Listen now to uncover how Medicare Advantage plans can create costly barriers through restrictive networks, prior authorization, drug formularies and opaque coverage rules — and learn how your practice can protect patient access before, during and after the sale.

In this episode of Working Healthcare, host Meredith Hirsh speaks with healthcare compliance and reimbursement expert Stephanie Allard of Stephanie Allard Consulting about Medicare Advantage, Original Medicare, Medigap, claim denials and the rules that shape access to care.

Stephanie explains why low premiums and attractive extras like dental, vision, gym memberships or grocery benefits should not be the only factors driving a coverage decision. Listeners will learn what to review before enrolling, including provider networks, specialist access, prescription drug formularies, prior-authorization requirements, coverage limitations and appeal options.

The conversation also explores the challenges medical practices face when working with payers. Stephanie draws on her experience in coding, billing, audits and payer investigations to discuss downcoding, bundled services, changing payer policies, payment clawbacks and denial patterns. She shares practical insight on protecting practice revenue while maintaining compliance.

Press play for practical guidance on evaluating Medicare coverage, asking smarter questions and advocating for the care you or your loved one needs before accepting a plan’s promises—or a payer’s denial.

Contact Stephanie:
Website: stephanieallardconsulting.com
Facebook: Stephanie Allard Consulting, LLC
LinkedIn: @stephanie-allard-cpc-cema-rhit
YouTube: @stephanieallardconsultingllc

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
Instagram: @workinghealthcare
Facebook: WorkingHealthcare
LinkedIn: @meredithfhirsh
YouTube: @WorkingHealthcare

Listen to a doctor’s passionate case for protecting the physician-patient relationship and keeping care centered on people—not metrics, corporate targets or insurance barriers.

On this episode of Working Healthcare, host Meredith Hirsh speaks with Dr. Kayvan Amini—an independent cardiologist, physician advocate and leader in organized medicine—about the forces reshaping American healthcare and what is at stake when physicians lose autonomy.

Kayvan shares why independent medicine matters and why doctors need a meaningful voice in healthcare leadership. He discusses the pressures facing private practices, including physician burnout, workforce shortages, administrative demands and the growing movement toward employed care models.

The conversation also explores how healthcare organizations can better support and retain women physicians through more flexible workplace structures, creative practice models, and leadership opportunities that recognize the realities of rigorous training and family responsibilities.

Kayvan’s commitment to service and resilience is rooted in his personal story. After political exile disrupted his family’s life, he rebuilt from the ground up—an experience that strengthened his belief in independence, public service and building a medical practice around patients’ individual needs.

Press play for an honest conversation about compassionate care, physician leadership and the changes needed to preserve the human connection at the heart of medicine.

Contact Dr. Amini:
LinkedIn: @Kayvan Amini, DO, FACC

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
Instagram: @workinghealthcare
Facebook: WorkingHealthcare
LinkedIn: @meredithfhirsh
YouTube: @WorkingHealthcare

Shelly Starks knows the raw isolation that comes when healthcare leaves a patient with life-altering questions and no clear path forward. A breast cancer diagnosis in her 20s. More than 30 surgeries. Surgical menopause with little guidance and even less support.

Today, she sits on the other side of the system, helping employers, carriers and brokers shape benefit strategies that influence access, premiums and patient choices.

On this episode of Working Healthcare, host Meredith Hirsh sits down with Shelly for a candid, high-energy conversation about the hidden structure behind employer-sponsored health insurance. Shelly breaks down the maze of carriers, third-party administrators, managing general agencies, brokers and benefit plans that stands between an employee and care.

She explains why employers often select from limited options, why brokers may not know every available product and why rising premiums place intense pressure on both businesses and families. Shelly also translates Section 125 plans into plain English and explores how pre-tax benefits can help employees stretch healthcare dollars.

Then the conversation turns personal. Shelly shares the struggle to find menopause support after a radical hysterectomy, the frustration of being told she would simply “be fine” and the fierce drive that pushed her to search for better answers.

The healthcare system does not need another Band-Aid. It needs leaders who ask harder questions, demand better options and refuse to accept confusion as the cost of care.

Press play if you lead a business, manage benefits, work in healthcare or want to understand who makes the decisions behind your health insurance card.

Contact Shelly:
Website: inlineconsultingservices.com
Instagram: @shellystarks
Facebook: ShellyStarksICS
LinkedIn: @shelly-starks

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
Instagram: @workinghealthcare
Facebook: WorkingHealthcare
LinkedIn: @meredithfhirsh
YouTube: @WorkingHealthcare

Ann Monis knows how to build under pressure. She worked her way through college, tested out of courses to save tuition and carried that grit into healthcare. Today, she leads a growing behavioral health organization while raising two young sons and navigating life as a clinician, entrepreneur and CEO.

In this episode of Working Healthcare, host Meredith Hirsh sits down with Ann for a candid conversation about leadership, motherhood, mental health and the business realities behind patient care. Ann shares why no MBA or leadership book can prepare someone for a missed payroll, a home-backed line of credit or the lonely decisions that come with leading a healthcare organization.

