Health Care Rounds

The VA is one of the largest integrated health systems in the country, but it operates unlike anything in the private sector. What can pharmacy leaders and health system executives learn from an organization that has embedded pharmacists into clinical care for decades, given them prescriptive privileges, and built virtual urgent care teams from the ground up?  Dr. Eric Scott, Former Chief of Pharmacy, US Department of Veterans Affairs, joins Health Care Rounds to discuss what makes the VA uniquely positioned to innovate, how the evolving role of pharmacists challenges private sector norms, and what a mission-driven health system looks like from the inside.  ================================================ 

Physician leadership can make or break a health system. What does it really take to earn doctors’ trust and move an organization forward?  Dr. Jonathan Stallkamp, Chief Medical Officer of Main Line Health, joins host John Marchica to discuss building physician engagement, developing future clinical leaders, and strengthening culture inside a complex health system.   ================================================   

Regional health leaders are being asked to do the impossible right now: deliver on systemwide strategy while staying deeply responsive to the realities on the ground. In rural markets especially, the pressures around access, staffing, and infrastructure are forcing health systems to rethink what “care delivery” looks like in practice. Natalie Baggio, President, Corewell Health South joins Health Care Rounds host John Marchica, CEO of Darwin Research Group, to discuss balancing local priorities with system strategy, strengthening workforce pipelines to improve retention and reduce burnout, and expanding access through partnerships and new care models. ================================================ 

Independent community health systems are under increasing pressure as health care continues to consolidate. What does it really take to remain independent while continuing to deliver high-quality care at scale? Dr. Allen Smith, President & CEO, and Dr. Sam Ash, CIO of South Shore Health join Health Care Rounds host John Marchica, to discuss maintaining independence as a community health system, building connected infrastructure across care settings, and approaching technology adoption with discipline and purpose. ================================================ 

We’re ringing in 2026 with Mark Cuban!  Prescription pricing remains one of the most opaque and frustrating parts of the health care system, leaving employers, providers, and patients struggling to understand where costs come from and who truly benefits.  Mark Cuban joins Health Care Rounds to talk about why prescription pricing became so complex, how a lack of transparency drives higher costs, and how his company Cost Plus Drugs is stripping away unnecessary layers and markups to deliver simpler, more predictable pricing built on trust.================================================ 

Health systems are facing unprecedented pressure as physician burnout, workforce shortages, population growth, and rapid technology adoption collide. Leaders are being asked to improve care quality, support clinicians, and transform delivery models all at once.Dr. Sowmya Viswanathan, Chief Physician Executive at BayCare Health System, joins Health Care Rounds podcast to discuss physician engagement and burnout, BayCare’s shift toward academic medicine, how technology and AI can restore joy in practice, and why flexible physician alignment models are critical for the future of care.================================================ 

Primary care sits at the center of American health care, yet clinicians face mounting burnout, shrinking margins, and a system that often rewards procedures over prevention. With physician shortages growing and patient needs rising, the future of primary care is at a crossroads. Dr. Greg Whisman, Chief Medical Officer at CareMore Health, joins Health Care Rounds to discuss the pressures driving the primary care crisis, why reimbursement and workforce models need a reset, and how team-based care, tech enablement, and value-based strategies can restore sustainability and meaning to frontline medicine.================================================ 

Behind every headline about rising premiums is a deeper truth: our health care system is structurally unsustainable. In this episode of Health Care Rounds Podcast, former US Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Dr. David Shulkin, explains why real reform requires more than subsidies and payment tweaks. We cover everything from misaligned incentives to lessons from the VA’s population-based model and what it’ll take to actually fix U.S. health care.================================================ 

Specialty pharmacy plays a critical role in patient outcomes, but health systems often struggle to manage operations effectively while maintaining continuity of care. In this episode of Health Care Rounds, host John Marchica talks with Jigar Thakkar, PharmD, CEO of Longitude Rx, about how his company is helping leading health systems reimagine specialty pharmacy through technology, data integration, and partnership.================================================ 

Across the country, health systems are chasing the promise of value-based care, but few have figured out how to make it work. David Carmouche, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at Lumeris, joins host John Marchica to discuss what it really takes to make value-based care work at scale. ================================================ 

Burnout among health care workers remains a critical issue years after the height of COVID-19. In this episode of Health Care Rounds, Dr. Adele Webb, Executive Dean of Healthcare Initiatives at Strategic Education, Inc. shares insights from a national survey of health care workers, revealing what’s really driving nursing burnout and how education can help retain talent.================================================ 

