Podcasts about CMS

CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings releases details of his settlement with the city and says he will retire at the end of the year. Ardrey Kell parents want more transparency from CMS after the principal is suspended. The Trump administration is suing North Carolina over voter registration records, and the CIAA will not bring its basketball tournaments back to Charlotte.

Join us at the Seven Figure Medicare Agent Summit: https://sevenfiguremedicareagentsummit.com/On this episode of the Seven Figures or Bust podcast, we address the growing trend of non-commissionable Medicare plans and what it means for agents. With major carriers like Aetna, Cigna, and Elevance Health shifting certain Medicare Advantage and Part D plans to non-commissionable status for 2025, agents face new challenges in maintaining their income streams . We delve into strategies for navigating these changes, including diversifying your product offerings and ensuring compliance with CMS guidelines when discussing non-commissionable plansGets Leads from Lead heroes here: https://leadheroes.com/Learn more about getting your own VA with Hire Heroes here: https://app.hireheroes.com/signup?fpr=christian43Join our free private Facebook group for insurance agents: https://www.facebook.com/groups/551409828919739/Welcome to the Christian Brindle channel brought to you by Christian Brindle & Christian Brindle Insurance Services. This channel is here for the sole purpose of bringing training, tips, success stories, and personal development from Christian Brindle. Christian is a published author, hosts the ever popular Everything Medicare Podcast, and made six figures in the Medicare business by the time he was 25 years old.

This week I Give The WordPress Commencement Speech – Class of 2025 [powerpress]

El trabajo de desarrollador especializado en WordPress es dinámico y variado. Depende, obviamente, del tipo de cliente o empresa para la que trabajes pero las emociones están garantizadas porque WP es un CMS alrededor del que no paran de suceder cosas. Tu día a día incluirá tareas como la creación y mantenimiento de sitios web, […] El episodio Episodio 308: Desarrollar para WordPress con Said El Bakkali es un podcast de Un billete a Chattanooga.

Mats Persson discusses how open-source content management can drive digital transformation—and what it takes to create modern web experiences that scale. Mats is CEO of Umbraco, a website builder and CMS for businesses and developers, built on Microsoft's .NET platform and used by over 250,000 people around the world. Prior to Umbraco Mats held leadership roles at PwC, IBM and Adform, among others. Host, Kevin Craine Want to be a guest? https://DigitalTransformationPodcast.net/guest Do you want to be a sponsor? https://www.digitaltransformationpodcast.net/sponsor  

As battery storage continues to scale, the commercial and legal frameworks behind each project are becoming more sophisticated and more critical to long-term success. From merchant risk and revenue sharing to tolling agreements and long-term partnerships, the legal foundations of battery projects are becoming just as important as the technical ones.

What are tolling models and how are they being used to share risk? How are contracts adapting to new market realities, and what should developers and investors look for when structuring battery deals in volatile or policy-driven markets?

In this episode of Transmission, we're joined by Louise Dalton, a partner in the Energy & Infrastructure team at CMS, and one of the UK's leading legal experts on battery storage.In this episode, we cover:Tolling agreements in battery storage: What they are, how they're used, and why they're gaining traction across merchant-heavy markets.Managing risk through contracts: How legal structures are being used to distribute volatility between developers, operators, and offtakers.Market change and contract flexibility: How deals are being designed to respond to evolving market conditions without breaking down.Revenue certainty vs. upside potential: Balancing risk and return in a maturing but still fast-moving storage landscape.The evolution of the legal landscape: How storage contracts have changed over the past decade and what's still missing from many standard structures.About our guest:Louise Dalton is a partner at CMS, an international law firm, where she specialises in energy and infrastructure transactions. She has worked on some of the UK's most high-profile battery storage deals and plays an active role in industry development through initiatives like WiNES (Women in New Energy Storage). For more information on CMS, head to their website.

As battery storage continues to scale, the commercial and legal frameworks behind each project are becoming more sophisticated and more critical to long-term success. From merchant risk and revenue sharing to tolling agreements and long-term partnerships, the legal foundations of battery projects are becoming just as important as the technical ones.

What are tolling models and how are they being used to share risk? How are contracts adapting to new market realities, and what should developers and investors look for when structuring battery deals in volatile or policy-driven markets?

In this episode of Transmission, we're joined by Louise Dalton, a partner in the Energy & Infrastructure team at CMS, and one of the UK's leading legal experts on battery storage.In this episode, we cover:Tolling agreements in battery storage: What they are, how they're used, and why they're gaining traction across merchant-heavy markets.Managing risk through contracts: How legal structures are being used to distribute volatility between developers, operators, and offtakers.Market change and contract flexibility: How deals are being designed to respond to evolving market conditions without breaking down.Revenue certainty vs. upside potential: Balancing risk and return in a maturing but still fast-moving storage landscape.The evolution of the legal landscape: How storage contracts have changed over the past decade and what's still missing from many standard structures.About our guest:

Louise Dalton is a partner at CMS, an international law firm, where she specialises in energy and infrastructure transactions. She has worked on some of the UK's most high-profile battery storage deals and plays an active role in industry development through initiatives like WiNES (Women in New Energy Storage). For more information on CMS, head to their website.

Jochen Schleese of Schleese Saddles joins us to talk about saddle design and fit and Dr. Matt Klotz explains Arthritis in horses and how to treat it. Plus, some weird news, Listen in…HORSES IN THE MORNING Episode 3696 – Show Notes and Links:Hosts: Jamie Jennings of Flyover Farm and Glenn the GeekTitle Sponsor: State Line Tack and Poseidon Animal HealthGuest: Jochen Schleese - Founder, Educator, CMS, CSFT, CSE from Schleese SaddleryGuest: Dr. Matt Klotz, Equine Technical Services Veterinarian of Aurora Pharmaceutical Additional support for this podcast provided by: Daily Dose Equine, Spalding Labs - Code HRN10 to get 10% off, Equine Network and Listeners Like YouTIME STAMPS:06:00 - Daily Whinnies15:30 - Jochen Schleese33:50 - Dr. Matt Klotz50:00 - Weird News

Jochen Schleese of Schleese Saddles joins us to talk about saddle design and fit and Dr. Matt Klotz explains Arthritis in horses and how to treat it. Plus, some weird news, Listen in…HORSES IN THE MORNING Episode 3696 – Show Notes and Links:Hosts: Jamie Jennings of Flyover Farm and Glenn the GeekTitle Sponsor: State Line Tack and Poseidon Animal HealthGuest: Jochen Schleese - Founder, Educator, CMS, CSFT, CSE from Schleese SaddleryGuest: Dr. Matt Klotz, Equine Technical Services Veterinarian of Aurora Pharmaceutical Additional support for this podcast provided by: Daily Dose Equine, Spalding Labs - Code HRN10 to get 10% off, Equine Network and Listeners Like YouTIME STAMPS:06:00 - Daily Whinnies15:30 - Jochen Schleese33:50 - Dr. Matt Klotz50:00 - Weird News

