The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show

Michael Stamatinos
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Entrepreneurship

Michael Stamatinos is a visionary leader with a deeply rooted passion for making healthcare accessible to all. He’s the founder of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Consortium, where he leverages his two decades of experience in healthcare delivery, business development, and strategy to build ecosystems that enable sustainable growth.

  1. 6d ago

    What Healthcare Gets Wrong About Trust | E105

    What if the communities healthcare calls "hard to reach" aren't hard to reach at all? What if we're the ones getting it wrong? That's a question Dr. Melissa Gutierrez-Kapheim, PhD, Director of Health Equity Research at the Sinai Urban Health Institute in Chicago, has spent much of her career exploring. In this episode of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show, Michael Stamatinos sits down with Dr. Gutierrez-Kapheim to explore what it really takes to build trust in healthcare, improve access to care, and bring meaningful innovation into underserved communities. Melissa shares a story from early in her career when a community health worker returned from a home visit without the research data she was supposed to collect. What initially felt like a failure became one of the most important lessons of Melissa's career. They also explore a troubling reality in healthcare innovation: sometimes the very technologies designed to improve care can actually make health disparities worse. And then there's the research that every parent, educator, and community leader needs to hear. Melissa's team found that 60% of teenage girls surveyed across Chicago reported loneliness. What the girls shared about social media, human connection, and the importance of having a trusted adult in their lives may surprise you. This conversation goes beyond healthcare research. It's about listening to people, earning trust, and remembering who we're actually trying to help. IN THIS EPISODE: Why "hard-to-reach populations" may be the wrong way to think about healthcare access The critical difference between trust and institutional trustworthiness How community health workers improve care by meeting people where they are Why community engagement must be an ongoing relationship How healthcare innovation and AI can unintentionally widen health disparities The importance of bringing clinical trials into underserved communities What new research reveals about loneliness, social media, and teenage mental health Why trusted adults outside the family can make a meaningful difference in young people's lives CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction: Are communities really hard to reach? 03:06 Where the "hard to reach" problem begins 05:57 Trust vs. trustworthiness in healthcare 08:25 How inequality affects trust in health systems 10:09 Building relationships within communities 11:40 The community health worker who changed Melissa's perspective 15:17 Why social support matters as much as medical care 17:47 What went wrong recruiting girls for a Chicago study 20:35 Community engagement means showing up for others 22:46 Inverse equity: When innovation makes disparities worse 25:10 Will AI widen the healthcare access gap? 26:04 Bringing clinical trials to underserved communities 28:57 The loneliness crisis among teenage girls 30:01 Why 60% of Chicago girls reported loneliness 31:11 Social media, loneliness, and emotional well-being 32:34 Why trusted adults outside the family matter 34:08 Human connection vs. the algorithm 35:49 Inside the Sinai Urban Health Institute 37:39 Why Melissa returned to Sinai Chicago 38:50 Closing thoughts and final takeaways ABOUT OUR GUEST Dr. Melissa Gutierrez-Kapheim is the Director of Health Equity Research at the Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI), the research arm of Sinai Chicago. Her work focuses on community-engaged research, health equity, social epidemiology, loneliness, and the relationships between neighborhoods, social connection, and health outcomes. Learn more about Sinai Urban Health Institute: https://www.sinaichicago.org/ 📣 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE About the Show The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show is hosted by Michael Stamatinos, a nationally recognized connector, strategist, and advocate for innovation with purpose. Each week, Michael interviews healthcare leaders who are driving meaningful change—highlighting stories of access, resilience, equity, and transformation. The AHI Show started with the idea of wanting to highlight stories of what healthcare innovation truly looks like in action. Our mission, highlight real people who are really innovating within healthcare. Guests include healthcare entrepreneurs, providers, payers, and professionals from the investment community. We showcase little wins as well as valuable lessons learned from setbacks through these interviews. The real innovators in healthcare are often the ones in the trenches doing the work with razor-sharp focus. We find these innovators and bring their stories to light. 🔗 Michael’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstamo 🎧 Subscribe for more episodes that move beyond theory and into the heart of what’s really possible in healthcare. Join our group, Advancing Healthcare Innovation Forum on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7056196/

