Trending Health

In this special minisode, Mindy sits down with Vynamic’s Saurabh Raman to discuss the five Health Plan trends he sees being most impactful in 2023, including focusing on the customer experience (1:05), rising cost pressures building for employers (2:00), experimenting in different business models and alternative revenue streams (3:55), reacting to a dynamic regulatory environment (5:10), and focusing on the evolution of virtual plan design (6:07). 

Podcast Tags: healthcare, healthcare news, health plans, healthcare trends, access 

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at 

1-888-VYNAMIC. 

Mindy McGrath, Healthcare Industry Advisor  

[email protected]

Saurabh Raman, Director and Head of Health Plan Sector 

[email protected]   

In this special minisode, Ryan sits down with Mindy to discuss the public health trends she sees being most impactful in 2023, including climate change/sustainability (3:20), pursuit of equity (5:37), addressing mental health and wellbeing (8:25), reimagining public health (9:50), and transparency in data sharing (10:50).  

Podcast Tags: healthcare, healthcare news, public health, mental health, wellness, health equity, healthcare trends, access, affordability, Medicare, Medicaid, data 

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at

1-888-VYNAMIC. 

Mindy McGrath, Healthcare Industry Advisor  

[email protected]

Ryan Hummel, Executive and Head of Provider Sector 

[email protected] 

While Prevention and Wellness has oftentimes been left out of Healthcare Industry conversations or viewed as a side-line player, it is high time that we begin formally bringing it into the fold. Today Ryan is joined by Vynamic’s Staci Carney, Sarah Lenhard, and Mary Virzi to discuss the evolution of what most of us know as the ‘Wellness Industry’, led by healthcare companies on the forefront of consumerism who are aiming to empower individuals to take healthcare into their own hands. The conversation begins by reviewing the factors that are propelling the Prevention and Wellness Industry’s rapid expansion (0:51) before diving deep into the impact the rise of consumerism has had on the Wellness market (3:20). With consumerism in mind, Sarah details some of the key customer experience design imperatives we have seen among the Prevention and Wellness players recently (4:56). In particular, companies in this space that share and promote similar values as their customers are standing out (5:58). Other specific examples of Wellness companies that are successfully executing on these consumer imperatives are mentioned (8:00). The team then shifts to discuss how the Prevention and Wellness industry has changed over the years (12:08), how these companies are embedding themselves deeper into healthcare (14:18), and the overall implications of the Prevention and Wellness industry on the healthcare landscape (19:00). 

Podcast Tags: healthcare, healthcare news, health outcomes, wellness, prevention, digital health, patient experience  

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at  

1-888-VYNAMIC. 

List of Sources: 

• https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/industry-research/the-global-wellness-economy-looking-beyond-covid/  
• https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/what-is-wellness/history-of-wellness/

Ryan Hummel, Executive and Head of Provider Sector 

[email protected] 

Mary Virzi, Executive and Head of Healthcare Technology Sector 

[email protected] 

Sarah Lenhard, Executive and Go-To-Market Strategy Service Lead 

[email protected] 

Staci Carney, Director and Go-To-Market Strategy Service Lead 

[email protected]  

In this minisode, Ryan is joined by Vynamic’s Brian Schachter to discuss a few recent newsworthy items including: the Medicare reimbursement for biosimilars (00:32), 2023 Medicare Advantage Star Ratings and overall sentiment of the US Healthcare system (03:51), drug price increases outpacing inflation (10:18), and Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company partnering with Capital Blue Cross (11:48). 