Chuck E. Cheese's Melissa McLeanas joins hosts Damian Fowler and Ilyse Liffreing on The Current Podcast to discuss how Chuck E. Cheese is leveraging its iconic IP for the streaming era, what advertisers are excited about and more. Episode TranscriptPlease note, this transcript  may contain minor inconsistencies compared to the episode audio.Damian Fowler (00:00):I'm Damian FowlerIlyse Liffreing (00:01):And I'm Ilyse Liffreing,Damian Fowler (00:02):And welcome to this edition of The Current Podcast.Ilyse Liffreing (00:09):This week we're thrilled to be joined by Melissa McLeanas, Vice President of Global Media Licensing and Entertainment at Chuck E. Cheese.Damian Fowler (00:18):For people who grew up in the us, Chuck E. Cheese means childhood birthday parties. It's long been a go-to destination for pizza games and the giant mouse that knows every kid's name.Ilyse Liffreing (00:29):In short, it's a pop culture icon with over 500 worldwide venues. But under Melissa's leadership, the brand is leveling up by launching the CEC Media Network in partnership with programmatic platform future. Today,Damian Fowler (00:42):It's a big move that signals a shift from just a physical play space to a full on entertainment platform, think digital storytelling in store screens, branded content and advertising that actually fits into the family experience.Ilyse Liffreing (00:57):We're going to jump in and talk about why in venue media might just be the next big driver of customer loyalty and growth.Damian Fowler (01:07):Chuck E. Cheese is such a nostalgic brand, especially in the United States, but here you are launching a full media network, which is a kind of big new chapter for you. Can you walk us through the vision and the strategy behind the CEC Media network and what is bringing it to life?Melissa McLeanas (01:26):Absolutely. First of all, thank you so much for having me. It is an incredibly exciting time at CEC Entertainment. Then Chuck Cheese, I would say it's a bold new chapter for the company and the Media network is really just a piece of that. The brand has been going through an incredible transformation over the last few years, and really at the heart of that is the vision to establish this brand as a global leader in entertainment. Now, I say that, but it's really reestablished the brand in entertainment. Chuck E. Cheese was born in entertainment. I don't know if you know, but the E in Chuck E. Cheese stands for entertainment. And really when you think back to where we started, we were a leader and really established the category of EAT entertainment. And as that space has evolved and family entertainment centers have really taken that center stage, we've continued to be a leader and an innovator in that space.(02:14):But a few years ago, I would say we probably hit a wall and it was a little bit tired. The bones were good as they would say, but it was really time for a reset and bringing a new leadership team to the forefront with a new background and experience in entertainment. We established several different strategic objectives, one of them being the division that I lead, and that's media licensing and entertainment. So really very simply put, the mission is to really drive incremental value and revenue for the company in a new way. So all US locations, we've invested over 350 million back into the business, a capital investment, and I'm happy to say that right now at this point we've completed the US all US locations, so just under 500, no small feat, and we're about to finish our own Canada locations as well. And what this looks like is cosmetically update to the interior and the exterior, a revamp of menu, all new games, and that entertainment package now features a large video wall. And then of course our character program.Damian Fowler (03:16):That's a lot right there. It's almost like you've had a complete perception shift in terms of what you're doing. It sounds like you are a channel in and of your own right and media channel. You mentioned out of home, but there's also CTV on all those points. This is a kind of multistream content strategy. And could you just talk a little bit more about how that will ultimately reach all of these consumers and how it'll deepen engagement, I guess, for families who go to all these different venues in the US and around the world?Melissa McLeanas (03:50):So yeah, that's a great point. So I guess let me step back and actually talk about what that content looks like. Within our fund centers, we have entertainment programming, let's call it a 90 minute loop, and it consists primarily of entertainment, content, family friendly entertainment content. Of all these initiatives, obviously the first and foremost most important thing for us is to make sure that we're delivering an amazing experience for our guests. And so that content must do that. It has to be relevant for our families, it has to be engaging, and it really has to convey everything that our brand stands for. So that's a mix of our own original content. So I talked about that, the library. And so we continue to create new content and then we pull from our library of content. So we really look for things that are a little young, but it has to be appealing to an older guest.(04:37):At the same time, there can be aspirational content, so maybe some of our 10 year olds and 12 year olds are there with younger siblings, and then you got your parents. So there's a lot of opportunity there. The other thing that digital screens in this update to programming does is it allows us to do regular seasonal updates. And I think that's also really important, especially as we're growing programs like our membership program, our past program, we've got some repeat visitation, we're consistently updating and keeping that fresh throughout the year. Now as part of that, there's a lot of partner opportunities. And so for our entertainment partners, like I said, you can get the latest clips from your newest release for some of the newer content creators. We've got an active captive audience sitting right there paying attention to those screens, and we've created an environment where they're tuning into those screens. And so bringing our characters, since we do all of that content ourselves and working with other content creators to create some co-branded content, there's a lot of different ways for partners to really be a part of that entertainment experience.Ilyse Liffreing (05:38):Now I know it's early days too, but perhaps you can talk about some of those partnerships that you have going on with needy buyers and national advertisers and then how important the media network is to Chuck E. Cheese's broader business evolution.Melissa McLeanas (05:54):Absolutely. I'll actually take that moment to do a quick and talk more specifically on the advertising opportunity. I think a lot of what we're doing with the content and the characters is incredibly exciting, but it's also a really exciting time in the digital out of home and out of home space. So if you look at other venue operators and retailers, they're debuting these owned media networks. And so we've really took a page out of their book and we said, Hey, we've got this updated experience, we have this traffic. How do we really bring this to partners in a big way? And so on the, I would say the tech solutions side, we've had some really strong relationships with Panasonic so that we've got media players in advertising solutions that are going to support the various types of advertisers locally, regionally, nationally. And then we most recently have a relationship with Vista Media, so we were able to integrate their supply side platform directly into that CMS.(06:44):So that gives us access to a wide array of advertisers, and they're coming straight through programmatic, so turnkey solution for those who are buying programmatic space. So we're seeing a lot of advertisers come through there. And then we've got some more strategic relationships in the entertainment space. Kids BOP is one of those. They've been a partner for many, many years. And in addition to some of the entertainment content, they've really leveraged these screens to advertise tours to localize and talk specifically to upcoming tours at a specific venue ahead of that. We've worked with the Harlem Globetrotters to do the same, and then we have a various CPG toy, again, family appropriate, parent appropriate that are really taking advantage of those screens. And then of course we're talking out of home, but I don't want to forget too that we also announced a partnership with Future Today.(07:33):And so in addition to having this opportunity around content in our venues, we also have this content online. So we've had a lot of this on YouTube and YouTube kids. We actually started putting our content there in 2012 and have been doing so in a more meaningful way in the past few years. And with this new relationship with Future Today, a leader in the CTV space, not only are we getting content on their Happy Kids channel and their network alongside the co melons and the Paw trolls, but in the future we're working towards launching our own streaming network. So Chuck E. Cheese branded Fast Channel, so ad supported, but again, leaning into the content and the IP and engaging those guests and those fans and then offering that opportunity to brand safe and family friendly advertisers.Ilyse Liffreing (08:17):I know Chuck E. Cheese has traditionally been mostly about the physical experience before all of this. I remember going there as a kid, my dad brought us there all the time growing up, and obviously that part of the business is not dying down at all. I'm curious how many screens you have at each of the 500 plus venues that will be part of this network.Melissa McLeanas (08:41):So every location has a video wall, and that's going to be the focal point of when you walk into Chuck E. Cheese and it's incredibly important. You really can see that almost anywhere in most locations. Every one of our locations is unique, they're like children. They vary in size and layout, but really that video wall is huge. And then screens and the number of screens is going to depend on that layout and how big the location is. So it can be anywhere from six to 15 to 18 in some of our larger locations. So it's done strategically to make sure that there's visibility no matter where you are. And then audio isn't tied to those screens, so audio is just piped uniformly throughout the entire locations.Ilyse Liffreing (09:21):Besides those giant screens, are there any other ways you guys are blending that physical presence within the new digital touchpoints that you're bringing?Melissa McLeanas (09:30):So like I said, the character program is, I mean the epitome of the live physical experience. And so we really try to find a balance between how we take the digital parts of our brand and our entertainment and balance that with the interactive and the physical. So when the character, when Chucky comes out, whether it be for a birthday or for a dance, there's also supporting content on the screen that really help families follow along, be able to follow and interact with their parents and their friends and all of that. So we want to make sure it's on an interactive dance floor. So there's a lot of different ways to bring that to life. We also just recently launched a STEAM program, and so that is rooted in the media that you see on those screens, but then as part of that curriculum, those kids go off into the game rooms and they're playing with the games and they're doing all the different tasks that they've learned.(10:21):We did that in partnership with stem.org and then just digitally throughout the locations, our menu boards are all digital now. We've done some tremendous and deep upgrades in terms of innovation and technology, so no more tickets, which some people get sad about because that visual of having that bucket of tickets feels so iconic. But etickets are far more efficient for families that are trying to get through the price counter and out the door. So we've got Etic, we've got Play Pass, no more tokens, the menu boards, the games. We're really leaning into digital. It makes us more efficient when we need to make changes. We think about testing menu items in certain local and regional rollouts that's all supported digitally. It's far easier to make those updates on the backside than it is to roll out new point of sale and printed materials. And so we're looking for those digital opportunities throughoutIlyse Liffreing (11:11):Life. Things are certainly changing.Damian Fowler (11:12):They really are. Let's talk a little bit about some of the takeaways from all of these innovations. Now, let's say you're a family, you've been exposed to the video wall and the games room and you go home. How is this exposure being measured across the network, if you like?Melissa McLeanas (11:28):Yes, feedback is everything. We actually have a really active fan base and we do have guests who are reaching out to give us feedback. We have an in-house insights team and we have regular surveys, and then they're asking questions across every element of Chuck E. Cheese because we want to make sure that we're understanding as we update and introduce new exactly what's working, what's not and what can be better and happy to, the screens in the entertainment continues to have a really positive score. A very high guest are seeing it, they're tuning in and they love the entertainment. And so we'll continue to watch that. And when it comes to the advertising campaigns, from a measurement perspective, we're working with companies like Place their AI and an IMP purview to measure the impressions through our door as well as impressions against our screens, both being well-recognized auditors, if you will, in that space.(12:20):We don't sell tickets, so that's important to make sure that when we do these campaigns we can accurately say this is how many folks we're actually exposed to those screens. And then as we continue to work with our partners, and then I think this is something you'll see, especially in the digital out of home space, it's constantly evolving. And so for us it's really important to work with partners on their campaigns and understand those KPIs because we are a unique platform and the guests are engaging with these screens maybe differently than they might and screens out in a different venue. And so we want to make sure that the content that we're delivering, one, again, great guest experience and it's appropriate for our families, but two, it's achieving what our partners are looking to do with these campaigns.Ilyse Liffreing (13:04):So you've spoken about how Chuck E. Cheese as a brand spans generations. How do you ensure that the content and messaging then stay relevant to today's kids while still honoring the brand's legacy from the past?Melissa McLeanas (13:18):It's an amazing gift to have a brand and a character that has touched almost five decades, and that comes with great responsibility first and foremost, at the heart of what we are still, where a kid can be a kid. So as we continue to innovate and evolve for these families, we never lose sight of that. We are a kid first space. So while our content could be developed with co-viewing in mind and there's some Easter eggs that maybe parents will understand, but it's just fun silly songs for kids, we want to make sure that kids still own their space. Chuck E. Cheese is a place for kids. Our parents obviously need to enjoy their space too. And so in addition to how that content comes to life within our fund centers, we take a lot of opportunity to find extensions outside our four walls that pay homage to the rich legacy that this brand has.(14:11):So licensing is an important part of the strategic objective of growing this brand and increasing its value and entertainment. And so we've really grown our license program over the past five years. We've got just over 35 licensees and we've been able to really segment our brand across these decades and offer a classic Chuckie for those who know the OG seventies, eighties, Chuckie with the bowler hat. And we've got our retro Chuckie who's skater and he's the nineties, two thousands, and we offer that up to teen and young adult audiences in various spaces that make sense. We've done a few other things like we've saved our animatronics and in a few different locations, we started that in Northridge, California, wildly successful, lots of feedback there. And so we were able to extend that to four additional stores. And so those animatronics are going to live in those locations.(15:02):They're still fully remodeled, they're still on the media network, they still have all the new, but for fans that want to pilgrimage to see the original band in that format, those are available and we continue to look for opportunities like that. We've announced Chuck Arcade, it's an arcade space that's really geared towards Martine and adult, and there's some really fun touch points. Again, paying ho much to the legacy. And so we want to make sure that, again, our brand is a brand and we're going to take care of those kids and those families, but there's a lot of opportunity to really extend that and talk to the other generations of fans.Ilyse Liffreing (15:36):I certainly appreciate that. I remember Skater, Chuckie, myself, ninetiesMelissa McLeanas (15:41):Chucky, everybody has their Chuckie.Ilyse Liffreing (15:42):Oh yeah. I know it's early days still, but how has the feedback been so far from the brands that you guys are starting to approach about the network? Is there excitement, interest?Melissa McLeanas (15:56):I think a takeaway that is for brands and partners and even a lot of our guests is because just as you said, everyone has their Chuck E. Cheese and this is a brand that has such incredible awareness and strong attachment to a very specific memory and time of when you had your Chuck E. Cheese experience. As we're going through this remodel and introducing the median network, it's a bit of a surprise when they actually go in and they're like, oh my goodness, this is not the Chuck E. Cheese that I used to know. And we hear it from guests and it's why we really lean into reopening events when we remodel a location and then really make a splash in the local community. And I'm hearing that a lot from partners. It's incredibly positive once they see how their brand is coming to life on these screens and we're hosting lunch and learns with agencies, you have to see it to get it because that memory is so strong in so many people and we're doing things so differently. And so it's been really positive and it's been exciting, but it definitely is. It's a space where you've really got to lean in and say, oh, wait a second. You're right. This is incredible.Damian Fowler (17:06):We seem to be in a sort of almost, you mentioned the ip, but we seem to be in a bit of a golden age as it were, of brand storytelling and more and more brands leaning into sort of that owned media channel to tell their stories. How do you see this whole media network fitting into that general trendMelissa McLeanas (17:23):From a brand storytelling perspective? It's funny. We always make this differentiation. Our characters are part of our experience. We never look at them to tell the experience. And so as we debut all of these new channels for our content and open up to a larger audience, we have the opportunity to really dive into these characters, their personalities and invest in telling their story and in a deeper way. And so we've got so much content, but there's so many new formats that we are excited about long form formats, animation, publishing, and so much of that can be supported and come to life on these channels. But when we think about a storytelling opportunity from a character perspective, there's a great path forward to really get these beloved characters out there and to continue to build their world, their ecosystem, and not just in content. How do we take them outside the four walls? How do we create more experiences? We've taken the band out on tour, how do we do that in a bigger way? And I think these channels and this content is the beginning of a much bigger journey for the characters.Damian Fowler (18:31):Yeah, I imagine. Is there a movie in the works?Melissa McLeanas (18:36):No comment. No. In all serious, that's where we're going. That's where we're thinking for these characters. And so while nothing has been announced, I think we've been fairly vocal in the fact that that is what we would like to do and how we are making decisions on content and bringing on partners.Ilyse Liffreing (18:55):It's amazing. Looking even further ahead, if the movie doesn't happen, if the movie does happenMelissa McLeanas (19:03):When the movie happens,Ilyse Liffreing (19:03):When it happens,Melissa McLeanas (19:04):Exactly when the movieIlyse Liffreing (19:06):Happens, I like it. It happens. What else do you see in terms of innovation, whether it's maybe gamified content, augmented reality, personalized experiences, is there anything else that you guys are hoping in the near future to evolve the Chuck E T's experience?Melissa McLeanas (19:26):Gaming is in our DNA. And so I mean we are the largest arcade operator in the world. We buy thousands and thousands of games. We've got 2 billion game plays a year. And so we're always looking and talking to different companies about how we can continue to innovate in that space. And so that's always on our radar. You've seen a change in even some of the games that have come through our doors, things like ar, you need to make sure that it's safe for our young kids, but we're always having those conversations and now that we've got more media driven experiences, there is opportunity to take that to the screens. And with the dance floor personalization, if you think about birthday and how important that is to our brand, personalization is something that we're always looking to do in a bigger way. So from tiering and offering different options to our parents who are booking parties, to giving something personal just to remind or say happy birthday to the kids and how we can do that with our characters and at scale is something that is starting to get more exciting as this technology evolves.Ilyse Liffreing (20:34):Amazing. Let's go into some of rapid fire questions now, some quick fun ones for you. So the first one here is actually about your background. You've held roles across licensing, entertainment and media. What would be one lesson from building these brand partnerships that served you especially well?Melissa McLeanas (20:55):Partnerships can be incredibly powerful and they can serve so many purposes. And I think right now in the industry, you're hearing the word collaboration a lot. And it's refreshing because I also think that if you look back a few decades, it was very rigid of this is the partnership, I need X, you get X, this is how we do it or we don't do it. And I think the openness and the receptiveness across all industries, entertainment, licensing, media of building something that is going to benefit both parties in a bigger way has really changed how a lot of these partnerships have come to life. And for us, and in this journey that we've been in, they've really been a huge benefit to us. And one telling our story, aligning with some of these best in class entertainment brands and putting Chuck E. Cheese in a conversation that frankly people weren't expecting. And as you said, I have been very fortunate to have worked with some amazing partners across my career and bring some of these different programs to life and building them around Chuck E. Cheese has been really fun.Damian Fowler (22:02):What other family or entertainment brand is doing something truly innovative in the media space that inspires you?Melissa McLeanas (22:10):So I'm a theme park nerd, admittedly because of my background, and this almost feels like a cop out, but it has been really exciting to watch Universal grow as a behemoth in this space and even their marketing and from a grassroots perspective of how they've been able to engage their fan base. It's just fun and it's exciting to watch someone in that space grow as they have. But all that said, what I think is even cooler in location-based entertainment is these snackable moments that are kind of emerging outside of these giant theme parks. I think in the beginning it was always like that can only happen if you're paying a high ticket price to go to a Universal or Disney. And now so many of the IP holders and the brands are bringing these really cool experiences to life outside of that, whether it be a mobile tour or a retail experience or maze that's themed for the season. And I think that's really elevating the space and it's giving a lot of us opportunity to activate in these ways that doesn't require a giant theme park build around it. And so I think that the location based entertainment and experiential space in general has been growing and being more creative over the past few years.Ilyse Liffreing (23:22):Do you have a favorite moment from launching the CEC Media network?Melissa McLeanas (23:27):I think something that I could really call out is the feedback from our operators. So when you work for a company that is really the life force is your field and your cast members and your operators on the ground. We've got some cast members and some managers that have been with us for over 30 years and they know this brand and they've been delivering this amazing experience and change is hard. So when this started testing in markets and we got not only good feedback, but outwardly positive feedback and managers were approaching me like, you know what you could do? I'm like, this is fantastic because not only are we updating the entertainment experience, we're delivering on all these new objectives, but we're bringing value to the team that's operating and they see this great opportunity to talk to their guests and to be more efficient. And so that was very satisfying and it made it all the better because they really are the ones that are doing the work on the ground and making sure that this brand is coming to the life in the best of ways.Damian Fowler (24:27):On that point, was there a personal moment that stands out that you've witnessed where the brand genuinely sort of moved you or surprised you in how it was being received?Melissa McLeanas (24:38):So yes, I mentioned this summer concert series, and I'll give you a little bit of context. So during the pandemic, we had to close a lot of locations and as we started to open them, we made the decision to keep Chucky outside the fun centers to our families. That message was that he was recording an album and we didn't realize that he was going to have to record a box set in the end, but when we did get to a place where we were getting comfortable to bring him back to our guests and it wasn't everywhere, we were trying to think of how best to do that. And again, this is still early for me and in my role at Chuck E. Cheese. And so we decided to, for the first time ever, create a fully choreographed scripted show, 30 minute show with our characters, took 'em out on the road, all free concerts, open air outside public parks so all guests could attend no matter where we were in the world in terms of what those restrictions looked like.(25:33):And it was just an amazing team building event. So it's all new music, upbeat, fun, I still have it on my playlist, but we have our birthday song as part of this concert and we do it under the guise of Does anyone have a birthday this year? Which is of course everyone. And if you're familiar with the Chuck E. Cheese birthday song, it's not just Happy Birthday, it's very specific to Chuck E. Cheese. And as it started, every single guest was up and singing along to the lyrics and dancing the food truck vendors, the parents, everybody knew this song. And from a moment that was needed, it was incredible. But from a brand perspective, that's really powerful and that's really something special. And so that really stood out in my mind of like, wow, this is something, we really got something. So that would definitely be it. And if you don't know the birthday song,Ilyse Liffreing (26:25):I do know we can practice it after do birthday song.Damian Fowler (26:28):We should play this podcast out with a birthday song soon.Ilyse Liffreing (26:30):Yes, we should.Damian Fowler (26:32):Well, first off, Melissa was so enthusiastic about this new brand, this new entertainment network that the company's launching. I almost couldn't keep up with the amount of innovation the brand is putting out.Ilyse Liffreing (26:45):So much, so much has happen isDamian Fowler (26:45):Incredible. But I feel like there were a couple of bits there where she almost gave us some news. She talked about Chuck E. Cheese streaming platform potentially on the horizon, and then we sort of joked about this, but Chuck E. Cheese movie. But in an era where IP is everything and we're thinking of Barbie, why not?Ilyse Liffreing (27:05):Yeah, no, there's so much value in it for other advertisers too, when they're building this media network across their 500 plus venues in the US and internationally, that's a lot of screens and advertisers want to be with kids and with their parents especially.Damian Fowler (27:24):Another thought that was interesting to me was the way she talked with the way Melissa talked about the digital out of home and Chuckie, she's venues being almost an extension of that channel that is on the up and up really, and especially when it comes to programmatic media. So that was also something that I found intriguing.Ilyse Liffreing (27:44):It's also nice to know that they're doing a good job of blending their physical footprint with the digital and keeping everything we like about Chuck E. Cheese still alive in some way. Even those who remember the brand from the seventies, eighties, nineties, check that mouse is still there.Damian Fowler (28:05):Yeah, well, I can't say I grew up with it, but I know you did. So it's reassuring that that nostalgia is still alive.Ilyse Liffreing (28:11):And maybe for my birthday next year, are you going to invite me? Yes, Damian, you're invited. Thanks. And that'sDamian Fowler (28:18):It for this edition of the current podcast.Ilyse Liffreing (28:21):This series is produced by Molton Hart. The current podcasts theme is by Love and caliber. The current team includes Kat Vesce and Sydney Cairns.Damian Fowler (28:29):And remember,Melissa McLeanas (28:30):Our characters are part of our experience. We never look at them to tell the experience. I'm Damian and I'm my, we'llIlyse Liffreing (28:38):See you.

