Empowered Patient Podcast

Empowered Patient Podcast with Karen Jagoda is a window into the latest innovations in digital health, the application of AI for administrative and clinical uses, the changing dynamic between doctors and patients, personalized medicine, cell and gene therapies, aging in place, wearables and sensors, clinical trials and advances in clinical research, payer trends, transparency in the medical marketplace and challenges for connected health entrepreneurs. This show continues to evolve driven by the convergence of a diverse array of industries.

Defining New Standard for Measuring Surgical Quality with Dr. Jason Tibbels Lantern TRANSCRIPT 10/22/2026

Defining New Standard for Measuring Surgical Quality with Dr. Jason Tibbels Lantern TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jason Tibbels, Chief Medical Officer at Lantern, discusses how healthcare quality measurement has evolved and why specialty care providers need to use patient-reported outcome tools to provide real-time feedback for continuous clinical improvement. The challenge is to determine whether procedures are clinically appropriate and effective, capture what matters to patients, and document side effects that may occur. Jason draws on his experience at Teledoc Health establishing virtual care quality standards to suggest similar regulatory battles ahead for AI in medicine and the use of AI tools to catch critical details human review alone might miss. Jason explained, "Lantern is the leading specialty care platform for three main areas: surgery, infusion therapy, and cancer care management. It's available through employers, union health funds, and, more recently, even through health plans. And these three categories make up about 50% of employer healthcare spend. So we address that spend by connecting employees, members, or patients with very high-quality care, close to home, at materially lower costs. And today we support about 12 million growing members across about a thousand employers nationwide." "To me, the modern history of the healthcare quality movement started around the turn of the century. The big To Err Is Human report came out, which at the time estimated that medical mistakes were killing somewhere around a hundred thousand Americans a year, which is like a jet plane crashing every day. A couple of years later, the blueprint for how we should think about quality came out to address safety and effectiveness and patient-centeredness and equity and other domains. And it kind of became the blueprint, but over the next decade, it was really about building report cards. We started seeing hospitals share publicly reported infection rates and a lot of process and infrastructure measures. Around 2012 or so, Medicare started trying to tie payment to those numbers." #LanternCare #HealthcareQuality #PatientReportedOutcomes #HealthTech #AIinHealthcare #ValueBasedCare #SurgeryQuality #SurgicalOutcomes #DigitalHealth #ClinicianInnovation /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43295249

Defining New Standard for Measuring Surgical Quality with Dr. Jason Tibbels Lantern 10/22/2026

Defining New Standard for Measuring Surgical Quality with Dr. Jason Tibbels Lantern Dr. Jason Tibbels, Chief Medical Officer at Lantern, discusses how healthcare quality measurement has evolved and why specialty care providers need to use patient-reported outcome tools to provide real-time feedback for continuous clinical improvement. The challenge is to determine whether procedures are clinically appropriate and effective, capture what matters to patients, and document side effects that may occur. Jason draws on his experience at Teledoc Health establishing virtual care quality standards to suggest similar regulatory battles ahead for AI in medicine and the use of AI tools to catch critical details human review alone might miss. Jason explained, "Lantern is the leading specialty care platform for three main areas: surgery, infusion therapy, and cancer care management. It's available through employers, union health funds, and, more recently, even through health plans. And these three categories make up about 50% of employer healthcare spend. So we address that spend by connecting employees, members, or patients with very high-quality care, close to home, at materially lower costs. And today we support about 12 million growing members across about a thousand employers nationwide." "To me, the modern history of the healthcare quality movement started around the turn of the century. The big To Err Is Human report came out, which at the time estimated that medical mistakes were killing somewhere around a hundred thousand Americans a year, which is like a jet plane crashing every day. A couple of years later, the blueprint for how we should think about quality came out to address safety and effectiveness and patient-centeredness and equity and other domains. And it kind of became the blueprint, but over the next decade, it was really about building report cards. We started seeing hospitals share publicly reported infection rates and a lot of process and infrastructure measures. Around 2012 or so, Medicare started trying to tie payment to those numbers." #LanternCare #HealthcareQuality #PatientReportedOutcomes #HealthTech #AIinHealthcare #ValueBasedCare #SurgeryQuality #SurgicalOutcomes #DigitalHealth #ClinicianInnovation /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43295199

Bridging the Veterans Healthcare Access Gap with Ross Donahue Guardian Recovery TRANSCRIPT 10/21/2026

Bridging the Veterans Healthcare Access Gap with Ross Donahue Guardian Recovery 10/21/2026

Using Precision Routing to Match Patients with the Right Specialist with Andy Parham Brado AI TRANSCRIPT 10/21/2026

Using Precision Routing to Match Patients with the Right Specialist with Andy Parham Brado AI 10/21/2026

How Hospitals Are Fighting Back Against AI-Driven Claim Denials with Brian Kenah EnableComp TRANSCRIPT 10/20/2026

