Working Healthcare

Kick off 2026 with a clear-eyed, occasionally snarky recap of what shaped healthcare in 2025 and what deserves your attention in 2026. Working Healthcare host Meredith Hirsh sits down again with her lifetime and business partner, Dr. Marc Hirsh, senior physician at The Hirsh Center. The dynamic duo breaks down expiring ACA enhanced subsidies, rising health insurance premiums and what patients may face as coverage gets more expensive and harder to navigate. They dig into physician burnout, healthcare consolidation and vertical integration, declining reimbursements and the administrative burden pulling clinicians away from patient care. They then explain why prior authorization is expanding, how practices are staffing to manage denials and what that means for healthcare access and quality. They close with a 2026 watch list including PBM reform, 340B scrutiny, downcoding battles and copay accumulator programs, because nothing says “new year” like a fresh round of insurance fine print. Hit play to understand what’s driving healthcare today and what to watch next.

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
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Uncover how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) shape which medications patients can access as Meredith Hirsh sits down for an in-studio interview with independent rheumatologist Dr. Robert (Bob) Levin. In this Working Healthcare episode, Bob traces how PBMs gained power. He explains how they steer drug coverage decisions and shows how those choices ripple through exam rooms and infusion suites across the country. He breaks down the rise of alternative payment models, the squeeze on specialty medications and the mounting pressure on independent practices. He also spotlights the push for PBM reform, from Capitol Hill to state legislatures, as advocates challenge opaque pricing and demand transparency. You’ll hear why delinking pharmacy benefit manager profits from drug list prices could lower costs, expand access and improve affordability for millions of patients. Listen now, share this episode and take action for real healthcare change.

Contact Meredith:
Website: meredithhirsh.com
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LinkedIn: @meredithfhirsh
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Step into the ever-changing world of healthcare as host Meredith Hirsh sits down with Lynette Byrnes, a longtime force in rheumatology operations. In this episode of Working Healthcare, Lynette explains how she helps teams tackle the day-to-day pressures of practice life and traces her path from imaging and gynecology to two decades guiding rheumatology practices. From her early involvement with the National Organization of Rheumatology Management (NORM) to helping grow United Rheumatology from a small roundtable into a national voice, Lynette breaks down why independent practices are shouldering heavier administrative burdens and what it takes to stay resilient. She also opens up about balancing motherhood, adapting through constant change and why ending prior authorization is the single move she believes could reshape American healthcare. Get ready for a direct, energizing conversation packed with real-world insight and practical takeaways.

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

“Patient experience” is on every strategic plan, but Herold Figareau treats it like an operating system, not a slogan. In this episode of Working Healthcare, host Meredith Hirsh sits down with Herold, a former hospital concierge turned health system leader and consultant, to show how a hospitality mindset can transform care in hospitals and outpatient practices alike. They dig into hiring for attitude over experience, mentoring frontline staff and redesigning check-in and financial clearance so patients and teams face less friction. Herold reveals what health systems can steal from hotels on communication, expectation setting and service recovery, especially in complex high-volume metropolitan markets. He also explains how transparent financials and smarter scheduling help clinicians protect both margins and morale. We invite you to treat this conversation as your working blueprint for welcoming patients like guests at every touchpoint.

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

Alcohol use is dropping, THC products are exploding and American healthcare is not ready for what comes next. In this episode of Working Healthcare, host Meredith Hirsh talks with her son, fermentation science student and winemaker Dalton Hirsh, about why wine has a long, metabolically familiar place in human history while today’s high potency cannabis poses new risks for brains, bodies and hospital systems. Dalton unpacks how policy loopholes let potent THC products flood the market, what that means for emergency rooms and mental health, and how ordinary voters can use farm bills and local regulation to push for smarter safeguards. Pour a glass and tap into a candid family conversation about cannabis culture, public health and the future of our care system.

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

Explore how the next generation of healthcare leaders is taking shape inside and outside the classroom. Host Meredith Hirsh and Neeraj Puro, director of health administration programs at Florida Atlantic University, dive into academic trends and shifting student expectations. They break down the gap between theory and practice, why internships and mentorships matter and how personality and problem-solving skills influence career paths. Neeraj shares his journey from Mumbai to the United States, compares the Indian and American healthcare systems and explains why independent practices need more attention in health administration programs. Drawing on years of experience in higher education, he tackles artificial intelligence in the classroom, grade inflation and the pressure to keep students engaged in an online world. Listen in to how today’s students are mapping tomorrow’s healthcare landscape.

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

Explore how Tara Gillespie rises from medical assistant to CEO as she leads a 17-location independent dermatology practice while staying connected to patient care. She explains how she manages acquisitions, integrates cultures across rural and metropolitan clinics, and builds scalable operations that keep her organization strong in a challenging reimbursement environment. Learn how Tara normalizes the business side of medicine to strengthen independent practices and share the strategies you can use to support your own team and community.

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

Tap into Working Healthcare as Meredith Hirsh discovers how Karen Ferguson turns patient stories into policy change. After decades running a rheumatology practice and analytics teams, Karen founded Our Stories Rx to collect, structure and aim patient narratives at the right policy windows. She explains how the project gathers stories and why organized evidence, not anecdotes, changes rules on prior authorizations, nonmedical switching and PBM power. And yes, in “retirement” she also teaches tap dance — because rhythm matters when you’re timing reform. Put Karen’s method to work in your clinic to capture facts, shape the narrative and move the rules. Share your story!

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

Former Congressman and OB-GYN Dr. Michael Burgess joins Working Healthcare for a candid conversation about what’s really happening behind the scenes in American healthcare and what it’ll take to fix it. From ACA subsidies and Medicare reform to PBMs, 340B programs and physician-owned hospitals, Dr. Burgess shares insider insight from both the delivery room and the House floor.

He and host Meredith Hirsh dive into how government shutdowns impact care, why health savings accounts (HSAs) and direct primary care models could empower patients and what needs to change to bring costs down without sacrificing access or quality. Dr. Burgess doesn’t hold back as he talks about politics, policy and the future of independent medicine in a system increasingly run by big corporations and red tape.

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

Cut delays on Working Healthcare as host Meredith Hirsh interviews Mallika Khandelwal to expose how prior authorization, pharmacy routing and paperwork stall specialty starts and drain teams. Raised by two physicians and accepted to medical school, Mallika kept deferring before choosing the business side to make a bigger impact. She charts the path from Wall Street to clinic operations and why she founded Squad Health to help specialty practices. Mallika breaks down prescription navigation end to end and shows where faxes, portals and payer-preferred pharmacies trip up starts. With pragmatic tech plus human navigators, she shortens time to therapy, reduces abandonment and eases clinic workload while tackling the $100 billion patients pay out of pocket. Tune in to streamline access, lighten clinic workloads and accelerate therapy starts. Create change!

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