Hunter Ambrose Leadership Podcast
Welcome to The Hunter Ambrose Podcast, hosted by Nicole Barbano, Founder of Hunter Ambrose.
This show is for executives, emerging leaders, and ambitious professionals ready to work smarter, earn better, and live well. Nicole brings two decades of experience in executive search, strategy, and coaching—cutting through the noise with sharp conversations and real-world insights.
If you want to make bold moves, live with clarity, and build a life that thrives, this is where you start.
Clarity. Strategy. Execution.
Hunter Ambrose Leadership Podcast
The State of Healthcare, AI, and the Future of Rural Medicine
What happens when a physician-executive and former U.S. Navy lieutenant commander sits down with the founder of a national executive search firm with two decades of experience in rural healthcare? You get a raw, data-driven conversation about what’s working, what’s failing, and what’s next for American medicine.
In this episode of The Hunter Ambrose Podcast, Nicole Barbano and Robert Cavagnol, MD, MHA, FACS break down the future of healthcare—rural and urban alike—with clarity and candor. They cover:
- A reality-based SWOT analysis of U.S. healthcare—strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
- The $10 billion Rural Health Transformation program and how hospitals can make smart, sustainable investments
- How AI can improve outcomes, documentation, and physician efficiency—without replacing clinicians
- The limitations of patient satisfaction scores and what the data actually reveals
- Why end-of-life care needs a complete redesign, including earlier palliative care integration
- Critical access hospital sustainability and how to decide when to sunset key services
Guest:
Robert Cavagnol, MD, MHA, FACS — physician executive and former U.S. Navy lieutenant commander.
Connect with Dr. Cavagnol on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/robertcavagnol
Host:
Nicole Barbano — Founder of Hunter Ambrose International, an executive search and leadership advisory firm specializing in healthcare, utilities, and infrastructure.
Connect with Nicole on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicolebarbano
Listen, reflect, and share.
If this episode challenged how you think about healthcare, leadership, or AI—share it with a colleague and leave a quick rating to help other leaders find the show.
To learn more about Hunter Ambrose, visit us at hunterambrose.com and nicolebarbano.com