How Hospitals Are Fighting Back Against AI-Driven Claim Denials with Brian Kenah EnableComp TRANSCRIPT Brian Kenah, Chief Technology Officer at EnableComp, specializes in complex claims and has developed an AI plaform boosting efficiency and quality by incorporating new codes and regulatory changes while learning from approval and denial patterns. The ability to deliver predictive revenue intelligence enables hospitals to identify issues before claims are submitted, prevent denials and negotiate better payer contracts using data-driven insights. The need for this solution is in part a result of the use of AI by payers which have increasingly deployed AI to accelerate claims denials and rigorously enforce contract terms. Brian explains, "We're seeing a number of different mechanisms right now. I think one of the things is that as AI gets a little bit more intelligent, there's a lot more focus on the actual terms, terminology, the CPTs, the fee schedules. They are being a lot more judicious about what's actually passed into them and what they're accepting as viable services offered under the payer-provider contract. So what we're seeing is an influx of those claims being denied that aren't following those contracts, fee schedules, regulations, and payer rules, and all the other stuff to the letter." "I think it runs the gamut. I mean, it could be anything from clinical, it could be administrative, it could be state rules. It's a number of different things that are all sort of compounding all at the same time. In the meantime, you have providers that are trying to adapt and adopt as they're moving along here, and that's where the provider side of the equation is looking to adopt some of the same tool sets, just on the provider side instead of on the payer side." #EnableComp #HealthcareFinance #RCM #RevenueCycleManagement# #HospitalAdministration #HealthcareAI #DigitalHealth #HealthcareTechnology /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43294954

How Hospitals Are Fighting Back Against AI-Driven Claim Denials with Brian Kenah EnableComp 10/20/2026

How Hospitals Are Fighting Back Against AI-Driven Claim Denials with Brian Kenah EnableComp Brian Kenah, Chief Technology Officer at EnableComp, specializes in complex claims and has developed an AI plaform boosting efficiency and quality by incorporating new codes and regulatory changes while learning from approval and denial patterns. The ability to deliver predictive revenue intelligence enables hospitals to identify issues before claims are submitted, prevent denials and negotiate better payer contracts using data-driven insights. The need for this solution is in part a result of the use of AI by payers which have increasingly deployed AI to accelerate claims denials and rigorously enforce contract terms. Brian explains, "We're seeing a number of different mechanisms right now. I think one of the things is that as AI gets a little bit more intelligent, there's a lot more focus on the actual terms, terminology, the CPTs, the fee schedules. They are being a lot more judicious about what's actually passed into them and what they're accepting as viable services offered under the payer-provider contract. So what we're seeing is an influx of those claims being denied that aren't following those contracts, fee schedules, regulations, and payer rules, and all the other stuff to the letter." "I think it runs the gamut. I mean, it could be anything from clinical, it could be administrative, it could be state rules. It's a number of different things that are all sort of compounding all at the same time. In the meantime, you have providers that are trying to adapt and adopt as they're moving along here, and that's where the provider side of the equation is looking to adopt some of the same tool sets, just on the provider side instead of on the payer side." #EnableComp #HealthcareFinance #RCM #RevenueCycleManagement# #HospitalAdministration #HealthcareAI #DigitalHealth #HealthcareTechnology /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43294924

Protecting Against Healthcare Workplace Violence with Jeanne Vennella Canopy TRANSCRIPT 10/19/2026

Protecting Against Healthcare Workplace Violence with Jeanne Vennella Canopy TRANSCRIPT Jeanne Vennella, Clinical Strategy Director at Canopy, shines a light on workplace violence in healthcare and the need to recognize the problem and implement solutions to reduce risk. The majority of violent incidents originate with patients, families, and visitors, often triggered by poor communication and the stress of receiving difficult news. Canopy offers a wearable duress button worn behind a staff member's ID badge, allowing discreet and immediate alerts to security and providing actionable intelligence to enable proactive security measures. Jeanne explains, "Workplace violence has been an issue in healthcare almost as long as my career. And as we discussed, my career is very lengthy. I've been both a pediatric and emergency nurse, certified and adult certified, for nearly 40 years now. I think workplace violence remains persistent because, first off, the public is unaware of what's happening inside the healthcare walls or in the parking lots, as recent events have shown us." "But when I discuss in the public or in my suburban neighborhoods the fact that nurses are five times more likely to be injured at work than a police officer or a sheriff's officer, people are appalled and disbelieving of those statistics. But there is kind of a closed system on healthcare and violence, and it really isn't permeating the public. I think it remains a persistent problem because there are no federal policies or laws protecting healthcare workers." "Canopy is a wearable duress button for staff members, which I like to say is kind of like a lifeline or an airbag. The employee has it assigned to them. They wear it behind their ID badge. It stays on their body from car to car to car when the organization is really covered in their parking lots and in their public spaces, in addition to their hospital." #CanopyWorks #WorkplaceViolence #HealthcareSafety #NurseSafety #HospitalSecurity #PatientSafety #HealthcareLeadership #StaffRetention #WearableTech #ClinicalStrategy #DeescalationTraining #DataDrivenSafety #HealthcareTechnology #SaferStaffBetterOutcomes /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43294859

Protecting Against Healthcare Workplace Violence with Jeanne Vennella Canopy 10/19/2026

