Podcasts about community health workers

Community health workers (CHWs) play a vital role in connecting people with the health and social services they need, making them an important part of efforts to improve brain health and support people living with dementia. In recognition of National Community Health Worker's Week, Corinne Gillenwater, senior analyst for Chronic Disease and Health Improvement, discusses ASTHO's updated e-learning course for CHWs on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. She explains how feedback from CHWs across the country shaped the new 2.0 version, which covers dementia risk reduction, early detection, caregiving, healthy aging across the life course, and resource navigation. She also shares early results showing increased knowledge and skills among participants, as well as examples of how CHWs are applying the training in their communities.PHRME - Infant Mortality Programs, CHW Alzheimer's CourseEquipping Community Health Workers to Address Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias in Their Communities | astho prodLeveraging Medicaid to Support Community Health Workers | ASTHOResilience among Rural Public Health Leaders during the COVID‐19 Pandemic: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study - McMillion - 2026 - The Journal of Rural Health - Wiley Online Library

Community health workers (CHWs) help bridge the gap between the health care system and the everyday realities of the people it serves. They connect patients to care and community resources, support chronic disease management, and help people navigate barriers such as transportation, provider shortages, and limited broadband access. In recognition of National Community Health Workers Week, ASTHO's Ashley Cram explains how states are supporting this essential workforce through training, supervision, career pathways, and sustainable funding.How States Leverage Policy to Build Up Community Health Workers | ASTHOCommunity Health Worker Certification by Jurisdiction | ASTHORethinking Efficiency in Public Health | AJPH | Vol. 116 Issue 9

There's a number attached to every patient's chart that quietly shapes the resources they receive, the care they're offered, and whether their health conditions are fully seen — and most providers don't fully understand it. In this episode, Jamie sits down with Ericka Bauman, Director of Quality Assurance at Your Health, to break down the Risk Adjustment Factor — better known as the RAF score. Ericka has spent years traveling across Georgia and South Carolina, walking into provider offices, sitting with care teams, and doing the work of turning confusing data into meaningful patient outcomes. What you'll hear in this episode: What the RAF score actually is — explained the way Erica explains it to every team she visits, from providers to front desk staff Why most RAF scores are too low — and how underdocumenting a patient's conditions leaves them exposed to missed care, hospitalizations, and unmet needs The biggest misconception providers have about RAF (hint: it's not another box to check) How RAF and quality measurement are really asking the same question from two different angles — and why treating them separately is a mistake What changes for patients when care teams show up prepared, proactive, and looking at the whole person — not just the reason for today's visit The numbers will follow when you take care of the patient. This episode will show you how. www.YourHealth.Org

Most nursing homes think they're measuring success by how many patients move through their building. What they're not measuring is how many of those same patients end up right back in the hospital — and who pays the price when they do. In this episode of The Disrupted Podcast, Scott Middleton — Owner of Your Health and Chief Disruption Officer — pulls back the curtain on the facility partnership model Your Health is rolling out across the Southeast. It's a model that doesn't just serve patients in skilled nursing facilities; it pays those facilities for the care coordination work their staff is already doing, while creating the kind of presence that actually moves the needle on outcomes. Scott and Jamie cover the mechanics, the competitive landscape, and the cultural shift required to make it all work: Why Your Health is contracting with nursing homes to pay up to $20,000 a month for care coordination — and what that's worth annually to a facility with 200 Medicare patients The difference between "popping in" and genuine presence — and why only one of them drives real cost savings and keeps patients from bouncing back to the hospital Why physicians working in isolation are the biggest liability in a team-based care model, and how a September 1st bonus restructure is designed to change that culture How 80% of what used to require an in-person visit can now happen via telehealth — and the one thing technology will never replace: the relationship that makes a patient actually follow through Scott's 10-year urgency: why Your Health is already three steps ahead of the competition — and why that lead only matters if the model scales fast enough If you work in a nursing facility, lead a care team, run a healthcare organization, or believe the system needs a fundamentally better architecture — this is what building it actually looks like. Press play. www.YourHealth.Org

In this episode of See See by Ceci, we're joined by Vikram Patel, global mental health leader, psychiatrist, and the Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He confronts a contradiction at the heart of the twenty-first-century mind: why mental health is declining in the wealthiest nations, with record resources at hand, while some of the most effective solutions are emerging from communities that have almost none. In this wide-ranging conversation, Professor Patel walks us through what he calls the great mental health paradox and its two roots: a reductionist system that answers suffering with a prescription, and an individualism in which "disconnection is like a virus." He traces the asylum and the diagnostic manual; fifty years and tens of billions of dollars that have yielded no biomarker and no new drugs; the loneliness epidemic; the grip of poverty and inequality; and India's rise in youth suicide. Then comes his own answer: the community health worker, most often a woman, most often unpaid, trained to deliver a six-session treatment that cured two-thirds of people with severe depression and kept well years on. With reflections from criminologist Stephen Schoenthaler, neuroscientists Rudolph Tanzi and John Cryan, jazz drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, writer Andrew Solomon, psychiatrist Richard Mollica, philosophers Paul Thagard and Stephen Cave, choreographer Alexander Whitley, sixteen-year-old activist Alexander Schmitz of Young Minds for Global Health, and three-Michelin-starred chef Eric Vildgaard, the episode gathers voices you would rarely find in one room. How minds this different meet on common ground is what we leave for the listening to reveal. This episode is about a scientist fluent in the resources of both the biomedical clinic and the community's own healing knowledge, and about the richness of a simple truth he keeps returning to, that what makes a life well is connection, and who reminds us that when it comes to mental health, we are all developing nations. Above all, this conversation is about the most quietly radical proposition medicine can make: that the cure for much of our suffering is not somewhere out of reach, but near at hand, in the bonds we build between us. *Vikram Patel is the Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He co-founded Sangath, the Indian NGO honored with WHO and MacArthur awards, has co-led two Lancet Commissions on global mental health, and is a member of the US National Academy of Medicine. His honors include the Pardes Humanitarian Prize, an Honorary OBE, the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, and a place on Time's 100 most influential people (2015).

How do you lead 16 agencies and serve 8.2 million people without losing sight of the individual? NYC's Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services Helen Arteaga shows what happens when a leader moves beyond the binary of efficiency vs. compassion, using data and local insights to get both right. In this episode, you'll learn: Why a structured system for serving people from birth through end-of-life means better, consistent care. How to use neighborhood-level data and geographic targeting to serve people before they hit crisis. How to get the right processes in place before feeding data to an AI. The importance of early intervention with babies and children. Why ensuring equal access to good care is so personal for DM Arteaga, and how she honors her father's legacy by doing so. Guest: New York City's Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services Helen Arteaga Listener Survey: bit.ly/datasmartpod Music credit: Summer-Man by Ketsa About Data-Smart City Solutions Data-Smart City Solutions, housed at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University, is working to catalyze the adoption of data projects on the local government level by serving as a central resource for cities interested in this emerging field. We highlight best practices, top innovators, and promising case studies while also connecting leading industry, academic, and government officials. Our research focus is the intersection of government and data, ranging from open data and predictive analytics to civic engagement technology. We seek to promote the combination of integrated, cross-agency data with community data to better discover and preemptively address civic problems. To learn more visit us online and follow us on LinkedIn.

What if the biggest threat to your healthcare organization isn't competition or reimbursement rates — it's the moment one of your team members decided that the policy was more important than the person in front of them? In this episode, Jamie sits down with Matt Staub, CEO of Your Health, to explore the timeless "Give 'Em the Pickle" philosophy — born in a burger joint, but almost perfectly designed for healthcare. Matt and Jamie unpack the four pillars of the pickle framework — service, attitude, consistency, and teamwork — and trace each one directly into the reality of patient care, care team dynamics, and organizational culture. Video LinkGive Em The Pickle Youtube Video   What you'll hear in this episode: Why charging a loyal customer 75 cents for extra pickles is the same mistake healthcare makes every day — and how the Ritz Carlton's $2,500 employee empowerment policy points to a better way How attitude isn't just a soft skill — it's the infrastructure of every patient interaction, including the ones where you're already having a bad day Why mistakes in healthcare aren't failures — they're invitations, and the patients who complained and felt heard often become your fiercest advocates What real consistency looks like in care delivery: not doing the same thing robotically, but doing ordinary things extraordinarily well, every single time How teamwork in healthcare means every person in the organization — from the CEO to the community health worker — has a role in whether the patient feels seen and served This episode will challenge you to look at service not as a department or a satisfaction score, but as the very soul of what your organization stands for. Give 'em the pickle.

