There’s a Better Way: Smart Talk on Healthcare and Technology

Surescripts
  • 4.7 (18)
  • Technology
  • Updated Biweekly

The American healthcare system is one of the most innovative in the world. But it’s also riddled with complex challenges, such as access to affordable medications, inefficiency and administrative burdens, and communication barriers between providers. There’s clearly a better way—and at Surescripts, we have a unique sightline into what that may be. In this series, host Melanie Marcus, Chief Marketing Officer of Surescripts, sits down with today’s most inspiring and innovative leaders in healthcare for in-depth and personal conversations. They’ll share their perspectives on the industry’s challenges and the efforts underway for navigating them. By the end of each episode, you’ll walk away with real-world stories—stories that show a better way to tackle healthcare’s most stubborn issues as well as what the future might hold for an industry undergoing rapid change.

  1. 1h ago

    How Patient-Led Innovation Rewrites the Rules of Data Access with Anna McCollister

    Corporate website: surescripts.com Intelligence in Action newsletter (subscribe): Subscribe to the Intelligence in Action newsletter Episode description For Anna McCollister, health data access has never been abstract. Living with type 1 diabetes has meant fighting for years to get her own health information from her devices, labs and doctors. She turned that frustration into a career—helping launch #WeAreNotWaiting, advising companies on how to earn patient trust and shaping national interoperability policy through HITAC and The Sequoia Project. Listen in as she explains why most barriers to patient data aren't technically hard to solve—they've simply gone unaddressed—and what changes when patients stop waiting and take action. In this episode: 0:00 – Intro: what becomes possible when the patient isn’t along for the ride, but at the wheel 2:00 – Anna’s path: from journalism and foreign policy to health IT, and the realization that her own frustrations as a patient were fixable—it was just that nobody had bothered to fix them 4:00 – A continuous glucose monitor whose software only ran on Windows: buying Parallels to see her own numbers 6:00 – “It’s my data. This is my health.” Discussing lab values she could never get 8:00 – How #WeAreNotWaiting started: patients and parents who happened to write software, and two devices locked shut 9:00 – A receiver, an Android phone and a Pebble watch: John Costick’s hack meant parents could monitor their child’s glucose levels  10:00 – Ben West cracks the insulin pump protocol, and Anna takes the case for open APIs to the DiabetesMine stage with the FDA in the room 11:00 – Loop: a closed-loop artificial pancreas built by patients, free on GitHub, more than 30,000 users worldwide 12:00 – Where the gaps still are: patient portals were a real win, and they’re nowhere near enough 13:00 – Four days to eye surgery, 30 days to the imaging: mail a paper check, wait for it to clear, then wait a month 15:00 – Designing with patients, not for them: inside a genetic testing company built on “patients own and control their data” 16:00 – The trust stack: don’t try to avoid losing trust, try to earn it 17:00 – The annual report that changed minds—publishing every way patient data was used, and watching skeptics become supporters 18:00 – Why electronic health information is a harder fight than devices, and why nothing moves without a sense of urgency 19:00 – The Sequoia Project’s ask of hospitals: rethink data access as user experience, not systemic overhaul 20:00 – Two ideas that need to go: portals are sufficient, and patients don’t want their data 21:00 – Four different LLMs, one mysterious diagnosis: analysis beyond what her physician had capacity to provide 22:00 – The unfinished piece: why personal health records and mobile apps still can’t get a reliable data feed 23:00 – 19 doctors, 170 appointments in a year, and a stack of manual downloads before every one 24:00 – Anna’s better way: put health data on the phone—it’s slowing progress, and it's very fixable Follow “There’s a Better Way” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.  Know someone working at the intersection of healthcare and technology? Share this episode.