Together, Meredith and Ann explore the pressure behind scaling behavioral healthcare, where rapid growth can threaten quality and insurance reimbursement fails to keep pace with inflation, labor costs and patient needs. They also tackle the double standard for powerful women, the sacrifice behind career ambition and the importance of building teams around skill rather than ego.

Ann makes one point crystal clear: doctors need the freedom to be doctors again. When reimbursement shrinks, debt rises and administrative burden grows, clinicians struggle and patients pay the price.

Listen in for a bold conversation about grit, leadership and protecting patient care in a strained healthcare system.

Contact Ann:
Website: drann.com
Instagram: @drann____
Facebook: Dr-Ann-Monis
LinkedIn: @ann-monis-mba-psyd

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
Instagram: @workinghealthcare
Facebook: WorkingHealthcare
LinkedIn: @meredithfhirsh
YouTube: @WorkingHealthcare

Listen for clear guidance on perimenopause, menopause and life after menopause—and learn why women deserve support that goes far beyond “just deal with it.” 

In this episode of Working Healthcare, host Meredith Hirsh sits down with Maryon Stewart, a women’s health advocate and menopause expert, to challenge the silence, confusion and dismissal that surround perimenopause, menopause and life after menopause. Maryon brings four decades of experience and a fierce sense of justice to a conversation that reaches far beyond hot flashes.

Meredith shares her own search for answers after early menopause and a family history of breast cancer. Maryon explains why so many women feel blindsided, why credible guidance can feel impossible to find and why a short doctor visit rarely leaves room for the full story. They confront a healthcare system that often sends women home with vague advice, antidepressants or no clear path forward.

The conversation also exposes the high price of inaction. Women lose sleep, confidence, intimacy and momentum at work. Employers lose experienced leaders. Families carry the strain in quiet, painful ways. Yet Maryon offers hope through practical education, nutrition, movement, stress support and research-backed care that treats a woman as a whole person, not a list of symptoms.

This episode asks a vital question: Why does a life stage that affects millions of women still sit at the margins of healthcare?

Press play for a candid, compassionate conversation about menopause, medical blind spots and the urgent need for better support for women at every stage of life.

Contact Maryon:
Instagram: @femmar.hormonal.health
Facebook: @maryonstewart
LinkedIn: @maryon-stewart-bem
YouTube: @askmaryonstewart

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
Instagram: @workinghealthcare
Facebook: WorkingHealthcare
LinkedIn: @meredithfhirsh
YouTube: @WorkingHealthcare

A hospital runs on more than white coats and exam rooms. It runs on hidden workflows, clunky communication and quiet decisions that either protect patients or push them into delays and frustration. In this episode of Working Healthcare, host Meredith Hirsh sits down with Allen Cooper, founder and CEO of ReadyLit, Inc., to explore how smarter operations can heal the system behind the scenes.

Allen enters healthcare as a builder, not a clinician. He looks at outdated processes, fax-driven communication and scattered data and sees an opportunity to modernize back offices so nurses, schedulers and administrators spend less time chasing paperwork and more time supporting care. He explains why leaner, more thoughtful workflows matter in a world where hospitals stay short staffed and demand keeps rising.

Then Meredith hands him a “magic wand” and asks for one big change. Allen does not talk about a new app or a flashy device. He calls for better education for patients so they understand where to go, when to go and how to avoid costly trips to crowded emergency departments. Clear guidance, honest transparency and practical navigation tools could help families find the best value care instead of guessing in the dark.

If you worry about broken processes, overwhelmed staff and patients who feel lost in the maze, press play. Allen Cooper shows how fixing hidden workflows and teaching patients to navigate care can push American healthcare toward a more efficient, humane future.

Contact Allen:
LinkedIn: @allen-c00per

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
Instagram: @workinghealthcare
Facebook: WorkingHealthcare
LinkedIn: @meredithfhirsh
YouTube: @WorkingHealthcare

Tom Campanella steps into Working Healthcare with a lifetime of battle-tested stories from the front lines of policy, payers and patients. He grew up in the inner city, walked into Cleveland City Council in his 20s and decided politics was not for him, yet he still craved real impact. He carried his law degree, CPA license and master’s in economics into healthcare and never looked back, trading campaign slogans for spreadsheets, contracts and community fights over access. Inside Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Ohio he watched managed care rise, hospital “golden years” collapse and payers gradually become the villain in every physician lounge.

Tom shares with host Meredith Hirsh why rural hospital closures should keep city dwellers up at night, how lobbying dollars mute small-town voices and why our blindness to power structures guarantee higher bills and weaker care. He exposes the structural flaws from the 1970s that still affect today’s premiums and deductibles. He also shares the joy of shaping future physicians, hosting a call-in radio show about healthcare history and helping families recognize the pattern hidden behind their medical statements. Tom does not rant; he connects dots and names the players.

If you want to understand what really happens when your local hospital shuts down, why your premiums spike every year or how we might finally tilt American healthcare back toward people instead of profit, you will not want to miss this conversation. Press play on this episode of Working Healthcare and hear Tom Campanella pull back the curtain on the system you live in every single day.