Protecting Against Healthcare Workplace Violence with Jeanne Vennella Canopy Jeanne Vennella, Clinical Strategy Director at Canopy, shines a light on workplace violence in healthcare and the need to recognize the problem and implement solutions to reduce risk. The majority of violent incidents originate with patients, families, and visitors, often triggered by poor communication and the stress of receiving difficult news. Canopy offers a wearable duress button worn behind a staff member's ID badge, allowing discreet and immediate alerts to security and providing actionable intelligence to enable proactive security measures. Jeanne explains, "Workplace violence has been an issue in healthcare almost as long as my career. And as we discussed, my career is very lengthy. I've been both a pediatric and emergency nurse, certified and adult certified, for nearly 40 years now. I think workplace violence remains persistent because, first off, the public is unaware of what's happening inside the healthcare walls or in the parking lots, as recent events have shown us." "But when I discuss in the public or in my suburban neighborhoods the fact that nurses are five times more likely to be injured at work than a police officer or a sheriff's officer, people are appalled and disbelieving of those statistics. But there is kind of a closed system on healthcare and violence, and it really isn't permeating the public. I think it remains a persistent problem because there are no federal policies or laws protecting healthcare workers." "Canopy is a wearable duress button for staff members, which I like to say is kind of like a lifeline or an airbag. The employee has it assigned to them. They wear it behind their ID badge. It stays on their body from car to car to car when the organization is really covered in their parking lots and in their public spaces, in addition to their hospital." #CanopyWorks #WorkplaceViolence #HealthcareSafety #NurseSafety #HospitalSecurity #PatientSafety #HealthcareLeadership #StaffRetention #WearableTech #ClinicalStrategy #DeescalationTraining #DataDrivenSafety #HealthcareTechnology #SaferStaffBetterOutcomes /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43294854

Neurostimulation Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation with Richard Foust Mobia Medical TRANSCRIPT 10/15/2026

Neurostimulation Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation with Richard Foust Mobia Medical 10/15/2026

Direct-to-Patient Drug Programs Changing Pharmacy Ecosystem with Rae McMahan Prescryptive TRANSCRIPT 10/14/2026

Direct-to-Patient Drug Programs Changing Pharmacy Ecosystem with Rae McMahan Prescryptive TRANSCRIPT Rae McMahan, Senior VP for Payer Solutions at Prescryptive, points out how the surge in demand for GLP-1 medications has exposed the strengths and weaknesses of the pharmaceutical ecosystem. Rae highlights the growing role of direct-to-patient and manufacturer-sponsored programs as an alternative to the traditional pharmacy benefits manager model. Looking ahead, there are opportunities to transform drug access by improving price-comparison technology, expanding direct access models, reducing complexity around options, and ultimately lowering costs for patients. Rae explains, "We have commercial clients, patients from a pharmacy benefit perspective. We work directly with drug manufacturers on sourcing their products for a direct non-rebated price. And then we also work very closely with pharmacies, contracting with pharmacies. And then we also work with a few other entities on routing prescriptions. So we work on all nodes, if you will, of the pharmacy ecosystem as our clients are today." "The disease states that the GLP-1s cover not only diabetes, but of course obesity, and some of the other add-on therapies, such as sleep apnea and others, have shown that it's an amazing, powerful drug, and it is very much changing people's lives. With that awesome technology, a number of drug companies have also come out with an extreme cost. Our employers, and even you could say payers broadly, have not determined how they can afford it in the current model today, given the number of people who can meet the clinical criteria for these specific drugs. And so the strength in that is that it's an awesome drug. The weakness is: how do we afford it, and how do we get it to patients at a level they can afford?" #PrescryptiveHealth #PrescriptionAccess #HealthcareTransparency #DrugPricing #HealthcarePolicy #HealthcareReform #PBMs #DirectAccessMarketplace #DirectToPatient #HealthcareInnovation #PatientChoice #GLP1s #PBMTransparency #PatientEmpowerment #PharmacyBenefit #GLP1 #DigitalHealth #PharmacyTrends #ClinicianTools #PrescriptionAccess #HealthcareAI /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43229988

Direct-to-Patient Drug Programs Changing Pharmacy Ecosystem with Rae McMahan Prescryptive 10/14/2026

Direct-to-Patient Drug Programs Changing Pharmacy Ecosystem with Rae McMahan Prescryptive Rae McMahan, Senior VP for Payer Solutions at Prescryptive, points out how the surge in demand for GLP-1 medications has exposed the strengths and weaknesses of the pharmaceutical ecosystem. Rae highlights the growing role of direct-to-patient and manufacturer-sponsored programs as an alternative to the traditional pharmacy benefits manager model. Looking ahead, there are opportunities to transform drug access by improving price-comparison technology, expanding direct access models, reducing complexity around options, and ultimately lowering costs for patients. Rae explains, "We have commercial clients, patients from a pharmacy benefit perspective. We work directly with drug manufacturers on sourcing their products for a direct non-rebated price. And then we also work very closely with pharmacies, contracting with pharmacies. And then we also work with a few other entities on routing prescriptions. So we work on all nodes, if you will, of the pharmacy ecosystem as our clients are today." "The disease states that the GLP-1s cover not only diabetes, but of course obesity, and some of the other add-on therapies, such as sleep apnea and others, have shown that it's an amazing, powerful drug, and it is very much changing people's lives. With that awesome technology, a number of drug companies have also come out with an extreme cost. Our employers, and even you could say payers broadly, have not determined how they can afford it in the current model today, given the number of people who can meet the clinical criteria for these specific drugs. And so the strength in that is that it's an awesome drug. The weakness is: how do we afford it, and how do we get it to patients at a level they can afford?" #PrescryptiveHealth #PrescriptionAccess #HealthcareTransparency #DrugPricing #HealthcarePolicy #HealthcareReform #PBMs #DirectAccessMarketplace #DirectToPatient #HealthcareInnovation #PatientChoice #GLP1s #PBMTransparency #PatientEmpowerment #PharmacyBenefit #GLP1 #DigitalHealth #PharmacyTrends #ClinicianTools #PrescriptionAccess #HealthcareAI /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43229978