What happens when ancient philosophical questions about "the good life" collide with modern healthcare regulations?  In this compelling episode of TCNtalks, host Chris Comeaux welcomes hospice leaders Annette Kiser, Chief Compliance Officer with Teleios, and Judi Lund Person, Principal, Lund Person & Associates LLC,  for a deep dive into the regulatory crossroads facing hospice providers.In this episode,  we discuss the FY 2026 Proposed Rule, which focused on implementing the HOPE initiative, and two RFIs (Requests for Information) that were part of it.  Also, discuss how important it is for us in the hospice field to give CMS feedback via these RFIs.  These will impact the Future Quality Measure Concepts for the Hospice Quality Reporting Program, and CMS is asking for input on three concepts for the  HQRP Hospice Quality Reporting Program:- The Challenges of Interoperability,- The Evolving Quality Measures related to Patient Well-Being - Nutrition, including Safe Eating Habits, Exercise, Nutrition, and Activity  appropriate for end-of-life careLast, they discuss a separate RFI related to the Advanced Digital Quality Measurement (dQM) in the HQRP (Hospice Quality Reporting Program) and the data standards of Health Level Seven® (HL7®) and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®).Annette and Judi have a wealth of experience and knowledge.  This is a great listen for staff, leaders, and Boards of hospice and palliative care organizations to become more educated about the tracks being laid with the proposed 2026 Wage Index.  This show is timely and relevant, so join us.Guest:Annette Kiser, Chief Compliance Officer with Teleios Judi Lund Person, Principal, Lund Person & Associates LLC Host:Chris Comeaux, President / CEO of TELEIOShttps://www.teleioscn.org/tcntalkspodcast/navigating-the-future-hope-wage-index-and-cms-quality-measuresTeleios Collaborative Network / https://www.teleioscn.org/tcntalkspodcast

