E146 Reframing Caregiving: Why the Hidden Workforce Holds the Key to Health Equity with Shara Cohen, JD

In this episode of The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show, host Michael Stamatinos sits down with Shara Cohen, JD, CEO of Carallel, for a candid and deeply resonant conversation about a topic that is far too often overlooked: caregiving.

For more than two decades, Shara has been at the forefront of efforts to redesign how healthcare organizations support people, not just patients, but the often invisible network of caregivers who are instrumental to achieving better health outcomes. Shara brings a unique blend of operational insight and personal mission to her work. Today, she leads Carallel, a company purpose-built to support caregivers with empathy, guidance, and the tools they need to navigate the complexity of healthcare.

This episode is an exploration of what it means to center innovation around real human experiences. It’s a look into why caregivers are not just adjunct players in the system, but rather a hidden workforce that has been overlooked, undervalued, and under-resourced for far too long. Shara argues that caregiving is not just a personal responsibility; it’s a structural force that, if activated intentionally, can move the needle on equity, access, resilience, and ultimately, performance.

Together, Michael and Shara unpack difficult truths: how healthcare often pays lip service to the role of caregivers without meaningfully supporting them, how executives themselves often hide their own caregiving struggles, and how this gap is costing the system more than it realizes...financially, emotionally, and clinically. They discuss how Carallel is building the scaffolding for a different kind of healthcare experience, one where personalized support for caregivers is not a luxury, but an essential layer of care delivery.

Key themes in this episode include:

* The emotional labor of caregiving and why it deserves recognition as a core part of care delivery

* Why patient engagement strategies fall short without addressing the ecosystem surrounding the patient

* How caregivers are the original remote patient monitors—present, attuned, and often the first to notice early signals of decline

* The cultural shift required among health plans and health systems to stop assigning responsibility to caregivers and start enabling them

* The economic rationale for investing in caregiver support—and the missed opportunity for plans and providers who fail to act

* What Shara has learned about leadership, trust, and quiet influence after two decades of impact across startups and global enterprises

Throughout the conversation, Shara’s insights reflect the lived experience of someone who has both built systems and walked beside people struggling to navigate them. Her leadership is grounded, informed by a deep personal mission, and committed to reshaping healthcare in ways that truly matter.

Whether you’re a health plan executive, clinician, caregiver, or someone trying to create change from inside the system, this conversation will challenge you to think differently about what innovation really looks like and who it’s for.

If the conversation resonated, don’t let it end here. Share the episode. Start a dialogue inside your organization. Reach out to someone you know who might be carrying the invisible load of caregiving and ask: How can I help?

Healthcare innovation begins with presence, and presence begins with listening.

To follow Carallel’s work, learn more, or get in touch with Shara and her team, visit www.carallel.com

Connect with Shara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shara-cohen/

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This platform is not just about content; it’s about building a community of leaders committed to access, equity, and meaningful change.

The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show started with the idea of wanting to highlight stories of what healthcare innovation truly looks like in action. Our mission, highlight real people who are really innovating within healthcare. Guests include healthcare entrepreneurs, providers, payers, and professionals from the investment community. We showcase little wins as well as valuable lessons learned from setbacks through these interviews. The real innovators in healthcare are often the ones in the trenches doing the work with razor-sharp focus. We find these innovators and bring their stories to light.

Find out more about how we are building bridges within healthcare. Join our group, Advancing Healthcare Innovation Forum on LinkedIn.