Molecular Diagnostics and Tools for Transplant and Oncology Monitoring with John Hanna CareDx TRANSCRIPT 10/13/2026

Molecular Diagnostics and Tools for Transplant and Oncology Monitoring with John Hanna CareDx TRANSCRIPT John Hanna, President and CEO of CareDx, discussed how the company's blood-based molecular diagnostic testing is transforming patient monitoring for organ transplantation, HPV-driven cancers, and hematologic malignancies. These molecular tools provide early warning signals months ahead of conventional methods, enabling clinicians to intervene proactively rather than reactively. Longitudinal data allow providers to track trends over time and detect cancer recurrence, helping reduce the need for biopsies and other invasive monitoring procedures. John explains, "CareDx is a precision medicine diagnostics company that develops products that are mainly blood-based tests to help patients who have had organ transplants, cancer, solid tumors, as well as hematologic malignancies. But as a company, we do much more. We're really a solutions provider in that we support the clinician practices and patients we service with software tools and workflow optimization, and we also operate a very large pharmacy business and fill prescriptions for the patients that get our blood-based testing." "It is a very well-integrated model, and we really pride ourselves on how we support the clinician’s practice in the management of their patients. If you think about, for example, an organ transplant patient, these are individuals who had a very high burden of disease. Maybe they had a heart transplant, and you invested a lot of clinical practice time and money in getting that patient a new organ. You want to monitor them closely and ensure you're taking care of the graft and its survival. And so our services allow the practice to seamlessly monitor that patient, both with blood-based testing as well as with software tools. And it really makes the practice of medicine more seamless so that they can treat more patients and be more effective as a provider." #CareDx #PrecisionMedicine #TransplantOncology #HealthcareInnovation #PatientCare #OrganTransplant #KidneyTransplant #HeartTransplant #LungTransplant #MinimalResidualDisease #MolecularDiagnostics #AIinHealthcare #CellTherapy #Oncology /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43229708

Molecular Diagnostics and Tools for Transplant and Oncology Monitoring with John Hanna CareDx 10/13/2026

Molecular Diagnostics and Tools for Transplant and Oncology Monitoring with John Hanna CareDx John Hanna, President and CEO of CareDx, discussed how the company's blood-based molecular diagnostic testing is transforming patient monitoring for organ transplantation, HPV-driven cancers, and hematologic malignancies. These molecular tools provide early warning signals months ahead of conventional methods, enabling clinicians to intervene proactively rather than reactively. Longitudinal data allow providers to track trends over time and detect cancer recurrence, helping reduce the need for biopsies and other invasive monitoring procedures. John explains, "CareDx is a precision medicine diagnostics company that develops products that are mainly blood-based tests to help patients who have had organ transplants, cancer, solid tumors, as well as hematologic malignancies. But as a company, we do much more. We're really a solutions provider in that we support the clinician practices and patients we service with software tools and workflow optimization, and we also operate a very large pharmacy business and fill prescriptions for the patients that get our blood-based testing." "It is a very well-integrated model, and we really pride ourselves on how we support the clinician’s practice in the management of their patients. If you think about, for example, an organ transplant patient, these are individuals who had a very high burden of disease. Maybe they had a heart transplant, and you invested a lot of clinical practice time and money in getting that patient a new organ. You want to monitor them closely and ensure you're taking care of the graft and its survival. And so our services allow the practice to seamlessly monitor that patient, both with blood-based testing as well as with software tools. And it really makes the practice of medicine more seamless so that they can treat more patients and be more effective as a provider." #CareDx #PrecisionMedicine #TransplantOncology #HealthcareInnovation #PatientCare #OrganTransplant #KidneyTransplant #HeartTransplant #LungTransplant #MinimalResidualDisease #MolecularDiagnostics #AIinHealthcare #CellTherapy #Oncology /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43229693

How Machine Learning is Decoding the Language of Cells to Accelerate Drug Discovery with Samantha Dale Strasser Cellular Intelligence TRANSCRIPT 10/13/2026

How Machine Learning is Decoding the Language of Cells to Accelerate Drug Discovery with Samantha Dale Strasser Cellular Intelligence TRANSCRIPT Samantha Dale Strasser, VP of Strategy at Cellular Intelligence, is developing an AI-native platform to decode how cells communicate and signal with each other using a proprietary capsule technology to collect massive datasets on cellular behavior. The data is used to train functional virtual cell signaling models that predict and control cell fate, accelerating drug discovery and regenerative medicine applications. Currently, Cellular Intelligence is advancing a Parkinson's cell therapy program acquired from Novo Nordisk, which is showing promising safety results. Samantha explains, "So, big picture at Cellular Intelligence, we're actually driving at understanding the language of cells. So understanding how cells communicate, how they signal, and leveraging that to then understand how not only to understand and predict cell behavior, but also fundamentally control cell fate. And that's critical for drug discovery in patients, as it allows us a unique ability to then treat disease through areas such as design of protocols for regenerative medicine or looking at identification of new targets, prioritizing drugs. It really unlocks a wealth of applications when being able to understand how cells respond to signals." "Cells themselves, if we take a step back, are the fundamental unit of biology and how we function as a system. And it has been looked at as a critical aspect to tease out and understand. However, the challenge has been really seeing this on a comprehensive scale. If you think about all the different signaling molecules, time dependencies, concentrations, you're left with an immense set of behaviors that can arise. And notably, cells at different states -different snapshots of how they behave - respond to signals differently. So there has been a challenge in the field of truly understanding comprehensively the language of how cells signal and then how to use that effectively for an application within drug discovery." #CellularIntelligence #CellTherapy #RegenerativeMedicine #DrugDiscovery #AIinHealthcare #ParkinsonsResearch #BiotechInnovation #PrecisionMedicine #CellSignaling #HealthcareAI #ClinicalTrials #DigitalHealth #LifeSciences #STEMPD /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43229633

