Relentless Health Value
American Healthcare Entrepreneurs and Execs you might want to know. Talking. Relentless Health Value is a weekly interview podcast hosted by Stacey Richter, a healthcare entrepreneur celebrating fifteen years in the business side of healthcare. This show is for leaders in pharma, devices, payers, providers, patient advocacy and healthcare business. It's for health industry innovators, entrepreneurs or wantrepreneurs or intrapreneurs. Relentless Healthcare Value is the show for you if you want to connect with others trying to manage the triple play: to provide healthcare value while being personally and professionally fulfilled.
Episodes
Medicare Advantage 2026: Stabilization, Retrenchment, and a Back-to-Basics Playbook with Betsy Seals
In Episode 510, Stacey Richter interviews Medicare Advantage (MA) consultant Betsy Seals about the 2026 state of MA and its broader impact, including taxpayer value, seniors' access to care, and cost shifting to commercial employers when vertically integrated carriers negotiate MA rates while employers pay higher ASO rates.
Seals d...
In Episode 509 of Relentless Health Value, Stacey Richter interviews former CFO and Aligned Marketplace CEO Patrick Nelli about why executives don't take bolder action on health benefits and offers a seven-step roadmap to align finance teams with non-complacent benefit design.
Key steps include ongoing CFO-benefits engagement, forecasting medical trend accurately at 7.7%+ (two to three points above CPI) as the status-quo baseline,...
Episode 508 is the first Ask Me Anything installment of Relentless Health Value, where Stacey Richter and Lee Lewis (Chief Strategy Officer and GM Medical Solutions at the Health Transformation Alliance and host of Broken Benefits) address a question from benefits procurement leader Sarah Monroe about why executives rarely take bold action on health benefits despite large opportunity.
Lewis describes three false C-suite "dogmas" t...
In this episode of Relentless Health Value, Stacey Richter summarizes 4 core concepts for getting highest-value healthcare and we hear from 15 experts who weigh in on the following concepts:
(1) "Buy healthcare," not insurance, by focusing on unit prices and avoiding administrative extraction like spread pricing and layered fees, illustrated by examples from Jonathan Baran, Cynthia Fisher, Mark Newman, and Justin Leader;
(2) avoi...
Stacey Richter interviews Jerry DiMaso, CEO of Payerset, about how hospital and carrier price transparency data (mandates beginning with hospitals in 2019 and carriers in 2022) is being used by plan sponsors and providers. For self-insured employers and unions, DiMaso highlights three key uses: benchmarking against competitors via EIN to compare negotiated rates and carve-outs, identifying high-cost billing codes, and exposing "dis...
Stacey Richter interviews neurosurgeon Dr. Ahilan Sivaganesan (Dr. Siva) about replacing vague healthcare "value" claims with quantified outcomes and unit-level costs, introducing his Operative Value Index (OVI). They discuss how hospitals often lack true internal episode costs and how common quality metrics miss patient-reported outcomes and appropriateness across the full care journey.
Using time-driven activity-based costing (T...
Why Advanced Primary Care Doesn't Scale: Conflicting Incentives, Complacency, and a 3-Step Roadmap
Stacey Richter interviews Ryan Jacobs (SVP Strategy and Partnerships, Marathon Health) on why evidence-backed advanced primary care (APC)—focused on managing risk, improving outcomes, and lowering costs—still isn't widespread.
They argue APC struggles to scale due to two root barriers: conflicting fiduciary duties (health systems and...
In this Inbetweenisode, Stacey shares listener feedback and reflects on making better decisions in employer-sponsored healthcare, spotlighting LinkedIn posts by Ken Wosczyna and Michelle Bernabe.
Ken argues Relentless Health Value moves from theory to practical transformation by sharpening judgment, which Stacey ties to how millions of workplace decisions shape the healthcare system and how actuaries and executives can align choic...
Episode 503 of Relentless Health Value features Stacey Richter with Adam Stavisky, Dr. Leo Spector (OrthoCarolina), and Ryan Wells (Health Here) discussing how self-insured employers and specialists rarely connect directly due to intermediaries and fee-for-service "rails."
They outline three common pitfalls when bridging this gap: defining and measuring quality and appropriateness (limits of claims data and missing patient-reporte...