The 16:9 PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY SCREENFEED – DIGITAL SIGNAGE CONTENT Digichief has been helping digital signage and DOOH network operators feed the so-called content beast for a bunch of years. While the Kentucky-based company started up in 2007, its roots go back another decade to a tech start-up that did similar graphics-driven content work for broadcast TV. I've known co-founder Gene Hamm forever, but this podcast was the first time we had a detailed chat about what Digichief does and offers. We get into a bunch of things, including what's widely used and what seems like perfect contextual content, but hasn't caught on. We talk in detail, as well, about more customized content, and about a new service called Mercury that Digichief spent more than a year developing and recently rolled out. If you hear thumping sounds in the background on my end, that's the roofers. It wasn't until the morning we recorded this that I remembered about the racket they'd be making. Big job. Big bill. Subscribe from wherever you pick up new podcasts. TRANSCRIPT Gene Hamm, thank you for joining me. For those people who don't know much about Digichief, could you gimme the elevator pitch on what you guys do?  Gene Hamm: Absolutely. Thanks Dave. Long-time listener, first-time caller. Am I the first one to say that?  Probably not, among the first.  Gene Hamm: My kids always say I've got a lot of dad jokes, so I oh, no, I won't bore with that. But thanks for having me today. I'm Gene Hamm, one of the founders of Digichief.  In a nutshell we're a content solutions provider. Basically, a one-source solution for all things content. We work in a number of capacities. We have a white labeled solution for data feeds for those clients who want to control the designs themselves. Or we can provide an integrated solution with HTML5, our widgets for clients that don't want to do the heavy lifting on the design. We already have it baked into our APIs, and so we've built up a library of content over the years. All the staples, weather news, sports info, that sort of thing. We also have some short-form, video series, and some other products that we work as distribution partners, with digital art, things like that. But in a nutshell, we aggregate, we curate, and we create content for you, and we provide it in a consistent manner. We take care of the licensing, and we keep up with the inevitable changes in the source, data feeds, and put it out in a highly scalable, cloud infrastructure. So I would say in the early days or earlier days of digital signage, a lot of companies, I shouldn't say a lot because there weren't many, and there still aren't that many, but the companies that were doing the sort of work that you do, I would describe as aggregators that they were collecting and harmonizing data feeds from news gathering organizations, government organizations like National Weather Service and so on, and getting in a format that's structured, reliable and all those sorts of things so that CMS companies or end users could tap into your feeds and have something that's reliable, organized, and curated to some degree. Is that a fair way of describing things?  Gene Hamm: That is a fair assessment, and I think it's evolved over time. I think early on, it was basically, just kind of an aggregation model. We actually started the company, it's an offshoot of another company we'd started back in the 90s where we worked in the broadcast television space, where we were doing lower third tickers, turnkey systems.  So kinda like Chiron?  Gene Hamm: Yeah, we were third-party developers for Chiron. So we worked a lot with Chiron early on, but a lot of the stuff you saw on the lower thirds and newscasts around the country was our stuff.  The dreaded tickers.  Gene Hamm: The dreaded tickers that kind of blew up in the 90s, yeah. We did news headlines, we were doing integrations with AP Weather. We actually ended up doing elections, school closings, and internet chat. We were all over the board on that.  So that's how we got our feet wet on integrating and aggregating content. In the mid 2000s, we saw the digital signage kind of take off, and we said, look, we've already got these connections with these sources, so why don't we just license these and license this vertical? So that's kind of how it started, but it's evolved over time. We certainly still do that and provide those in a consistent format, but then it's also moved into kind of bespoke projects where people will say, we've got this data, we've got, we want this, maybe we have to go out and do research on specific topics for “Cold weather starting tips for Automotive Dealerships”, things like that. So there's really a research arm to it that we can go out and create stuff for custom projects.  So if you had to give a percentage of from a third party versus what you guys are developing internally, what roughly would that be?  Gene Hamm: I would say about 60 to 70% of it is aggregating. All the staples, traffic, transit, flight data, news headlines, sports scores, the stuff that people want to display most often. So yeah, I would say roughly 60 to 70% of it, and then the other stuff is, a lot of stuff on the infotainment route is data-based that we've created over time and this could be for like “This day in history” trivia, fun facts, jokes, clean jokes of the day, holidays, whimsical, eye-catching things to get eyeballs up on the screen.  The challenge I've always seen with using third-party sources for things like tickers and full-screen presentations, whether it's from the AP, Canadian Press, or Reuters, is that they typically don't write headlines for digital signage or digital at home or anything else, and they don't even really do it in a lot of cases online. So what you end up with are headlines that don't really say anything. It'll say, “This week's top news is this…” and that'll show up on screens. I see it on broadcast still, and I'm going, why are you even using this? Why don't you curate stuff that you know has fully formed thoughts and says in a headline what you need to know versus kind of a teaser?  Have you guys struggled with that, or has it gotten better?  Gene Hamm: We've absolutely run into that. You're speaking to the choir here. We've knocked our head against the wall so many times, and I just think that for these news organizations, digital signage is an afterthought. Believe me, over the last 20 years, we've seen so many stories come out that we just scratch our heads, and I've had conversations with the editors to try to plead my case, and it just goes on deaf ears.  So basically what we have to do with our news, we have two formats. We have one that's filtered, and we've got lookups and intelligence written in where if something comes out misformed or certain key phrases, we just kick them out. And then we have basically a curated version where we actually go in and manually approve and post. We look at the image, we look at the images is another problem with it, but we look at the story, and we say, this doesn't make sense, or maybe we change a few words around to make it flow better and fit into a kind of concise title and description. So yeah, it's been a big problem and honestly it hasn't gotten any better in my viewpoint. Does AI present an opportunity to clean things up? Because I will take the odd story that I write and dump it into Claude and just say, “Give me 10 suggested headlines” and it'll knock out ten headline headlines in 15 seconds, and I'll look at it and go, oh, that one's pretty good and I'll take that one and maybe massage it a little bit. But it does a pretty good job with that sort of thing.  Gene Hamm: It absolutely will be a tool that we can utilize, and we're certainly looking into it right now to try to inject on our backend tools that you can request a specific, character-limited title that makes sense. One of the nuances to AI, which I know you're aware of, is that it's all in the phrasing of how you ask the question for the format that you wanted back in.  Prompt engineering.  Gene Hamm: Yeah. It's an art in itself, and what we see is that we think that AI can help this curation service to look at the headlines that we're getting and spit them out in more of a usable, readable, concise form.  But it's not gonna be autonomous anytime soon.  Gene Hamm: We'll see.  Yeah, not reliably autonomous, it's still gonna give you some weird headlines and all that, but then again, you could hire somebody and they'll give you weird headlines.  Gene Hamm: That's true. That's absolutely true. We try to say that our Soft News, which is our curated version, and we try to bill it as G-rated content that's not going to tick somebody off, but that's next to impossible these days because whatever you think is G-rated and is not going to satisfy everyone. We try to stay away from the political end of it, but there's always gonna be somebody that's offended. Yeah. I've talked to a few people who just said, you know what, we don't even do politics on our feeds anymore, or what we show on our screens, because somebody's gonna be irritated, somebody's gonna complain, and it's just not worth it.  Gene Hamm: Oh, the stories I can tell. It's funny. We have a custom bad word filter for stuff that we don't want to come across in the AP and so we've built that over time, and I could never let that see the light of day that the things that we've seen come across the wire that we now omit. Even the images as well. There are a lot of times we'll get images that don't really explain the story, it doesn't make sense, maybe they aren't centered on the right focal point of the image, and we think maybe AI could definitely benefit, maybe being able to zone in on what the main cue is of the image that we get with the AP stories or any of the news images.  Have the demands and the uses, usage trends evolved through the years, like when I got into digital, more than 25 years ago now, there weren't really even smartphones, and the internet was still fairly new-ish, and you could have public screens in elevators or walkways or shopping malls or whatever that were running news and weather on there, and those would be a primary source for that information, you fast forward to now, and you can't get away from news, you can't get away from weather data, that sort of thing.  I've always wondered, do those things need to be on screens anymore?  Gene Hamm: That's definitely a good debatable topic. There are so many of these black screens in our hands that fight for attention. We work in the automotive space in dealer showrooms and you walk into the showroom there and people are in the waiting area, and they've got screens up with content on it, news headlines, weather, things like that, and everybody is looking at their phone. So you're always thinking how do we compete with getting eyeballs up on the screen to get the messaging and whatnot for the client, as opposed to the ubiquitous news headlines and things like that. So yeah, it's something that our clients definitely have to deal with. Is that something you coach to, to tell both your resellers and your end users, that it's important to really think through what you're using in terms of content feeds or your content mix so that it's hyper relevant and contextual to where you are versus just “We need stuff to run on this lower third” or “We need stuff to run in between our dealer promotional messages” or whatever it may be, whatever the venue is. Gene Hamm: Absolutely. As you said, it's all in the content mix. If you're trying to get eyeballs up there on the screen, you gotta have relevant hyper-local content, whether that be local traffic maps or local sports scores or things like that for the market.  But yeah, the dwell time and how long the content is on the screen, you want to get the eyeballs up there and then move on to what your marketing message is. So it's definitely a delicate balance between, you can't just inundate someone with all the news, all weather. You definitely have to make it in short, concise forms because people's attention spans go elsewhere. They go back to their phone or something else.  A few months ago, you announced a partnership with a company called Stream, and I've done a podcast with those folks and laid out what they do and all that.  How do you work with them, and could you kinda run down what they do and how that's resonating with your user base? Gene Hamm: Yeah, so we met Anthony Nerantzis at one of the trade shows, and he came by and explained his interest. He's kind of a broadcaster, newsroom journalist. So basically, what it is they do is a presenter-led, concise, short-form video of bespoke custom news, right? And it can be catered to the industry.  So if it's medical, financial, or automotive, or what have you. They can go back, write the scripts, and of course, Anthony can describe this company better than I can, so hopefully he's not gonna be mad at me for giving this kind of dissertation. But yeah, I just thought it brought to the table something that we could really customize for our clients, and it's very professional, the workflow is great, you can provide some of the background, what you know the company's looking to do, what type of information they're trying to get across, their team can go back and write a script that's engaging and they can automate the product to put it out on whatever the interval you need, whether it be weekly or monthly.  Originally, when they came out, it was a closed caption type thing with lower third supers on the bottom of the screen and I had mentioned to them, “Hey, there are too many graphics on the screen. Maybe, you might wanna streamline that a little bit.” They did that because they're very good about taking feedback, and now they've moved in. It was more of a no-volume type environment product, and now they've, they're able to do audio voiceover as well from the on-air talent actually speaking and you can actually hear it.  Now they're getting into kind of the marketing communication end of it where, let's say it's a pharmaceutical company or something that wants to talk about things that like the president or the CEO wants to talk about certain things to their employees that they have going on, his team's able to go out and produce that and deliver that information and they can get eyeballs up on the screen, educate and inform the client. It's been very well received and we're also looking to work with them on some of our feeds, whether it's health-related type content, maybe we can work in some of the real, day-to-day, hyper-local information on the tail end of the video segment. Say if it's a medical facility and they're talking about medical health tips, things like that, maybe it comes in and we can integrate with one of our APIs and follow the levels of the flu levels there are for the specific area, so we can really hyper-localize it.  So in a lot of respects, it's a variation on the sort of work that you've been doing, particularly on the custom side of it. But instead of it just being text and visuals, they can do a full video with on-air talent and they do that by green screening, on-air hosts, and then mashing that up with AI so that it's a human talking to you and doing a custom presentation as opposed to an anime avatar look that I think looks ghastly in most cases? Gene Hamm: Absolutely. I think going to the presenter-led approach is advantageous and some of the early ones, like you said, that we've seen are just creepy. But I think what they're doing with their technology is amazing. I think it looks spot on.  Yeah, I've looked at it a couple of times for extended periods, just paying attention to see if it's glitchy at all, and it's very smooth, and if you didn't know, you'd be hard pressed to know, this is AI-generated, but it's absolutely human. But the movements and lips and all that stuff are being massaged through AI.  Gene Hamm: Yeah, and the neat thing about it, too, is just it's so scalable and they can automate it, and they can really like its bespoke content, so they can create the script, have it produce it in very short order. So more recently, you've announced something else called Mercury. Can you walk through what that is?  Gene Hamm: Mercury was created basically to give our users a more robust way to onboard our HTML content. We were getting requests for more of a web portal that gives more granular design choices such as colors, backgrounds, logos, the transitions. They can go in and micromanage the news they wanna see, or the sports they want to see, the duration that it's on the screen, and then, they can compile that into a playlist and then output it to a URL and that URL can be scheduled. It's quite a long time coming. We certainly had HTML55 widgets before, but this just gives people a little bit more granular decisions and a web portal, and then we also thought it was a good way to showcase our widget library. We built up these designs over time. Many of the products that we have, there's multiple designs, and so for, we think it might be a growth area for new prospects, that it lowers the barrier of entry to go out and actually, sign up for a free trial, take a look at, it's an all you can eat type model where we've got all the staples, the news, the weather, the sports, the stocks, the infotainment and we're adding new designs and widgets all the time. I think it's intuitive where we spent well over a year designing the system, and I think it really gives people a way to sample our products and see how it works with their systems.  Could you give an example of how a typical client would use it and what they do? Gene Hamm: Yeah, so they sign up for the product. It's a subscription service, with volume discounts that they can go in, and we've got a kind of smorgasbord of content, a widget library and it's all categorized by, like I said, news, weather, things like that, and they can pick and choose what content they wanna build into a playlist? Now that could be just a single piece of content, whether, say, weather, and they've got a bunch of different designs, whether they wanna do a 5K five-day forecast, if they wanna do a full-screen weather map, they can choose their locations, and then they can output it as a URL that URL can be a plugged into a playlist and that pluglist can have their content or they can massage their own local content, through their own platform, so it just gives them the ability to do this kind of infotainment type stuff in between their other messaging.  But yeah, they can build a playlist with a single asset, or they can build a playlist with 30 and build a longer duration, say, a 20-minute loop if they want. So yeah, that's the typical workflow.  So more normally or in the past, if I were a corporate entity and I had a corporate campus in three cities in South Carolina. If I were buying that from a typical subscription content service or weather provider, it's going to have a certain look and color schemes, everything else, and you can't really deviate from that, versus with Mercury, you can choose your fonts, choose your background, colors, everything else, and tweak it so it fits the way you want, maybe has the company's corporate colors and or just fits in with the overall look of the network.  Is that a clear way of saying this? Gene Hamm: Yeah. To make it very granular, the layout of, let's say, a five-day forecast, the data itself is set on the screen, but all the other elements around it like if they wanted to upload their own. company logo, if they wanna match their corporate colors, they can choose certain fonts that may match what you know they're using. So yeah, they can make different transitions to it, so they can really make granular choices with it to fall in line with what they're looking for, but be on the same thing across the same board. We have stocks, if they wanna put their own company stock up there, they can do that. If they wanna do infotainment like trivia or whatnot, we have a number of different trivia categories that they can choose. So yeah, they can really hyper-localize.  Do you put guardrails in terms of design choices that can be made? Like thinking particularly of font choices and Lord knows we've all seen online, particularly, and less so on digital signage, here somebody decides I'm going to use this font, and it's just the wrong choice.  Gene Hamm: We have chosen a list of fonts that we have in a dropdown box that they can choose from. As you can imagine, this was our initial decision when we debuted this release system a few months ago, and our thought is that we wanna give them these options to an extent, right? So we have several fonts that we think we deem look good, and we certainly can add additional fonts as we go. But yes, I agree there's some god awful fonts up there that we don't think would at the end of the day look great on particular design.  Is this the way to deal with the demand that can scale up so that if you were just doing this through managed services, where you would have companies come to you and say, “Hey, we would like a live custom feed that presents ou  weather and other information in these fonts, this background and everything else.” That's hard to do and hard to charge because if it's a one-off, you gotta charge a lot more for it, versus a service where you log in and you do it yourself, by and large, that makes it possible to do more.  Gene Hamm: Yeah, I think so. I think with the pricing model, how we have it, they can use everything. It's all you can eat, in terms of all these different designs and content categories that they can go in and it's not gonna cost them anymore if they put the news or the weather up there. I think the value proposition to Mercury is that we're doing the heavy lifting on the backend, and that these local networks don't have to go out and find different sources, and like you mentioned, the National Weather Service.  Early on, we were integrating with the National Weather Service and that got to be just an overwhelming task because of stages and formats, and changes in the designs and things like that. It just made more sense for us to go out and get an aggregated list. Actually, we have a couple of different aggregated services. So, like a lot of our staples, we have a primary source and a backup source. So if one goes inevitably, these sources have issues, and if one goes down. It really streamlines the whole process.  Has the whole business of getting data from different sources improved? Have they started to, or maybe not started, but long since understood that you can't keep changing the structure. You've gotta stick to something.  Gene Hamm: Yes and no. With sports specifically, they're good about giving us a heads up when things are gonna change. In the olden days, we would find out about it after it happened. So I think a lot of the source APIs that we have do a good job of giving us kind of a change. But there's repercussions. If they do a full change of their structure, we have to integrate that, and if it has any changes to how we do content, we have to let our clients know, and we have to make sure the widgets are changed. We have to make sure they know that the structure's changed.  During the pandemic, we really moved our cloud infrastructure from one cloud service to another. We added a lot of data points to our structure, and so that was really an uphill battle in terms of having to communicate to our current client base that had already done the design work and had already integrated with our APIs to let them know that's coming. So we don't take these things lightly and we've communicated to our sources over time about the repercussions to this. You can't just pull the trigger and give us a two-week notice.  What about social media? If I go back 10-15 years, there were a lot of subscription content providers and CMS companies developing widgets so that you could display Twitter (now X) or Facebook post or whatever maybe on screens and I think over time people realize, oh boy, that's a dangerous thing to do unless you've got somebody sitting right on top of it all the time.  Gene Hamm: It's absolutely the case. In fact, we were one of the ones early on that were doing native integrations with the APIs from Twitter and Facebook and whatnot, and it got to be a full-time job for our developers, changing not only the licensing, but the structure, and we finally threw in the towel on it and outsourced it to a company where that's all they do, and so we work with this particular company, and they take care of it. They've got a team of developers that don't do anything else, and they keep up on all the backend changes, the licensing, and so we're able to not only provide Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or X, LinkedIn, all this as a concise data feed with different data points and assets, and then we also have an HTML version that integrates with it.  So yeah, we've definitely gone the route of outsourcing that to someone who could keep up with it. Is there a most popular resource and one that you thought would have traction and that just never worked out, and you've since dropped or rarely see sold? Gene Hamm: About a year ago, we started with a health API, so seasonal and patient level data, and by seasonal, we mean pollen which is a big one and we have multiple sources for that. But, RSV levels, COVID-19 numbers, cold and cough, and flu. And then we can even get granular with patients. We can go and say a zip code in the United States, and say, what are the ten highest levels of obesity? And they can customize a message or an ad campaign towards that. Those particular zip codes we thought would take off at least the patient-level stuff and it was just really slow out of the gate. We've had a lot of interest and we've made a lot of presentations, but I think there are a lot of these companies that are still trying to figure out how they might use it. Flight data is one that we work with, and we have some clients using it.  There are certain sources that are very expensive to keep up with. That's something that we thought would be selling more than it does. A lot of times, the people that you know that put the flight data up are probably going directly to the source as opposed to going through somebody like us.  Is there one that everybody uses, or almost everybody?  Gene Hamm: Everybody uses weather, of course, that's the big one. Everybody uses sports scores, and everybody uses news. That's news, weather, sports are the big dogs.  Just a couple of final questions. Where are you guys based, and how big is your company? I'm thinking you don't have that big of a headcount because you don't need to, because you're using external resources. Gene Hamm: Yeah, so we're based in Lexington, Kentucky. We also have partners spread across the world. But I got a partner in California. There are a few of us here, and then we've got a couple in Ukraine. So we've been working with a couple of developers who are now employees in Ukraine, well before the war. So it's been interesting seeing that side of it from an employee.  It gives you a perspective on a drone flying over, and bombings and things like that. So there are five of us. We run a small operation, but like you said, we don't really need an extensive team. We certainly have worked with or contracted out some design work in terms of the graphical design. We've worked with the same designers for well over a decade. All right, so thank you. If people wanna find out more, it's just Digichief.com, right?  Gene Hamm: Yeah, Digichief.com, and then if someone wants to sample Mercury for a free trial, there's a Mercury link on there that they can go and sign up for, and give it a whirl.  Gene, thank you. Gene Hamm: Thank you, Dave. I appreciate your time.

In this special episode, Mike Smith of The Brokerage Inc. leads a timely and insightful panel discussion from the FMO Summit, joined by two distinguished guests: John Greene, Founder & Principal of Tri-Branch Resolution LLC, and Nick Uehlecke, Principal at Todd Strategy Group. Together, they unpack the latest legislative and regulatory developments surrounding the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Listeners will gain insider perspectives on key policy shifts, implications for FMOs and agents, and what to expect in the evolving healthcare landscape. With their deep experience in government affairs and healthcare strategy, Greene and Uehlecke shed light on how these changes might shape the future of Medicare marketing, compliance standards, and the overall regulatory environment. This episode is a must-listen for professionals navigating the complexities of healthcare legislation and those looking to stay ahead of CMS updates. Learn more about partnering with The Brokerage Inc. by visiting our website, www.thebrokerageinc.com. Remember to like, share, and subscribe to our show!  New episodes are available every Tuesday. Join our Community! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-brokerage-inc-/   Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/thebrokerageinc/  Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/thebrokerageinc/  YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@TheBrokerageIncTexas  Website:  https://thebrokerageinc.com/ 

Mark Popolizio, vice president of Medicare Secondary Payer compliance at Verisk, discusses key 2025 CMS policy updates, new reporting requirements and strategies insurers can use to stay compliant, reduce costs and mitigate liability under the evolving MSP framework.