How Machine Learning is Decoding the Language of Cells to Accelerate Drug Discovery with Samantha Dale Strasser Cellular Intelligence 10/13/2026

How Machine Learning is Decoding the Language of Cells to Accelerate Drug Discovery with Samantha Dale Strasser Cellular Intelligence Samantha Dale Strasser, VP of Strategy at Cellular Intelligence, is developing an AI-native platform to decode how cells communicate and signal with each other using a proprietary capsule technology to collect massive datasets on cellular behavior. The data is used to train functional virtual cell signaling models that predict and control cell fate, accelerating drug discovery and regenerative medicine applications. Currently, Cellular Intelligence is advancing a Parkinson's cell therapy program acquired from Novo Nordisk, which is showing promising safety results. Samantha explains, "So, big picture at Cellular Intelligence, we're actually driving at understanding the language of cells. So understanding how cells communicate, how they signal, and leveraging that to then understand how not only to understand and predict cell behavior, but also fundamentally control cell fate. And that's critical for drug discovery in patients, as it allows us a unique ability to then treat disease through areas such as design of protocols for regenerative medicine or looking at identification of new targets, prioritizing drugs. It really unlocks a wealth of applications when being able to understand how cells respond to signals." "Cells themselves, if we take a step back, are the fundamental unit of biology and how we function as a system. And it has been looked at as a critical aspect to tease out and understand. However, the challenge has been really seeing this on a comprehensive scale. If you think about all the different signaling molecules, time dependencies, concentrations, you're left with an immense set of behaviors that can arise. And notably, cells at different states -different snapshots of how they behave - respond to signals differently. So there has been a challenge in the field of truly understanding comprehensively the language of how cells signal and then how to use that effectively for an application within drug discovery." #CellularIntelligence #CellTherapy #RegenerativeMedicine #DrugDiscovery #AIinHealthcare #ParkinsonsResearch #BiotechInnovation #PrecisionMedicine #CellSignaling #HealthcareAI #ClinicalTrials #DigitalHealth #LifeSciences #STEMPD /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43229613

Expanding Access to Healthcare Education to Address Workforce Shortage with Steve Beard Covista TRANSCRIPT 10/08/2026

Expanding Access to Healthcare Education to Address Workforce Shortage with Steve Beard Covista TRANSCRIPT Steve Beard, CEO of Covista, is addressing the growing healthcare workforce shortage through centers of learning that serve working adults, veterans, career changers, and internationally trained clinicians seeking domestic certification. Steve challenges the assumption that scale and quality are mutually exclusive and emphasizes that expanding training opportunities is essential to provide competent care by a diverse clinical workforce. Covista also focuses on students' and graduates' mental health to help them practice at the top of their license and avoid burnout. Steve explains, "Covista is the largest healthcare educator in the United States. We have over 100,000 students, and we produce about 28,000 clinicians a year. Our largest categories are medicine, nursing, social work, and veterinary medicine. And we have a host of other healthcare-focused and healthcare-adjacent programs. About 400,000 alumni provide care in a variety of different care delivery environments across the United States." "We take to market five institutions, all post-secondary higher education, all with a focus on healthcare. But unlike lots of traditional higher ed, we don't go to market with a value proposition rooted in prestige or exclusivity. We go to market with a value proposition rooted in access. Our programs are set up to try to accommodate as many students as we believe can be successful in those programs. And what that means is that we serve what used to be known as the non-traditional student. This is the working adult who needs to go to school part-time or on weekends. This is a veteran, this is the career changer. This is a clinician trained outside the United States that needs to get certified here." #Covista #HealthcareWorkforce #NursingEducation #HealthcareLeadership #ClinicalEducation #HealthcareInnovation #AIinHealthcare #NursingCareers #HealthEquity #MedicalEducation #HealthcareHeros /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43077918

Expanding Access to Healthcare Education to Address Workforce Shortage with Steve Beard Covista 10/08/2026

Expanding Access to Healthcare Education to Address Workforce Shortage with Steve Beard Covista Steve Beard, CEO of Covista, is addressing the growing healthcare workforce shortage through centers of learning that serve working adults, veterans, career changers, and internationally trained clinicians seeking domestic certification. Steve challenges the assumption that scale and quality are mutually exclusive and emphasizes that expanding training opportunities is essential to provide competent care by a diverse clinical workforce. Covista also focuses on students' and graduates' mental health to help them practice at the top of their license and avoid burnout. Steve explains, "Covista is the largest healthcare educator in the United States. We have over 100,000 students, and we produce about 28,000 clinicians a year. Our largest categories are medicine, nursing, social work, and veterinary medicine. And we have a host of other healthcare-focused and healthcare-adjacent programs. About 400,000 alumni provide care in a variety of different care delivery environments across the United States." "We take to market five institutions, all post-secondary higher education, all with a focus on healthcare. But unlike lots of traditional higher ed, we don't go to market with a value proposition rooted in prestige or exclusivity. We go to market with a value proposition rooted in access. Our programs are set up to try to accommodate as many students as we believe can be successful in those programs. And what that means is that we serve what used to be known as the non-traditional student. This is the working adult who needs to go to school part-time or on weekends. This is a veteran, this is the career changer. This is a clinician trained outside the United States that needs to get certified here." #Covista #HealthcareWorkforce #NursingEducation #HealthcareLeadership #ClinicalEducation #HealthcareInnovation #AIinHealthcare #NursingCareers #HealthEquity #MedicalEducation #HealthcareHeros /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43077878

