Health equity is a hot topic these days. There’s no question that certain populations have better and more frequent access to healthcare – not to mention sometimes dramatic variations in the quality of care. Health inequities drive roughly $320 billion in annual healthcare spending – money that could be better spent elsewhere if we could just figure out a way to address this issue. While there is no silver bullet to addressing health equity, Squire Servance, founder and managing partner at Syridex Bio, is trying to do his part. Syridex Bio is an impact-driven, life sciences-focused firm investing in therapies that address the needs of underserved communities. Squire joins Justin for the final episode of Definitively Speaking to explore the social and economic costs of healthcare disparity, the challenge of developing treatments for underserved groups, and why investing in health equity is both good business sense and just plain good.

Most everyone agrees that basic healthcare is a human right, but having a right to care doesn’t necessarily make it easily accessible or reliable for everyone. Charles Nader, CEO and founder of Doc.com, is on a mission to deliver free basic healthcare to the entire world using a foundational philosophy of access, analytics, and transparency. Charles joins Justin to explain how artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and a business model inspired by brick-and-mortar pharmacies have enabled his company to provide free virtual care consultations to more than 600,000 patients from a platform that can function in any market—all while helping doctors provide the kind of patient-centered care about which they’re passionate.

Hospitals might seem like the quintessential healthcare setting, but only about 11% of care episodes actually occur in these facilities, according to the National Institutes of Health. The other 89% of care is delivered through a complex continuum of outpatient settings that span everything from primary care offices to ambulatory surgery centers to long-term care facilities, just to name a few locations. Brian Drozdowicz, SVP and GM of acute and payor markets at PointClickCare, joins Justin to chat about the technological, legal, and incentive barriers to coordinating value-based care (VBC) across the healthcare ecosystem. Brian draws from more than two decades of leadership experience in healthcare tech to share his perspectives on VBC: how accountable care organizations are using data to improve outcomes at lower cost, why the rest of the industry always seems to be just one year away from activating VBC, and why 2024 may be the year that VBC truly, finally takes off.

Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent on medical research and development each year by large corporations, small start-ups, and university labs around the world. If you’re working in a lab, and you discover a game-changing innovation, it can seem daunting to build a business around it. But it doesn’t have to be—and Dr. Matthew MacEwan, chief science officer and co-founder of Acera Surgical Inc., can tell you how he did it. Dr. MacEwan joins Justin to explain how he and his collaborators transformed years of research in material science into Restrata, an electrospun fiber matrix that aims to revolutionize soft tissue repair. Dr. MacEwan walks us through the journey of building a company out of a university laboratory, the lessons he learned from the patent process, and why navigating through complex clinical standards is a bit like steering the Titanic.

Medical professionals are leaving the industry in droves, and those who remain are burning out over untenable workloads and business pressures. Our doctors are responsible for caring for us. But who’s responsible for caring for them? And why do so many doctors not take the time to take care of themselves? Dr. Gail Gazelle, a physician coach, author, and Harvard assistant professor, joins Justin to explain why healthcare professionals are so prone to burnout and how they can – and must – preserve their mental well-being. Dr. Gazelle discusses the four signs of burnout, the systemic factors that contribute to it, and how mindfulness can help physicians avoid handing over their happiness.

What’s it like being an investor in the healthcare space? It’s a little like dating for a living, if all your dates only want to talk about work and money. Sam Hendler, managing director of business development at Thomas H. Lee Partners, joins Justin to discuss what’s hot—and what’s not—in the world of healthcare investment, from major M&A activity to the growing challenges of interoperability. Learn what investors really look for in their prospects, why healthcare can’t seem to master revenue cycle management, and how working with the government as a private equity firm is kind of like keeping a pet tiger.

Whether you place the blame on wonky demand curves or misaligned incentive structures, there’s no getting around it: the massive U.S. healthcare system just isn’t delivering on its $4.3 trillion investment. Is it time for a medical Manhattan Project? In this special episode, Justin is joined by Jonathan Bush, founder and CEO of Zus Health, and Robert Musslewhite, Definitive Healthcare CEO, to debate the future of the US healthcare system – what’s broken and who has what responsibility to fix it. Justin, Jonathan, and Robert discuss who’s really at-fault – is it the government, the payors, or the healthcare systems themselves? One thing’s for sure: it’s not the patient’s fault – or is it? They debate ideas for aligning payors, providers, employers, and patients. And they discuss the industry’s long, winding, and never-ending road to IT interoperability, and why that interoperability might not be the panacea that so many people think it could be.

It’s tough being an executive at a healthcare delivery network these days. Competition for patients is brutal, doctors are leaving in droves, and insurance companies are squeezing your margins. And by the way, your board wants you to grow your revenues and your profits at the same time. So what’s the magic answer? Well, there isn’t really one, but Bill Moschella has some ideas on what you can do. Bill leverages his experience of building seven successful start-ups for the provider market to expert insights on how to deliver operational excellence amid unprecedented financial and competitive pressures, why it’s more important than ever to lean into innovation, and his no-nonsense formula for succeeding in the dynamic and complex healthcare market.