  2. Oct 16

    The Biggest Mistakes Healthcare Startup Founders Make | E204

    Why do promising healthcare startups struggle to bring their innovations to patients? And what separates founders who make real progress from those who get stuck? On this episode of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show, Michael Stamatinos sits down with Megan Kane, Executive Director of Rellia Health, to explore what it really takes to build and grow a medical device or digital health company. Megan has spent much of her career navigating FDA regulations, quality management, and the complexities of bringing healthcare technology to market. Today, she's helping entrepreneurs overcome those same challenges through a growing network of 81 founders and more than 250 advisors. Her journey into entrepreneurship wasn't exactly planned. What started with an invitation to judge a healthcare hackathon eventually led her to build an organization focused on helping founders turn promising ideas into measurable progress. In this conversation, we explore: * Why FDA regulation doesn't have to be the enemy of healthcare innovation * Common mistakes medical device and digital health startups make * How founders can approach regulatory strategy and clinical validation * The importance of mentorship, relationships, and access to the right people * Why startup accelerators need to focus on outcomes, not just advice * How Rellia Health is helping founders navigate the path from concept to commercialization Rellia Health: https://www.relliahealth.com/about What great healthcare founders and leaders have in common One of the most interesting stories Megan shares involves a simple introduction between a telehealth founder and a rural healthcare network. That connection helped launch a pilot program and eventually inspired something much bigger. It's a reminder that sometimes the right relationship can move an idea forward faster than months of planning. Whether you're building a healthcare startup, investing in medical technology, working in digital health, or helping bring innovation into health systems, there's plenty to take away from this conversation. Chapters: 00:00 Why Great Healthcare Innovations Struggle 03:23 Megan Kane's Journey Into Healthcare 05:34 From Microbiology to FDA Regulatory Strategy 07:02 Understanding Medical Device Regulations 08:08 Common Misconceptions About the FDA 09:37 Discovering the Healthcare Startup Ecosystem 12:04 How One Introduction Launched a Telehealth Pilot 13:52 The Unexpected Journey to Founding Relia Health 15:38 Helping 81 Healthcare Founders Make Progress 17:32 What Makes Relia Health Different 19:28 Lessons Learned Building a Healthcare Startup 21:58 The Future of Relia Health 23:38 What Great Healthcare Founders Do Differently 25:14 The Leadership Lesson Every Founder Needs 26:56 Advice for the Next Generation of Healthcare Innovators 28:00 Final Thoughts and Closing 📣 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE About the Show The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show is hosted by Michael Stamatinos, a nationally recognized connector, strategist, and advocate for innovation with purpose. Each week, Michael interviews healthcare leaders who are driving meaningful change—highlighting stories of access, resilience, equity, and transformation. The AHI Show started with the idea of wanting to highlight stories of what healthcare innovation truly looks like in action. Our mission, highlight real people who are really innovating within healthcare. Guests include healthcare entrepreneurs, providers, payers, and professionals from the investment community. We showcase little wins as well as valuable lessons learned from setbacks through these interviews. The real innovators in healthcare are often the ones in the trenches doing the work with razor-sharp focus. We find these innovators and bring their stories to light. 🔗 Michael’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstamo 🎧 Subscribe for more episodes that move beyond theory and into the heart of what’s really possible in healthcare. Join our group, Advancing Healthcare Innovation Forum on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7056196/

