The Strategy Catalyst Dispatch
The Strategy Catalyst Dispatch brings healthcare strategy professionals into the room with leading health system executives to explore how innovation, clinical leadership, and enterprise strategy intersect. Designed for strategy executives, physician leaders, and healthcare innovators, the podcast offers actionable takeaways to help organizations drive both clinical and financial impact.
Episodes
46 episodes
The Strategist in Brief: May 14, 2026
This week's episode covers Q1 hospital earnings, UnitedHealthcare's prior authorization rollback, the proposed CJR-X model, J-1 visa delays, and CMS's Medicaid revalidation push.
How St. Charles Turned Clinical Quality into Payer Leverage: From Seven MA Payers to One
We dig into how St. Charles Health System, a four-hospital not-for-profit in Central Oregon and the sole major provider across a 32,000-square-mile service area, went from seven Medicare Advantage payers down to one and then turned a twenty-yea...
The Strategist in Brief: April 30, 2026
This week's episode covers five big ideas from the Spring CSO Forum, CVS's new pharmacy-only stores, Amazon and Walmart's competing GLP-1 programs, Baylor Scott & White's health plan exit, and who's in and out of the CMS ACCESS model. ...
2026 Summit Recap: Service Line Rationalization, Scenario Planning, and AI
This episode recaps three key themes from the 2026 Strategy Catalyst Summit: what it takes to move service line rationalization from theory to action, what a live scenario planning exercise revealed about strategic preparedness, and who should ...
The Strategist in Brief: April 16, 2026
This week's episode covers the finalized Medicare Advantage rate increase, new research on AI scribes, Anthropic's unreleased Claude Mythos model and cybersecurity implications, and MedPAC's findings on Medicare Advantage margins.
The Strategist in Brief: April 2, 2026
This week's episode covers the Sutter Health and Allina Health merger announcement, CMS administrator Mehmet Oz's comments on AI agents for Medicare, key insights from the Strategy Catalyst Summit, and THMA's executive priorities survey results...
The Case for Not Merging: UW Health's Joint Operating Agreement with UPH-Meriter
Dr. Peter Newcomer, SVP and Chief Operating Officer at UW Health, walks us through how two organizations that used to compete built a financially aligned, strategically coordinated partnership — without merging. We dig into how the JOA with Uni...
The Strategist in Brief: March 12, 2026
This week's episode covers the American Medical Association's new maternity payment codes, our new CSO Advisory Council, health system access strategy survey results, and insights on consumer segmentation.
Service Line Disruptors 2026: Pay-Viders, PE, and the Threat You're Not Watching
In this episode, we share highlights from a recent Strategy Catalyst webinar where Liz Jones, Research Director, walked strategy leaders through three disruptors reshaping service lines in 2026 and tested a few intentionally provocative predict...
The Strategist in Brief: February 26, 2026
This week's episode covers Humana's acquisition of MaxHealth, the Trump administration's antitrust appeal, the Supreme Court's tariff ruling, CMS's new ACCESS model rates, and CVS's new GLP-1 drug access service.
The Strategist in Brief: February 12, 2026
This week's episode covers the end of the proposed 340B rebate pilot, healthcare earnings highlights from HCA, UnitedHealth, and Amazon, the MA rate announcement shaking up payer stocks, ChenMed's new stance on GLP-1s, and Sword Health's acquis...
The Strategist in Brief: January 29, 2026
This week's episode covers key takeaways from the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, the bipartisan healthcare reform package in Congress, insights from our latest Strategy Catalyst webinar on payviders, PE, and distributors, and Zarminali ...
The Midlife Spend: Memorial Hermann on Partnering with MIDI Health for Women's Health
Women in midlife are the highest healthcare spenders on the managed care side and women use healthcare more than men, even when you take obstetrics out. In this episode, Kathleen McHugh, AVP of Corporate Strategy, and Jennifer Todd, VP of...
The Strategist in Brief: January 15, 2026
This week's episode explores OpenAI's new healthcare-focused AI products, Cencora's new majority stake in OneOncology, the 340B rebate pilot ruling, and our predictions for 2026.
Why You Can’t Hire Your Way Out of Access Problems: Inside Inova’s Virtual Capacity and Throughput Strategy
In this episode of The Strategy Catalyst Dispatch, we unpack why expanding a physician workforce alone can't fully resolve access challenges and how Inova Health System has targeted the problem through a coordinated access-and-f...
The Strategist in Brief: December 11, 2025
This week's edition recaps our favorite intel and insights from the Fall 2025 CSO Forum held in San Diego. We also take a look at the new ACCESS model unveiled by CMS with outcomes-based payments.
Workplace Culture as a Strategic Pillar: Lessons from Wellstar Health System, feat. CSO Matt Terry
In this episode of The Strategy Catalyst Dispatch, we explore a commonly cited theme in strategic plans that rarely gets commensurate investment: culture transformation. Matt Terry, Chief Strategy Officer at Wellstar Health System, shares how W...
The Strategist in Brief: November 6, 2025
This week's edition looks at Intermountain Health's pediatric growth strategy, Ballad Health's lawsuit against UnitedHealth, AI highlights from the HLTH 2025 conference, and a recent Senate HELP Committee hearing on 340B reform.
The Strategist in Brief: October 23, 2025
This week's episode covers the shifting landscape for CMS innovation payment models, the challenges that the government shutdown poses for AMCs, Amazon Pharmacy's new prescription drug kiosks, and the Hospital for Special Surgeries partnership ...
The Strategist in Brief: October 9, 2025
This week’s episode covers the ongoing federal government shutdown and its implications for health systems, including lapses in telehealth and hospital-at-home flexibilities, paused Medicaid payments, and the potential loss of coverage fo...
Heard Around the C-Suite: The AI Arms Race and Other Insights from the Spring CFO & COO Forums
CFOs and COOs are navigating one of the most turbulent years in recent memory since 2020. From historic Medicaid cuts to escalating battles with payers, health system leaders are bracing for financial, political, and reputational pressures that...