Most nursing home administrators don't realize they're sitting on one of the most underutilized revenue streams in all of Medicare — and until someone shows up and tells them what it's worth, they never will. In this episode, Scott Middleton — founder and Chief Disruption Officer of Your Health — calls in from the road as he travels across rural Georgia on a multi-day facility tour, fresh off completing a major merger with TCPA. What follows is an unfiltered, on-the-ground breakdown of two transformational opportunities Scott is actively building: chronic care management (CCM) reimbursement and ACO cost savings — and the very specific reasons most of the industry is getting both wrong. In this episode, you'll hear: Why Medicare already pays $65/hour for care management performed by nurses, community health workers, and social workers — and how Your Health is now contracting with nursing home facilities to perform it, paying them up to $100 per patient per month The "Fuse" platform — a communication and documentation tool that routes care management notes directly into billing-ready buckets, syncing with point-of-care software so the minutes get captured and billed automatically How ACO risk scores work, why Your Health's scores have grown 30% under their current plan, and what failing to see hospice patients could cost the organization — up to $22 million in a single year The $4,800 per patient per year problem: how one physician in their network was quietly rated one of the worst under the ACO model simply because his patients were going home without any follow-up Scott's announcement that SSAs and TCPs are being restructured to report directly to peer group administrators — and why the confusion about their roles has cost the company If you lead a nursing home, an assisted living facility, a physician group, or any organization inside the long-term care ecosystem, this episode will change how you look at what you're already doing — and what you're leaving behind. www.YourHealth.Org

What does it look like the day a healthcare merger closes — not in a press release, but in real life? Scott Middleton was still signing DocuSign documents from his car when Jamie Preston hit record, and what followed is one of the most honest conversations yet about what it takes to grow a healthcare organization without losing the soul of why you started. Scott Middleton, Owner of Your Health and Chief Disruption Officer, joins the show to break down the just-completed acquisition of TCPA and Providence Care — and what it means to suddenly be responsible for 32 nursing home buildings, 900 new patients, and the enormous operational lift of pulling it all together under one roof. In this episode, Scott and Jamie cover: Why Your Health is immediately deploying two nurses and two community health workers per building — and how the revenue model makes them essentially self-funding from day one The continuous care hospice strategy: how night nurses on call can simultaneously generate $67/hour in Medicare reimbursement and ensure no patient dies alone The critical failure Scott discovered — hospice patients who haven't been seen by a provider since January, and the financial and human cost of letting that slide Why strategic planning lives in the field, not the boardroom — and what happens when leaders stop getting out from behind their desks The 30-day integration sprint: switching all providers to Athena, connecting hospice nurses to nurse practitioners, and getting risk scores captured before it's too late This is what disruption actually sounds like — not a keynote, not a case study, but a leader in motion, making decisions in real time, building something the healthcare system has never seen. If you're in healthcare, business, or just believe the way things have always been done is not good enough — this one's for you. www.YourHealth.Org

Omari Richins, MPH of Public Health Careers podcast talks with Dr. Anthony Cornelius Gittens, DrPH, CHES.He shares his journey in public health, emphasizing the importance of community engagement, representation in clinical trials, and the role of language and culture in shaping public health initiatives. He discusses his current role as a community clinical manager, the challenges of building trust with historically underrepresented communities, and the significance of community health workers. Dr. Gittens also reflects on his educational journey and the lessons learned along the way, advocating for a public health approach that prioritizes equity and access for all. In this conversation, Dr. Anthony Gittens shares his journey into public health, highlighting transformative experiences in Colombia that shaped his perspective. He discusses the importance of education in public health, particularly his master's and doctoral studies, and emphasizes the need for leadership and community engagement in the field. Dr. Gittens reflects on his various roles in public health, the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the significance of networking and personal development for aspiring public health professionals.

What if the biggest driver of a good patient experience has nothing to do with the patient at all — at least not at first? In this episode, Jamie sits down with four leaders behind Your Health's new Ambassador program: Rebecca Dillard (Chief Patient Experience Officer), Eddie Caldwell (VP of Talent & Workforce Strategy), Stephanie Martin (Executive Director of Employee Performance), and Whitney Myers (Executive Field Director of Patient Experience).  Together they built a 36-person volunteer network designed to move Your Health's values off the wall and into everyday conversations. •  Why colleague experience has to come before patient experience — not after it •  The five-part Ambassador framework — Observe, Encourage, Celebrate, Listen, Connect — and which piece each guest personally underestimated •  How Eddie has changed what he listens for in job interviews to hire for culture fit, not just skill •  The simple three-word question — “tell me more” — that's changing how the team listens to understand instead of listening to respond •  Why Purpose Partners, a peer-support network launched at the Ambassador retreat, is built to outlast the excitement of any single training day This is a conversation about what culture change actually requires — not slogans, but sustained, person-to-person influence. Press play to hear what a good “ordinary Tuesday” looks like when a culture initiative actually works. www.YourHealth.Org

What if the most powerful growth strategy in hospice and primary care had nothing to do with your clinical protocols, your technology stack, or your marketing budget — and everything to do with who shows up, and how often? In this episode of The Disrupted Podcast, Scott Middleton — founder and Chief Disruption Officer of Your Health — unpacks the real-world lessons shaping how your Health is staffing, growing, and rebuilding trust as it integrates the newly merged TCPA and Providence Care organizations. Scott spent the week in the field — Monroe, Georgia; Beaufort, South Carolina; Atlanta and beyond — sitting in care team meetings, talking to nurses, watching exercise classes, and rethinking everything from staffing ratios to personality matching. What he found is both a warning and a blueprint. In this episode: Why minor service failures — a nurse who didn't show up once — can cost you an entire facility relationship, and what it actually takes to earn it back The strategic case for pulling a nurse off a shared caseload and planting her full-time in a single building — even when the numbers don't fully justify it yet The story of a nurse so embedded in one facility that an administrator told Your Health: "I will cut you if you move her" How DISC personality profiles should determine which staff member walks into which building — and why getting it wrong creates friction that kills referrals Why the best talent you'll ever hire is already living in the community you serve — and why your recruiters will never find them on Indeed The centralize-then-decentralize model Your Health deploys every time it launches something new — and why it's the only way to scale without losing quality If you lead a care team, run a hospice program, manage a building, or are trying to grow in any direction in healthcare right now — this episode is your field guide. www.YourHealth.Org

What does it take to become a Community Health Worker? Leslie Clark from the United Way of Virginia’s Blue Ridge joined us to discuss CHW training and services.   During this episode we discuss the use of CHW’s to decrease medical mistrust. If you would like to learn more about this topic, check out the new book Medical Mistrust in Appalachia: Helping Patients and Providers Communicate with Cultural Humility, edited by Wendy Welch and Beth O’Connor.

An ER nurse who spent 15 years on the night shift says she can predict which patients heal fastest — and it has nothing to do with diet or exercise. It's whether someone showed up for them and refused to stay quiet. In this episode, Matt Staub, CEO of Your Health, sits down with Jamie Preston to unpack that idea from every angle: as a son who once filled a hospital waiting room with 20 advocates for his mother's liver transplant, as a nursing home administrator who sat with a dying patient who had no one else, and as a cancer patient who carried a notebook into every appointment so he wouldn't forget the questions that mattered. Together they explore: Why family advocates get prioritized in the ER — and it isn't about fear of being sued The data behind advocacy: a 65% drop in 30-day hospital readmissions and a 98% staff satisfaction rate when patients have someone in their corner How to ask a "dumb" question without ever sounding dumb — and why staff want you to ask it What to do when a well-meaning advocate crosses the line into disrespect, and how healthcare workers can hold the line with empathy intact The "teach-back" method that helps patients actually retain what they were told Why the best advocates aren't the loudest in the room — they're the most present This is a conversation about the most overlooked job in healthcare: the one nobody's officially hired for, but everybody eventually needs. Whether you're a caregiver, a patient, or the clinician on the other side of the exam table, you'll walk away knowing exactly what to do differently at your next appointment.