Episode 502 features Stacey's conversation with Brian Machut (Alliant Health) on how widespread Medicare fee-for-service fraud is inflating costs and undermining ACO shared savings in MSSP and ACO REACH. ACOs uncovered major urinary catheter fraud in 2023 tied to codes A4352/A4353, totaling about $3.5B, with some beneficiaries billed for items never received (including a case shared by Dr. Tara Lagu).
CMS created a "SAHS" (signifi...
Episode 501 of Relentless Health Value features Stacey Richter interviewing Ivana Krajcinovic, outgoing Vice President of Healthcare Delivery at Unite Here Health, about extreme and persistent price variation for medical infusions as evidence of a "no market" in healthcare. They cite examples where the same chemotherapy drug (Oxaliplatin), long off patent, cost Medicare about $35 (or $185 for a series), an independent practice abou...
The Non-Market Reality of Healthcare Carrier Marketplaces with Dr. Jacob Asher. In this episode of Relentlessly Seeking Value, host Stacey Richter introduces the 'No Market' series focused on the healthcare sector's lack of competitive market dynamics, which affects cost and quality.
The episode features a conversation with Dr. Jacob Asher, who has extensive experience as a Chief Medical Officer at major healthcare plans. They dis...
In the milestone Episode 500 of the 'Relentless Health Value' podcast, Stacey Richter reflects on the significant influence and community formed around the platform. Initiated by a conversation with Cora Opsahl, the episode transforms into a heartfelt ode to the listeners — healthcare entrepreneurs, executives, and change-makers, whom Stacey refers to as 'the tribe.'
Featured contributions from several listeners highlight themes su...
In this episode of Relentless Health Value, host Stacey Richter talks with Dr. Jay Kimmel, an orthopedic surgeon and co-founder of Upswing Health, about the significant costs associated with musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries and conditions for self-insured employers and other plan sponsors.
They explore how a large portion of MSK-related expenses are for low-acuity injuries that often heal on their own without the need for emergency ...
In Episode 498, host Stacey Richter converses with Mark Noel of ClaimInsight about the critical aspects of payment integrity within self-insured employers and plan sponsors, focusing on the arms race with revenue cycle management (RCM).
The discussion reveals three main insights: the substantial impact of small claim errors, the inherent flaws and conflicts within prepayment analysis by TPAs, and the problematic financial incentiv...
In this Take Two episode of Relentlessly Seeking Value, host Stacey Richter speaks with Gary Campbell, CEO of Johnson Health Center, an FQHC in Virginia. The discussion centers around the importance of fiscal discipline in healthcare, especially in federally qualified health centers where there's no opportunity to cost-shift inefficiencies.
This episode also revisits the notable experience and practices of Nikki King, CEO of Allia...
In Episode 497 of Relentless Health Value, Stacey Richter engages in a detailed conversation with Zack Kanter, CEO of Stedi about the complexities and inefficiencies inherent in healthcare transactions and clearinghouses. They discuss how non-standardized processes and legacy systems result in exorbitant costs and delays in claims processing and eligibility checks, which are significantly higher compared to other industries.
Despi...
In this episode of Relentless Health Value, Stacey Richter engages with Mark Newman, CEO and founder of Nomi Health, in a deep dive into the administrative and transactional inefficiencies plaguing the American healthcare system.
The conversation highlights how plan sponsors often spend more than a dollar to purchase healthcare, yet healthcare providers receive only a fraction of that amount due to data fragmentation and varied ac...
In this Part 2 episode of 'Relentlessly Seeking Value,' host Stacey Richter recaps the prominent themes 4 and 5 from 2025. The focus is on two major themes: the lack of transparency in data access leading to overspending and the necessity of shifting from volume-based to value-based purchasing in healthcare.
The discussion includes insights from numerous healthcare professionals and case examples to underscore these vital themes a...
In this 'Inbetweenisode' of the Relentless Health Value podcast, Stacey Richter recaps the major themes covered throughout 2025 in healthcare. In this Part 1, Stacey dives into three critical themes: the necessity of trusted relationships and simplicity, treating primary care as an investment rather than a cost, and the impact of perverse financial incentives and profiteering.
Various experts, including Dr. Kenny Cole, Ann Lewand...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.