IVF Clinic Bombing and Pro-Mortalism Ideology (00:02:09 - 00:09:27)Guy Edward Bartkus bombed a Palm Springs IVF clinic, killing himself and injuring five, motivated by pro-mortalism (life causes suffering, death is liberation). His manifesto, hosted on promortalism.com, rails against pro-lifers and life itself, reflecting a nihilistic, anti-human philosophy rooted in online subcultures.Cultural Nihilism and Social Media's Role (00:13:03 - 00:24:28)The bomber's pro-mortalism reflects a broader cultural nihilism, influenced by ideas like Gaia theory (humans as a virus) and amplified by social media platforms. Reddit, TikTok, and Tumblr are criticized as hubs for pseudo-intellectualism, fostering anti-life ideologies among isolated individuals.Bible Engagement as a Positive Trend (00:24:28 - 00:31:02)A LifeWay survey shows 48% of Americans view the Bible as true (up from 36% in 2016), with rising Bible sales and reading. This suggests a growing rejection of secular humanism and a return to spiritual values amid cultural nihilism.Covid as a Scam (Music Man Analogy) (00:41:36 - 00:50:18)A Brownstone Institute article compares the Covid response to The Music Man, where fear (inflated death counts, PCR test misuse) enriched “snake oil salesmen” like Fauci. This mirrors historical fearmongering (9/11, Waco) to erode rights, with elites profiting from compliance.Trump's Tariffs Impact on Small Businesses (01:11:21 - 01:16:20)An NFIB survey shows Trump's unpredictable tariffs are reducing small business optimism (down to 95.8, below the 51-year average), creating market uncertainty akin to Covid-era disruption. Small businesses face tight margins, reduced hiring, and stalled investments, with tech sector impacts highlighted by YouTubers Louis Rossman and Gamers Nexus.DEA Corruption in Drug War (01:27:30 - 01:35:58)An AP article reveals Diego Marin, a Cali cartel figure, evaded capture with DEA complicity, bribing agents while building a $100M money-laundering empire. Compared to Whitey Bulger and Iran-Contra, it's framed as a problem-reaction-solution tactic to expand the police state.Mexican Navy Ship Crash (01:37:07 - 01:39:26)An NBC News report describes a Mexican Navy sailing ship crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge, killing two and injuring 22 due to a mechanical failure. The surreal event stunned New Yorkers, highlighting the unexpected nature of Mexico's sailing navy.CDC Covid Vaccine Recommendations (01:52:26 - 01:56:33)A Wall Street Journal article reports the Trump administration plans to drop routine Covid vaccine recommendations for pregnant women, teenagers, and children, led by HHS Secretary RFK Jr. The host criticizes the CDC's blanket recommendation (everyone 6 months and older) due to no long-term safety data, profit-driven motives, and harmful side effects, arguing the vaccine should be removed entirely.HHS Covid Vaccine Recommendations and Authority (02:05:33 - 02:13:16)Dr. Ruby critiques HHS's plan to stop recommending Covid vaccines for children and pregnant women as a red herring, given its authority over FDA, NIH, CMS, and CDC to demand immediate removal. She warns of deceptive terms like “considering” and questions state chemtrail bans, citing federal exemptions (Title 50, Prep Act) and global air circulation, suspecting controlled opposition.Novavax Approval Critique and Bird Flu (02:21:20 - 02:30:03)The FDA fully approved Novavax's Covid shot, marketed as non-mRNA but using synthetic spike proteins from moth cells, posing risks like myocarditis with no long-term studies. Dr. Ruby warns of off-label use and compares it to Pfizer/Moderna's rollout. She critiques bird flu as a fabricated threat, with chicken culling inflating egg prices and testing economic control, not addressing real disease.Vaccine Shedding and Industry Protections (02:16:43 - 02:51:36)Pfizer's investigator brochure admits Covid vaccine shedding via inhalation and skin contact, raising concerns about unknown contents affecting unvaccinated individuals. Dr. Ruby highlights the vaccine industry's Prep Act immunity, with government payouts in vaccine court, and Pfizer's 50% non-disclosure agreement, allowing undisclosed ingredients, akin to coercive contracts demanding country assets.Follow the show on Kick and watch live every weekday 9:00am EST – 12:00pm EST https://kick.com/davidknightshow Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silver For 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code KNIGHT Find out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.comIf you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-david-knight-show--2653468/support.

IVF Clinic Bombing and Pro-Mortalism Ideology (00:02:09 - 00:09:27)Guy Edward Bartkus bombed a Palm Springs IVF clinic, killing himself and injuring five, motivated by pro-mortalism (life causes suffering, death is liberation). His manifesto, hosted on promortalism.com, rails against pro-lifers and life itself, reflecting a nihilistic, anti-human philosophy rooted in online subcultures.Cultural Nihilism and Social Media's Role (00:13:03 - 00:24:28)The bomber's pro-mortalism reflects a broader cultural nihilism, influenced by ideas like Gaia theory (humans as a virus) and amplified by social media platforms. Reddit, TikTok, and Tumblr are criticized as hubs for pseudo-intellectualism, fostering anti-life ideologies among isolated individuals.Bible Engagement as a Positive Trend (00:24:28 - 00:31:02)A LifeWay survey shows 48% of Americans view the Bible as true (up from 36% in 2016), with rising Bible sales and reading. This suggests a growing rejection of secular humanism and a return to spiritual values amid cultural nihilism.Covid as a Scam (Music Man Analogy) (00:41:36 - 00:50:18)A Brownstone Institute article compares the Covid response to The Music Man, where fear (inflated death counts, PCR test misuse) enriched “snake oil salesmen” like Fauci. This mirrors historical fearmongering (9/11, Waco) to erode rights, with elites profiting from compliance.Trump's Tariffs Impact on Small Businesses (01:11:21 - 01:16:20)An NFIB survey shows Trump's unpredictable tariffs are reducing small business optimism (down to 95.8, below the 51-year average), creating market uncertainty akin to Covid-era disruption. Small businesses face tight margins, reduced hiring, and stalled investments, with tech sector impacts highlighted by YouTubers Louis Rossman and Gamers Nexus.DEA Corruption in Drug War (01:27:30 - 01:35:58)An AP article reveals Diego Marin, a Cali cartel figure, evaded capture with DEA complicity, bribing agents while building a $100M money-laundering empire. Compared to Whitey Bulger and Iran-Contra, it's framed as a problem-reaction-solution tactic to expand the police state.Mexican Navy Ship Crash (01:37:07 - 01:39:26)An NBC News report describes a Mexican Navy sailing ship crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge, killing two and injuring 22 due to a mechanical failure. The surreal event stunned New Yorkers, highlighting the unexpected nature of Mexico's sailing navy.CDC Covid Vaccine Recommendations (01:52:26 - 01:56:33)A Wall Street Journal article reports the Trump administration plans to drop routine Covid vaccine recommendations for pregnant women, teenagers, and children, led by HHS Secretary RFK Jr. The host criticizes the CDC's blanket recommendation (everyone 6 months and older) due to no long-term safety data, profit-driven motives, and harmful side effects, arguing the vaccine should be removed entirely.HHS Covid Vaccine Recommendations and Authority (02:05:33 - 02:13:16)Dr. Ruby critiques HHS's plan to stop recommending Covid vaccines for children and pregnant women as a red herring, given its authority over FDA, NIH, CMS, and CDC to demand immediate removal. She warns of deceptive terms like “considering” and questions state chemtrail bans, citing federal exemptions (Title 50, Prep Act) and global air circulation, suspecting controlled opposition.Novavax Approval Critique and Bird Flu (02:21:20 - 02:30:03)The FDA fully approved Novavax's Covid shot, marketed as non-mRNA but using synthetic spike proteins from moth cells, posing risks like myocarditis with no long-term studies. Dr. Ruby warns of off-label use and compares it to Pfizer/Moderna's rollout. She critiques bird flu as a fabricated threat, with chicken culling inflating egg prices and testing economic control, not addressing real disease.Vaccine Shedding and Industry Protections (02:16:43 - 02:51:36)Pfizer's investigator brochure admits Covid vaccine shedding via inhalation and skin contact, raising concerns about unknown contents affecting unvaccinated individuals. Dr. Ruby highlights the vaccine industry's Prep Act immunity, with government payouts in vaccine court, and Pfizer's 50% non-disclosure agreement, allowing undisclosed ingredients, akin to coercive contracts demanding country assets.Follow the show on Kick and watch live every weekday 9:00am EST – 12:00pm EST https://kick.com/davidknightshow Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silver For 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code KNIGHT Find out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.comIf you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-david-knight-show--5282736/support.

Over 160 million Americans are served by Optum, yet many still don't fully understand what it actually does—or why it matters.Dr. Patrick Conway, newly appointed CEO of Optum and former head of CMS Innovation Center and Blue Cross NC, joins Steve for a wide-ranging discussion on the state of healthcare delivery, affordability, and the potential of value-based care at a national scale. With experience spanning the frontlines of medicine to top government and corporate leadership, Conway breaks down how Optum aims to improve care while controlling costs—and why he continues to practice as a pediatric hospitalist on weekends.We cover:

This week I Talk About My Podcasting Setup & Workflow in 2025 [powerpress]

We've got details on the CMS decision to reverse their decision on the Disaster/Emergency SEP for Medicare Beneficiaries.   Read the text version   Contact the Agent Survival Guide Podcast! Email us ASGPodcast@Ritterim.com or call 1-717-562-7211 and leave a voicemail.   Resources: 5 Myths about Selling ACA Health Plans: https://lnk.to/asg660  Building the Foundation for Success ft. Roy Snarr: https://lnk.to/snarr2025 Does Your Medicare Sales Approach Satisfy Different Budgets? https://lnk.to/G6g1fm Medicare Advantage Emergency-Related SEPs: https://ritterim.com/blog/medicare-advantage-emergency-related-seps/   References: “Medicare Advantage and Part D Enrollment and Disenrollment Guidance Updated: 2024.” CMS.Gov, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, https://www.cms.gov/files/document/cy2025cdenrollmentanddisenrollmentguidancepdf.pdf. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.   Follow Us on Social! Ritter on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/RitterIM Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/ritter.insurance.marketing/ LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/company/ritter-insurance-marketing TikTok, https://www.tiktok.com/@ritterim X, https://x.com/RitterIM and YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/RitterInsurance     Sarah on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjrueppel/ Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/thesarahjrueppel/ and Threads, https://www.threads.net/@thesarahjrueppel  Tina on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-lamoreux-6384b7199/   Not affiliated with or endorsed by Medicare or any government agency.

Get ready for a sonic assault! Lord Nelson's LIVE AND LOUD features DEADTIDE, the band bringing beauty and brutality to modern metal. Dive into their world of crushing riffs, epic melodies, and raw emotion.#DEADTIDE #Metal #Podcast #LordNelson #HeavyMusicDEADTIDE, melodic metal, heavy, Lord Nelson podcast, 5 Royals ENT, CMS, music, band, metalcore, alternative metalGet a free Rumble Account so you can comment! https://rumble.com/register/classicmetalshow/Get commercial free versions of our episodes, advance releases and exclusive content by subscribing to Rumble Premium! https://rumble.com/premiumNOTE: Everything said here, and on every episode of all of our shows, are 100% the opinions of the hosts. Nothing is stated as fact. Do your own research to see if their opinions are true or not.

The fallout continues over a reported settlement with CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings. The CMS board speaks out after ICE detains a man near Charlotte East Language Academy. Allison Riggs is officially sworn in to her state Supreme Court seat, and the PGA Championship comes to Charlotte this weekend.

The Friday Five for May 16th, 2025: Dunkin' and Starbucks Summer 2025 Menus Viral Music Charts for Content Creation Potential Heart Benefit in Shingles Vaccine Possible Hints at ACA Subsidy Direction for 2026 AHIP 2026 Certification Dates   Dunkin' and Starbucks Summer 2025 Menus: “Dunkin' Summer Menu.” Dunkindonuts.Com, Dunkin', www.dunkindonuts.com/en/summer-menu. Accessed 13 May 2025. Fink, Bailey. “Starbucks Is Bringing Back Customers' ‘Favorite Drink Ever' This Summer.” Allrecipes.Com, Allrecipes, 17 Apr. 2025, www.allrecipes.com/starbucks-summer-menu-2025-11717043. Baker, Nicolette. “Starbucks' Summer Menu Just Dropped — Including a Brand-New Iced Beverage.” Foodandwine.Com, Food & Wine, 15 Apr. 2025, www.foodandwine.com/starbucks-summer-menu-2025-11715175.   Viral Music Charts for Content Creation: “100 Top Trending Songs on TikTok.” Tokchart.Com, Tokchart, tokchart.com/. Accessed 14 May 2025. Bowe, Tucker. “Apple Quietly Gave Your Iphone a Simple yet Fun New Feature.” Gearpatrol.Com, Gear Patrol, 12 May 2025, www.gearpatrol.com/tech/apple-music-shazam-viral-chart/.   “Shazam Viral Global Chart .” Shazam.Com, Shazam, www.shazam.com/charts/viral/world. Accessed 14 May 2025. “Spotify Viral 50 - Global.” Spotify.Com, Spotify, open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZEVXbLiRSasKsNU9?si=4zvmJR7bQnajf6_StIGfuw. Accessed 14 May 2025. “Viral Chart on Apple Music.” Music.Apple.Com, Apple Music, music.apple.com/us/playlist/viral-chart/pl.b127c05305ad413fb742e8585599ec84. Accessed 14 May 2025.   Potential Heart Health Benefit in Shingles Vaccine: McLendon, Russell. “Shingles Vaccine Can Reduce Risk of Stroke And Heart Attack, Study Finds.” Sciencealert.Com, ScienceAlert, 12 May 2025, www.sciencealert.com/shingles-vaccine-can-reduce-risk-of-stroke-and-heart-attack-study-finds. Rudy, Melissa. “Shingles Vaccine Has Unexpected Effect on Heart Health.” Foxnews.Com, FOX News Network, 9 May 2025, www.foxnews.com/health/shingles-vaccine-has-unexpected-effect-heart-health. “Shingles Vaccine Lowers the Risk of Heart Disease for up to Eight Years.” Escardio.Org, European Society of Cardiology, 6 May 2025, www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/shingles-vaccine-lowers-the-risk-of-heart-disease-for-up-to-eight-years. Griesser, Kameryn. “Shingles Vaccine Reduces Risk of Heart Disease by 23%, Study of One Million People Finds.” Cnn.Com, Cable News Network, 12 May 2025, www.cnn.com/2025/05/09/health/shingles-heart-disease-vaccine-shots-wellness.   Possible Hints at ACA Subsidy Direction for 2026: Tong, Noah. “CMS Hints at Possible Cost-Sharing Reduction Payments for Insurers, Impacting ACA Enrollment.” Fiercehealthcare.Com, Fierce Healthcare, 7 May 2025, www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/cms-hints-possible-cost-sharing-reduction-payments-insurers-impacting-aca-enrollment. “Explaining Health Care Reform: Questions About Health Insurance Subsidies.” Kff.Org, KFF, 25 Oct. 2024, www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/issue-brief/explaining-health-care-reform-questions-about-health-insurance-subsidies/. “Offering of Off-Exchange-Only Plans without ‘CSR Loading.'” Cms.Gov, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2 May 2025, www.cms.gov/files/document/offering-exchange-only-plans-without-csr-loading.pdf. “Plan Year 2026 Individual Market Rate Filing Instructions.” Cms.Gov, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2 May 2025, www.cms.gov/files/document/py-26-individual-market-rate-filing-instructions.pdf.   AHIP 2026 Certification Dates: “AHIP Medicare + Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Online Course.” Ahipmedicaretraining.Com, AHIP, www.ahipmedicaretraining.com/page/login. Accessed 13 May 2025.   Resources:   Follow Us on Social! Ritter on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/RitterIM Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/ritter.insurance.marketing/ LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/company/ritter-insurance-marketing TikTok, https://www.tiktok.com/@ritterim X, https://x.com/RitterIM and YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/RitterInsurance     Sarah on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjrueppel/ Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/thesarahjrueppel/ and Threads, https://www.threads.net/@thesarahjrueppel  Tina on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-lamoreux-6384b7199/   Not affiliated with or endorsed by Medicare or any government agency. Contact the Agent Survival Guide Podcast! Email us ASGPodcast@Ritterim.com or call 1-717-562-7211 and leave a voicemail.

