The Gist Healthcare Podcast

On today’s episode of The Gist Healthcare Podcast: health systems join a new federal initiative aimed at streamlining prior authorizations, lawmakers revive legislation that would ban PBMs from owning retail pharmacies, and a judge clears the way for CVS Health to sell its long-term care pharmacy business.

Medicare pauses home health and hospice enrollment over fraud concerns, a congressional advisory committee calls for more oversight of AI prior authorization in Medicaid, and drug overdose deaths fell for the third year in a row. Coming up on today’s episode of The Gist Healthcare Podcast.

Dr. Marty Makary is out as FDA commissioner. Sanford Health plans to merge with Minnesota-based North Memorial Health. And healthcare added the most jobs in April. Coming up on today’s episode of The Gist Healthcare Podcast.

Today on The Gist Healthcare Podcast: California hospitals sue Anthem, Leapfrog reports patient safety gains, and a study links post-surgery walking to better outcomes.

Pennsylvania sues an AI company, alleging its chatbots posed as licensed medical providers. Two North Carolina nonprofit health systems plan to merge. And the American Hospital Association is partnering with West Health to expand hospital technology adoption. Those stories and more on today’s episode of The Gist Healthcare Podcast.

Coming up on The Gist Healthcare Podcast: UnitedHealthcare cuts prior authorizations by 30 percent. Healthcare bankruptcies rise in the first quarter. The Trump administration names a new Surgeon General.

Artificial intelligence in healthcare is already being used in practice—but those tools aren’t perfect.   In the final part of a three-part series, host J. Carlisle Larsen continues her conversation with Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and author of A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future.   As these tools move into wider use, Wachter explains how their limitations show up in real-world settings—from questions about reliability to how they’re used by clinicians and patients.   The conversation examines what happens when imperfect systems are used in higher-stakes environments, and what that means for how AI is adopted going forward.  You can listen to Part 1 here. And Part 2 here.  

CMS to require state audits of Medicaid providers, the Trump administration plans faster Medicare coverage for breakthrough devices, and a new survey shows physician burnout declining, on today’s episode of The Gist Healthcare Podcast.

UnitedHealthcare eliminates a majority of prior authorizations for rural providers, the White House taps a new CDC director, and Michigan lowers the measles vaccine age in some counties, coming up on today’s episode of The Gist Healthcare Podcast.