HMA Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare

Hosted by HMA Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare

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Episodes

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Join us for concise conversations with HMA experts that identify practical approaches to make healthcare and human services work better. What defines expertise, and how does it benefit those we serve? True expertise is forged through experience, continuous learning, and a relentless curiosity in tackling complex problems. Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare illuminates these challenges, with HMA experts sharing their perspectives and approaches to addressing the industry’s most intricate issues.

Listen to episodes

29 recent

August 5, 202630 min

Is Your Healthcare Strategy Built for Change?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HwxWHF5px0&list=PLKpkKZ4OxkU7kgB8MVqDoo-t_K17673tF In this episode of Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare , HMA Regional Director Cara Henley discusses how healthcare organizations can plan for constant policy change without losing focus on their mission. Drawing on decades of experience in Medicaid policy, ACA implementation, and state healthcare transformation, Cara shares practical strategies for successfully transitioning policy upheaval into operational success. The conversation explores how organizations can prepare for the impacts of One Big Beautiful Bill Act and other Medicaid changes by balancing flexibility with stability, strengthening communication across leadership and frontline teams, and building the resilience needed to thrive through uncertainty.

July 1, 202629 min

Can Better Program Integrity Lead to Better Behavioral Health?

https://youtu.be/xzbBFO95Zyw?si=1Cx8taXFPtTYaWyN Behavioral health is essential to whole-person care, but obstacles include fragmented systems, rising costs, and paperwork burden. On this episode of HMA Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare, HMA Principal Alyssa Lord, former Secretary of Maryland’s Behavioral Health Administration, discusses how behavioral health integration and program integrity can work hand in hand to improve care. Alyssa shares practical strategies for building more connected, effective, and sustainable behavioral health systems by supporting Medicaid innovation that reduces administrative burden while strengthening accountability.

May 27, 202632 min

The Coverage Gap Grows: ACA Changes Reverberate Across Healthcare

https://youtu.be/jd7ahzxb3lw?si=qymi-InQgJeYox80 This episode of Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare explores the growing coverage gap across the health insurance landscape and the pressures shaping affordability, enrollment, and access to care. The discussion covers coverage churn between Medicaid and ACA Marketplace plans, the operational and financial realities faced by states, and the warning signs emerging for consumers, providers, and health plans alike. Zach Sherman, managing director at Health Management Associates and former head of state marketplaces in PA and RI, shares his perspective on current state challenges for insurance affordability and coverage pressures, and the policy decisions that could shape the next phase of healthcare coverage across Medicaid, Marketplace, and employer-sponsored insurance.

April 22, 202632 min

Medicare’s “Inpatient Only” Rule Is Going Away. Now What?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaIwujyoGyo This episode of Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare explores how evolving Medicare payment policy is reshaping where and how care is delivered. The discussion covers the phase-out of the inpatient only list and the operational and financial challenges tied to shifting procedures into outpatient settings. Zach Gaumer, regional director at Health Management Associates, shares his perspective on the policy mechanics, provider behavior, and market signals emerging from CMS rulemaking; while Rachel Stewart, senior consulting actuary at Wakely (an HMA Company), explains how plans are modeling uncertainty, navigating contract dynamics, and assessing the downstream impact on costs and quality across the healthcare system.

March 25, 202633 min

How Do Life Sciences Companies Keep Innovating When the Rules Keep Changing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUpHAdaPkMY&list=PLKpkKZ4OxkU7kgB8MVqDoo-t_K17673tF&index=1&t=9s This episode of Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare unpacks the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape for pharmaceuticals. The discussion covers the challenges to innovation, such as the growing unpredictability in FDA policy, the challenges with reimbursement, and the increasing role of real-world evidence in bringing therapies to market. Julie Tierney, principal at Leavitt Partners (an HMA Company) shares her expert perspectives on rare disease innovation and upcoming user fee negotiations; while Ben Shand, vice president at Health Management Associates, talks about why organizations must actively engage to navigate risk, identify opportunity, and ultimately improve patient access to care.

November 19, 202525 min

The Power of Alliances: Finding Consensus In Healthcare Policy

Eric Marshall, principal at Leavitt Partners, an HMA company, shares how collaboration, not competition, is the way to move healthcare policy forward in a polarized environment. In this episode of Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare, he discusses how multi-sector alliances are advancing solutions to common pain points that too often impede progress on issues like drug pricing, supply chain security, and rural health access. Drawing on years of experience bringing stakeholders together, Eric explains why consensus-building is essential to creating durable, effective policy solutions and how trust, persistence, and shared purpose can overcome even the deepest divides in Washington and beyond.

October 22, 202534 min

No Wrong Door: Aligning Hospitals and Community Care for Sustainable Health

In this episode of Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare, Robert Ross and Warren Brodine from HMA’s Delivery Systems practice explore how hospitals and community health centers can work together to strengthen access, improve health outcomes, and improve financial sustainability across the healthcare system. Drawing from decades of leadership in safety-net hospitals, FQHCs, and integrated care models, they discuss the real-world challenges of fragmented incentives, payer mix, and regulation and share bold ideas for building a truly interdependent and patient-centered delivery system.

September 24, 202532 min

Is the ACA Marketplace Built to Survive Another Decade of Change?

Michelle Anderson, director and senior consulting actuary at Wakely, an HMA Company, joins Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare to unpack the state of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. From the market’s volatile beginnings to today’s uncertainty around subsidies, Michelle shares how insurers, states, and consumers have adapted and what challenges lie ahead. We explore the forces shaping affordability, coverage options, and consumer behavior, as well as the critical policy decisions that could redefine the individual market in 2026 and beyond.

August 27, 202538 min

What Should Quality in Healthcare Really Mean Today?

Quality is a word we all use in healthcare, but what does it truly mean for patients, clinicians, and systems striving to improve care? In this episode of Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare , Sarah Hudson Scholle, Principal at Leavitt Partners, an HMA company, and a nationally recognized expert in healthcare quality unpacks how quality has been defined and measured over the years, why measurement sometimes gets in the way of improvement, and how digital interoperability will more accurately capture true drivers of quality. Sarah also shares why engaging patients in defining their goals and outcomes is essential to creating measures that reflect what really matters in people’s lives.

July 23, 202530 min

Ready or Not: Implementing Strategy Amid Massive Healthcare Disruption

Rebecca Nielsen and Alex Rich, co-leaders of HMA’s Strategy and Transformation practice, have been supporting healthcare strategies in an ever-changing environment defined by constant healthcare disruption from AI, shifting regulatory policies, and financial strain. With so much change in the air now, many strategic plans are outdated before they ever get implemented. In this episode of Vital Viewpoints on Healthcare , they expose the blind spots that sabotage even the most well-crafted strategies and offer a grounded look at what actually works when change is the only constant. They unpack the challenge of the 5-year strategic plan and the risk of trying to do everything at once, explaining why real-time information sharing may be your most overlooked leadership tool. If your organization is struggling to turn strategy into action, this is the clarity you’ve been waiting for.