Podcast Tags: healthcare, healthcare news, life sciences, Inflation Reduction Act, biosimilars, Medicare, , drug pricing, healthcare access, Mark Cuban, Capital Blue Cross 

Source Links:  

• https://www.cms.gov/files/document/10522-inflation-reduction-act-timeline.pdf) 
• https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/nearing-watershed-year-biosimilars-industry-should-get-boost-new-measure-inflation-reduction 
• https://healthpayerintelligence.com/news/ma-part-d-contracts-see-lower-2023-medicare-advantage-star-ratings 
• https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/poll-gallup-and-west-health-shows-75-americans-grade-affordability-us-healthcare-d-or-f 
• https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/medicare-advantage-star-ratings-show-steep-declines-2023-pandemic-flexibilities-go-away#:~:text=Payers-,Medicare%20Advantage%20star%20ratings%20show%20steep%20declines,as%20pandemic%20flexibilities%20go%20away&text=Approximately%2051%25%20of%20Medicare%20Advantage,rating%20or%20higher%20for%202022. 
• https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/hhs-more-1200-drugs-rose-their-prices-past-inflation-2021 
• https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/mark-cuban-cost-plus-drug-company-bags-first-health-plan-partner 

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at 

1-888-VYNAMIC. 

Mindy McGrath, Healthcare Industry Advisor  

[email protected] 

Ryan Hummel, Executive and Head of Provider Sector 

[email protected] 

Brian Schachter, Director 

[email protected] 

In this Trending News EU episode, Mindy, Ollie, and Peter Stevens discuss a few recent EU-based newsworthy items including: the new NHS plan announced by the Health Secretary (1:10), the success of an experimental Alzheimer’s drug (5:05), and the impact of air pollution on healthcare systems (8:10). 

Podcast Tags: healthcare, healthcare news, public health, NHS, climate change, health equity  

Source Links:  

• https://inews.co.uk/news/therese-coffey-unveils-nhs-plan-7000-extra-hospital-beds-500m-social-care-fund-and-new-staffing-plan-1871772 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/11/nhs-is-over-the-precipice-warns-nurses-leader-as-strike-vote-looms   
• https://www.healtheuropa.com/new-health-social-care-plan-set-by-nhs/118193/   
• https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/11/nhs-is-over-the-precipice-warns-nurses-leader-as-strike-vote-looms   
• https://news.sky.com/story/cost-of-living-crisis-nurses-leaving-for-better-paid-jobs-in-shops-because-they-cant-afford-to-work-for-nhs-12707742#:~:text=NHS%20staff%20are%20leaving%20for,staff%20leaving%20for%20other%20sectors  
• https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/06/nurses-across-uk-to-vote-in-first-ever-rcn-strike-ballot-over-pay    
• https://news.sky.com/story/historic-moment-in-alzheimers-treatment-as-trial-drug-found-to-slow-cognitive-decline-12706978   
• https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eisai-says-alzheimers-drug-succeeds-slowing-cognitive-decline-2022-09-27/   
• https://pharmaphorum.com/news/getting-approval-will-only-be-the-first-challenge-facing-lecanemab/   
•  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63012180   
• https://www.who.int/health-topics/air-pollution#tab=tab_2  

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at  

1-888-VYNAMIC. 

Mindy McGrath, Healthcare Industry Advisor  

[email protected] 

Oliver May, Director  

[email protected] 

Peter Stevens, Manager 

[email protected]  

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated climate change the top risk to global healthcare. The relationship between climate change and human health is becoming increasingly pronounced as health systems and organisations are responding to public/private sustainability initiatives to mitigate climate risks while advancing the pursuit of health equity. In this episode, Mindy and Ryan are joined by Vynamic’s Steph Ng and Ollie May to help us understand the NHS’s pledge to reach Net Zero emissions and how the healthcare industry can play a leading role in promoting greener business practices. The discussion begins with understanding the definition of Net Zero and how it is relevant to the healthcare industry (1:26). The conversation transitions to explaining the NHS’s carbon emission history and drivers impacting utilisation (3:27) before providing an overview of the system’s Net Zero commitment (6:50) and how waste factors into these plans (10:30). The team discusses the progress to-date since the NHS published their strategies (11:35) and the impact COVID-19 has had on their plans (15:49). The U.S. Net Zero practices are also discussed (19:05) before the team wraps up by weighing the benefits and challenges of these initiatives overall (21:45).  