Medicare Advantage (MA) is one of the most popular insurance programs for the Medicare-eligible population, however it faces significant headwinds from both payer and provider organizations. Alan Lassiter, Principal, ECG Management Consultants, speaks with Christine Worthen, Member, Epstein Becker & Green PC, and Joe Mangrum, Partner, ECG Management Consultants, about the current state of MA, the complex issues confronting both payers and providers, and strategies for successfully navigating these uncertain times. They discuss issues related to provider-sponsored plans, structuring value-based arrangements with MA plans, how MA plans can maintain margin, CMS' recent final rule, sustainable MA plan reimbursement, network design and supplemental benefits, and the value drivers of data. From AHLA's Payers, Plans, and Managed Care Practice Group.AHLA's Health Law Daily Podcast Is Here! AHLA's popular Health Law Daily email newsletter is now a daily podcast, exclusively for AHLA Premium members. Get all your health law news from the major media outlets on this new podcast! To subscribe and add this private podcast feed to your podcast app, go to americanhealthlaw.org/dailypodcast.

Another day, another phishing campaign abusing google.com open redirects Google s links from it s maps page to hotel listings do suffer from an open redirect vulnerability that is actively exploited to direct users to phishing pages. https://isc.sans.edu/diary/Another%20day%2C%20another%20phishing%20campaign%20abusing%20google.com%20open%20redirects/31950 Adobe Patches Adobe patched 12 different applications. Of particular interest is the update to ColdFusion, which fixes several arbitrary code execution and arbitrary file read problems. https://helpx.adobe.com/security/security-bulletin.html Samsung Patches magicInfo 9 Again Samsung released a new patch for the already exploited magicInfo 9 CMS vulnerability. While the description is identical to the patch released last August, a new CVE number is used. https://security.samsungtv.com/securityUpdates#SVP-MAY-2025 Ivanti Patches Critical Ivanti Neurons Flaw Ivanti released a patch for Ivanti Neurons for ITSM (on-prem only) fixing a critical authentication bypass vulnerability. Ivanti also points to its guidance to secure the underlying IIS server to make exploitation of flaws like this more difficult

In this episode of the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, Erika Spicer Mason is joined by Dr. Hemant Keny of Kaiser Permanente Northern California and Dr. Matthew Schiralli of Rochester Regional Health to discuss the impact of the Geriatric Surgery Verification Program. The conversation explores how these physician-led efforts are improving patient outcomes, reducing complications, and aligning with new CMS measures—while also demonstrating clear ROI to health system leaders. Tune in to hear how surgical teams are advancing care for older adults and creating a new standard in surgical quality and safety.This episode is sponsored by American College of Surgeons.

ONYX Insight's ecoPITCH system prevents catastrophic wind turbine blade failures caused by pitch bearing issues. Forrest French and Martin McLarnon reveal how continuous monitoring and early detection can save wind farms millions. Contact Martin McLarnon: martin.mclarnon@onyxinsight.com Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Allen Hall: ONYX Insight's ecoPITCH monitoring system has become crucial for wind farm operators facing blade root insert failures. These failures start invisibly but can end catastrophically with blades detaching completely. This week we speak with Forrest French Senior Project Engineer, and Martin McLarnon, sales Director for North America at ONYX Insight. Their ecoPITCH system detects dangerous movements before visible signs appear as Forest notes in the interview. By the time you can get a feeler gauge measurement, it's probably too late. So join us to discover how data-driven monitoring is helping operators make smarter maintenance decisions preventing million dollar disasters and keeping turbines spinning safely. Welcome to Uptime Spotlight, shining Light on Wind. Energy's brightest innovators. This is the progress powering tomorrow. Allen Hall: Martin and Forest. Welcome to the [00:01:00] show. Hello. How's it going? Thanks for letting us. Yeah, we're really interested to, to talk to you today just because there's so many blade root issues from pitch bearings and blade bushings or inserts as they're called sometimes, and a number of other issues. And when we talk to operators, what they tell us is, oh, we, you use ecoPITCH. And they love that system. But I want to, I wanna back up first and talk about what are some of the operators experiencing out there in the field And ecoPITCH system was originally developed to look at pitch bearing problems and forests. What are some of those pitch bearing problems you're seeing out in the field today? Forrest French: Yeah, so it, it, it's a funny story. It was originally developed for pitch bearing, uh, applications. Um, the industry as a whole started experiencing this root insert issue, so we were able to, we were kind of in a perfect position, right? It was, it was a, it was a [00:02:00] really serendipitous thing that we, we had just developed this product and we could easily pivot. To measure both the pitch bearing and this root insert issue. Uh, the, the pitch bearing issues are admittedly the, the more difficult, uh, issue, right? To measure. Um, there's, there's some, some great opportunities for value and there's also some really good challenges to come along with that. Um, pitch bearings, uh, they, they don't rotate quickly. Right. Uh, when, when we talk about typical CMS typical vibration monitoring, you're looking at a very, very fast rotating, uh, shaft or bearing, et cetera, and you're able to pick up on those frequencies as they revolve. You don't get that with a pitch bearing. It's a very slow moving, uh, slewing bearing. Um, so picking up. Noise through vibration can be very difficult, uh, because again, you don't get that frequency of that [00:03:00] rotation, so you're left with nothing but uh, a bunch of noise. Right. And you're hoping that that noise floor is low enough that you might capture a bit of crunching of cage material or anything like that? Right. The alternative in what, in what we use ecoPITCH for is it's very simple. We, we point a an inductive displacement sensor right at the pitch bearing itself. Typically the inner ring, depending on the type of turbine. And what we're looking for is any kind of slop or displace...

We breakdown the 2025 Marketplace Proposed Rule and highlight what we think agents like you should know!    Read the text version    Contact our Under-65 Sales Team!   Resources: CMS Finalizes Improvements to Marketplace Plan Selection with 2026 Final Rule: https://ritterim.com/blog/cms-finalizes-improvements-to-marketplace-plan-selection-with-2026-final-rule/ Everything Agents Need to Know About Selling in State-Based Marketplaces: https://ritterim.com/blog/everything-agents-need-to-know-about-selling-in-state-based-marketplaces/ Everything You Need to Know About the ACA OEP: https://ritterim.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-aca-oep/ How to Help Clients Navigate ACA Marketplace Subsidies & Taxes: https://lnk.to/qzlRwV Lawsuit Changes DACA Recipients' Affordable Care Act Eligibility: https://ritterim.com/blog/lawsuit-changes-daca-recipients-affordable-care-act-eligibility/ Learn with Knight School: https://ritterim.com/knight-school/ Meet Ritter's Under-65 Sales Team: https://ritterim.com/meet-your-sales-team/ Steps to Get Ready for OEP: Federal Exchange States & State Based Exchanges: https://lnk.to/SyqM9T   References:   “2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Proposed Rule.” CMS.Gov, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2025-marketplace-integrity-and-affordability-proposed-rule Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.   Follow Us on Social!  Ritter on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/RitterIM Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/ritter.insurance.marketing/ LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/company/ritter-insurance-marketing TikTok, https://www.tiktok.com/@ritterim X, https://x.com/RitterIM and YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/RitterInsurance     Sarah on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjrueppel/ Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/thesarahjrueppel/ and Threads, https://www.threads.net/@thesarahjrueppel  Tina on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-lamoreux-6384b7199/   Not affiliated with or endorsed by Medicare or any government agency.   Contact the Agent Survival Guide Podcast! Email us ASGPodcast@Ritterim.com or call 1-717-562-7211 and leave a voicemail.

Learn about The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) a new model and how it can help you, your loved ones, and clients. The GUIDE Model aims to: + Improve quality of life for people living with dementia + Reduce stress on unpaid caregivers of people living with dementia + Connect to community resources, lessen Emergency Department and hospital utilization, and improve outcomes The Positive Aging Community recently hosted a discussion featuring Dr. Jennifer Pauldurai, a cognitive behavioral neurologist, and Tyler M. Lloyd, a Certified Dementia Practitioner, focusing on dementia care and the CMS-approved Guide program. Dr. Pauldurai shared insights into cognitive impairments and dementia, emphasizing the importance of understanding different types of dementia and the need for personalized treatment plans. She highlighted the significance of early diagnosis and the availability of new treatments for Alzheimer's disease. Tyler Lloyd introduced the Guide program, which aims to support unpaid caregivers and delay nursing home placements for individuals with dementia. The program offers free resources, including care navigation and respite care, for those with traditional Medicare and a dementia diagnosis. The discussion underscored the importance of community resources and support systems in managing dementia care, encouraging caregivers to seek help and utilize available programs to alleviate the challenges of caregiving.Dr. Jennifer Pauldurai board-certified neurologist Inova Health SystemTyler M. Lloyd, CDP GUIDE Dementia Program ManagerTranscript audio1336239963.pdfRecording link https://www.retirementlivingsourcebook.com/videos/guiding-an-improved-dementia-experience-guide-model-7891

Good morning from Pharma and Biotech daily: the podcast that gives you only what's important to hear in Pharma e Biotech world.Bayer has announced a restructuring that will result in 2,000 job cuts and a reduction in management layers. CEO Bill Anderson believes Trump's most favored nations policy could provide an opportunity for European countries to contribute more to biopharma innovation. Galapagos has abandoned plans for a spinout and cell therapy, causing a stir in the industry. Trump's most favored nation policy has led to a sell-off of PBMs, but analysts believe it may not have a significant impact without further congressional action. Sino Biological offers solutions for autoimmune diseases, with reagents for nearly 50 different conditions. In other news, CMS is preparing for a new cycle of drug negotiations, Azafaros has raised $150 million for rare neuro-metabolic diseases, and Roche's Genentech is investing $700 million in a North Carolina plant. 10x Genomics has cut 8% of its workforce, and there are upcoming webinars on biotech downturns and AI in life science R&D. Job opportunities include positions at 4D Molecular Therapeutics, Takeda, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

In this engaging session, Eric Glazer sits down with Jessica Vander Zanden, VP of Operations at Network Health, a Wisconsin-based plan known for its top-tier CMS ratings and commitment to exceptional provider and member experiences. Jessica shares two standout strategies driving the organization's success: a unique approach to treating providers as valued customers and transforming their call center into a powerful engine for improving CAHPS and Star Ratings. Discover how Network Health redefines healthcare engagement through operational excellence, provider partnership, and member-centric service design.   This session was part of the the Healthcare Engagement Virtual Summit: Strategies for Plans to Engage Consumers and Providers on May 8, 2025, co-sponsored by Bright Spots in Healthcare, TytoCare and Navina. For more information on the summit and to see the full video, please go to: https://www.tytocare.com/virtual-summit-healthcare-engagement-strategies-for-plans-to-engage-consumers-and-providers/  

Radiology reports are rich in clinical detail, yet ICD-10 codes often fail to fully capture the complexity and specificity of imaging findings.That is why the producers of Talk Ten Tuesdays and ICD10monitor have invited Laura Manser to explore the most common disconnects between radiology documentation and ICD-10 coding – especially in areas like incidental findings, laterality, and linking imaging results to medical necessity.During the next edition of the weekly broadcast, Manser is also expected to highlight common errors, such as coding suggestive findings as definitive diagnoses, and provide practical guidance on bridging the gap between documentation and compliance.Also part of the live broadcast will be these instantly recognizable panelists, who will report more news during their segments:• Social Determinants of Health: Tiffany Ferguson, CEO for Phoenix Medical Management, Inc., will report on the news that is happening at the intersection of medical record auditing and the SDoH.• The Coding Report: Christine Geiger, Assistant Vice President of Acute and Post-Acute Coding Services for First Class Solutions, will report on the latest coding news.• News Desk: Timothy Powell, ICD10monitor national correspondent, will anchor the Talk Ten Tuesdays News Desk.• MyTalk: Angela Comfort, veteran healthcare subject-matter expert, will co-host the long-running and popular weekly Internet broadcast. Comfort is the Assistant Vice President of Revenue Integrity for Montefiore Health.