What if the reason your boss wants you in the office has nothing to do with your productivity — and everything to do with their ego? Scott Middleton admits it: he walked around his 30,000-square-foot corporate office on a Friday afternoon, found nobody, and got irritated. Then he caught himself. The data said his team was productive. The irritation was his ego talking. That moment of self-awareness opens a much bigger conversation about what happens when leaders — in business and in healthcare — stop reading the evidence and start acting on assumption. In this episode of The Disrupted Podcast, Scott and Jamie dig into: Why most CEOs pushing return-to-office mandates are solving for ego, not outcomes — and the New York Times data that proves it How Your Health is shifting from counting patients to measuring risk scores — and why that changes everything about how care teams are built The "legs grow back on January 1st" problem: how the Medicare system loses patient diagnoses every year and why hospice patients often appear healthier right before they die Why misinterpreting hospice rules is putting patients on the wrong track — and costing providers in ways they don't see coming The role of chaplains in advanced care planning, and why getting that right could reduce hospitalizations and change end-of-life outcomes South Carolina's jump from 49th to 26th in healthcare quality rankings — and what it means for the rest of the country Scott closes with a mission statement that's hard to argue with: at 67, he could have retired. He didn't. If this conversation lights something up in you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. www.YourHealth.Org

Jessica Bauer Walker speaks with WBEN's Lucas Buckley.

The American healthcare system is built around a simple idea: get sick, get treated. But what if the problem isn't how we treat illness — it's that we've never seriously tried to prevent it? In this first installment of a two-part conversation, Jamie sits down with Brody Wall, Division President of Operations at Your Health, to trace the arc from a broken, reactive healthcare system to one where data tells you what's coming before the patient even knows something is wrong. Brody's path to healthcare wasn't through a textbook — it was through a father who was a Methodist minister and a mother who spent her career caring for underprivileged children. The mission was always there. The data just became the most honest way to fulfill it. In Part 1, Jamie and Brody cover: Why fee-for-service healthcare financially rewards volume of sick visits — not health — and how that one incentive structure explains why 17-20% of America's GDP goes to healthcare costs with outcomes that still lag behind other developed nations What Your Health was flying blind on before it committed to building a real data infrastructure — and what gut-feeling decisions look like when data finally proves them wrong How social determinants of health (Z codes) and behavioral health conditions (F codes) reveal which patients are actually at the highest risk of hospitalization The finding that changed everything: patients with four or more behavioral health conditions were ten times more likely to have multiple ER visits — and the clinical response that followed This isn't just a conversation about numbers. It's about what happens when an organization decides that preventing the crisis matters more than reacting to it. Part 2 drops next week. www.YourHealth.Org

What happens when the rules everyone follows weren't actually rules to begin with? In this episode, Scott Middleton — Owner of Your Health and Chief Disruption Officer — shares what he's seeing on the ground as the TCPA and Providence Care merger moves toward its final close. But the real conversation goes deeper: the quiet, dangerous habit of staff making up policies, enforcing phantom restrictions, and defaulting to "no" when the answer should have been "let's figure it out." Key topics covered: Why fabricated rules (like requiring a psych NP referral for talk therapy) become embedded in organizations — and how to stop it How Scott is approaching the merger with radical transparency, and why "don't tell until it's done" has no place in his culture The one thing that will get you fired fast: "don't tell Scott" What TCPA's nursing home model is teaching Your Health about patient frequency, hospitalizations, and what actually works Why the chaplain conversation changed Scott's entire philosophy — and how advanced care planning pays for it The system doesn't need more rules. It needs more people willing to ask. Listen now and ask yourself: what rule in your organization did somebody just make up? www.YourHealth.Org

International Medical Graduates, Community Health Workers, and Access to Care in the U.S.On The Pediatric Lounge, hosts discuss with Dr. Ilan Sharps, a pediatrician at AltaMed in California (serving about 600,000 patients across 70+ clinics), how promotores de salud/community health workers support care by translating medical information culturally and linguistically, connecting families to resources, addressing barriers like food insecurity, safe spaces for exercise, transportation, and improving outcomes and costs through programs such as CalAIM and risk-based funding. They explore follow-up challenges for asymptomatic conditions (e.g., early type 1 diabetes screening) and how telehealth and home monitoring can reduce unnecessary visits while maintaining engagement. The conversation then focuses on international medical graduates (about 25% of the U.S. physician workforce), their role in underserved primary care communities, visa and licensing barriers, discrimination in training and hiring, balancing “brain drain” concerns, and developing safe pathways that verify competency while meeting U.S. workforce needs.00:00 Podcast Intro and Guest01:12 AltaMed Role and Reach02:37 Access and Urgent Care Options03:45 Promotoras Explained07:48 Funding and ROI09:37 Lifestyle Support for Diabetes11:53 Getting Patients to Follow Up15:55 Telehealth and Removing Barriers18:33 Immigrants and IMG Contributions23:05 Brain Drain and Underserved Care25:38 Healthier Workforce Case27:03 IMGs Fill Primary Care29:05 Primary Care Shortages30:18 Public Health Models Abroad31:57 Mexico Doctor Oversupply33:14 Mexican Physician Program34:50 Quality And Fair Exams38:02 Licensing Barriers Worldwide41:55 IMG Exploitation And Bias45:49 Building Better Pipelines46:37 IMGs To Admire50:14 Parting Thoughts And WrapSupport the show

Most companies recruit interns to take work off someone's plate. Your Health does the opposite — and it's why several of its current executives, including a Chief Information Officer, first walked in the door as interns. In this episode, Jamie sits down with Heather Bower, Director of Experiential Learning, who has taken the reins of Your Health's internship, mentorship, preceptorship, and apprenticeship programs. Heather shares how a long-standing program is being rebuilt with structure, data, and intention — organized into semester cohorts, anchored by a four-day all-company orientation, and designed so every intern owns a project with genuine stakes. In this conversation, you'll hear: Why "get interns because they're cheap" is exactly the wrong spirit — and what replaces it How one MBA intern's shadowing experience redirected him toward nursing school The "spreadsheet whisperer" intern who taught regional leadership to pull data faster What surprises interns most once they're inside healthcare: the human complexity How Your Health uses feedback loops to move interns toward roles where they'll actually shine If you're early in your career and unsure where you fit, this episode is a map to possibilities you may not know exist. Press play and rethink what an internship can really be. www.YourHealth.Org

"Just when I thought I had exhausted every medical, financial, and emotional option, a miracle took root." In this week's jaw-dropping episode of the Sisters in Loss podcast, we are joined by the remarkable Quisha Umemba. Quisha is a Registered Nurse, Community Health Worker, and a Fertility Doula in training who knows the clinical side of reproductive health inside and out. But today, she is sharing her deeply personal, heavily tested journey to motherhood—a story of cultivating "Fertile Ground" even when all hope seemed lost. Quisha opens up about her grueling five-year battle with secondary infertility. She holds nothing back as she discusses the immense physical, emotional, and financial toll of her journey, which included multiple intense medical procedures and spending close to $100,000. Seeking every available avenue to grow her family, Quisha even navigated the complex processes of utilizing an egg donor and a gestational surrogate. During this exhausting waiting season, Quisha admits she nearly lost her faith entirely. But then, the unimaginable happened: after years of intense medical intervention, she miraculously became pregnant naturally. In this episode, we discuss: The heavy, often silent emotional and financial weight of secondary infertility. Quisha's experience navigating the complex world of egg donation and gestational surrogacy. The profound crisis of faith that can accompany a prolonged season of waiting and loss. The jaw-dropping story of her natural, miraculous pregnancy. How her lived experience is shaping her new path as a Fertility Doula. The profound impact the book Supernatural Childbirth had on restoring her spiritual foundation. If you are currently feeling financially drained, spiritually exhausted, or just need a reminder that miracles still happen when we least expect them, this episode is exactly what you need to hear. Become a Sisters in Loss Birth Bereavement, and Postpartum Doula Here Book Recommendations and Links Below You can shop my Amazon Store or  ​Bookshop.org for the Book Recommendations You can follow Sisters in Loss on Social Join our Black Moms in Loss Online Weekly Grief Support Group Join the Sisters in Loss Online Community Sisters in Loss TV Youtube Channel Sisters in Loss Instagram Sisters in Loss Facebook