Podcast Tags: healthcare, healthcare news, Net Zero, Climate Change, NHS, COVID-19, health outcomes  

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at 1-888-VYNAMIC. 

List of Sources:  

• https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2022/07/B1728-delivering-a-net-zero-nhs-july-2022.pdf  
• https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/a-net-zero-nhs/  
• https://www.england.nhs.uk/2020/10/nhs-becomes-the-worlds-national-health-system-to-commit-to-become-carbon-net-zero-backed-by-clear-deliverables-and-milestones/ 

Mindy McGrath, Healthcare Industry Advisor  

[email protected] 

Ryan Hummel, Executive and Head of Provider Sector 

[email protected] 

Steph Ng, Manager  

[email protected] 

Oliver May, Director  

[email protected] 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated climate change the top risk to global healthcare. The relationship between climate change and human health is becoming increasingly pronounced as health systems and organisations are responding to public/private sustainability initiatives to mitigate climate risks while advancing the pursuit of health equity. In this episode, Mindy and Ryan are joined by Vynamic’s Ollie May to help us understand the NHS’s pledge to reach Net Zero emissions and how the healthcare industry can play a leading role in promoting greener business practices. The discussion begins with understanding the definition of Net Zero and how it is relevant to the healthcare industry (1:26). The conversation transitions to explaining the NHS’s carbon emission history and drivers impacting utilisation (3:27) before providing an overview of the system’s Net Zero commitment (6:50) and how waste factors into these plans (10:30). The team discusses the progress to-date since the NHS published their strategies (11:35) and the impact COVID-19 has had on their plans (15:49). The U.S. Net Zero practices are also discussed (19:05) before the team wraps up by weighing the benefits and challenges of these initiatives overall (21:45).

Podcast Tags: healthcare, healthcare news, Net Zero, Climate Change, NHS, COVID-19, health outcomes

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at 1-888-VYNAMIC.

List of Sources:

• https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2022/07/B1728-delivering-a-net-zero-nhs-july-2022.pdf
• https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/a-net-zero-nhs/
• https://www.england.nhs.uk/2020/10/nhs-becomes-the-worlds-national-health-system-to-commit-to-become-carbon-net-zero-backed-by-clear-deliverables-and-milestones/

Mindy McGrath, Healthcare Industry Advisor

[email protected]

Ryan Hummel, Executive and Head of Provider Sector

[email protected]

Oliver May, Director

[email protected]

Digital solutions have been a cornerstone of the healthcare industry for some time. In this episode, Mindy is joined by Vynamic’s Head of Healthcare Technology Sector, Mary Virzi, and special guest from Lifeguard Health Networks, Al Strohmetz, to discuss the interesting evolution, opportunities, and challenges in the digital health space. The discussion begins introducing Al Strohmetz and Lifeguard Health Network (0:40), then shifts to how digital health has changed over the last 10 years (2:47). Before diving deeply into these trends, Mindy, Mary, and Al discuss and define the meaning of digital health across different sectors (6:08). The conversation transitions to how COVID-19 has accelerated innovation and the adoption of telemedicine (8:00). Given this impact, it is discussed how the digital health space has become crowded and ways for companies to differentiate themselves for various audiences (10:50) while managing through some key market challenges (13:02). The team emphasizes the importance of patient engagement (17:40) and interoperability (20:43) in the success of these digital health products. The reality of how often providers are utilizing these tools in their practices (22:00) and what could help facilitate the adoption of digital offerings going forward (25:30) are discussed. At the end, the team identifies considerations for bringing a new digital health product into the market and what gaps these digital solutions can aim to address (30:15).

Podcast Tags: healthcare, healthcare news, digital health, COVID-19, health outcomes

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at 1-888-VYNAMIC.

