Podcast
Working Healthcare
Hosted by Meredith Hirsh · EN
The truth reshaping America’s $5 trillion healthcare system. This show provides a front-row seat to the policies, powerhouses and forces. Candid conversations no one else is telling with the most fascinating healthcare leaders, every week hosted by trailblazer Meredith Hirsh. You can’t fix what you don’t understand.
Watch full video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@WorkingHealthcare
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Meredith LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithfhirsh/
Contact Email: workinghealthcarepodcast@gmail.com
37episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Ep. 94 - Why Great Healthcare Teams Quit: The Culture Issue Leaders Miss (ft. Dan Neissany)
Mar 1700:53:50Tap to summarizeBe ready to rethink how you hire, lead and retain in healthcare as Working Healthcare host Meredith Hirsh sits down with Dan Neissany. Learn how a physical therapist turned author, healthcare business strategist and podcast co-host built a leadership framework that links accountability to culture, performance and retention. Follow Dan’s journey from patient care to advising healthcare leaders on operations, workplace culture and leadership development. Explore why many staffing and culture problems start with leadership blind spots, not external pressure, drawing on Dan’s book I’m the Problem: Take Your Leadership from Toxic to Transformative and his podcast All Things LOCS. Get practical takeaways you can use immediately, including how to delegate without confusion, protect administrative time, run stronger hiring conversations, build accountability without micromanaging and use smarter interview techniques to identify top candidates. Tune in, take notes and apply these leadership moves to build a healthier culture, hire better people and keep your best staff.Contact Meredith:Website: meredithhirsh.com Instagram: @workinghealthcareFacebook: WorkingHealthcareLinkedIn: @meredithfhirshYouTube: @WorkingHealthcare
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Ep. 93 - Stop Babysitting Leaders: Build a Team That Decides, Delivers and Drives Growth (ft. Charles Haberkern)
Mar 1000:35:20Tap to summarizeWhen you find a mentor who still has more to teach than time to retire, you hit record. Host Meredith Hirsh sits down for a candid, fireside-style conversation with Charles Haberkern, CEO of Rheumatology Specialty Center in the Philadelphia area, as he shares how he builds leaders who act with confidence, own deadlines and make decisions without constant permission. He walks through practical lessons on hiring, what to do when a new hire is not who you interviewed and how consistent meetings keep teams aligned. Get smart, actionable takeaways on growth, from tightening inventory and recruiting physicians to opening new offices and shifting staff to a four-day workweek that can serve patients and teams better. They also dig into budgets, KPIs, delegation and the day-to-day systems that keep 22 providers and more than 100 employees moving in the same direction. Charles closes with his no-nonsense priorities for fixing American healthcare. Start listening now if you want to lead with more autonomy, fewer bottlenecks and faster growth.Contact Meredith:Website: meredithhirsh.com Instagram: @workinghealthcareFacebook: WorkingHealthcareLinkedIn: @meredithfhirshYouTube: @WorkingHealthcare
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Ep. 92 - Prior Auth Is Breaking Care. A CEO Explains How to Fix It (ft. Syam Palakurthy)
Mar 300:49:15Tap to summarizePull back the curtain on prior authorization and find out why it keeps derailing care. Meredith Hirsh sits down with SamaCare CEO and founder Syam Palakurthy to unpack how the process shows up in real life, from administrative overload to vague denials that strain physician autonomy and patient trust. They get into the data behind claim denials, what those numbers signal and what they still fail to capture. Syam also gets candid about the CEO lifestyle, including the way leadership “owns you,” even when you’re trying to turn it off. He shares how his background shaped his path into healthcare tech and what it takes to keep a team aligned to mission when you can’t know every detail anymore. With two physician parents, he knows the clinical side up close, and he breaks down why clinical medicine is complex and why that complexity gets weaponized by process and paperwork. They close by zeroing in on what drives denials, whether prior auth has any legitimate purpose and what he would change in healthcare if he could pick just one lever. Because if you’ve ever read a denial after a long day, hit play, take a breath and let’s talk about what to do next. You’re not alone and it should not be this hard.Contact Meredith:Website: meredithhirsh.com Instagram: @workinghealthcareFacebook: WorkingHealthcareLinkedIn: @meredithfhirshYouTube: @WorkingHealthcare