What if the patient you discharged three years ago is still costing you money today? In this episode of The Disrupted Podcast, Scott Middleton pulls back the curtain on the mechanics of value-based care most providers never see — and the merger bringing it all into focus. With the July 15th closing date approaching, Scott walks through what the merger of Your Health with TCPA and Providence Care actually means on the ground: new contracts, new provider numbers, a reimbursement model built on RAF scores and revenue rather than guesswork, and a technology stack — from the Clini app to QR-coded patient wristbands — designed to capture what was previously left on the table. In this episode: Why patient attribution under value-based contracts follows you for years — and what hospice discharges are really costing the organization How the new bonus structure ties pay to billing, RAF scores, and quality measures (and why you can never be paid to put someone on hospice) The difference between care management, facilitated visits, and what providers have been under-billing all along How skilled nursing facilities became the highest-leverage opportunity in the entire model Why advanced care plans aren't just clinical — they're a 30% income increase hiding in plain sight If you've ever wondered why the "why" behind a process matters more than the process itself, this episode is the answer. Press play. www.YourHealth.Org

Social determinants of health impact more patients than we often realize—and many of those barriers show up in the pharmacy every day.In this episode of Independent Insights, host Britney Woods, Sr. Manager of Community Pharmacy at McKesson Health Mart, sits down with Jennifer Powell, Lead Clinical Pharmacy Technician and Community Health Worker at Gibbs Pharmacy, to discuss how she and her team are actively bridging these gaps to better support their patients.From helping patients navigate food access and affordability to improving engagement and follow-up, Jenny shares real examples of how this work is helping to improve care and outcomes—and how it can be intentionally integrated into the pharmacy through a Pharmacy Technician Community Health Worker role.Listen to this insightful conversation to learn how adding a Community Health Worker to your team can help support patient care, engagement, and your pharmacy's impact in the community.HostBritney Woods, PharmDSr. Manager, Community PharmacyMcKesson / Health MartGuestsJennifer Powell, CPhT, CHW, DCCCLead Clinical Pharmacy TechnicianGibbs PharmacyResourcesHealth Mart Pharmacies can access Health Mart University (HMU) for:Helpful CE courses and more on Community Health WorkersHealth Mart pharmacists to claim their CE credit for weekly Gamechanger episodes  ReferencesNational Association of Community Health WorkersHome - NACHW - National Association of Community Health WorkersNational Academy for State Health PoliciesState Community Health Worker Policies  CHW Networks & Associations by StateNetworks and Training Programs - NACHW - National Association of Community Health WorkersCEimpact Community Health Worker TrainingPharmacy-Based Community Health Worker TrainingThe views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the guest and do not necessarily represent the views or positions of Health Mart, McKesson or its affiliates or subsidiaries ("McKesson”). The information provided herein is for informational purposes only and does not constitute the rendering of clinical, legal or other professional advice by McKesson.

What if the fastest way to grow your healthcare organization is to slow down? In this episode of The Disrupted Podcast, Scott Middleton returns from Scotland straight into the thick of a merger — and what he's learning is reshaping how he thinks about change itself. Scott takes us inside the integration of TCPA and Providence Care into Your Health, where two very different models are colliding. One organization built 640 billing codes last year; the other built 40. One puts a single nurse practitioner in a building with no support; the other surrounds providers with nurses and community health workers. The opportunity is enormous — but so is the risk of moving too fast and scaring everyone away. What if the fastest way to grow your healthcare organization is to slow down? In this episode of The Disrupted Podcast, Scott Middleton returns from Scotland straight into the thick of a merger — and what he's learning is reshaping how he thinks about change itself. Scott takes us inside the integration of TCPA and Providence Care into Your Health, where two very different models are colliding. One organization built 640 billing codes last year; the other built 40. One puts a single nurse practitioner in a building with no support; the other surrounds providers with nurses and community health workers. The opportunity is enormous — but so is the risk of moving too fast and scaring everyone away. In this conversation, Jamie and Scott explore: Why a nurse practitioner alone is a "single source of failure" — and how staffing changes everything How to enter a building without threatening the provider they already love Why billing isn't bureaucracy — it's how Medicare knows you made a difference The art of giving people what they think they need now, and the rest over time Advanced care planning, DNRs, and why the right message sometimes needs a different voice This is a masterclass in change management disguised as a healthcare conversation. Listen now — and rethink what "disruption" really requires. Why a nurse practitioner alone is a "single source of failure" — and how staffing changes everything How to enter a building without threatening the provider they already love Why billing isn't bureaucracy — it's how Medicare knows you made a difference The art of giving people what they think they need now, and the rest over time Advanced care planning, DNRs, and why the right message sometimes needs a different voice This is a masterclass in change management disguised as a healthcare conversation. Listen now — and rethink what "disruption" really requires. www.YourHealth.Org

What if educating your people so well that they could leave was exactly the point? At Your Health, that's not a risk to manage — it's the philosophy that built an entire learning ecosystem. In this episode, Jamie talks with Aubrey Wall, who came to Your Health from a background in education and now leads Your Health University, the organization's learning management system and continuous-development engine. Aubrey brings an educator's eye to a fast-evolving healthcare environment, where best practice changes by the day and meeting patients where they are demands that staff never stop learning. Here's what you'll hear: Why a healthcare company runs 12-month, Department of Labor–registered apprenticeships — including programs in management, value-based care, population health, and hospice aide preparation How gamification is being built into nurse instruction (straight from Aubrey's dissertation research) The difference between Your Health University (your classroom) and the Hub (your resource library) How LinkedIn Learning delivered roughly $4.2 million in CEUs to staff last year Meeting Leah — the new AI assistant that helps employees find exactly the right course If you've ever believed growing your people is a cost rather than the whole point, this conversation will change how you think. Press play, then go ask Leah a question. www.YourHealth.Org

"Do nothing for us without us." According to today's guest Robyn Bussey, that operating principle is the basis for effective community health work. "You don't go into a community and dictate. You go and listen and trust and be a partner," she adds. As you'll learn in this enlightening conversation, Bussey is following that approach in her current work as Just Health Director at the Partnership for Southern Equity, an Atlanta-based nonprofit advancing racial equity and shared prosperity across the South.  On this episode of Raise the Line from Elsevier, Bussey provides illuminating  examples of community-rooted work in South Fulton County and rural Georgia, and explains why community health workers may be the most underutilized asset in addressing health disparities. This wide-ranging interview with host Michael Carrese also explores: Bussey's candid perspective on what happened to the surge of interest in health equity that occurred during COVID; Why life expectancy gains in many Southern states have lagged behind the rest of the country; Her advice to students and early-career clinicians about where they're needed most.   Mentioned in this episode:  Partnership for Southern Equity If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

What if your healthcare team already knew what happened during your hospital stay — before you even explained it? What if someone on your care team noticed you were struggling on a Saturday and simply showed up? In this episode, Jamie sits down with Christopher Laffey, Nurse Practitioner at Your Health, to break down what a truly connected, proactive model of care actually looks like when it's working. Christopher practices in North Charleston, SC, where his team — nurses, therapists, social workers, community health workers, and more — functions less like a traditional office practice and more like a living, breathing safety net woven around each patient's real life. What you'll hear in this episode: Why most patients are failing not because nobody cares, but because the system itself is fragmented — and what doing it differently actually looks like on a Tuesday morning The real difference between "patient-centered" as a marketing phrase and patient-centered as a daily practice (hint: it involves seeing the medication bottles on the kitchen table) A powerful real-life story of a bedbound patient whose caregiver suddenly disappeared — and how the team mobilized over a weekend, on their own time, to prevent a hospitalization The single mindset shift every clinician needs to make the transition from visit-based thinking to longitudinal care Why "value-based care" doesn't mean discounted care — it means the organization is accountable for your outcomes, not just your appointments If you've ever left a doctor's appointment feeling more confused than when you walked in, this episode will show you what healthcare can feel like when it's actually designed around you. www.YourHealth.Org