The American healthcare system is far from perfect—which makes it a pretty perfect environment for entrepreneurs and innovators. But it takes more than an unmet need and some startup capital to find success in a crowded market. Lesley Solomon, venture chair at Redesign Health, joins Justin to talk about the joys and challenges of creating news businesses in the healthcare space. She walks through her successes and failures with startups across the care continuum, defends the value of innovating as an insider, and explains what a venture chair really is—and why it’s a little like herding sheep.

More than 131 million people in the U.S. take a prescription drug every day, but nearly half don’t take their medications as directed. Charles Gellman, CEO and co-founder of HiDO Health, joins Justin to discuss how technologies like AI, RFID, and robotics can help patients and caregivers adhere to complex drug regimens without direct support from a doctor or pharmacist. Charles explains how his company leverages this tech to eliminate barriers to health equity and reduce the 125,000 preventable deaths and $300 billion in preventable care costs associated with medication non-adherence each year.

In the U.S., payors and providers need each other to deliver the highest-quality care at the lowest cost—but they don’t always get along. Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity, joins Justin to discuss the systemic factors driving the misalignment between payors and providers. Russ and Justin discuss how technology and a new perspective might be able to simplify two of biggest points of friction: utilization management and authorization workflow.

On a snowy January day in 2022, Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, director of cardiac xenotransplantation at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, oversaw the first transplantation of a pig heart into a human body. Dr. Mohiuddin joins Justin to discuss this landmark procedure—from the selection of patient David Bennett to the complications that ultimately led to the transplanted heart’s failure 60 days after the successful surgery—and what comes next for this rapidly advancing field.

More than 4.8 billion prescriptions were filled in the U.S. in 2022, and a medical affairs team had a hand in each one—even if the average patient doesn’t know they exist. Steve Casey, managing partner of Omni Healthcare Communications, joins Justin to explain the evolving role of medical affairs and why life science organizations are struggling to find KPIs that accurately measure the impact of their work from drug development through provider and payor education and beyond.

For hospitals and health systems, the lifetime value of a patient is around $1 million. So why are more than half of U.S. hospitals operating with outdated tech that adds friction to the patient experience and increases the likelihood of losing that patient to a different system? David Bennett, CEO of pCare, joins Justin to discuss how technology, amenities, and basic bedside manner all intersect in a patient’s care experience—and what consumers can do to stay informed and navigate the healthcare system more effectively.

Women make up more than half of the U.S. population and over two-thirds of the global healthcare workforce, but within the American healthcare system, they face significantly poorer outcomes than those in other similarly wealthy countries. Jo Lim, SVP of growth and engagement at Babylon, joins Justin and guest contributor Kate Shamsuddin, chief product officer at Definitive Healthcare, to explore how virtual care, artificial intelligence, and value-based reimbursement could help address the care disparities faced by women and improve population health management to make U.S. healthcare more affordable and accessible for everybody.

Drug development is a highly expensive, risky venture for investors and researchers alike. Dr. Sasha Krupnick, chief of thoracic surgery and director of the lung transplant program for the University of Maryland Medical System, joins Justin to discuss why biotech needs more outsider perspectives, government support, and risk-takers to get the next industry-shaking innovation off the ground. Dr. Krupnick explains what led him from surgery to oncological drug discovery, why Big Pharma isn’t healthcare’s big bad, and why you should always bet on the surgeon.

What does it mean to be transgender? Dr. Ben Haseen, an openly transgender author, health advocate, and physician resident at Duke University Health System, joins Justin—and returning colleague Catherine Wright—to dig deep into the science, politics, and cultural factors underlying this deceptively simple question. Dr. Haseen dispels common misconceptions around gender identity and sexuality, outlines the challenges that trans people face when seeking healthcare, and explains how activism through academia means focusing on “the things that we don’t talk about, but we should.”

The American Colleges of Nursing projects a shortage of 230,000 nurses by 2031, a figure that raises concerns for the country’s aging, increasingly sick population. Sean Burke, president of healthcare for Ascend Learning, joins Justin to examine the challenges facing the nursing pipeline—including workforce attrition, lack of professional preparedness, and constraints to educational capacity and access—and explore how providers, academia, and the government can contribute to a much-needed solution.

In the last five years, retail care has grown 200%, giving patients a more accessible and affordable pathway to preventive primary care outside of the traditional practice model. Is specialty care the next frontier for retail medicine? Network Eye CEO Jeremy Kirsch and Executive Chairman Steven Wisch join Justin to discuss how their company is using AI to bring ophthalmology into the retail setting, make diagnosis faster and less expensive, and blaze trails for other specialties in the retail care space.

Why is it easier for a gastrointestinal (GI) specialist to order an endoscopy than schedule a simple consultation with a patient? Dr. Sameer Berry, CMO and co-founder of Oshi Health, joins Justin and new podcast contributor Catherine Wright to examine the current approach to GI care that Dr. Berry calls “flawed to its core.” Dr. Berry shines a light on gastroenterology’s perverse incentives, misinformation, and stigma while sharing the benefits of a virtual-first, multidisciplinary care model that could – and should – deliver more cost savings, better patient outcomes, and even potentially reform the healthcare system itself.