Relentless Health Value

How Trusted Primary Care Relationships Keep Patients Out of the ER — and Lower Plan Costs. EP473

Apr 24, 2025

I’m revisiting, in a Take Two, this episode with Dr. Kenny Cole because I’m listening to it this time with a new focus — the theme that keeps coming up over and over on Relentless Health Value these past few months: if care teams don’t build a trusted relationship with plan members and patients, then in a moment...

How Hospitals Engineer $800,000 Claims and What Plan Sponsors Can Do About It. EP472

Apr 17, 2025

How Hospitals Engineer $800,000 Claims and What Plan Sponsors Can Do About It

A single coronary artery bypass graft — no complications, went perfectly normally — billed at $800,000. Not a hypothetical. Eric Bricker, MD, heard it directly from the head of benefits at a major self-funded employer. In this episode,...

EP471: High-Cost Claimants in 2025 and Beyond—What Is Really Expensive Not to Know? With Christine Hale, MD, MBA

Apr 10, 2025

Recently on Relentless Health Value, we’ve been tinkering around with a few recurring themes — recurring through lines — that are just true about American healthcare these days. In this episode, host Stacey Richter speaks with Dr. Christine Hale about high-cost claimants and the implications for healthcare plans...

EP470: Continuing the ER and Primary Care Through Line Over to Rural Hospitals and Healthcare, With Nikki King, DHA

Apr 3, 2025

In this episode, host Stacey Richter revisits a conversation with Nikki King, CEO of Alliance Health Centers, discussing the critical issues facing rural hospitals and healthcare systems. They delve into the impacts of Medicaid cuts, the financial struggles of rural hospitals reliant on commercial insurance, and...