It was 3 o'clock in the morning when Scott Middleton finally signed the papers. The merger was official. And within days, he was already on the road — visiting facilities, riding along with providers, and spotting the same gap everywhere he went: brilliant clinicians doing real work that was completely invisible to the system. In this episode of The Disrupted Podcast, Jamie sits down with Scott Middleton, calling in from Boston, to unpack what he's discovering on the ground in the newly merged Your Health organization — and why tracking your time isn't about paperwork. It's about protection, proof, and getting paid for every minute of care you're already delivering. What you'll hear in this episode: The Dr. Jeeve story: a high-producing doc who managed a nursing home crisis by phone, saved a patient from an unnecessary ER visit — and never billed for it, leaving Medicare with no record of his intervention Why not documenting a visit before a hospitalization doesn't just cost you revenue — it makes you look like a bad provider, even when you did everything right How insurance companies like United Healthcare boldly take 15% off the top of every healthcare dollar — and why that math means providers can't afford to give their time away for free The TCPA pattern Scott keeps seeing: 15,000–18,000 visits a month, almost entirely in nursing homes, with zero follow-up once patients go home The new post-discharge standard: every patient leaving a nursing home gets a telehealth visit within 48 hours, then weekly follow-up for four weeks — no one gets left in the gap This episode is a masterclass in understanding that documentation isn't bureaucracy — it's how you tell your story, protect your reputation, and keep the care you've already given from disappearing. www.YourHealth.Org

What does it actually cost when a doctor writes a verbal order over the phone instead of seeing the patient? Scott Middleton has the receipts — and the answer is going to make you rethink everything about how American healthcare spends its money. In this episode of The Disrupted Podcast, Scott announces a landmark three-way merger bringing Your Health together with Transitional Care Professionals of America (TCPA) out of Georgia and Providence Care, a hospice organization in South Carolina. The combined organization will serve approximately 55,000 active patients — not patients on a list, but people being seen regularly — and Scott lays out exactly how he's going to run it. What you'll hear in this episode: Why Scott's family owning 80% of the merged company changes everything about how decisions get made — and who they get made for The difference between fee-for-service and value-based care, and why the ACO model means every unnecessary hospitalization literally comes out of Your Health's pocket How Your Health's risk-adjustment-based visit model (16 visits per year per risk point) was independently validated by a new government study — and why it works The three things Scott is asking every new employee to do in the first weeks: align with a nurse practitioner, track every minute of care management, and recruit like their livelihood depends on it — because it does Why Scott's new management philosophy is six words: "Keep them out of the hospital and see your damn patients" This isn't a corporate announcement. It's a playbook for how healthcare can actually work when operators run the company, providers see their patients, and every minute of care gets counted. www.YourHealth.Org

Heads up — this is Part 2 of Jamie's conversation with Jaclyn Taylor If you haven't heard Part 1 yet, go back and start there. It sets up everything we unpack today. Most healthcare teams are working hard. They're just not working together. And the patient is the one absorbing the cost. In this second half of the conversation, Jamie and Jaclyn move from the why into the how. What does it actually look like when a provider stops responding to today's schedule and starts managing an entire patient panel? How do you turn a community health worker, a pharmacist, a PT, and a social worker into one coordinated team instead of four parallel ones? And what's the difference between data that produces reports and data that produces decisions? You'll hear: Why "frequent touches" only work when they're connected — and how fragmented touches still land patients back in the hospital The quarterback model — what it actually means for a provider to own a patient's trajectory, not just their visit The shift from seeing patients to managing a population — and why most providers were never taught how Why we don't have a resource problem in healthcare — we have an orchestration opportunity How to use technology and data without drowning in either What "showing up" really means inside a system that isn't perfect yet This is the episode for anyone trying to lead change from inside a system that's still catching up. Press play. www.YourHealth.Org

What happens when some of healthcare's most trusted workers are still operating outside the systems that document, reimburse, and scale care? In this episode, Colby Takeda, Co-Founder & CEO of Pear Suite, joins Saul Marquez live at ViVE to explore why community health workers are becoming a more essential part of the healthcare ecosystem. Drawing from his background in senior living and public health, Colby explains how Pear Suite helps community-based providers move beyond paper and spreadsheets with tools to document care, navigate credentialing and contracting, submit claims, and get paid for the value they deliver. The conversation also looks at Pear Suite's broader vision for connecting community-based organizations, health plans, and providers in a more coordinated system of care. Colby shares why AI should reduce administrative burden instead of replacing trusted relationships, how co-design with frontline workers has shaped the platform, and where he sees the biggest opportunity to make community-based care more sustainable and accessible at scale. Tune in to hear how community health workers are becoming more essential to the healthcare ecosystem, and how better infrastructure and smarter technology can make community-based care more sustainable and scalable. Resources: Connect with Colby Takeda on LinkedIn Learn more about Pear Suite Explore Pear Suite for Providers Follow Pear Suite on LinkedIn

What if every "non-compliant" patient was actually a signal that the system isn't working for them? In this episode, Jamie sits down with Jaclyn Taylor, Clinical Strategy Director at Your Health and a nurse practitioner who started her career as a home-based provider in 2020 — thrown straight into the fire of COVID, isolated patients, and a healthcare world rewriting itself in real time. What she saw inside patients' homes — medications scattered on tables, food insecurity, missing transportation — changed how she thinks about every chart she's ever read. You'll hear: Why a nurse-first pathway gives nurse practitioners a fundamentally different lens than a medical school pathway — and why patients feel it What working across home care, telehealth, trauma, and wellness teaches you about treating the whole human, not just the diagnosis Why trauma surgery turned Jacqueline into a believer in proactive, longitudinal care — and what gets missed when we only meet patients after something has already gone wrong The two words she uses to describe what's most broken in traditional healthcare: fragmentation and misalignment How empathy stops being a poster and starts being operational — built into the design of care itself If you've ever felt invisible inside the healthcare system, or if you're the one trying to fix it, this conversation reframes the whole game. Press play. www.YourHealth.Org