  3. Oct 1

    The Cancer Treatments of Tomorrow Are Already Here | E203

    What if a clinical trial wasn’t a last resort, but a chance to access tomorrow’s medicine today? Dr. Jad Chahoud, Chief Scientific and Innovation Officer at Orlando Health Cancer Institute, joins the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show for a conversation about the rapidly changing future of cancer care, clinical trials, precision medicine, immunotherapy and patient access. For Dr. Chahoud, clinical research isn’t separate from cancer care. It is part of cancer care. In this episode, Dr. Chahoud shares how he evaluates experimental therapies, why geography and insurance can still determine access to cutting-edge cancer treatment, and what health systems need to build if they want clinical trials to reach more patients closer to home. The conversation also gets deeply personal. Dr. Chahoud shares the story of deciding as a child in Lebanon that he would become a physician in America, the chance encounter that led him toward oncology, and what it feels like to sit across from a patient and tell them they have Stage IV cancer. He also explains why he has never accepted the idea that oncologists need to emotionally detach from their patients. And near the end of the conversation, Dr. Chahoud tells the remarkable story of a 37-year-old patient who arrived for a clinical trial with only weeks to live. Three years later, that patient is alive and in complete response. This is a conversation about cancer research and innovation, and ultimately about something much bigger: giving patients more options, more access and more time. CHAPTERS 00:00 – Clinical trials as access to tomorrow’s medicine 04:46 – Why clinical trials belong in everyday cancer care 07:36 – A childhood dream of becoming a doctor in America 08:43 – The moment that led Dr. Chahoud to oncology 11:38 – Taking on a rare cancer few researchers were studying 15:44 – The emotional weight of being an oncologist 18:23 – What it feels like to deliver difficult news to a patient 20:55 – What’s happening in cancer treatment that most people don’t know 24:52 – How many patients never know another treatment option exists? 26:48 – Geography, insurance and access to advanced cancer care 28:31 – How Dr. Chahoud evaluates a clinical trial 32:29 – Building a better clinical trials engine 34:16 – Why expanding clinical trials across health systems is so difficult 35:24 – Following the work at Orlando Health Cancer Institute 36:50 – Lightning round 37:22 – The cancer trial Dr. Chahoud is watching closely 39:12 – If he weren’t an oncologist, what would he be? 39:36 – The patient given weeks to live who is alive three years later 42:04 – Innovation, access and hope 📣 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE About the Show The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show is hosted by Michael Stamatinos, a nationally recognized connector, strategist, and advocate for innovation with purpose. Each week, Michael interviews healthcare leaders who are driving meaningful change—highlighting stories of access, resilience, equity, and transformation. The AHI Show started with the idea of wanting to highlight stories of what healthcare innovation truly looks like in action. Our mission, highlight real people who are really innovating within healthcare. Guests include healthcare entrepreneurs, providers, payers, and professionals from the investment community. We showcase little wins as well as valuable lessons learned from setbacks through these interviews. The real innovators in healthcare are often the ones in the trenches doing the work with razor-sharp focus. We find these innovators and bring their stories to light. 🔗 Michael’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstamo 🎧 Subscribe for more episodes that move beyond theory and into the heart of what’s really possible in healthcare. Join our group, Advancing Healthcare Innovation Forum on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7056196/

