Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

James Mladucky, Vice President of Design and Construction at Indiana University Health, is an architect and planner focused on adaptable, tech-ready healthcare facilities. He talks about designing flexible bays and structural systems for future uses. He explains preparing buildings for AI and connectivity. He outlines strategic, statewide construction priorities to attract specialists and boost research capacity.

A rapid tour of eight urgent healthcare challenges: rising costs, worsening access and quality, and widespread specialist and primary care shortages. Rural care collapse and ER capacity strain get attention. Payer consolidation, administrative waste, and growing concierge tiering are explored. Technology and AI as clinician support rounds out the discussion.

In this episode, Gina Cronin, FACHE, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Children's National Hospital, discusses aligning leaders around a new five year strategy, redesigning roles amid major ERP and EHR transformations, and building resilient workforce capabilities and well being initiatives to support growth in world class pediatric care.

Dr. Rob Bessler, CEO of Honest Health and former emergency physician, champions value-based primary care enablement. Amy Perry, President and CEO of Banner Health, leads a large integrated system focused on access and training. They discuss risk stratification, culture-driven change, aligning clinical care with financial accountability, practical pilots to shift from volume to value, and scaling wins across health systems.

Dennis L. Disch, VP overseeing hospital-based specialties at Advocate Health, led systemwide virtual critical care and workforce redesign. He discusses unifying virtual critical care across 69 hospitals, using teletriage and tele-hospitalist to ease bottlenecks. He covers AI-supported documentation, anesthesia staffing for outpatient shifts, and strategic repurposing of facilities.

Imran Qadeer, President and CEO of Allegheny General Hospital, leads clinical innovation and AI-driven care. He discusses scaling virtual nursing and ambient listening, embedding AI into clinical workflows, strategic priorities for growth and population health, and tackling workforce and financial headwinds. The conversation highlights partnerships and building an AI center of excellence.

Jamie Wiggins, EVP and COO at Arkansas Children's with 30 years in pediatric nursing and leadership. He talks about streamlining access that drove record patient growth. He describes frontline-driven culture change and tech fixes that simplified care. He outlines a five-year plan to boost rural pediatric care and chronic disease hubs, plus progress on a national opioid research center.

Melinda Hancock, EVP and CFO at Sentara Health, is a finance and transformation leader who unites care delivery and health plan functions. She discusses consumer-centered strategy and employee engagement. She explains coordinating hospital, ambulatory and plan outreach to simplify patient contact. She outlines a touchless revenue cycle, responses to Medicaid redetermination, and scaling through tech and partnerships.

Jakob Emerson, Associate News Director and journalist covering payer policy and Medicare Advantage trends. He discusses limited federal direction after the State of the Union. He covers uncertainty around ACA subsidies and a possible sharp drop in exchange enrollment. He breaks down Medicare Advantage exceeding 55% penetration, insurer retreat from markets, and growth in dual special needs and hospital-owned plans.

Shawn Griffin, MD, President and CEO of URAC and former clinical leader in medical information, discusses voluntary accreditation for healthcare AI. He covers why independent standards were needed. He outlines core focus areas like data protection, ethics, clinician oversight. He explains how accreditation speeds safe adoption, shapes vendor selection, and supports ongoing risk management.