Podnosis

Payers and providers felt the upheaval and instability on the Affordable Care Act exchanges in the first quarter of this year.

Marketplace plans saw significant enrollment declines alongside tier shifts, while providers felt the impact in both volumes and payer mix.

Fierce Healthcare's Dave Muoio and Paige Minemyer sit do...

Fertility services—and conversations about them—are expanding across the U.S. But the sector remains underregulated, expensive and, in some cases, outdated.

These factors are reshaping how Americans seek care, sometimes in ways that may put quality and safety at risk. Where are the biggest gaps? And what would make the system safer?

In this sponsored episode of Podnosis, experts examine how molecular residual disease testing is transforming how clinicians assess recurrence risk in triple-negative breast cancer. Drawing on new data from the NSABP B-59 substudy presented at SABCS and AACR, the discussion highlights how circulating tumor DNA is providing earlier and more precise insight into patient outcomes.

Dr. Priya Rastogi, chief medical officer of the...

Condoms can be purchased almost anywhere, from big retailers to small convenience stores. The same can’t be said for female birth control. One company is trying to change that.

Cadence OTC sells the morning-after pill, a cheaper alternative to Plan B. Recognizing that many communities in the U.S. are pharmacy deserts, the company is pursuing atypical distrib...

Maternal and infant health remains a significant challenge across the country. To support better outcomes for both pregnant women and their babies, industry giant UnitedHealth Group is investing in doulas. Its insurance arm recently expanded a doula support program nationwide in its employer plans. 

In this episode, Fierce Senior Writer Paige Minemyer sits down with Catherine Anderson, senior vice president for health optimiza...

Mike Sciandra grew up around gamblers. It wasn’t long before he became one. He gambled for more than 20 years, declaring bankruptcy twice. He knew he had a problem, but it wasn’t until he entered treatment that he realized it was a gambling addiction.

In today’s episode, you’ll hear Sciandra tell his story to Senior Writer Anastassia Gliad...

Prior authorization is often cited as a major pain point in healthcare—but it doesn’t have to be. In this conversation, Dr. Michelle Gourdine, Chief Medical Officer at CVS Caremark, shares how Caremark is transforming the prior authorization experience through automation, clinical rigor and responsible use of artificial intelligence.

Dr. Gourdine explains why prior authorization remains an important tool for ensuring me...

How many doctors are using AI tools in a healthcare setting? It’s a question everyone wants answered, and one that’s impossible to pin down exactly. But recent data may offer a clue.

Wolters Kluwer, which creates evidence-based clinical decision support tools for physicians, conducted a survey of more than 500 health professionals, finding that 40% ha...

The COVID-19 pandemic spotlighted burnout in healthcare. While not new, the challenge was compounded by the toll of caring for patients on the frontlines. Burnout rates have swelled since then, and addressing them is not simple.

A recent Johnson & Johnson survey of more than 1,500 surgeons across five countries found that half experience burnout, and 43% have...

Rare diseases, defined in the U.S. as conditions affecting fewer than 200,000 people, can take years, if not decades, to diagnose. About 10,000 rare diseases affect 30 million Americans, and half of those patients are children.

What if rare diseases could be identified early and treated proactively before they progress? That is becoming more possible thanks to ad...

In this sponsored episode of Podnosis, CVS Caremark Senior Vice President and Chief Growth Client Success Officer James Margiotta joins host Chris Hayden for an in‑depth look at the rapidly changing pharmacy benefits landscape. Drawing on more than 35 years across payer, PBM, pharmacy and healthcare delivery roles, Margiotta shares what employers and plan sponsors need most in 2026 and beyond: strategic partnership, transparency, a...

Emergency departments are required by law to treat anyone who comes through the door. But the financial model behind that guarantee is under strain. 

In this episode of "Podnosis," Fierce Healthcare and Life Sciences Editor-in-Chief Ayla Ellison talks with Tony Cirillo, M.D., president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, about the business of emergency medicine—who pays, how much, and what happens when the m...

Fierce Healthcare's Fierce 15 is one of our favorite projects each year. Now in its eighth year, the list highlights companies bringing new ideas and innovation to some of healthcare’s most persistent challenges.

In this episode, members of the Fierce Healthcare editorial team discuss the Fierce 15 of 2026 and the trends shaping this year’s honorees&m...

Healthcare earnings season is offering a mixed picture of the industry. 

In the latest episode of "Podnosis," Fierce Healthcare's Dave Muoio and Paige Minemyer break down the highlights from fourth-quarter earnings, where providers signaled growth while payers warned of financial headwinds amid a shifting policy landscape.

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In five to 10 years, a hospital room could look very different. Advocate Health is beginning to build that room of the future today. The concept integrates advanced artificial intelligence capabilities, virtual nursing and audio, video and sensor data for intelligent patient monitoring, creating an extra set of eyes and ears for care teams. Nurses and clinicians can respond more quickly and proact...

Measurement-based care is increasingly referenced in conversations across the behavioral health industry. Providers recognize the value of patient-reported outcomes as a way to track progress.

Yet there are important considerations in doing measurement-based care well.

To understand what those are, Senior Writer Anastassia ...

Dermatology may not be a specialty traditionally associated with high costs, but that is changing, in part because of the rise of new biologic drugs. Specialty medications are rapidly driving up dermatology spending, with some estimates showing utilization growing more than 30% year over year, a pace that rivals other high-cost therapeutic areas.

Could strong he...

Dual-eligible members are often described as the most complex population in health care, and many health plans continue to struggle with how best to support them. In this sponsored episode of Podnosis, Darin Buxbaum, co-founder and CEO of Wider Circle, joins host Chris Hayden to discuss why traditional engagement and enrollment models frequently miss the mark.

Buxbaum explains how a lack of trust, fragmented Medicare and Medicaid a...

The buzz around artificial intelligence in healthcare hasn’t waned, and for major companies to keep up, they must invest in key applications. For the biggest firms, that translates to hundreds of use cases in practice and testing.

At Elevance Health, that work is grounded in a key mantra: keep the member at the center. 

In this episode of "Podnosis," Senior Writer Paige Minemyer sat down with Ratnakar Lavu, chief digital...