Episode 224: Community Health Workers Dr. Arreaza: Today we will discuss a topic that, frankly, every single person listening, whether you're a medical student, a resident, a nurse, a family doctor, or any primary care provider, needs to really understand. We're talking about community health workers (CHWs). We are joined by our stellar medical student; you may be familiar with her voice from previous episodes about insomnia. Moira, welcome, please introduce yourself.  Moira: I want to be upfront about why Community Health Workers matter to you specifically. If you've ever felt frustrated that your patient with uncontrolled diabetes keeps missing appointments because they can't get a ride, or that your heart failure patient was readmitted because nobody checked whether they could afford their medications, then you already understand the problem that CHWs are designed to solve. Dr. Arreaza: We're going to give you the definition of a CHW, the evidence behind their effectiveness, how they fit into your care team, the return on investment, and practical steps for integrating them into your practice. We have pulled information from a lot of peer-reviewed sources, and we want to share them with you. So, Moira, let's start with the basics. What exactly is a community health worker? Moira: Great question, and it's one that even literature struggles with, because there are so many titles for this role. Community Health Worker is an umbrella term that encompasses more than 20 different titles including outreach workers, promotores or promotoras de salud, community health representatives, lay health workers, peer educators, patient navigators, and many more. The American Public Health Association defines CHWs as frontline public health workers who are trusted members of or have an unusually close understanding of the communities they serve. Arreaza: And that trust is so important in health care. CHWs are not physicians. They are not nurses. They do not diagnose or prescribe. But they are like a bridge connecting the medical environment, social services, and the community to reduce gaps in healthcare delivery.  Moira: Exactly. In the United States, the role was formally recognized in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which includes several sections highlighting the key roles CHWs play in achieving important goals of healthcare. ________________ References:  Aguerrebere, M., Rodríguez-Cuevas, F. G., Flores, H., Arrieta, J., & Raviola, G. (2019). Providing Mental Health Care in Primary Care Centers in LMICs. Innovations in Global Mental Health, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70134-9_95-1 Allen, L. N., Rasanathan, K., Mash, R., Uribe, M. V., Martinez-Bianchi, V., & Kidd, M. (2025). Models of Global Primary Care Post-2030. The Lancet Primary Care, 1(3), 100027. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanprc.2025.100027 Babagoli, M. A., Nieto-Martínez, R., González-Rivas, J. P., Sivaramakrishnan, K., & Mechanick, J. I. (2021). Roles for Community Health Workers in Diabetes Prevention and Management in Low- And Middle-Income Countries. Cadernos De Saúde Pública, 37(10). https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-311x00287120 Balasubramanya, B., Isaac, R., Philip, S., Prashanth, H. R., Abraham, P., Poobalan, A., Thomas, N., Jeyaseelan, L., Mammen, J., Devarasetty, P., & John, O. (2020). Task Shifting to Frontline Community Health Workers for Improved Diabetes Care in Low-Resource Settings in India: A Phase II Non-Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial. Journal of Global Health Reports, 4. https://doi.org/10.29392/001c.17609 Battaglia, T. A., Zhang, X., Dwyer, A. J., Rush, C. H., & Paskett, E. D. (2022). Change Agents in the Oncology Workforce: Let's Be Clear About Community Health Workers and Patient Navigators. Cancer, 128(S13), 2664–2668. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.34194 Das, S., Grant, L., & Fernandes, G. (2023). Task Shifting Healthcare Services in the Post-Covid World: A Scoping Review. PLOS Global Public Health, 3(12), e0001712. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001712 Dodd, R., Palagyi, A., Jan, S., Abdel-All, M., Nambiar, D., Madhira, P., Balane, C., Tian, M., Joshi, R., Abimbola, S., & Peiris, D. (2019). Organisation of Primary Health Care Systems in Low- And Middle-Income Countries: Review of Evidence on What Works and Why in the Asia-Pacific Region. BMJ Global Health, 4(Suppl 8), e001487. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001487 Huang, W., Long, H., Li, J., Tao, S., Zheng, P., Tang, S., & Abdullah, A. S. (2018). Delivery of Public Health Services by Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Primary Health Care Settings in China: A Systematic Review (1996–2016). Global Health Research and Policy, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41256-018-0072-0 McCray, G. G., Haynes, B., Proeller, A., Ervin, C., & Williams-Livingston, A. (2020). Making the Case for Community Health Workers in Georgia. Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.20429/jgpha.2020.080116 Mor, N., Ananth, B., Ambalam, V., Edassery, A., Meher, A., Tiwari, P., Sonawane, V., Mahajani, A., Mathur, K., Parekh, A., & Dharmaraju, R. (2023). Evolution of Community Health Workers: The Fourth Stage. Frontiers in Public Health, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1209673 Noel, L., Chen, Q., Petruzzi, L. J., Phillips, F., Garay, R., Valdez, C., Aranda, M. P., & Jones, B. (2022). Interprofessional Collaboration Between Social Workers and Community Health Workers to Address Health and Mental Health in the United States: A Systematised Review. Health &Amp; Social Care in the Community, 30(6). https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.14061 None, N. (2022). Walking the Talk: Reimagining Primary Health Care After COVID-19. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1768-7 Orkin, A. M., McArthur, A., Venugopal, J., Kithulegoda, N., Martiniuk, A., Buchman, D. Z., Kouyoumdjian, F., Rachlis, B., Strike, C., & Upshur, R. (2019). Defining and Measuring Health Equity in Research on Task Shifting in High-Income Countries: A Systematic Review. SSM - Population Health, 7, 100366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100366 Pingel, E. S. (2022). Seeing Inside: How Stigma and Recognition Shape Community Health Worker Home Visits in São Paulo, Brazil. Community Health Equity Research &Amp; Policy, 44(3), 303–313. https://doi.org/10.1177/2752535x221137384 Rifkin, S. B., Fort, M., Patcharanarumol, W., & Tangcharoensathien, V. (2021). Primary Healthcare in the Time of COVID-19: Breaking the Silos of Healthcare Provision. BMJ Global Health, 6(11), e007721. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007721 Rohan, E. A., Townsend, J. S., Bermudez, A. T., Thompson, H. L., Holman, D. M., Reza, A., Tharpe, F. S., & Wennerstrom, A. (2024). Engaging Community Health Workers in Primary Care Practices. Journal of Ambulatory Care Management, 47(3), 154–167. https://doi.org/10.1097/jac.0000000000000501 Shommu, N. S., Ahmed, S., Rumana, N., Barron, G. R. S., McBrien, K. A., & Turin, T. C. (2016). What Is the Scope of Improving Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Healthcare Using Community Navigators: A Systematic Scoping Review. International Journal for Equity in Health, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0298-8 Sisson, N., & Starke, J. (2022). Promotores De Salud in Montana: An Analysis of a Rural Health Care Intervention Rooted in Catholic Social Teaching and Its Place in Medical Curricula. The Linacre Quarterly, 89(1), 21–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/00243639211059346 The Role and Impact of Female Health Workers on the Well-Being of Global South Communities: A Call for Gender-Transformative Action. (2022). Archives of Women Health and Care, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.31038/awhc.2022521 Williams-Livingston, A., Henry Akintobi, T., & Banerjee, A. (2020). Community-Based Participatory Research in Action: The Patient-Centered Medical Home and Neighborhood. Journal of Primary Care &Amp; Community Health, 11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2150132720968456 Theme song, Works All The Time by Dominik Schwarzer, YouTube ID: CUBDNERZU8HXUHBS, purchased from https://www.premiumbeat.com/.   Even without trying, every night you go to bed a little wiser. Thanks for listening to Rio Bravo qWeek Podcast. We want to hear from you, send us an email at RioBravoqWeek@clinicasierravista.org, or visit our website riobravofmrp.org/qweek. See you next week!

What if the most important thing you did today wasn't on your task list? In the final episode of Your Health University's Values Series, host Jamie Preston brings back the full Patient Experience Team — Jennifer Kistler, Kim Metz, Whitney Myers, Carlos Heyward, and Rebecca Dillard — to explore the value that brings every other one to life: Service. Not the idea of it. The real, daily, roll-up-your-sleeves version that shows up in 60 extra seconds, one extra phone call, and the moments when you decide not to leave someone when they need you most. What you'll hear in this episode: Whitney's story of refusing to leave a patient on his worst day — and what true service looks like when the moments count most Carlos's creative solution for a patient in Charleston who keeps falling — and the phone call she made just to say thank you Rebecca's respiratory therapists who change cat litter boxes and wheel trash cans to the curb — because they noticed, and they could Kim's ICU story: braiding the hair of ventilated patients who couldn't do it themselves, because I would want someone to do that for me Jamie's deeply personal account of his wife's breast cancer diagnosis — and the profound difference between a healthcare team that says "this is what you need to do" and one that asks "what do you think?" Carlos's challenge to every listener: don't just adopt these values at work — make them yours Service is the reason you got into this. It's the thing that makes the hard days worth it and wakes you up the next morning ready to go again. Press play — and let this episode remind you exactly why what you do matters. www.YourHealth.Org

Sinn Féin councillor Robert Brosnan wants mileage rates and travel allowances for community health workers to be increased, given the recent surge in energy costs. He spoke to Treasa.

