The Business of Healthcare Podcast

Dr. Marilyn Moon joins Dr. Britt Berrett in today’s episode. Dr. Moon is an institute fellow at Washington-based American Institutes for Research. She is the former chair at the Maryland Healthcare Commission, where she headed up a pricing transparency project that ultimately became WearTheCost.org. The website provides consumers in the State of Maryland with cost and quality information related to various elective procedures so that they can make better-informed healthcare decisions. Both passionate advocates for healthcare reform, especially as it relates to consumer information, Moon and Berrett discuss the website, Altarum (AIR’s partner in developing WearTheCost.org) and the direction in which pricing transparency is headed.

Dr. Jim Rickards joins Dr. Britt Berrett for this episode, in which they discuss Rickards’ recently published book, Our Health Plan: Community Governed Healthcare That Works (New York: Morgan James Publishing: 2017). Rickards, a radiologist who earned his medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine, also holds an MBA from Oregon Health and Science University. He is the senior medical director at Moda Health in Portland, Oregon. He was a pioneer in developing the Coordinated Care Model for the state of Oregon as a new way to deliver healthcare services to its nearly 1.1 million Medicaid members.

In the episode this week, Dr. Britt Berrett applies the eight-step change management model found in John P. Kotter’s international best-selling book Leading Change to a healthcare organization.

This week Dr. Britt Berrett turns hosting duties over to Dr. Keith Thurgood, a Jindal School faculty member. Thurgood interviews Sahar Kuzbari, a graduate student enrolled in the program that he directs, the Executive Master of Science in Healthcare Leadership and Management for Professionals). Thurgood and Kuzbari discuss leadership and its role in driving the future of the industry. They also discuss details of the cohort program and speak about its professional benefits, which include:

1. Insights gained through round-table discussions with fellow healthcare professionals who are enrolled in the program and who provide differing, real-world perspectives from various industry sectors,
2. Case studies that equip students with practical tools that they can implement in their workplaces immediately, and
3. A collaborative learning environment in which student professionals interact with faculty members and other industry experts.

In this week’s special episode, Dr. Britt Berrett and graduate students from the Healthcare Leadership and Management program visit Texas Health Presbyterian in Allen, Texas. Berrett interviews Jared Shelton, who discusses leadership lessons and the changes he made when he was hired as president of the hospital. Shelton helped change his facility from a subpar hospital with unhappy physicians into a well-known healthcare provider with more satisfied employees. This podcast goes over some of the key struggles of running a hospital — in Shelton’s case, as one of the youngest hospital presidents in the country.

Shelton suggests that aspiring healthcare leaders join and become actively involved with the following organizations:

American College of Healthcare Executives

Healthcare Financial Management Association

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society

This week’s episode features guest Dr. Keith Thurgood, director of the Executive MS in Healthcare Leadership and Management for Professionals at the Naveen Jindal School of Management. Thurgood and host Dr. Britt Berrett discuss the advantages of obtaining a graduate degree for mid-career healthcare professionals who want to advance to executive positions and be able to make an immediate difference.

In this week's episode, host Britt Berrett chats with J.R. Thomas, a successful leader in the healthcare industry. Thomas, former CEO of MedSynergies and current co-managing partner at healthcare advisory company Thomas Marshall Group, LLC , talks about how he got into healthcare and what he did to help him become successful. Thomas goes over the costs of starting up in the healthcare industry and tells how his banking background helped him succeed in launching his company. Thomas and Berrett discuss challenges in the healthcare industry and what Thomas thinks are the best way to overcome them. Finally, Thomas goes over some leadership tips and styles that have helped him throughout his years in healthcare.

In this week’s podcast, host Britt Berrett explores the evolution of leadership theory and how it relates to the dynamic and growing challenges in the $3 trillion healthcare industry. He discusses advances in technology that allow for advances in medicine and better communication between physicians and patients. The internet allows patients to easily access a wealth of information, helping them better understand and manage their care and health. Berrett also discusses problems associated with varying costs of healthcare services, depending on the individual and the location — and the physician providing the service.

In this week’s introductory episode, host Britt Berrett talks about how the healthcare industry has changed drastically in recent years. He discusses the implications of those changes for the future of healthcare in America, how the affordable healthcare act (Obamacare) has changed healthcare and what healthcare leaders have done since this change. He provides insight into the changes in healthcare over the past century, what breakthroughs we will be able to see in our lifetime and what advances are needed.