Reprogramming Cancer Biology to Overcome Treatment Resistance with Dr. John Friend Kazia Therapeutics TRANSCRIPT 10/07/2026

Reprogramming Cancer Biology to Overcome Treatment Resistance with Dr. John Friend Kazia Therapeutics TRANSCRIPT Dr. John Friend, CEO of Kazia Therapeutics, is investigating how to change the underlying biology that lets cancers resist treatment and evade the immune system. A central challenge in oncology is that cancer cells adapt and suppress immune recognition. Reprogramming the biology includes altering immune evasion mechanisms and the tumor microenvironment. Their lead drug candidate is showing reductions in terminally exhausted T cells and decreases in circulating tumor cell clusters in patients with stage 4 triple-negative breast cancer and indicating efficacy in colorectal cancer and pediatric brain cancer. John explains, "Our pipeline and strategy are increasingly focused on what we're calling reprogramming cancer biology. So instead of asking only how do we kill more cancer cells, we're actually also asking how we can change the underlying biology that allows these cells to resist treatment, escape our own immune system, and spread? That's really the common thread through which we're building Kazia in our pipeline. I guess the other way you can think about it is that cancer is not a static target." "You may start treatment with a drug that blocks something that the cancer depends on, and initially it works, but you're applying enormous pressure, selective pressure. These cancer cells can then adapt, or the cancer cells that can adapt are the ones that survive. So those surviving cells, they may activate another growth pathway. They may change the genes that are turned on or turned off by certain therapies. They may enter a different sort of cellular state, maybe a non-proliferating state, or actually alter the environment around the tumor such that the immune system has greater difficulty recognizing and attacking it." "So when we talk about resistance or reprogramming, it doesn't necessarily mean the original therapy was unsuccessful. In many cases, it did work very well. The problem is cancer evolved around it. A major, major direction for oncology now is understanding that resistance state and determining whether we can change it, whether we can therapeutically change it." #KaziaTherapeutics #Oncology #CancerResearch #Immunotherapy #BreastCancer #ColorectalCancer #ClinicalTrials #TumorMicroenvironment #DrugDevelopment #PI3K #mTOR #Paxalisib /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43077783

Reprogramming Cancer Biology to Overcome Treatment Resistance with Dr. John Friend Kazia Therapeutics 10/07/2026

Reprogramming Cancer Biology to Overcome Treatment Resistance with Dr. John Friend Kazia Therapeutics Dr. John Friend, CEO of Kazia Therapeutics, is investigating how to change the underlying biology that lets cancers resist treatment and evade the immune system. A central challenge in oncology is that cancer cells adapt and suppress immune recognition. Reprogramming the biology includes altering immune evasion mechanisms and the tumor microenvironment. Their lead drug candidate is showing reductions in terminally exhausted T cells and decreases in circulating tumor cell clusters in patients with stage 4 triple-negative breast cancer and indicating efficacy in colorectal cancer and pediatric brain cancer. John explains, "Our pipeline and strategy are increasingly focused on what we're calling reprogramming cancer biology. So instead of asking only how do we kill more cancer cells, we're actually also asking how we can change the underlying biology that allows these cells to resist treatment, escape our own immune system, and spread? That's really the common thread through which we're building Kazia in our pipeline. I guess the other way you can think about it is that cancer is not a static target." "You may start treatment with a drug that blocks something that the cancer depends on, and initially it works, but you're applying enormous pressure, selective pressure. These cancer cells can then adapt, or the cancer cells that can adapt are the ones that survive. So those surviving cells, they may activate another growth pathway. They may change the genes that are turned on or turned off by certain therapies. They may enter a different sort of cellular state, maybe a non-proliferating state, or actually alter the environment around the tumor such that the immune system has greater difficulty recognizing and attacking it." "So when we talk about resistance or reprogramming, it doesn't necessarily mean the original therapy was unsuccessful. In many cases, it did work very well. The problem is cancer evolved around it. A major, major direction for oncology now is understanding that resistance state and determining whether we can change it, whether we can therapeutically change it." #KaziaTherapeutics #Oncology #CancerResearch #Immunotherapy #BreastCancer #ColorectalCancer #ClinicalTrials #TumorMicroenvironment #DrugDevelopment #PI3K #mTOR #Paxalisib /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43077763

Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation with Leo Petrossian Kandu TRANSCRIPT 10/06/2026

Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation with Leo Petrossian Kandu TRANSCRIPT Leo Petrossian, CEO of Kandu, discusses a groundbreaking approach to stroke recovery that uses an FDA-cleared, non-invasive EEG headset combined with a robotic glove that detects when a patient visualizes moving their impaired arm and simultaneously moves the arm mechanically. Traditional rehabilitation has treated the arm rather than the brain, which is the source of the damage. This brain-computer interface builds new neuronal pathways and has proven effective in chronic stroke patients, regardless of how much time has passed since the stroke. Leo explains, "When we think of Kandu, we think of it in many dimensions. It may be described as a technology company or a startup or an innovative organization or things like that. I often don't view it through the lens of the company. I rotate the narrative and focus on the patient population that we serve. Kandu is really the story of eight million patients living in the United States who are currently almost invisible to the healthcare system. There are about eight million stroke survivors living in the United States, and these people have had to figure out what it means to live a life again after suffering a significant health event." "Because it’s very challenging and stressful, less than half of the patients who are disabled actually get into rehab in that 90 to 180-day window. And most patients pass that 180-day line, never even having a chance to restore lost function. So IpsiHand is an FDA-designated breakthrough therapy that was de novo cleared, which is a novel technology. It's the first and only thought-activated therapy ever cleared by the FDA." #Kandu #StrokeRehabilitation #BrainComputerInterface #BCI #ChronicStroke #MedTech #Neurology #ClinicalInnovation #OccupationalTherapy #PhysicalTherapy #HealthcareInnovation #StrokeRecovery #StrokeSurvivor #Neuroplasticity #NeuroRehabilitation /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43077603

Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation with Leo Petrossian Kandu 10/06/2026

Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation with Leo Petrossian Kandu Leo Petrossian, CEO of Kandu, discusses a groundbreaking approach to stroke recovery that uses an FDA-cleared, non-invasive EEG headset combined with a robotic glove that detects when a patient visualizes moving their impaired arm and simultaneously moves the arm mechanically. Traditional rehabilitation has treated the arm rather than the brain, which is the source of the damage. This brain-computer interface builds new neuronal pathways and has proven effective in chronic stroke patients, regardless of how much time has passed since the stroke. Leo explains, "When we think of Kandu, we think of it in many dimensions. It may be described as a technology company or a startup or an innovative organization or things like that. I often don't view it through the lens of the company. I rotate the narrative and focus on the patient population that we serve. Kandu is really the story of eight million patients living in the United States who are currently almost invisible to the healthcare system. There are about eight million stroke survivors living in the United States, and these people have had to figure out what it means to live a life again after suffering a significant health event." "Because it’s very challenging and stressful, less than half of the patients who are disabled actually get into rehab in that 90 to 180-day window. And most patients pass that 180-day line, never even having a chance to restore lost function. So IpsiHand is an FDA-designated breakthrough therapy that was de novo cleared, which is a novel technology. It's the first and only thought-activated therapy ever cleared by the FDA." #Kandu #StrokeRehabilitation #BrainComputerInterface #BCI #ChronicStroke #MedTech #Neurology #ClinicalInnovation #OccupationalTherapy #PhysicalTherapy #HealthcareInnovation #StrokeRecovery #StrokeSurvivor #Neuroplasticity #NeuroRehabilitation /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43077563

Healthy Aging and Risks from Weight Loss Drugs with Dr. Sandeep Palakodeti Bold TRANSCRIPT 10/05/2026

Healthy Aging and Risks from Weight Loss Drugs with Dr. Sandeep Palakodeti Bold TRANSCRIPT Dr. Sandeep Palakodeti, Chief Medical Officer for Los Angeles-based Bold, discusses the company's comprehensive approach to healthy aging which centers on movement, nutrition, and clinical care. Bold is supported by an AI-enabled platform that personalizes the patient experience and enables a hybrid approach for high-quality care. A particular focus is the growing use of GLP-1 medications among seniors, their impact on the body and muscle mass, and ways to reduce negative side effects. Sandeep explains, "For most of us, aging is something we don't look forward to. And the reason is that we are robbed of our independence in most cases. When I talk to patients in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond, many of them don't tell me they want to be running marathons and doing Iron Man. They may, and we help some of our patients get there, but most people are feeling a little sluggish in the afternoon, don't have that extra step they used to, are having a little bit of extra trouble shedding those pounds, can't stay up with their grandchildren, can't dance with their kids like they used to. And those are the little things in life that sort of rob them of joy in their daily experience of life. So aging is really about how we preserve those things that are meaningful to us, that allow us to gracefully be ourselves and be independent more than anything." "We think we've taken a pretty comprehensive approach here at Bold, and we focused very heavily on movement and nutrition as medicine as the core drivers of that. And we're excited now to be opening that aperture a little bit more and being able to do a little bit more for our patients, which we'll talk about here." #AgeBold #HealthcareLeadership #GLP1 #HealthyAging #GeriatricCare #PreventiveMedicine #LongevityMedicine #DigitalHealth #Sarcopenia #PatientCare #CME #Obesity #Aging #GLP1 #Medicare #Seniors /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43077348

Healthy Aging and Risks from Weight Loss Drugs with Dr. Sandeep Palakodeti Bold 10/05/2026

Healthy Aging and Risks from Weight Loss Drugs with Dr. Sandeep Palakodeti Bold Dr. Sandeep Palakodeti, Chief Medical Officer for Los Angeles-based Bold, discusses the company's comprehensive approach to healthy aging which centers on movement, nutrition, and clinical care. Bold is supported by an AI-enabled platform that personalizes the patient experience and enables a hybrid approach for high-quality care. A particular focus is the growing use of GLP-1 medications among seniors, their impact on the body and muscle mass, and ways to reduce negative side effects. Sandeep explains, "For most of us, aging is something we don't look forward to. And the reason is that we are robbed of our independence in most cases. When I talk to patients in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond, many of them don't tell me they want to be running marathons and doing Iron Man. They may, and we help some of our patients get there, but most people are feeling a little sluggish in the afternoon, don't have that extra step they used to, are having a little bit of extra trouble shedding those pounds, can't stay up with their grandchildren, can't dance with their kids like they used to. And those are the little things in life that sort of rob them of joy in their daily experience of life. So aging is really about how we preserve those things that are meaningful to us, that allow us to gracefully be ourselves and be independent more than anything." "We think we've taken a pretty comprehensive approach here at Bold, and we focused very heavily on movement and nutrition as medicine as the core drivers of that. And we're excited now to be opening that aperture a little bit more and being able to do a little bit more for our patients, which we'll talk about here." #AgeBold #HealthcareLeadership #GLP1 #HealthyAging #GeriatricCare #PreventiveMedicine #LongevityMedicine #DigitalHealth #Sarcopenia #PatientCare #CME #Obesity #Aging #GLP1 #Medicare #Seniors /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/43077328