What if the most effective care model isn't built inside the hospital at all? This episode features the opening presentation from the recent Home Care Innovation Summit, a half-day virtual summit produced by Bright Spots Ventures in partnership with TytoCare, focused on how leading organizations are redesigning care to reach patients where they are. Kelly McCabe, Director of Community Health Innovations, Sinai Chicago and the Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) shares a practical, equity-driven model: clinically integrating community health workers (CHWs) into care delivery to bridge the gap between hospital, home, and community. She's joined briefly by Jeanette Avila, Manager of Community Health Innovations at SUHI offering a frontline perspective on what this model looks like in practice and how it builds trust with patients day-to-day. Serving one of the most complex patient populations in the country, with roughly 90% uninsured or covered by Medicare/Medicaid, Sinai Chicago has built a model that doesn't just acknowledge social needs, but operationalizes them.  You'll hear how Sinai Chicago: Integrates community health workers directly into clinical teams, not as an add-on, but as core infrastructure Extends care beyond hospital walls through home visits and community-based engagement Tracks social determinants and community interactions to shape real-time interventions Builds trust with patients in underserved neighborhoods through culturally aligned care Uses a hybrid model of in-person outreach and centralized coordination to improve outcomes while reducing burnout  Key topics covered: Why community health workers are essential, not optional, for high-need populations Turning social determinants from "insight" into actionable care interventions How to operationalize a community-based care model inside a hospital system The role of trust, proximity, and lived experience in improving engagement Blending home-based care with clinical oversight to scale impact If you're a health system leader, population health executive, or payer/provider partner working to close equity gaps and deliver care beyond traditional settings, this is a real-world blueprint for making it work. Presentation Link: https://www.brightspotsinhealthcare.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Kelly-McCabe_Sinai-Chicago_2.19.26.pdf  About Our Presenters: https://www.sinaichicago.org/en/suhi/suhi-staff/ Thank You to Our Episode Partner, TytoCare: TytoCare enables health systems and plans to deliver high-quality remote exams anytime, anywhere. Their FDA-cleared devices and AI-powered diagnostic platform support virtual specialty care, school-based programs, and home health models—reducing unnecessary ED visits and improving patient experience. To learn more, visit tytocare.com. Schedule a Meeting with a Senior Leader at TytoCare: To explore how TytoCare can help your organization expand virtual specialty access and improve care coordination, reach out to jtenzer@brightspotsventures.com  to schedule a meeting. About Bright Spots Ventures: Bright Spots Ventures is a healthcare strategy and engagement company that creates content, communities, and connections to accelerate innovation. We help healthcare leaders discover what's working, and how to scale it. By bringing together health plan, hospital, and solution leaders, we facilitate the exchange of ideas that lead to measurable impact. Through our podcast, executive councils, private events, and go-to-market strategy work, we surface and amplify the "bright spots" in healthcare, proven innovations others can learn from and replicate. At our core, we exist to create trusted relationships that make real progress possible. Visit our website at www.brightspotsinhealthcare.com.  

About this episode: Many people know community health workers for their work supporting clinical care and connecting people to resources. In this episode: the role of community health workers in crafting research questions, recruiting study participants, sharing results, and making a broader impact. Guest: Donald Young Jr. is a community outreach engagement specialist for the D.C., Maryland, Virginia Community Engagement Alliance. Host: Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department. Show links and related content: Community Health Workers—Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity Donald Young—Baltimore Connect Baltimore man shares story of his struggle with substance use disorder—WMAR 2 News Transcript information: Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel. Contact us: Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website. Follow us: @‌PublicHealthPod on Bluesky @‌PublicHealthPod on Instagram @‌JohnsHopkinsSPH on Facebook @‌PublicHealthOnCall on YouTube Here's our RSS feed Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University.

Most providers interrupt their patients within 18 seconds. What if the next few minutes of silence could tell you more than the next hour of testing? In Part 2 of the Your Health Values Series, Jamie  sits down again with members of the Your Health Experience Team — Rebecca, Jennifer, Whitney,  and Carlos — to go beneath the surface of "patient-centered care" and look at what empathy really demands in the pressured, everyday moments of healthcare. This isn't a conversation about being nice. It's a conversation about seeing people — patients, families, and colleagues — for everything they're carrying, even when they're hiding it behind a smile. In this episode: Why empathy is officially non-negotiable at Your Health — and what that looks like in practice The difference between emotional empathy and "empathetic sternness" (and why both save lives) How to recognize when a patient or colleague is carrying something deeper than their symptoms The real threat of empathy fatigue — and how to keep giving without burning out The two "holy times" in healthcare where empathy matters most What patients actually say when they feel truly seen If you've ever wondered whether the extra 60 seconds is worth it, this episode will show you why it's everything. Press play — and then try it on your very next interaction. www.YourHealth.Org

How does one man's dedication to community health reshape cancer prevention efforts in Texas? Carlton Allen's passion for public health and population health, sparked during his academic years, led him to an influential role in the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). Through his guidance, CPRIT addresses significant cancer burdens and health disparities statewide. Meanwhile, Allen champions the Texas Cancer Plan as a comprehensive roadmap for continued progress in cancer prevention and care. Key Questions Answered 1. How did Carlton Allen get into public health? 2. What differentiates public health from direct patient care according to Carlton? 3. Where did Carlton Allen complete his education? 4. How did Carlton Allen integrate community health workers (CHWs) into clinical operations? 5. What are the challenges in obtaining funding for community health workers? 6. What is the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) and what roles does it play? 7. How does CPRIT impact cancer prevention and research in Texas? 8. What frustrations does Carlton Allen face in his role at CPRIT? 9. What was Carlton Allen’s role in the Texas Cancer Plan? 10. What values does Carlton hope to instill in his children based on his community work? Timestamped Overview 00:00 Community Health Workers' Impact 03:42 Healthcare Worker Reimbursement Challenge 07:46 Expanding Healthcare Outreach with Grants 10:07 Visiting Texas Prevention Grantees 13:27 Advancements in Cancer Prevention 16:51 Cancer Secrecy in Males 21:14 Inclusive Cancer Care Guidelines 25:57 Community Engagement and Volunteerism 27:56 Raising Hardworking, Community-Minded Children Learn more about CPRIT here. Support The Rose HERE. Subscribe to Let’s Talk About Your Breasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if the healthcare system your loved one relies on doesn't even know they need help until it's too late — and what would it look like if it did? In this Q1 2026 episode, Jamie Preston sits down with Matt Staub, CEO of Your Health, for a candid and wide-ranging look at how one of the country's largest home-based care providers is navigating the evolving landscape of value-based care, population health, and the human experience at the center of it all. Matt brings his characteristic clarity and heart to a conversation that is equal parts strategy, story, and honest reckoning with what the system still gets wrong. Key topics covered: Why 11% of patients account for 67% of all healthcare spending — and why most of them don't know they're in an ACO The evolution of value-based care: from quality-over-cost to outcomes + patient experience over total costs How Your Health is becoming proactive — not reactive — about falls, readmissions, and high-needs patients The quiet crisis of patient trust: down from 71% in 2020 to just 33% today, and what the correlation means for hospitalizations Real stories: a 79-year-old patient who went from barely existing to living fully — and Matt's own mom, who hasn't fallen since leaving the hospital after her stroke If you work in healthcare, advocate for someone in the system, or simply believe that better is possible — this episode will change the way you see what care can be.

What if the greatest threat to healthcare isn't a broken system — it's a dehumanized one? In this episode of Experiencing Healthcare, Jamie Preston and Your Health CEO Matt Staub wrestle with a deceptively simple idea from Harvard Business School Professor Ryan Buell: service is the business of people helping people. Sparked by Matt's experience at an Athena Health executive leadership forum, this is a conversation about what it truly means to serve — in a world where technology promises to do it faster, cheaper, and at scale. Key topics covered: Why you can never fully take people out of a service industry — and what happens to care quality when you try How ambient listening technology like Mobius is using AI to restore human connection in the exam room, not replace it The ICU nurses who used tough love to get a post-heart-surgery patient walking — and what that story reveals about what genuine service really looks like The "can vs. should" question every healthcare leader must ask before deploying new technology How to show up and serve others with excellence, even on your hardest personal days Healthcare will always evolve — but Matt and Jamie make a compelling case that the human at the center of care is the one thing worth protecting above all else. This one's worth the listen.