What does it take to lead 100,000 health care workers through constant disruption? In this episode of Health Care Rounds, host John Marchica sits down with John D’Angelo, MD, FACEP, President & CEO of Northwell Health, to discuss his journey from physician to chief executive. Dr. D'Angelo shares critical lessons learned from managing COVID-19 surges, his vision for maintaining organizational culture across 100,000 employees, and where he sees the greatest opportunities in healthcare delivery. ================================================ 

Insurance denials are exploding, and they’re costing lives. In this episode of Health Care Rounds, host John Marchica sits down with Neal Shah, CEO of CareYaya and Counterforce Health, to unpack the broken insurance system and the AI-driven surge in claim rejections. Neal shares how his personal caregiving experiences shaped his mission, why most patients never appeal, and how new tools can help level the playing field for families, physicians, and hospitals.  ================================================ 

Why do people trust Google and TikTok more than their doctors?Dr. Geeta Nayyar, MD, MBA, the author of Dead Wrong: Diagnosing and Treating Healthcare's Misinformation Illness, joins the show to break down how misinformation spreads, why patient trust continues to decline, and what health leaders must do to lead the cure.  ================================================  

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) play a pivotal role in drug pricing, yet their practices often remain shrouded in a black box of rebates, spread pricing, and misaligned incentives. In this installment of our Pharma Series, Alan Pannier, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy at SmithRx, breaks down how legacy PBMs use opaque contracts and vertical integration to drive up costs, why employers are beginning to push back, and how transparent, cost-based models are reshaping the future of pharmacy benefits.

Specialty pharmacy is big business. And while PBMs and big pharma dominate the spotlight, health systems are quietly carving out their own advantage. In this episode of Health Care Rounds, host, John Marchica, sits down with Tim Affeldt, PharmD, Vice President, Specialty/Infusion Operations, Fairview Pharmacy Services, to unpack why health systems don’t just belong in specialty pharmacy - they may be unqiuely positioned to lead it. From tighter care integration and faster clinical decisions to improved outcomes and patient experience, Dr. Affeldt lays out a clear case: when pharmacists are embedded in the care team, everyone benefits, except the status quo.

What happens when state health policymakers lose access to the very data they rely on?In this episode of Health Care Rounds, John Marchica talks with David C. Radley, Ph.D., M.P.H., Director of Data and Analytics at The Center for Evidence-Based Policy and Senior Scientist at the Commonwealth Fund. They explore how states use administrative data to make informed Medicaid decisions, and why recent threats to public data infrastructure could undermine that progress.Dr. Radley breaks down how his team turns raw data into actionable insights, how states are planning for the financial impact of high-cost therapies, and why cutting long-standing federal data sets could cripple efforts to address health disparities.   CONNECT WITH US:

Value-based care isn’t a new idea—but making it work in today’s fragmented system is anything but simple. In this episode of Health Care Rounds, John Marchica talks with Dr. Tom Yackel, Chief Clinical Excellence Officer at CenterWell Senior Primary Care, about what it really takes to deliver high-quality, cost-effective care to Medicare patients.Dr. Yackel shares insights from his decades-long career in primary care, informatics, and practice leadership, explaining how CenterWell is scaling value-based care models in communities that need it most. From the business realities of Medicare Advantage to why primary care must be run like a business, not a charity, this is a frank and timely conversation about the future of senior care.

Value-based care is more than just a buzzword - it’s a fundamental shift in how we measure success in health care. In this episode of Health Care Rounds, John Marchica sits down with Dr. Trafford Crump, Associate Professor at McGill University, to discuss how patient-reported outcomes (PROs) can help us better understand the value of care from the patient’s perspective. Trafford explains where PROs fit into clinical trials, delivery systems, and the broader goals of value-based care and why measuring what actually matters to patients is harder (and more important) than it looks.  

In another installment of our Pharma Series,  we're joined by Dr. Tyson Frodin, Assistant Vice President of Pharmacy at MultiCare, to explore the evolving role of pharmacy in health care. Tyson shares insights from his diverse career path - from his early experience in telehealth on a Navajo reservation, to leading pharmacy initiatives at a top health system in the Pacific Northwest. They dive into the challenges of critical access hospitals, the importance of innovation in pharmacy, and how MultiCare is leveraging technology to improve patient care.