    How Patient-Led Innovation Rewrites the Rules of Data Access with Anna McCollister

  2. Aug 4

    Ben Bluml’s Case for the Connected Pharmacist

    Corporate website: surescripts.com Intelligence in Action newsletter (subscribe): Subscribe to the Intelligence in Action newsletter Episode description Most Americans live within five to 10 miles of a pharmacy, which means that pharmacists are some of the most accessible clinicians in healthcare. Yet historically they have been among the least connected to it. Ben Bluml of the American Pharmacists Association Foundation is working to change that. Ben has spent three decades building care models, credentialing and data connections to turn pharmacists into fully-fledged members of the care team. Here’s why getting pharmacists onto the health information superhighway may be the fastest fix for a healthcare system that too often leaves its most accessible clinician out of the loop.    In this episode: 0:00 – Intro: why pharmacists are some of the most accessible—and least connected—clinicians in healthcare 2:00 – Ben’s path: from community pharmacy counter to three decades building pharmacist care models at the APhA Foundation 5:00 – A patient story: 26 pharmacies, 400 patients, and a lipid-lowering program built around a feedback loop 9:00 – “I’m not gonna be here to see my granddaughter get married”: a stroke-risk wake-up call 11:00 – The paradox: 90% of Americans live within 5–10 miles of a pharmacy, yet it’s the least connected part of care 13:00 – From vaccines to bone density screenings: the two faces of advanced pharmacy services 15:00 – What integrated systems like Kaiser get right—and why most community pharmacies don’t have it 17:00 – Project Impact Cardiovascular Health Plus: credentialing and paying pharmacists like their physician colleagues 19:00 – SDOH screening, a stroke risk assessment, and a 30-second EKG: how the AFib program works 21:00 – The results: Afib identified at more than 3x the expected rate across 2,100 patients 23:00 – Getting pharmacists onto the health information superhighway through Surescripts 24:00 – A cautionary tale: a medication reconciliation gap that ends in a broken hip 26:00 – The Sequoia Project Pharmacy Interoperability Work Group: Surescripts, NACDS, NCPA Foundation, and APhA Foundation  28:00 – Bundling prediabetes prevention and CGM access as pharmacists connect through TEFCA 29:00 – One billion CDAs and counting: why this moment feels different 31:00 – Ben’s bold ask: an integrated EHR in every community pharmacy 34:00 – Ben’s better way: pharmacists plugged into the health information superhighway   Follow “There’s a Better Way” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.   Know someone working at the intersection of healthcare and technology? Share this episode.

    Ben Bluml’s Case for the Connected Pharmacist

  3. Jul 14

    Amy Gleason’s Push to Modernize Healthcare

    Corporate website: surescripts.com https://surescripts.com/products/prior-authorization-automation https://surescripts.com/surescripts-health-information-network/interconnect Intelligence in Action newsletter (subscribe): https://cloud.comms.surescripts.com/iia Follow “There’s a Better Way” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen. Episode Description: No one understands the patient burden better than Amy Gleason, who lived it as a caregiver navigating her daughter’s rare disease diagnosis before bringing that experience into her work leading national health technology reform. Listen in as she shares how the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem, the effort to “kill the clipboard,” and a renewed push for trust are all working to make healthcare follow the patient—not the other way around.   In this episode: 0:00 – Intro: What if the biggest shift in healthcare is a patient finally getting to own their own story?  2:00 – A new center of gravity: CMS launches the Office of Health Technology and Products  4:00 – Amy’s better way: patients getting access on their own terms, without faxes or paper  5:00 – The TED Talk moment: mysterious symptoms and a week-long wait for biopsy results  7:00 – “She has a life-threatening disease”: a diagnosis day of canceled tests and a midnight scare 10:00 – What should have been different: faster diagnostics and technology built around the patient, not the paperwork  14:00 – The real barrier isn’t technology—it’s data trapped in silos  16:00 – Trust, not tech: how HIPAA myths and misplaced caution keep health data from following patients  17:00 – Kill the Clipboard, Axe the Fax: launching the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem at the White House  19:00 – Verified and live: more than 800 companies and the first CMS-certified Medicare apps  23:00 – TEFCA, QHINs, and CMS-aligned networks: how they work together, not in competition  25:00 – Prior authorization’s next test: a new pledge with October and January deadlines  27:00 – Available isn’t useful: why 51 patient portals still aren’t enough  29:00 – Healthy caution vs. inertia: distinguishing real risk from resistance to change  32:00 – The clearest sign the change is sticking: patients aren’t waiting anymore    Follow “There’s a Better Way” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.   Know someone working at the intersection of healthcare and technology? Share this episode.