What happens when some of healthcare's most trusted workers are still operating outside the systems that document, reimburse, and scale care? In this episode, Colby Takeda, Co-Founder & CEO of Pear Suite, joins Saul Marquez live at ViVE to explore why community health workers are becoming a more essential part of the healthcare ecosystem. Drawing from his background in senior living and public health, Colby explains how Pear Suite helps community-based providers move beyond paper and spreadsheets with tools to document care, navigate credentialing and contracting, submit claims, and get paid for the value they deliver. The conversation also looks at Pear Suite's broader vision for connecting community-based organizations, health plans, and providers in a more coordinated system of care. Colby shares why AI should reduce administrative burden instead of replacing trusted relationships, how co-design with frontline workers has shaped the platform, and where he sees the biggest opportunity to make community-based care more sustainable and accessible at scale. Tune in to hear how community health workers are becoming more essential to the healthcare ecosystem, and how better infrastructure and smarter technology can make community-based care more sustainable and scalable. About the Guest: Colby Takeda is Co-Founder & CEO of Pear Suite. With a background in public health, senior living, and community-based care, he founded the company to help community health workers and community-based organizations better navigate the operational side of delivering meaningful support. Under his leadership, Pear Suite has built a tech-enabled model that combines workflow tools, reimbursement support, credentialing, contracting, and claims infrastructure to help community-based providers work more effectively with health plans and the broader healthcare system. Things You'll Learn: Why community health workers are becoming more central to modern, whole-person care models. How Pear Suite helps community-based providers document care, manage compliance, and get reimbursed for their work. Why policy shifts and Medicaid reimbursement are creating new momentum for community-based care. How AI can support community health workers by reducing administrative burden without replacing trust-based relationships. Why connecting health plans, providers, and community organizations is key to making community-based care sustainable at scale. Resources: Connect with Colby Takeda on LinkedIn Learn more about Pear Suite Explore Pear Suite for Providers Follow Pear Suite on LinkedIn

America spends nearly double what the fourth-ranked country spends on healthcare per capita — and still ranks among the worst in outcomes. So what exactly are we paying for? In this episode of the Experiencing Healthcare Podcast, Jamie Preston and Your Health CEO Matt Staub examine what happens when healthcare gets treated like gasoline: something people expect to be available, can't easily compare on quality, and ultimately choose based on price or convenience. When brand and price stop mattering, the only differentiator left is how patients are made to feel — and whether they trust the person across from them enough to actually change. What you'll hear in this episode: Why Matt ranks service above outcomes and access — and the patient story that changed how he thinks about both The "Chick-fil-A problem": how your healthcare experience is now being compared to your best service experience anywhere, not just the clinic down the street What provider burnout really looks like when a clinician closes their notes at 11pm wondering if their patient listened How insurance billing creates distrust that bleeds directly into the patient-provider relationship — and what healthcare organizations can do about it Why the most caring thing a doctor can do sometimes feels like the worst customer service in the room If you've ever felt like a number in a waiting room — or if you've ever been the one trying to help someone who wouldn't listen — this conversation will stay with you. Press play.

What if the most powerful clinical tool in healthcare wasn't a drug, a device, or a data platform — but a word? In this episode of Experiencing Healthcare, Jamie and Matt have a conversation that starts with Disney World germs and ends with something that will change the way you lead your team tomorrow. They unpack the idea of Intentional Positive Reinforcement — not the hollow "great job" you throw over your shoulder in the hallway, but the kind of deliberate, meaningful recognition that creates a ripple effect all the way to the patient's bedside. Matt shares what a dental hygienist taught him about doing things right, why a pair of clicking heels in a nursing home hallway was actually a leadership strategy, and what happens to a healthcare team that only ever hears what they're doing wrong. This is a conversation for the bedside nurse and the C-suite executive. For the credentialing specialist who never sees a patient and the clinical coordinator who sees dozens. Because in healthcare, everyone plays a role in the patient experience — and the way we lead people determines the care those people deliver. If you've ever wondered whether your words are adding to your team or subtracting from them, this episode is your answer.

Check out AgriSafe's continuing education opportunities for CHW's: https://www.agrisafe.org/courses/chw/ -If you are interested in QPR training, visit: https://www.agrisafe.org/QPR/Check out the AgriStress Provider Directory: https://directory.agrisafe.org/Sign up for the AgriSafe newsletter: https://www.agrisafe.org/newsletter/View upcoming webinars: https://www.agrisafe.org/events/-Directed by Laura SiegelHosted by Linda EmanuelEdited by Joel Sharpton for ProPodcastingServices.comSpecial Guest: Dr. Maria Cantu Hines

Community health workers (CHWs) play a critical role in bridging the gap between health systems and the communities they serve, especially in rural and underserved areas. In this episode, ASTHO Senior Director of Population Health, Alex Kearly, explains who CHWs are, how they build trust and address both health and social needs, and why Medicaid reimbursement can help make these roles sustainable. The conversation also explores the unique access challenges facing rural communities, from provider shortages to hospital closures, and the policy tools states can use to respond, including telehealth, workforce initiatives, and systems-of-care models. Looking ahead to 2026, the episode highlights what states should watch as new federal rural health programs begin to take shape.Policy Trends Shaping Access to Care in 2026 | ASTHOBraiding and Layering Funding to Address the Social Determinants of Health | ASTHOWebinar Registration - ZoomCMS Announces $50 Billion in Awards to Strengthen Rural Health in All 50 States | CMS

Key TakeawaysEveryone can be an investigator: Observing subtle changes in behavior, sleep, decision-making, or life management can reveal early signs of behavioral health needs.Integration matters: Combining behavioral and physical health care improves outcomes, prevents avoidable hospital visits, and reduces overall healthcare costs.Impact beyond the patient: Supporting behavioral health has ripple effects on families, caregivers, and communities, improving overall system well-being.Life transitions are critical points: Changes in living situations, cognitive decline, or significant life events are opportunities for early intervention.Collaboration is key: Cognitive behavioral specialists, nurses, primary care providers, and facility staff must work together to ensure timely and effective care.Innovation brings hope: Emerging research, new care models, and broader conversations about mental health as part of overall wellness are reshaping healthcare for the better. www.YourHealth.Org

A group of nurses in Baltimore wants to bring basic care to every person in a neighborhood regardless of age, health, income or insurance.Can this idea from abroad take root in the United States?Guests:Dawn Alley, PhD, Head of Scale, IMPaCT CareAsaf Bitton, MD, MPH, Executive Director, Ariadne LabsRegina Hammond, Founder, Rebuild Johnston Square Neighborhood OrganizationChris Koller, President, Milbank Memorial FundTerry Lindsay, Community Health Worker, Sisters Together and Reaching, Inc. (STAR)Sarah Szanton, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dean, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing; Founder, Neighborhood NursingLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Help us unlock a $5,000 match by becoming one of 200 new donors at tradeoffs.org/donate.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meet Soledad Bolden CHW Program Consultant, and Kimberly Rawlinson, Community Impact Manager, from the Center for Community Health Alignment at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health. They discuss Community Health Workers, the benefits they provide and the Southeast Center for Community Health Workers Network (SE CHW). The SE CHW Network's primary goal is to enable areas throughout the region to support one another in order to collaboratively reach new heights in the community health worker field. To stream our Station live 24/7 visit www.HealthcareNOWRadio.com or ask your Smart Device to “….Play Healthcare NOW Radio”. Find all of our network podcasts on your favorite podcast platforms and be sure to subscribe and like us. Learn more at www.healthcarenowradio.com/listen

Mickal Lewis, Associate Director of the Center of Excellence on Dementia Risk Reduction with the Alzheimer's Association, shares how Community Health Workers play an essential role supporting a continuum of care for community members with dementia, and how public health leaders can help advance progress; Jeffrey Ekoma, Senior Director of Government Affairs at ASTHO, provides an update on the current government shutdown and explains how federal health agencies are impacted in this week's View from Washington, D.C. report; a new ASTHO report provides key resources that can help state and territorial health departments break down silos and collaborate with their partners in Medicaid agencies to improve health outcomes in their communities; and Dr. Susan Kansagra, Chief Medical Officer at ASTHO, was recently quoted in a story for STAT Health about low-income children's lack of access to the Covid-19 vaccine.  Frontiers in Public Health Research Article: Community health workers: developing roles in public health dementia efforts in the United States ASTHO Legislative Alert: Federal Government Shutdown Update: Contingency Plans Released ASTHO Report: Leveraging Public Health Assets in Medicaid Managed Care STAT Health: Low-income children lack access to Covid vaccines because of approval delay