Contact Thomas:
LinkedIn: @thomascampanella

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
Instagram: @workinghealthcare
Facebook: WorkingHealthcare
LinkedIn: @meredithfhirsh
YouTube: @WorkingHealthcare

We are back! During our brief July hiatus, Working Healthcare re-released four foundational episodes that reshaped how we see American healthcare. We now return with a powerful conversation about the people and forces moving care forward.

In this new episode, a little girl watches her parents practice medicine in Cuba, emigrates to Miami and grows into a fifth-generation physician who refuses to accept a health care system that treats some patients as second-class. Today, Dr. Ana Viamonte Ros teaches future doctors, leads care for people experiencing homelessness and still enters every clinic with one powerful question: Who feels invisible here, and why?

Guest Dr. Ana Viamonte Ros of Camillus Health and Florida International University joins host Meredith Hirsh for a conversation that moves from Medicaid to boardrooms to shelter clinics and back again. Together, they examine how “coverage” can fail to equal access, how subtle bias enters exam rooms, hospital corridors and payer policies, and what it takes to put dignity at the center of care.

Dr. Viamonte Ros shares her “platinum rule” for patient care, the moral cost of first-class–coach medicine and the quiet courage required to advocate for patients living in shelters, under bridges or in crowded apartments.

If you teach, train or lead in healthcare—and want a candid, hopeful conversation about fairness, legacy and what it truly means to serve every patient with respect—press play and share this episode with a colleague who still believes medicine can do better.

Contact Ana:
LinkedIn: @ana-viamonte-ros

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
Instagram: @workinghealthcare
Facebook: WorkingHealthcare
LinkedIn: @meredithfhirsh
YouTube: @WorkingHealthcare

When the healthcare system fails kids, classrooms quietly turn into the new emergency rooms. In this re-release of a foundational episode, of Working Healthcare, Meredith Hirsh sits down with Ali Kaufman, founder and CEO of Space of Mind, to explore how education, mental health and family systems collide and how a school can transform into a healing environment instead of another pressure cooker.

Ali shares her journey from a Brandeis student who considers the rabbinate to a young woman who survives trauma, confronts undiagnosed ADHD and learns to treat her “busy brain” as a superpower rather than a flaw. She describes early work in cluttered kitchens, chaotic bedrooms and executive boardrooms, where she coaches families and CEOs through disorganization, anxiety and breakdown in communication. Meredith guides the conversation into the heart of Space of Mind, where Ali designs mental health-centered learning spaces that feel safe, flexible and creative instead of institutional. Ali explains how she trains educators to think like coaches, honors different processing styles and builds routines that support executive function without crushing individuality.

Together they dissect moral injury in schools, the national shortage of child psychiatrists and the reality that many kids now operate in a constant PTSD mode. Ali argues that schools must accept every student as they are, listen more deeply and measure success with simple but radical questions like, “Does your child get out of bed happy?” Meredith and Ali connect the dots between physician burnout, student distress and the erosion of critical thinking in an era of instant answers and digital shortcuts. They offer parents and clinicians practical insight on how to nurture purpose, curiosity and psychological safety even when traditional supports disappear.

If you care about the kids who slip through the cracks between healthcare and education, listen in to this episode of Working Healthcare and share it with a parent, teacher or clinician who wants school to heal rather than harm.

Contact Ali:
Linked In: @alikaufman
Website: findspaceofmind.com

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
Instagram: @workinghealthcare
Facebook: WorkingHealthcare
LinkedIn: @meredithfhirsh
YouTube: @WorkingHealthcare

Physician burnout rises, administrative burdens pile up and private equity money floods into healthcare, but most doctors still ask one urgent question: “What are my real options?” In this re-release of a foundational episode of Working Healthcare, Meredith Hirsh sits down with Justin Hand, founder and managing director of Westcove Partners, to map those options with clear, pragmatic detail and a sharp eye for legacy.

Justin opens with the staggering scale of global healthcare private equity and explains why low- and middle-market practices draw such intense investor interest. He breaks down platform practices, bolt-ons and strategic acquirers, then shows how each path reshapes a physician’s autonomy, income and succession plan. Meredith pushes on the real-world pressure points, from ASC decisions and hospital affiliations to growing physician and administrator burnout, and Justin responds with candid stories from more than 90 healthcare transactions.

Together they explore “income repair,” MSO structures and equity rollover, translating finance jargon into concrete examples that matter to clinic owners who juggle payroll and patient care every day. Justin contrasts physician-owned success stories with groups that seek private equity partners to resolve friction, expand recruiting or survive in markets dominated by MA plans and hospital systems. The conversation returns again to legacy, as Meredith and Justin weigh the value of independence against the reality of shrinking margins and the responsibility to keep practices open for patients and staff.

If you lead a medical practice or advise one and you want a clear, narrative guide through private equity, MSOs and succession planning in today’s healthcare economy, listen in to this episode of Working Healthcare and share it with a colleague who wrestles with the same decisions.

Contact Justin:
LinkedIn: @justinhand

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
Instagram: @workinghealthcare
Facebook: WorkingHealthcare
LinkedIn: @meredithfhirsh
YouTube: @WorkingHealthcare