This week I Interviewed Wes Tatters [powerpress]

Welcome to the first episode of Talking Drupal Cafe. Join Martin and Jake as they delve into an insightful conversation exploring the challenges and responsibilities associated with being a module maintainer. Discussing project types, the significance of sandbox modules, the impact of Drupal CMS, and the role of AI tools, they highlight issues around burnout, sustainability, and community support. Discover how the Drupal community can better support maintainers and the importance of continued contributions. This episode also touches on upcoming conferences and the significance of face-to-face interactions in the Drupal community. Martin Anderson-Clutz Martin is a highly respected figure in the Drupal community, known for his extensive contributions as a developer, speaker, and advocate for open-source innovation. Based in London, Ontario, Canada, Martin began his career as a graphic designer before transitioning into web development. His journey with Drupal started in late 2005 when he was seeking a robust multilingual CMS solution, leading him to embrace Drupal's capabilities. (mandclu.com) Martin holds the distinction of being the world's first Triple Drupal Grand Master, certified across Drupal 7, 8, and 9 as a Developer, Front-End Specialist, and Back-End Specialist. (TheDropTimes) He also possesses certifications in various Acquia products and is UX certified by the Nielsen Norman Group. (mandclu.com) Currently serving as a Senior Solutions Engineer at Acquia, Martin has been instrumental in advancing Drupal's ecosystem. He has developed and maintains several contributed modules, including Smart Date and Search Overrides, and has been actively involved in the Drupal Recipes initiative, particularly focusing on event management solutions. (mandclu.com) His current work on the Event Platform aims to streamline the creation and management of event-based websites within Drupal. (TheDropTimes) Beyond development, Martin is a prominent speaker and educator, having presented at numerous Drupal events such as DrupalCon Barcelona and EvolveDrupal. He is also a co-host of the "Talking Drupal" podcast, where he leads the "Module of the Week" segment, sharing insights on various Drupal modules. (mandclu.com) Martin's dedication to the Drupal community is evident through his continuous efforts to mentor, innovate, and promote best practices within the open-source landscape.(TheDropTimes) Jacob Rockowitz Jacob is a prominent figure in the Drupal community, best known for developing and maintaining the Webform module—one of the most widely used and feature-rich form-building tools in the Drupal ecosystem. His work has significantly enhanced Drupal's capabilities in form creation, data collection, and user interaction. Rockowitz began his Drupal journey while working as a consultant for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), where he spent over 18 years. Facing the need for robust form functionality during MSK's early adoption of Drupal 8, he created YAML Form, which later evolved into the Webform module for Drupal 8 . This module has since become integral to many Drupal sites, offering extensive features for form management.(design4drupal.org) Beyond Webform, Jacob has contributed to other projects like the Schema.org Blueprints module, aiming to improve structured content modeling in Drupal. He is also an advocate for open-source sustainability, often discussing the importance of community involvement and the challenges of maintaining large-scale open-source projects .(talkingdrupal.com, jrockowitz.com) As an active member of the Drupal community, Rockowitz frequently speaks at events such as DrupalCon and New England Drupal Camp, sharing his insights on module development and community engagement . He maintains a personal blog at jrockowitz.com, where he writes about his experiences and thoughts on Drupal development.(Drupal) For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/502 Topics Introduction to Project Maintenance Types of Projects and Their Significance Sandbox Modules and Work Projects Passion Projects and Inherited Projects Challenges in Managing Multiple Modules The Role of Recipes in Project Management AI and Automation in Project Maintenance The Future of Project Maintenance and Contributions Evolving Drupal and Community Contributions Enterprise Features and the Trash Module Marketplace and Site Templates AI and the Future of Web Development Contribution Credits and Bounties Guiding Users and Module Selection Drupal Adjacent Solutions Sustainability of Contribution The Importance of Community Engagement Hosts Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu Jacob Rockowitz - jrockowitz.com jrockowitz

Big potential changes to how 340B operates plus heightened interest in both new protections and new restrictions for covered entities means there is much to keep track of in the 340B world. 340B Health CEO Maureen Testoni joins us to make sense of recent developments in the nation's courts and beyond.Rebates Get Their Day in Court340B Health, two member hospitals, and the government met drug companies in court in late April to challenge drugmaker attempts to replace 340B discounts with rebates. Testoni says the judge cited potentially devastating consequences to hospitals if rebates proceeded but also had probing questions for the government on how it is working to address drugmaker compliance concerns. The Dept. of Health and Human Services is set to release guidance by early June on the rebate issue, and the court's decision could come out soon.The White House Proposes 340B Big Oversight Shift A leaked copy of the Trump administration's latest budget proposal includes a plan to move the Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) from the Health Resources & Services Administration to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Testoni says the oversight shift is concerning because of a stark difference between the purpose of 340B and the operations of Medicare and Medicaid. CMS also imposed years of Medicare payment cuts to 340B hospitals that the U.S. Supreme Court eventually overturned.340B Protections, Mandates Take Center StageStates continue enacting laws to protect hospital access to 340B pricing, but they also are moving forward with reporting mandates and proposals to define how hospitals should use their savings. Testoni said reporting and use-of-savings mandates lead to misdirected views on the purpose of 340B, which goes far beyond direct patient care and cost assistance. On Capitol Hill, a report from a long-running investigation of 340B recently came out, contributing to the debate over possible new restrictions.ResourcesFederal Government Signals Upcoming Guidance on 340B Rebate Models Amid Legal ChallengesBrief Your Leaders on White House Plans for Major 340B ChangesNebraska Is 12th State To Enact Contract Pharmacy ProtectionsIndiana Becomes Fifth State To Mandate 340B Reports From HospitalsKey Senator Concludes 340B Investigation, Calls for Major ReformsNew 340B Health Research340B Impact Profiles

In this 'Quick One' episode, Barry and Phil give their take on all the major announcements from Config, Figma's annual conference held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. This year's Config featured 4 major product releases: Figma Sites, Figma Make, Figma Draw, and Figma Buzz. They also announced Grids with Auto Layout, CMS for their Sites product, and Code Blocks. Barry and Phil discuss how all these new features, taken together, are both a boon to Design and to Designers, but also might be much ado about nothing in the age of Agentic Experiences. Enjoy!Drinks: Devil's Purse Brewing Co. Handline Kolsch, The Drowned Lands Brewery Green Yield Hazy IPALinks: https://config.figma.com/

The Friday Five for May 9, 2025: Rite Aid Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Again Apple WWDC 2025 Dates & Rumors Discount Medicare Insurance Scam Alert Rueppel Recommends Books & Streaming Picks May 2025 Aetna Health Plans to Exit ACA Marketplace for CY 2026   Rite Aid Files for 2nd Chapter 11 Bankruptcy: Download the “Rite Aid Letter to Customers - May 5, 2025.” Restructuring.Ra.Kroll.Com, Kroll Restructuring Administration, restructuring.ra.kroll.com/RiteAid/Home-DownloadPDF?id1=MzM0MTA2Mg%3D%3D&id2=0. Accessed 6 May 2025. Grothaus, Michael. “Rite Aid Bankruptcy: What to Know about Store Closings, Prescription Transfers, Layoffs, Gift Cards, and More.” Fastcompany.Com, Fast Company, 6 May 2025, www.fastcompany.com/91329223/rite-aid-bankruptcy-2025-stores-closing-prescription-transfers-gift-cards. Arias, Pilar. “Rite Aid Files for Bankruptcy for Second Time in Less than 2 Years.” Foxbusiness.Com, Fox Business, 6 May 2025, www.foxbusiness.com/economy/rite-aid-files-bankruptcy-second-time-less-than-2-years. Powel, James. “Rite Aid Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Promises ‘smooth Transfer' of Prescriptions.” Usatoday.Com, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 6 May 2025, www.usatoday.com/story/money/retail/2025/05/05/rite-aid-chapter-11-bankruptcy/83467189007/. “Rite Aid Store Locater.” Riteaid.Com, Rite Aid, www.riteaid.com/locations/. Accessed 6 May 2025. Urie, Daniel. “Rite Aid Tells Vendors It ‘Has Generally Stopped Purchasing Goods and Services.'” Pennlive.Com, PennLive, 5 May 2025, www.pennlive.com/business/2025/05/rite-aid-tells-vendors-it-has-generally-stopped-purchasing-goods-and-services.html. Mills, Sean I. “What to Do with Your Prescriptions Now That Rite Aid Is Closing All Stores.” Romesentinel.Com, Daily Sentinel, 6 May 2025, www.romesentinel.com/news/rome-new-hartford-rite-aid-store-closings/article_98f2300b-600c-4937-b8d0-686ece8d36e9.html.   Apple WWDC 2025 Dates & Rumors: Lovejoy, Ben. “90% of People Shouldn't Buy the iPhone 17 Air, per Apple.” 9to5mac.Com, 9to5Mac, 6 May 2025, 9to5mac.com/2025/05/06/90-of-people-shouldnt-buy-the-iphone-17-air-per-apple/. Schroeder, Stan. “Apple Is Planning a New iPhone Launch Schedule, Report Claims.” Mashable, Mashable, 5 May 2025, mashable.com/article/apple-iphone-launch-schedule. “iOS 7 vs iOS 6 Side-by-Side Visual Comparisons.” Osxdaily.Com, OS X Daily, osxdaily.com/2013/06/11/ios-7-vs-ios-6-visual-comparison/. Accessed 6 May 2025. Christoffel, Ryan. “iOS 19: Three New Features Are Being Announced next Month.” 9to5mac.Com, 9to5Mac, 5 May 2025, 9to5mac.com/2025/05/05/ios-19-three-new-features-are-being-announced-next-month/. Clover, Juli. “iOS 19: Everything We Know.” Macrumors.Com, MacRumors, 5 May 2025, www.macrumors.com/roundup/ios-19/.   Discount Medicare Insurance Scam Alert: “Emerging Discount Medical Insurance Scams.” Ic3.Gov, Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), 30 Apr. 2025, www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250430. Dimuro, Claudia. “FBI Alerts Public in Pa., beyond to Emerging Scam: Here's What to Know.” Pennlive.Com, PennLive, 5 May 2025, www.pennlive.com/life/2025/05/fbi-alerts-public-in-pa-beyond-to-emerging-scam-heres-what-to-know.html. Burman, Theo. “FBI Issues New Warning Over Health Insurance Scams.” Newsweek.Com, Newsweek, 6 May 2025, www.newsweek.com/fbi-issues-new-warning-over-health-insurance-scams-2068626.   Rueppel Recommends: Wynn-Williams, Sarah. “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.” Spotify, Flatiron Books, open.spotify.com/show/279JRLPYDjvmsS81C7SOzg?si=215e5504c3ea4510. Accessed 6 May 2025. Ridgely, Charlie. “Everything Coming to Netflix, Max, Disney+ & Other Streaming Services in May 2025.” ComicBook.Com, ComicBook, 30 Apr. 2025, comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/new-streaming-movies-tv-shows-may-2025-netflix-disney-max/. Bet-David, Patrick. “Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy.” Spotify, Gallery Books, https://open.spotify.com/show/1mCTkhoZxUOH6iA9b8Dx2y?si=b11263c88e3a43ff. Accessed 6 May 2025. Bet-David, Patrick. Your Next Five Moves, Gallery Books, www.yournextfivemoves.com/. Accessed 6 May 2025.   Aetna Health Plans to Exit ACA Marketplace for CY 2026: Minemyer, Paige. “Aetna to Exit the ACA Exchanges in 2026.” Fiercehealthcare.Com, Fierce Healthcare, 1 May 2025, www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/aetna-exit-aca-exchanges-2026. Pifer, Rebecca. “CVS Plans to Exit ACA Individual Exchanges, Strikes Wegovy Deal with Novo Nordisk.” Healthcaredive.Com, Healthcare Dive, 1 May 2025, www.healthcaredive.com/news/cvs-aetna-exit-aca-novo-nordisk-wegovy-deal/746833/. Japsen, Bruce. “CVS Plans To Exit Obamacare In 2026, Affecting 1 Million Aetna Members.” Forbes.Com, Forbes Magazine, 1 May 2025, www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2025/05/01/cvs-plans-to-exit-obamacare-in-2026-impacting-1-million-aetna-members/. How Plan Crosswalks Work in the ACA Marketplace: https://lnk.to/ASG664   Resources: 5 Myths About Selling ACA Health Insurance Plans: https://lnk.to/asg660  5 Things from the CMS 2026 MA and Part D Final Rule: https://lnk.to/asgf20250502  Agent Requirements for ACA Sales: https://lnk.to/ASG662 Learn How to Sell ACA Products During the Off-Season ft. Danica Stover: https://lnk.to/asg661  Leveling Up: From Chill Mode to Growth Mode ft. Christian Brindle: https://lnk.to/brindle2025   Follow Us on Social!  Ritter on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/RitterIM Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/ritter.insurance.marketing/ LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/company/ritter-insurance-marketing TikTok, https://www.tiktok.com/@ritterim X, https://x.com/RitterIM and YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/RitterInsurance     Sarah on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjrueppel/ Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/thesarahjrueppel/ and Threads, https://www.threads.net/@thesarahjrueppel  Tina on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-lamoreux-6384b7199/   Not affiliated with or endorsed by Medicare or any government agency. Contact the Agent Survival Guide Podcast! Email us ASGPodcast@Ritterim.com or call 1-717-562-7211 and leave a voicemail.

