Kaiser to discuss the challenges the healthcare industry faces as it grapples with aligning financial incentives with quality incentives. They also discuss a LinkedIn article Thorby wrote about the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).

Heidi Rasmussen, chief operating officer of freshbenies, joins host Dr. Bob Kaiser to discuss her company's innovative approaches to healthcare benefits that help consumers save money and become smarter healthcare consumers. Rasmussen, a UT Dallas alumna who earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the Naveen Jindal School of Management, co-founded freshbenies with her husband, Reid.

Michelle Podlesni, RN, president of the National Nurses in Business Association, joins host Dr. Bob Kaiser for a discussion about how nurses can benefit from learning business skills. They also discuss her book, UnConventional Nurse: Going from Burnout to Bliss! They also touch on ways nurses can acquire business skills, such as attending the NNBA Conference and entering the NNBA Shark Tank Competition.

Dr. John F. McCracken, director of the MS in Healthcare Leadership and Management for Physicians program at the Naveen Jindal School of Management, joins host Dr. Bob Kaiser to discuss a recent public notice by the Department of Health and Human Services that could have wide-reaching effects on pricing transparency in the healthcare industry.

Dr. Forney Fleming visits the studio for a chat with Dr. Bob Kaiser about the preparation needed to launch a career in healthcare management. Fleming, who had a successful career as an orthopedic surgeon prior to transitioning into academia, is the director of the master's program in healthcare leadership and management at the Naveen Jindal School of Management at UT Dallas.

Christopher Crow, an MD and executive MBA graduate of the UT Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management, joins Host Dr. Bob Kaiser for a discussion about the role that primary-care physicians can play in transitioning healthcare to value-based care. As co-founder and CEO of StratiFi Health and president of Catalyst Health Network, Crow has created a model for optimizing the patient-physician relationship to improve care and reduce costs.

Sajid Ahmed, CEO of WISE Healthcare, joins host Dr. Bob Kaiser for a discussion about why "telemedicine" is now better referred to as "virtual care." And eventually "virtual care" will become, simply, "care," Ahmed says, with technological advances such as artificial intelligence and increases in comfort levels among practitioners and patients who use them.

Dave Chase, creator and co-founder of Health Rosetta, joins host Dr. Bob Kaiser to make a provocative claim: that every big problem in healthcare already has been solved. The existing challenge, Chase says, is how to massively replicate proven solutions to reduce costs, improve quality and satisfy all constituents in the healthcare ecosystem. Chase and Kaiser discuss Healthcare Rosetta’s blueprint in achieving massive changes and the progress Chase and his team have made so far.

Dr. Len M. Nichols, an economist, discusses his paper, “Social Determinants as Public Goods: A New Approach To Financing Key Investments iIn Healthy Communities,” with Dr. Bob Kaiser. Nichols is director of the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics and a professor of health policy at George Mason University. His research delves into how improving social determinants of health — factors such as economics and social conditions — can play a key role in curtailing spiraling healthcare costs.