    Amy Gleason’s Push to Modernize Healthcare

  4. Jun 23

    How Clinician-Led Informatics Improves Patient Outcomes with Danny E. Lee, MD

    Corporate website:  surescripts.com  Intelligence in Action newsletter (subscribe):  https://cloud.comms.surescripts.com/iia    Follow “There’s a Better Way” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen.     As a practicing physician and CMIO, Danny Lee brings insights from the intersection of patient care and health IT.    Real, meaningful progress has to begin at the point of care. No one knows this better than Dr. Lee, who has firsthand insight into the realities of clinical workflows and the critical role technology plays in supporting—or hindering—care delivery. Listen in as he shares how better outcomes depend on clinician-led use of technology that supports decisions in the moments that matter most for patients.     Know someone working at the intersection of healthcare and technology? Share this episode.

    How Clinician-Led Informatics Improves Patient Outcomes with Danny E. Lee, MD

  5. Season 5 Trailer

    Season 5 Trailer: Keeping patient care on track

    We talk a lot about technology and healthcare. We talk about automation. We talk about artificial intelligence. We talk about the promise of what's new and shiny and cutting edge. We're human after all—we build things. That's what we do. And the tools we build help us address big challenges, including those we face in healthcare.   So it makes sense that we talk a lot about technology and what we imagine our future could look like. But this isn't really about our tools. Not on this podcast—not this season. It's about people. It's about the patient. It's about all of us and the care that we want for ourselves and those we love.  This season, you'll hear from leaders, clinicians, pharmacists and innovators who are asking not just what technology can do, but how we choose to use it to meaningfully improve patient care.   The better way in healthcare is one that keeps the patient at the center, keeps care moving forward and on track and uses technology in service of what matters most.   Don't miss season five of “There's a Better Way” premiering on all major podcast apps in June.

  6. 10/14/2025

    Patrick Leddin Wants to Disrupt Everything (Healthcare Included)

    When Patrick Leddin started his career jumping from Army planes, he quickly discovered the importance of leadership—and the power of bold moves.       Now, the bestselling author and speaker has distilled insights from his work in entrepreneurship, leadership consulting and research into a new book cowritten with James Patterson. In this episode, he shares takeaways from a three-year research project studying positive disruptors in the world framework for thriving in uncertainty. Tune in to hear how disruption can be good for your own health and for healthcare as a whole.

    Patrick Leddin Wants to Disrupt Everything (Healthcare Included)

  7. 09/30/2025

    Seema Verma, Oracle of Progress at CMS & Beyond

    From policy to technology, Seema Verma has a long history of transforming healthcare at scale.     As the former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator, Verma directed initiatives, such as the historic Patients over Paperwork, that helped advance care for patients and providers. Now, as EVP of Oracle Health, she uses technology to improve patient outcomes and care delivery. Listen in as she shares her optimism on how better technology, data and AI can help bridge gaps in care.

    Seema Verma, Oracle of Progress at CMS & Beyond

  8. 09/02/2025

    Driving Healthcare Innovation and Access with Dr. Scott Howell

    “I think many organizations aren't really designed to innovate,” says Scott Howell, M.D.     When it comes to opportunities to innovate healthcare, Dr. Howell sees low-hanging fruit everywhere. But, he claims, “the rule is you can’t touch it.” As a young provider, Dr. Howell saw firsthand the consequences of healthcare inefficiencies. His frustration with a flawed system inspired him to pursue his MBA and work to improve healthcare on a bigger scale. Follow Dr. Howell’s journey and learn how he believes we can achieve innovation that drives better access to care.

    Driving Healthcare Innovation and Access with Dr. Scott Howell
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The American healthcare system is one of the most innovative in the world. But it’s also riddled with complex challenges, such as access to affordable medications, inefficiency and administrative burdens, and communication barriers between providers. There’s clearly a better way—and at Surescripts, we have a unique sightline into what that may be. In this series, host Melanie Marcus, Chief Marketing Officer of Surescripts, sits down with today’s most inspiring and innovative leaders in healthcare for in-depth and personal conversations. They’ll share their perspectives on the industry’s challenges and the efforts underway for navigating them. By the end of each episode, you’ll walk away with real-world stories—stories that show a better way to tackle healthcare’s most stubborn issues as well as what the future might hold for an industry undergoing rapid change.

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