May 9, 2025 In this episode, Scott, Mark, and Ray answer questions that came into the PRS Helpdesk.One of my specialties is pedsurology and there is just not much guidance for surgery coding.Is it appropriate to use 54360 (plastic operation on penis to correct angulation) for correction of penile torsion?I found an article from AAPC dated 2005 that stated to use 14040 for penile torsion repair when performed with a MAGPI hypospadias repair (54322).What if the penile torsion repair is not performed with another procedure or at least without a hypospadias repair?If Medical technologists (Medical assistants trained to perform Urodynamics) can perform this test why are Medical assistants not permitted by CMS to perform catheter insertion and removal in non regulated sites of services? (I have seen MAs in non regulated spaces perform catheter changes, bladder instillations--etc---how are practices able to get away with having MAs incorporated in their work flow as such?)In regulated sites of service (Hospital based clinics) what documentation should be used to ensure proper billing when an MA performs 51798 (bladder scan) (incident to billing for a hospital-employed physician).Free Kidney Stone Coding CalculatorDownload NowPRS Billing and Other Services - Book a Call with Mark Painter or Marianne DescioseClick Here to Get More Information and Request a Quote Join the Urology Pharma and Tech Pioneer GroupEmpowering urology practices to adopt new technology faster by providing clear reimbursement strategies—ensuring the practice gets paid and patients benefit sooner.https://www.prsnetwork.com/joinuptp Click Here to Start Your Free Trial of AUACodingToday.com   The Thriving Urology Practice Facebook group.The Thriving Urology Practice Facebook Group link to join:https://www.facebook.com/groups/ThrivingPractice/ 

In this month's CMS Book Club, Roxane Gardner, Executive Director of the Center for Medical Simulation, is joined by Jenny Rudolph, Grace Ng, and James Lipshaw to discuss Melanie Deziel's "The Content Fuel Framework." Join us for a spicy discussion on getting your team's message heard, whether ideas have any value at all, and if this book is a useful tool for those brought up in the STEM pathway to make their communication more effective. Learn more from CMS at www.harvardmedsim.org! CMS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72gzzWGegiXd9i2G6UJ0kP CMS on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-center-for-medical-simulation/id1279266822

From artificial intelligence in audit workflows to CMS's renewed focus on fraud, waste, and abuse, this episode of Compliance Conversations covers the biggest themes that emerged from HEALTHCON and HCCA's Compliance Institute. Tune in to hear real takeaways from the exhibit hall, speaker sessions, and side conversations—including why quality of care oversight is gaining new attention. CJ Wolf, MD, and Brian Burton, Healthicity Chief Compliance & Privacy Officer, discuss: - Why AI was everywhere—and what it means for your compliance program - The latest OIG and DOJ guidance on effectiveness and enforcement - How CMS is signaling a “war on fraud, waste, and abuse” - What quality of care oversight looks like in the real world

A Note from James:So Dr. Oz—television personality turned government official—this is such an interesting thing. He's going to be the new administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS. He's going to be in charge of all Medicare and Medicaid. What does he know or think about these parts of our government?Medicare and Medicaid, combined with Social Security, make up the biggest part of government spending. So it'd be interesting to know what he thinks. On his show, he'd talk about everything from medicine to alternative medicine to other healing methods. I want to know how he's going to handle things in the government.This is a republishing of a past podcast I did with Dr. Oz, but it still describes his approach to medicine. And I think, as a citizen, this is useful. That's why I wanted to share it again. He's going to be working closely with RFK Jr. and Marty Makary (who's also been on this podcast and is now head of the FDA).So here's Dr. Oz.Episode Description:In this re-released conversation, James speaks with Dr. Mehmet Oz about his philosophy on medicine, self-care, and the critical role nutrition plays in overall well-being. As Dr. Oz steps into a major government role as the head of CMS, this episode offers valuable insight into the beliefs and strategies he may bring to one of the most powerful positions in U.S. healthcare.Together, they cover the power of second opinions, why most people misunderstand sugar, how gut bacteria drive health, and what it means to choose yourself when it comes to well-being. They also unpack highlights from Dr. Oz's book Food Can Fix It, including practical strategies for brain health, stress, and weight loss.What You'll Learn:Why second opinions can drastically change your medical outcomes.The connection between stress, sugar, and your brain's coping mechanisms.What to eat (and avoid) for long-term brain health and energy.How gut bacteria influence digestion, immunity, and mood.Dr. Oz's personal routine for energy, sleep, and productivity.Timestamped Chapters:[00:00] Dr. Oz's New Role in Government[01:00] Dr. Oz's Philosophy: Empowering Patients[02:45] The Power of Second Opinions[04:00] Behind the Book: Food Can Fix It[06:00] Parenting, Health, and Self-Sacrifice[07:30] Why We Stress Eat—and What to Do Instead[09:30] Fixing the Root Cause with Food[12:00] Brain Food and Omega-3 Fats[15:30] Antioxidants, Alcohol, and Wheat Brain[17:30] Why Sugar Without Fiber Is Dangerous[18:30] Juicing vs. Smoothies[19:30] Food Traditions, Rituals, and Healing[20:15] Using Food as Medicine for Pain[21:00] The Role of Gut Bacteria[23:30] Smart Weight Loss Strategies[26:30] Rethinking Dairy, Gluten, and Processed Foods[28:00] Eating for All-Day Energy[30:30] Daily Routine: Sleep Hygiene and Focus[33:00] Final Thoughts and Dr. Oz's Upcoming PodcastAdditional Resources:

I spoke with Anonymous Banker, an M&A advisor with a front-row view into the market for buying and selling digital media companies. Needless to say, it's a buyer's market.AB breaks down the market for digital publishing assets – broadly those with page-based models – into three types of buyers:HarvestersCAC jockeysVanity projects/rich person playthings“If you're a publisher with a mostly ad-supported site, odds are your business will be worth less next year than it is now,” he said. Deals are still getting done, but the buyers are different. These are no-name PE firms above ice cream shops in the outskirts of Miami. We go through the list, which ranges from Valnet to Static Media to Savage Ventures to Regent. The playbook is to buy undervalued media properties, slash costs, and milk the programmatic revenue with hyper-lean models that rudely dispense with the nostalgia of “when the going was good.”“Any content they invest in has to be ROI positive within 30 days,” AB said. “You'll never see them spend $20 million hoping advertisers show up. Those days are done.”Other topics we covered:How AI uncertainty is creating overhang that depresses valuations and makes long-term modeling nearly impossibleWhy the most resilient media businesses are lead-generation machines or conversion front-endsWe debate whether the Chernin Group content-to-commerce thesis was wrongHow Substack's recommendation engine is the most efficient user acquisition channel in mediaWhat kinds of content investors still believe in (hint: high-intent verticals, not general news)Check out The Rebooting's new media product research reportSign up for The Rebooting's Online Forum on May 21 at 1pmET featuring a case study on how Recurrent migrated its CMS across a portfolio of sites without disruption

Kathleen Sebelius has led a career defined by public impact—first as Governor of Kansas and then as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, where she helped steer one of the most significant healthcare reforms in American history. In this episode of Lab Rats to Unicorns, Sebelius unpacks the leadership lessons she's learned across government and health systems, including the rollout of the Affordable Care Act and her efforts to accelerate translational research through federal agencies like the NIH, FDA, and CMS. At a time when NIH funding is under political pressure, Sebelius offers a powerful defense of continued public investment in biomedical science. She argues that undermining NIH not only risks slowing innovation but jeopardizes America's global leadership in medicine, biotechnology, and economic competitiveness. Whether you're a policymaker, entrepreneur, or scientist, this conversation reveals why bipartisan support for public health infrastructure and regulatory expertise is more important than ever—and how real progress depends on collaboration across sectors.

The 2023 FBI Internet Crime Report reveals that nearly 21% of ransomware attacks targeted the healthcare and public health sectors—making them the top victims.   This week on Feds At The Edge, we explore how agencies can defend against these growing threats.   Benjamin Koshy, Chief Information Security Officer and Director, Division of Information Security of Indian Health Service, explains the unique identity management challenge in healthcare: balancing open patient access with strict data protection.  Keith Busby, Acting CISO at CMS, outlines how to go beyond Zero Trust with real-world risk assessments and robust incident response plans - not just a three-ring binder gathering dust on a shelf.  And Alec Lizanetz, Identity Protection Specialist from CrowdStrike, emphasizes the importance of prioritizing threats and using frameworks like CISA's to respond efficiently.   Tune in on your favorite podcasting platform today to hear practical, high-impact strategies to secure critical systems and protect patient care, perfect for healthcare leaders who must protect both data and lives.      

A critical flaw in a Samsung's CMS is being actively exploited. President Trump's proposed 2026 budget aims to slash funding for CISA. “ClickFix” malware targets both Windows and Linux systems through advanced social engineering. CISA warns of a critical Langflow vulnerability actively exploited in the wild. A new supply-chain attack targets Linux servers using malicious Go modules found on GitHub. The Venom Spider threat group targets HR professionals with fake resume submissions. The Luna Moth group escalates phishing attacks on U.S. legal and financial institutions. The U.S. Treasury aims to cut off a Cambodia-based money laundering operation. Our guest is  Monzy Merza, Co-Founder and CEO of Crogl, discussing the CISO's conundrum in the face of AI. Malware, mouse ears, and mayhem: Disney hacker pleads guilty. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you'll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. CyberWire Guest On our Industry Voices segment, we are joined by Monzy Merza, Co-Founder and CEO of Crogl, who is discussing the CISO's conundrum—the growing challenge of securing organizations in a world where AI rapidly expands both the number of users and potential adversaries.Selected Reading Samsung MagicINFO Vulnerability Exploited Days After PoC Publication (SecurityWeek) Trump would cut CISA budget by $491M amid ‘censorship' claim  (The Register) New ClickFix Attack Mimics Ministry of Defense Website to Attack Windows & Linux Machines (Cyber Security News) Critical Vulnerability in AI Builder Langflow Under Attack (SecurityWeek) Linux wiper malware hidden in malicious Go modules on GitHub (Bleeping Computer) Malware scammers target HR professionals with Venom Spider malware (SC Media) Luna Moth extortion hackers pose as IT help desks to breach US firms (Bleeping Computer) US Readies Huione Group Ban Over Cybercrime Links (GovInfo Security) Hacker 'NullBulge' pleads guilty to stealing Disney's Slack data (Bleeping Computer) Share your feedback. We want to ensure that you are getting the most out of the podcast. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey as we continually work to improve the show.  Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here's our media kit. Contact us at cyberwire@n2k.com to request more info. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mirai Now Exploits Samsung MagicINFO CMS CVE-2024-7399 The Mirai botnet added a new vulnerability to its arsenal. This vulnerability, a file upload and remote code execution vulnerability in Samsung s MagicInfo 9 CMS, was patched last August but attracted new attention last week after being mostly ignored so far. https://isc.sans.edu/diary/Mirai+Now+Exploits+Samsung+MagicINFO+CMS+CVE20247399/31920 New Kali Linux Signing Key The Kali Linux maintainers lost access to the secret key used to sign packages. Users must install a new key that will be used going forward. https://www.kali.org/blog/new-kali-archive-signing-key/ The Risk of Default Configuration: How Out-of-the-Box Helm Charts Can Breach Your Cluster Many out-of-the-box Helm charts for Kubernetes applications deploy vulnerable configurations with exposed ports and no authentication https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoftdefendercloudblog/the-risk-of-default-configuration-how-out-of-the-box-helm-charts-can-breach-your/4409560

(This episode originally aired on October 22, 2024.) For years, the best word to describe Medicare Advantage (MA) was “untouchable.” Hugely popular among seniors, profitable for health plans—the hybrid public-private payment model grew to the point that it now covers more seniors than traditional Medicare. But in the past few years, the tide has started to change. And if you've been paying attention in recent months, you'll have seen headlines announcing that payers that are scaling back their MA offerings and providers are exiting MA contracts. The MA market has gone from “untouchable” to “volatile.” The question is: why is this happening, and what does it mean for payers, providers, and seniors moving forward? In this episode, hosts Rachel (Rae) Woods and Abby Burns invite health plan experts Max Hakanson and Chelsea Needham to dissect what is going on in MA and how plans and providers are—or should be—navigating the changing tide. Links: Ep. 203: Value series: Is the future of VBC in specialty care? Zing Health & Strive Health say yes. Ep. 149: Senior Care (Part 1): Specialized primary care for an aging population Ep. 150: Senior Care (Part 2): The rapid growth of Medicare Advantage 3 traits health plans want in a provider partner 4 traits providers want in a health plan partner Around the nation: CMS releases Medicare Advantage Star Ratings Q&A: Cardiologist Navin Kapur discusses the future of complex PCI

The 2021/2023 E/M guideline revisions read: “The evaluation and/or treatment should be consistent with the likely nature of the condition.” Before this, the CPT® guidelines did not discuss medical necessity. Guidance was left to the payers, particularly Medicare, via the Social Security Act. CMS's guidance doesn't necessarily hold regulatory authority. However, it often reflects a new, shared […] The post Medical Necessity Comes Before Coding appeared first on Terry Fletcher Consulting, Inc..

The revenue cycle can be thought of as a machine that keeps churning nonstop, making everything work, financially speaking, for your hospital.But even the most well-oiled machinery can get clogged, meaning it doesn't perform at its peak. And that is why the producers of ICD10monitor and Talk Ten Tuesdays have invited Jessica Miller-Dobbs to join the popular Internet broadcast as its special guest for some shop talk.Jessica is the Director of Health Information Management (HIM) and Revenue Cycle for Datavant. She is scheduled to appear during the next live edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays, 10 a.m. Eastern on May 6, for a refreshingly new approach in learning how to get your revenue cycle humming.Also part of the live broadcast will be these instantly recognizable panelists, who will report more news during their segments:• Social Determinants of Health: Tiffany Ferguson, CEO for Phoenix Medical Management, Inc., will report on the news that is happening at the intersection of medical record auditing and the SDoH.• The Coding Report: Christine Geiger, Assistant Vice President of Acute and Post-Acute Coding Services for First Class Solutions, will report on the latest coding news.• News Desk: Timothy Powell, ICD10monitor national correspondent, will anchor the Talk Ten Tuesdays News Desk.• MyTalk: Angela Comfort, veteran healthcare subject-matter expert, will co-host the long-running and popular weekly Internet broadcast. Comfort is the assistant vice president of revenue integrity for Montefiore Health.

This week I Answer Listener Questions [powerpress]

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down for a candid discussion with Dr. Mehmet Oz, discussing the toxified food environment within the United States—pointing directly to its causes—and exploring not just possible, but immediate routes for change. These include better governmental oversight, but also the implementation of new technologies such as AI. Dr. Mehmet Oz, newly appointed by President Donald Trump as the 17th Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is a cardiothoracic surgeon, professor emeritus at Columbia University, and former leader of the heart institute at New York Presbyterian Medical Center, known for innovations like the Mitraclip and over 400 publications in heart surgery, health policy, and complementary medicine. He gained national fame through The Dr. Oz Show, winning nine Daytime Emmys and authoring several New York Times bestsellers, before becoming the 2022 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. A Harvard and UPenn MD/MBA graduate, Oz also co-founded the influential health platform Sharecare and the nationwide teen wellness initiative Healthcorps. His public influence has been recognized by Time, Forbes, and Esquire, making him a high-profile figure at the intersection of medicine, media, and policy. This episode was filmed on November 13th, 2024  | Links | For Dr. Mehmet Oz: On X https://x.com/droz?lang=en On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dr_oz/?hl=en Dr. Mehmet Oz shares his vision for CMS https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/dr-mehmet-oz-shares-vision-cms