The Business of Healthcare Podcast

In this special episode, Dr. Britt Berrett makes a guest appearance on “Leading the Way,” a live interview show on KLIF 570-AM during which business leaders discuss their secrets for creating cultures of high performance and success. Berrett discusses his journey to success, including:

1. What he learned both in his first job and as a midnight-shift hospital administrator
2. The two life experiences that caused him to become involved in healthcare,
3. His top two mentors,
4. The most significant experience that developed his skills as a leader,
5. The best advice he would give to the next generation of healthcare leaders,

 And much, much more.

 Many thanks to Scott Murray, Angel Carlton and the Institute for Corporate Productivity — i4cp — for making this special episode available to the Business of Healthcare Podcast. You can listen to “Leading the Way” every Sunday at 4 p.m. Central time on KLIF 570-AM in North Texas or worldwide on klif.com.

Dr. Britt Berrett interviews healthcare management major Meagan McDonald, a student at the Naveen Jindal School of Management who is pursuing a fast-track program that will earn her both a BS in Healthcare Management and an MS in Healthcare Leadership and Management in five years. They discuss the educational requirements needed to succeed as an administrator in the healthcare industry today.

Host Jimmie Markham, communications manager for the Naveen Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas, welcomes Mark Madden to the show. Madden is executive vice president and managing principal of Cejka Executive Search. They discuss the leadership soft skills needed to thrive at various career levels in the healthcare industry today. Madden offers advice to entry-level and midlevel administrators as well as C-suite executives on the building blocks they need to be successful.

WellVia Chief Technology Officer Peyton Reaves joins Britt Berrett to discuss telemedicine. Proponents of this healthcare model, through which patients can contact a physician via phone, website, video chat or app, believe that it is the future of acute care. Reaves and Berrett talk about the details, including how technology solves the problem of clogged emergency rooms, whether telemedicine will move into specialty medicine and chronic care, and how WellVia cleared the regulatory hurdles put in place for remote-care practitioners.

Host Dr. Keith Thurgood discusses the future of healthcare with guest Dr. John McCracken, the program director of the Alliance for Physician Leadership, an educational partnership between UT Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center based at the Naveen Jindal School of Management. The program trains practicing physicians in the business practices needed to lead healthcare change in a volatile industry. Thurgood and McCracken discuss the implications of the switch from fee-based to value-based medicine, how long that transition might take and the disruptions that could make for a rocky transition.

Mabu, the personal healthcare companion robot, makes an appearance in this episode via her creator, Cory Kidd, founder and CEO of Catalia Health. Guest host Keith Thurgood, director of the Jindal School’s  MS in Healthcare Leadership and Management for Professionals program, asks Kidd about healthcare challenges related to cost and quality associated with chronic-disease care management and how Catalia’s unique artificial intelligence solution addresses them.

Dr. Britt Berrett interviews David Toomey, senior vice president of Sharecare’s enterprise division. They talk about how Sharecare’s digital solutions and other technology can put more information into healthcare consumer hands. They also discuss how pricing transparency and Six Sigma in healthcare knowledge and processes will empower consumers and employers, and transform the healthcare industry by reducing costs and improving quality.

Dr. Britt Berrett and guest Dr. Keith Thurgood, director of the Executive MS in Healthcare Leadership and Management (for professionals) at the Naveen Jindal School of Management at UT Dallas, discuss leadership concepts that Thurgood utilized while serving as a major general in the U.S. Army. Thurgood relates those concepts to healthcare leadership and describes how best to apply them to the industry.

In the first episode of 2018, Dr. Britt Berrett interviews Peter Baek, MD, CEO and founder of Vigilant Labels, a business that expedites required syringe labeling — to the patient’s advantage. Baek discusses the problem he faced as a practicing anesthesiologist and how he arrived at his innovative solution. He also explains how his MS degree in Healthcare Leadership and Management (for physicians) from the Executive Education program at the Naveen Jindal School of Management at UT Dallas helped him launch his business.

In this episode, Dr. Britt Berrett welcomes Dr. Jason Wolf of The Beryl Institute to discuss the patient experience, defined by Wolf’s organization as the sum of all interactions, shaped by an organization’s culture, that influence patient perceptions across the continuum of care. Berrett and Wolf  talk about the success that the Beryl Institute has had in creating what Wolf describes as “a global community of practice dedicated to improving the patient experience through collaboration and shared knowledge.” Wolf also offers advice to future healthcare leaders on how to succeed in the industry.