Radio Advisory

The United States spends nearly twice as much per person on healthcare as other wealthy countries, yet US life expectancy was 79 years in 2024, compared with 83 years across peer nations. But the problem isn't simply that the United States spends more. Every healthcare system makes trade-offs among affordability, access, outcomes, choice, and innovation. The question is whether we're honest about the choices we're making and what we're willing to give up. For her final episode of Radio Advisory, Rachel (Rae) Woods takes the conversation live to Advisory Board's Chicago Summit with Aaron Carroll, president and CEO of AcademyHealth, pediatrician, and health services researcher. They use international healthcare systems not as blueprints, but as mirrors for the choices facing US healthcare leaders. They explore why higher spending hasn't consistently delivered better access or outcomes, what the United States has implicitly chosen to prioritize, and how leaders can stop promising everything at once and make the trade-offs inside their own organizations more intentional, transparent, and explainable. We’re here to help: Episode | 310: Finding margin in providers' new policy reality Webinars | Global trends in healthcare, part 1 and Global trends in healthcare, part 2 Webinar | After election day: What's next for healthcare policy? Report | The health plan leader’s framework for clinical cost management Expert Insight | 5 forces driving healthcare's next chapter AcademyHealth | AcademyHealth Healthcare Triage @aaronecarroll.bsky.social — Bluesky Request a demo of Advisory Board Market Intelligence A transcript of this episode as well as more information and resources can be found on RadioAdvisory.advisory.com.

How are OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google shaping healthcare experiences both within and outside the walls of the traditional delivery and payment system? There are hundreds of AI applications for healthcare. But when we look under the hood, they all come back to a small handful of foundational models. These models are not only powering your patients’ healthcare experience with direct-to-consumer tools, like chatbots, they’re powering the AI tools you use to interface with your patients or members, and to run your business. That means these companies may have considerable influence over your organization—whether or not they show up explicitly on your vendor registry. In this episode, host Abby Burns and Advisory Board expert Ty Aderhold explore what this influence looks like in practice, the risks that accompany our collective dependence on a few organizations, and how leaders should think about their own roles in shaping these early innings of AI in healthcare. We’re here to help: Advisory Board research | AI in healthcare: Evaluating promising use cases Expert Insight | 4 insights to create future-ready AI governance in health systems Webinar | AI in clinical care: Challenges and opportunities Episode | 314: Where health plans are placing their AI bets Request a demo of Advisory Board Market Intelligence A transcript of this episode as well as more information and resources can be found on RadioAdvisory.advisory.com.

With a new payment model, CMS may have quietly created the first reimbursement pathway for AI-delivered, value-incentivized behavioral healthcare. Is that a good thing? In this episode, host Abby Burns and Dr. Tristan Gorrindo delve into how the behavioral healthcare landscape in the U.S. has changed with the pandemic-era explosion of virtual BH platforms, and consider what that change has—and has not—achieved. Then they cast their eyes forward and unpack how the new ACCESS Model out of CMS will be a testing ground for behavioral healthcare transformation: technology-delivered care paid for using outcomes-based payment. Dr. Gorrindo, a pediatric psychiatrist, behavioral health researcher, and Chief Medical Officer of evolvedMD, argues that we should be rooting for the success of the ACCESS Model, while simultaneously anticipating and being ready to act on several avenues of unintended consequences. The conversation caters to any healthcare leader with a stake in finding a more effective way to pay for clinical care, and in understanding the early innings of AI-enabled care delivery. In this conversation, Dr. Gorrindo references 9-8-8, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. 988 is “a national hotline offering one-on-one support for mental health, suicide, and substance use-related problems for anyone 24/7.” (SAMHSA.gov) The 988 number has been operational since 2022, and has received nearly 19 million calls. In September 2026 alone, 988 received 536k calls, 163k texts, and 102k chats. We’re here to help: Read Tristan’s JAMA Psychiatry piece | A New CMS Payment Model for AI-Delivered Behavioral Health Care | Health Care Economics, Insurance, Payment | JAMA Psychiatry | JAMA Network Episode | Ep. 260: What does progress in behavioral healthcare look like? Three leaders weigh in Quick Guide | ACCESS: CMMI's tech-enabled chronic care model Expert Insight | Your behavioral health and VBC strategies should work together. Here's why. 2026 Strategic Planner survey A transcript of this episode as well as more information and resources can be found on RadioAdvisory.advisory.com.

Health system margins have recovered from record lows, but the median margin remains just over 1%, leaving organizations with little room for error. Sustainable margin isn't simply the biggest number an organization can generate. It's the ability to reliably fund operations, reinvest in the future, absorb unexpected shocks, and avoid destabilizing cuts. In this episode, host Rae Woods speaks with Advisory Board experts Chelsea Needham and Clare Wirth about why leaders need to stop managing revenue cycle, workforce, operations, and growth as separate priorities and start treating them as an interconnected margin system. They explore the ripple effects of common margin initiatives, the opportunity costs behind strategic decisions, and the questions leaders should ask before approving their next financial improvement effort. Listen to learn how health system executives can build margin that is not only stronger today, but more sustainable over the long term. We’re here to help: Expert Insight | 5 assumptions executives make about revenue cycle (and what to do instead) Expert Insight | 6 strategies to improve your operating margins and financial resilience E-book | 5 Provider Strategies to Help Improve Your Margins | Optum Episode | 303: The hard truths behind the fight for commercial volumes Episode | [Encore] How data savvy strategic planners will define the next era of health system growth 2026 Strategic Planning Survey A transcript of this episode as well as more information and resources can be found on RadioAdvisory.advisory.com.

For years, healthcare leaders have debated whether the industry faces a true physician shortage or simply a physician capacity problem. But as physicians near retirement, workforce fatigue persists, and organizations struggle to recruit providers fast enough to meet growing demand, that debate is taking on new urgency. In this episode, hosts Rae Woods and Abby Burns sit down with Advisory Board expert Daniel Kuzmanovich to revisit a prediction they made nearly a decade ago: that healthcare could avoid a physician shortage if organizations redesigned care delivery and deployed care teams differently. Together, they unpack what has changed in the physician workforce since then, why advanced practice providers may be healthcare's greatest untapped source of clinical capacity, and how leaders should balance workforce strategy, care model redesign, and AI investments as they plan for the future of care delivery. We’re here to help: Expert Insight | 5 ways hospitals can build a more flexible physician workforce Report | Solving the CV clinician shortage without sacrificing margin Research | Provider operations Tool | Clinician Supply Profiler Sponsor link: 2026 Strategic Planning Survey A transcript of this episode as well as more information and resources can be found on RadioAdvisory.advisory.com.