The 229 Podcast

February 5, 2026: Jennifer Goldman, VP, CMIO, and Chief of Primary Care at Memorial Healthcare System, reveals why most patient access initiatives fail before they start. The problem isn't technology; it's template management, physician engagement, and clinical escalation workflows that non-clinical call centers can't navigate. Jennifer shares how Memorial added 10,000 same-day access visits by standardizing primary care templates and creating bi-directional governance forums. But the real challenge? Specialty care operates differently, requiring clinical escalation tools and trust-building between operations teams and centralized scheduling. This conversation exposes the hidden operational complexities that determine whether access innovation succeeds or becomes another failed IT project.
Golf Tournament Registration: https://carahevents.carahsoft.com/Event/Details/686801-ThisWeekHealth
Key Points:
01:07 Challenges in Patient Access
05:28 The Evolving Role of the CMIO
06:57 Success Stories and Innovations

X: This Week Health
LinkedIn: This Week Health
Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

February 4, 2026: Mark Scruggs, President and COO of SureTest, reveals why healthcare organizations are achieving 80% reductions in testing time and why renewal rates are unprecedented. Mark discusses how automated testing for EHR upgrades and implementations delivers ROI within six to nine months, eliminates over 20,000 hours of manual work annually, and has created what KLAS calls the only true turnkey managed testing service in healthcare. From Epic and Cerner to UKG and ERP systems, discover why organizations that automate testing never want their old processes back.
Golf Tournament Registration: https://carahevents.carahsoft.com/Event/Details/686801-ThisWeekHealth
Key Points:
02:23 ROI and Client Success Stories
06:10 AI in Healthcare Testing
08:15 Wine Talk and Personal Stories

X: This Week Health
LinkedIn: This Week Health
Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

February 2, 2026: Are health systems being sidelined from healthcare's innovation revolution? Jason Rose, CEO of Clearsense, joins This Week Health fresh from the J.P. Morgan Conference to challenge the narrative that providers are absent from innovation discussions. Jason reveals what really happened inside JPM's exclusive health system presentations, from CEOs prioritizing AI transformation to CFOs rising as the new power players driving technology strategy. The conversation explores why app rationalization remains the unglamorous financial lever that unlocks innovation budgets, and why simplification might be healthcare's most underrated competitive advantage in 2026.
Golf Tournament Registration: https://carahevents.carahsoft.com/Event/Details/686801-ThisWeekHealth
Key Points:
02:20 JPM Conference Insights
07:07 CEO and CFO Perspectives
13:54 Application Rationalization Challenges
22:40 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

X: This Week Health
LinkedIn: This Week Health
Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

January 29, 2026: Reid Stephan, VP and CIO of St. Luke's Health System, sits down with Sangeet Paul Choudary, author of “Reshuffle: Who Wins When AI Restacks the Knowledge Economy”, to challenge the way leaders look at how AI will affect their workflow. Sangeet reveals how AI doesn't just augment workers—it restructures entire organizational systems and redistributes power. From AI scribes to the lessons of Walmart's barcode revolution, this conversation exposes why task-level optimization misses the point entirely. Healthcare leaders ready to think beyond automation will find a roadmap for reimagining workflows, identities, and competitive landscapes in an AI-native world.
Golf Tournament Registration: https://carahevents.carahsoft.com/Event/Details/686801-ThisWeekHealth
Key Points:
06:46 AI in Healthcare: The AI Scribe Example
10:23 Learning from Other Industries
18:15 Coordination Without Consensus
24:01 Mindset Shifts for Healthcare Leaders

X: This Week Health
LinkedIn: This Week Health
Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

January 26, 2026: Fresh from J.P. Morgan 2026, the This Week Health team joins Zahid Rathore, Senior Partner at Chartis, to dissect healthcare's new reality. With Epic and Microsoft topping CFO spend lists and unpredictability replacing planning cycles, one thing is clear: vendors must prove bankable ROI immediately or lose the deal. The conversation explores how healthcare leaders are protecting the core while navigating AI agents, third-party risks, and the compression of innovation timelines from three-year returns to prove-it-tomorrow expectations.
Key Points:
02:44 Hotel Experience and Healthcare Lessons
04:13 JP Morgan Conference Highlights
16:35 Operational Challenges in Healthcare
22:11 Security Concerns and Future Outlook