Using AI and OCT Imaging to Improve Breast Cancer Surgery Outcomes with Adrian Mendes Perimeter Medical TRANSCRIPT 09/30/2026

Using AI and OCT Imaging to Improve Breast Cancer Surgery Outcomes with Adrian Mendes Perimeter Medical TRANSCRIPT Adrian Mendes, Chief Executive Officer at Perimeter Medical, has developed a platform that uses AI and optical coherence tormography (OCT) imaging to provide surgeons with real-time visualization of tumor margins during breast cancer surgery. By scanning while the patient is still in the operating room the platform enables surgeons to identify cancerous cells at the margins and remove addiional tissue, eliminating the need for delayed pathology review and possible additional surgery. This technology benefits all stakeholders- the patients avoid repeat surgery, surgeons see a higher success rate, hospitals optimize operating room utilization, and payers have reduced costs. Adrian explains, "So fundamentally, the challenge that we see out there in cancer surgery, and specifically in breast cancer surgery, is that there's a very high rate of patients who have to come back in for a second surgery. For breast cancer, it's about one in every four to one in every five patients who go through breast cancer surgery who have to come back again because a surgeon unfortunately wasn't able to remove all the cancer. And so we help them with that." "What we do is we have a product that has an imaging system in it that uses a unique modality type of imaging that has very high resolution. And with that, the surgeons can, in real time, look within the margin of the tumor and inspect it and then make a decision on whether they need to take more tissue right there in that first surgery because they see some cancerous cells in that margin or not." "Fundamentally, the goal of a surgery, a cancer surgery, the way it's judged as being successful or not, is if they're able to remove the tumor and have a few millimeters thick of clean margin, no cancerous cells within that two-millimeter margin, and then that would be considered a successful surgery. And it's very hard to do. And not being able to do that is what leads to that very high re-operation rate." #PerimeterMedical #BreastCancer #Healthcare #ArtificialIntelligence #AIinHealthcare #DigitalHealth #MedTech #CancerCare #MedicalImaging #BreastCancerSurgery #SurgicalOncology #AIinMedicine #MedTech #ORInnovation #HealthcareAI #FDAApproved #PatientOutcomes /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/42969128

Using AI and OCT Imaging to Improve Breast Cancer Surgery Outcomes with Adrian Mendes Perimeter Medical 09/30/2026

Using AI and OCT Imaging to Improve Breast Cancer Surgery Outcomes with Adrian Mendes Perimeter Medical Adrian Mendes, Chief Executive Officer at Perimeter Medical, has developed a platform that uses AI and optical coherence tormography (OCT) imaging to provide surgeons with real-time visualization of tumor margins during breast cancer surgery. By scanning while the patient is still in the operating room the platform enables surgeons to identify cancerous cells at the margins and remove addiional tissue, eliminating the need for delayed pathology review and possible additional surgery. This technology benefits all stakeholders- the patients avoid repeat surgery, surgeons see a higher success rate, hospitals optimize operating room utilization, and payers have reduced costs. Adrian explains, "So fundamentally, the challenge that we see out there in cancer surgery, and specifically in breast cancer surgery, is that there's a very high rate of patients who have to come back in for a second surgery. For breast cancer, it's about one in every four to one in every five patients who go through breast cancer surgery who have to come back again because a surgeon unfortunately wasn't able to remove all the cancer. And so we help them with that." "What we do is we have a product that has an imaging system in it that uses a unique modality type of imaging that has very high resolution. And with that, the surgeons can, in real time, look within the margin of the tumor and inspect it and then make a decision on whether they need to take more tissue right there in that first surgery because they see some cancerous cells in that margin or not." "Fundamentally, the goal of a surgery, a cancer surgery, the way it's judged as being successful or not, is if they're able to remove the tumor and have a few millimeters thick of clean margin, no cancerous cells within that two-millimeter margin, and then that would be considered a successful surgery. And it's very hard to do. And not being able to do that is what leads to that very high re-operation rate." #PerimeterMedical #BreastCancer #Healthcare #ArtificialIntelligence #AIinHealthcare #DigitalHealth #MedTech #CancerCare #MedicalImaging #BreastCancerSurgery #SurgicalOncology #AIinMedicine #MedTech #ORInnovation #HealthcareAI #FDAApproved #PatientOutcomes /episode/index/show/empoweredpatient/id/42969108

Treatment and Prevention of Cytomegalovirus Following Organ Transplantation with Dr. Neil Inhaber Takeda TRANSCRIPT 09/29/2026

Treatment and Prevention of Cytomegalovirus Following Organ Transplantation with Dr. Neil Inhaber Takeda 09/29/2026

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