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Ep. 91 - Denied, Delayed, Approved: The Paperwork That Overrules Your Doctor with Georgia Bonney
Feb 2400:44:03Tap to summarizeCut through the noise and step into the real fight for patient access, where persistence and smart operations decide what care actually reaches people. In the latest Working Healthcare episode, host Meredith Hirsh speaks with Georgia Bonney, a seasoned consultant, biologic access advisor and practice manager whose work spans multiple medical specialties and nonstop change. Georgia is a first-generation college graduate whose mother was born in another country and did not drive until her 40s, a formative reality that sharpened her view of access, independence and determination. She weighs whether that influence was cultural or generational, and she explains how it shaped the optimistic, solutions-first leadership she brings to high-pressure work. Starting on the clinical side, Georgia saw the human impact up close, then pivoted into management because she knew she could drive broader, longer-lasting change. The conversation tackles prior authorizations, payer pressure and the quiet operational friction that can delay treatment, drain staff and test patients’ trust. Georgia also details how private practices protect patient-centered care while managing utilization rules, staffing burnout and financial sustainability through collaboration, cross-training and shared best practices. Press play and follow Georgia’s energized, practical strategy all the way to care that moves faster, smoother and smarter.Contact Meredith:Website: meredithhirsh.com Instagram: @workinghealthcareFacebook: WorkingHealthcareLinkedIn: @meredithfhirshYouTube: @WorkingHealthcare
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Ep. 90 - Who’s Left to Staff the Clinic? Inside the Healthcare Staffing Crisis
Feb 1700:35:10Tap to summarizeListen now to understand the health care staffing shortage beyond doctors and nurses. Open roles are stacking up. Teams are stretched thin. It’s about the allied health professionals who keep care moving — EMTs, medical assistants, phlebotomists, imaging techs, respiratory therapists and more — and how their shortages are quietly straining every hallway, lab and clinic. In this episode of Working Healthcare, host Meredith Hirsh talks with Van Ton-Quinlivan, founder and CEO of Futuro Health, about why these roles rarely get the spotlight even though they make up most of the healthcare workforce and are essential for diagnosing, treating and rehabilitating patients. They dig into the scale of the problem and what it really takes to stop competing for the same shrinking talent pool. Van shares the story behind the nonprofit model she designed to cut tuition debt, simplify training and create local, ready-to-hire pipelines that improve retention, equity and the patient experience. Queue it up now and rethink your workforce strategy from the ground up, with a model you can actually apply. Contact Meredith:Website: meredithhirsh.com Instagram: @workinghealthcareFacebook: WorkingHealthcareLinkedIn: @meredithfhirshYouTube: @WorkingHealthcare
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Ep. 89 - From Goldman Sachs to Fit Golfer Girl: What Healthcare Leaders Can Learn
Feb 1000:50:21Tap to summarizeStep into the gym where burnout, insurance friction and true prevention collide. In this Working Healthcare episode, host Meredith Hirsh sits down in-studio with personal trainer and entrepreneur Carolina Romero, who left Goldman Sachs, rebuilt her career and grew Fit Golfer Girl to more than 250,000 Instagram followers. Romero breaks down the real mechanics of a career change, from earning fitness certifications to building credibility one client at a time. She explains how one-on-one coaching can bridge the gap after physical therapy, improving form, consistency and confidence when patients feel stuck. The episode also tackles direct-pay healthcare-adjacent models, pricing your expertise, raising rates and the emotional whiplash of seasonality in South Florida. Meredith and Carolina get candid about millennial ambition, incentives, burnout and the fine line between being scrappy and being exploited. Take a breath, set a boundary, then make your move.Contact Meredith:Website: meredithhirsh.com Instagram: @workinghealthcareFacebook: WorkingHealthcareLinkedIn: @meredithfhirshYouTube: @WorkingHealthcare
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Ep. 88 - The Doctor Shortage Meets the Scope Debate with ARNP Rachael Busch-Feuer