Mindy McGrath, Healthcare Industry Advisor

[email protected]

Mary Virzi, Head of Healthcare Technology

[email protected]

Al Strohmetz, Digital Health Executive at Lifeguard Health Network

[email protected]

As the cost to bring new therapeutics to the market continues to soar, it is more important than ever for Life Sciences companies to develop robust Market Access strategies. Mindy & Ryan are joined by Vynamic’s Raina Dhir and Maggie Gorman to discuss the criticality of Market Access in ensuring successful drug launches and how Life Sciences organizations can ensure they avoid pitfalls and are set up for success. There are many forces disrupting the Life Sciences marketplace that have led to increased complexities around bringing new drugs to market. Payors and Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers have undergone a period of marketplace consolidation, changing the structure of payments and formulary negotiations. We’ve also seen the emergence of larger ‘payviders’ – or integrated provider and payor groups - where the stakeholder is uniformly focused on cost-effectiveness. These payviders have rolled out prohibitive utilization management programs to curb spending on new therapeutics. Compounding this scrutiny on pricing is the increasing cost of specialty drugs as well as cell- and gene-therapies. All these factors clearly spell out the need for Life Sciences organizations to put a greater emphasis on the Market Access function (04:30). Planning needs to happen early and teams need to form robust yet agile strategic approaches to navigate the ever-shifting landscape (12:43). Most critically, the Market Access function needs to have cross-functional visibility and authority to help guide the strategic direction of new product launches (16:41).

Podcast Tags: healthcare, market access, product launch, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, biotech, payors, providers, utilization management, cost-effectiveness

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at 1-888-VYNAMIC.

Raina Dhir, Vynamic Director

[email protected]

Maggie Gorman, Vynamic Manager

[email protected]

Mindy McGrath, Healthcare Industry Advisor

[email protected]

Ryan Hummel, Executive and Head of Provider Sector

[email protected]

In this minisode, Mindy and Ryan examine recent newsworthy items, including CVS Health’s announcement of winning the bid to acquire Signify Health (0:38), Walmart enlisting UnitedHealth Group in a value-based care partnership (4:44), the overall impact of these big retail healthcare clinics expanding their presence in primary care through strategic partnerships and planned acquisitions (6:25), and DHS reversing the ‘public charge’ immigration health care rule previously set under the Trump administration (10:48).

Podcast Tags: healthcare, healthcare news, public health, providers, Medicaid, primary care

Source Links:

· https://www.cvshealth.com/news-and-insights/press-releases/cvs-health-to-acquire-signify-health 

· https://www.chiefhealthcareexecutive.com/view/cvs-health-s-plan-to-buy-signify-health-shows-care-is-moving-to-the-home-analysts-say 

· https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/retail/cvs-wins-bidding-war-signify-health-will-acquire-company-8b-deal 

· https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/walmart-enlists-unitedhealth-group-10-year-value-based-care-partnership 

· https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/walmart-health-unitedhealth-deal-medicare-advantage-virtual-care/631292/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202022-09-07%20Healthcare%20Dive%20%5Bissue:44349%5D&utm_term=Healthcare%20Dive 

· https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/dhs-reverses-trump-era-public-charge-immigration-healthcare-rule 

· https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/regulatory/healthcare-industry-groups-warn-final-public-charge-rule-could-impact-immigrant-health 

· https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/08/trump-public-charge-rule-immigrants-biden-00055505 

· https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3633774-dhs-unwinds-trump-era-public-charge-restrictions/  

· https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/cleveland-clinic-reports-1b-loss-in-first-half-of-this-year.html 

· https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/cleveland-clinic-reports-283m-loss-deferred-care-and-high-expenses-q1-2022 

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at 1-888-VYNAMIC.

Mindy McGrath, Healthcare Industry Advisor

[email protected]

Ryan Hummel, Executive and Head of Provider Sector

[email protected]