Feb 300:47:35Tap to summarizeStep into the exam room where staffing shortages, soaring demand and scope-of-practice battles collide. In the latest Working Healthcare episode, host Meredith Hirsh sits down in-studio with ARNP Rachael Busch-Feuer. With a physician dad and a registered nurse mom, Rachael reveals what pulled her toward the nurse practitioner path. Then comes the surprisingly charged question: Is it advanced practice provider, mid-level, or something else entirely? Rachael breaks down how NPs and PAs are trained and how their clinical perspective can differ from physicians. She also explains why team-based care is more than a tagline, it’s a safeguard. The conversation digs into rural access pressures, scope-of-practice laws and the role of experience and oversight in patient safety. It’s a clear-eyed, thoughtful look at what collaboration can make possible in a strained healthcare system.Contact Meredith:Website: meredithhirsh.com Instagram: @workinghealthcareFacebook: WorkingHealthcareLinkedIn: @meredithfhirshYouTube: @WorkingHealthcare
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Ep. 87 - Scaling While Staying Independent: Inside the Growth of America’s Largest Physician-Owned Rheumatology Practice with Dr. Nehad Soloman
Jan 2700:55:59Tap to summarizeStep inside the playbook behind the nation’s largest independent rheumatology practice and hear what it really takes to scale while staying physician owned. In this episode of Working Healthcare, host Meredith Hirsh talks with Dr. Nehad Soloman, chief medical officer and one of 14 physician-owners of Arizona Arthritis & Rheumatology Associates, about how the group grew from 10 physicians to 24 rheumatologists and more than 50 providers, becoming the largest independent rheumatology practice in America by revenue and provider size. Meredith and Nehad bring a rare, in-the-field partnership to the mic, built through shared work across the rheumatology community, including their RPPA meeting presentation in November 2025, their planned November 2026 American College of Rheumatology session on medically integrated dispensing (MID) and their roles on the House Rx Advisory Board. Together, they break down the business decisions behind multistate expansion, the strategic use of advanced practice clinicians and how medically integrated dispensing and clear bagging can protect patient access while stabilizing practice economics as margins compress. They also go straight at the operational grind most leaders avoid: workforce shortages, credentialing bottlenecks, PBMs, prior authorization and the constant pressure to consolidate. Hit play and rethink what sustainable, independent specialty care can look like.Contact Meredith:Website: meredithhirsh.com Instagram: @workinghealthcareFacebook: WorkingHealthcareLinkedIn: @meredithfhirshYouTube: @WorkingHealthcare
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Ep. 86 - Erin Williamson Explains How Child Trafficking Hides in Healthcare
Jan 2000:52:16Tap to summarizeRecognize Human Trafficking Awareness Month by learning how child trafficking can hide in plain sight throughout clinical care. In this special Working Healthcare episode, host Meredith Hirsh speaks with Love146 Chief Programs and Strategy Officer Erin Williamson, a clinical social worker with 20+ years protecting exploited children. Erin explains how trafficking shows up in everyday healthcare settings and why a medical professional may be the only safe adult a child sees that day. She unpacks how grooming has shifted online, what red flags can look like in pediatrics and the ER, and how to ask direct questions without judgment. You will also hear a clear breakdown of sex trafficking and labor trafficking, what commodification means and why support remains inconsistent across communities. Erin shares practical next steps, including when to involve a trusted colleague and how to use the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.Contact Meredith:Website: meredithhirsh.com Instagram: @workinghealthcareFacebook: WorkingHealthcareLinkedIn: @meredithfhirshYouTube: @WorkingHealthcare
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Ep. 85 - Dr. David Kenigsberg Strengthens Physician Leadership in a Consolidating Healthcare System
Jan 1300:51:59Tap to summarizeHit play for a heart-forward look at how physicians lead, not just adapt, as healthcare consolidates. Working Healthcare host Meredith Hirsh sits down with cardiac electrophysiologist Dr. David Kenigsberg, who built a physician-guided cardiology practice in 2007, weighed the decision to sell to private equity and remains active in national advocacy. David explains the pressures reshaping medical practice, what it takes to run a sustainable business while protecting patient care and why physician leadership matters in the exam room, the boardroom and in Washington. He also breaks down the advocacy behind a CMS coding change implemented Jan. 1, 2026, and what physicians can do next to influence healthcare policy. Have a heart: Listen, then share and lead.Contact Meredith:Website: meredithhirsh.com Instagram: @workinghealthcareFacebook: WorkingHealthcareLinkedIn: @meredithfhirshYouTube: @WorkingHealthcare
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