  4. Sep 18

    Why Great Healthcare Startups Still Fail | Health 2047 E202

    Why do some promising healthcare startups scale while others never make it out of the starting blocks? In this episode of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show, Michael Stamatinos sits down with Warren Templeton, Managing Director at Health 2047, and Jill Miranda, Strategic Consultant at Health 2047, to unpack what it really takes to build, fund and scale a healthcare company. Health 2047 was founded with backing from the American Medical Association to bring clinical insight and entrepreneurship together. And building in healthcare is hard. A founder can have great science and a compelling product and still face regulatory risk, technology risk, fundraising pressure and healthcare sales cycles that can stretch 18 to 24 months. Warren and Jill share what Health 2047 has learned working alongside founders, why understanding the problem matters more than falling in love with the solution, and why the first customer can become one of the most important relationships a healthcare company ever builds. The conversation also explores: • What Health 2047 looks for in healthcare founders • Why some healthcare startups fail • The difference between a “vitamin” and a true “painkiller” • What founders underestimate about selling into health systems • Why trust and relationships matter when scaling • How AI could change the economics of building a startup • Where women's health innovation and investment are headed • Why coachability and adaptability separate founders For healthcare founders, investors, clinicians and health system leaders, this is a candid look at what happens after the idea. Because having a great idea in healthcare is one thing. Building something that survives long enough to matter is another. 📣 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE About the Show The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show is hosted by Michael Stamatinos, a nationally recognized connector, strategist, and advocate for innovation with purpose. Each week, Michael interviews healthcare leaders who are driving meaningful change—highlighting stories of access, resilience, equity, and transformation. The AHI Show started with the idea of wanting to highlight stories of what healthcare innovation truly looks like in action. Our mission, highlight real people who are really innovating within healthcare. Guests include healthcare entrepreneurs, providers, payers, and professionals from the investment community. We showcase little wins as well as valuable lessons learned from setbacks through these interviews. The real innovators in healthcare are often the ones in the trenches doing the work with razor-sharp focus. We find these innovators and bring their stories to light. 🔗 Michael’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstamo 🎧 Subscribe for more episodes that move beyond theory and into the heart of what’s really possible in healthcare. Join our group, Advancing Healthcare Innovation Forum on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7056196/

  5. Sep 10

    E201: She’s Seen Thousands of Startups. Here’s What the Best Founders Do Differently

    Melissa Lederer has seen thousands of startups. After enough reps, you start to see the patterns. Why some founders make it. Why others struggle. Why great technology alone isn’t enough. And why trying to build a healthcare company by yourself can become a major liability. Melissa has had an unusual front-row seat to all of it. She was part of the founding team at 1871, helped build MATTER’s healthcare innovation community, and today serves as Chief Experience Officer at mHUB, where entrepreneurs are building medical devices, hard tech, and physical products. In this episode of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show, Melissa and Michael Stamatinos get into what she has learned from watching founders up close. They talk about what mHUB looks for before investing, why coachability matters, the danger of single-founder companies, what separates great founders from great storytellers, and why access to the right people can completely change a company’s trajectory. They also get into something that may surprise people. Hardware is getting interesting again. After years of venture dollars pouring into software, Melissa believes the combination of AI, compute, medical technology, and physical products is changing the equation. In her words, “hardware is the moat.” And the Midwest may have more of the ingredients needed to win that race than people realize. This conversation is about founders. It’s also about something bigger: what happens when you intentionally build environments where talented people, capital, industry, mentors, and opportunity collide. Because innovation rarely happens alone. If you’re building in healthcare, investing in early-stage companies, or trying to understand what separates promising ideas from companies that actually make it, this episode is worth your time. Learn more about mHub: https://mhub.org/ Timestamps: 00:00 – Welcome to the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show 04:18 – Meet Melissa Lederer 04:52 – From Flint, Michigan to the innovation world 08:58 – Building 1871 from the ground up 11:17 – What people don’t see about building innovation ecosystems 14:26 – Why healthcare led to MATTER 16:42 – The founders Melissa still thinks about 18:10 – Inside mHUB: What Melissa looks for 20:15 – Why founders struggle to ask for help 22:23 – What mHUB looks for before investing 25:12 – The patterns you see after thousands of startups 27:34 – Great technology vs. a great storyteller 28:45 – Why building physical products is different 31:04 – Why Melissa is bullish on the Midwest 35:02 – Access, impact and building something bigger than yourself 37:18 – How to get involved with mHUB 38:17 – Rapid fire: The most underrated founder quality 39:40 – Closing thoughts 📣 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE About the Show The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show is hosted by Michael Stamatinos, a nationally recognized connector, strategist, and advocate for innovation with purpose. Each week, Michael interviews healthcare leaders who are driving meaningful change—highlighting stories of access, resilience, equity, and transformation. The AHI Show started with the idea of wanting to highlight stories of what healthcare innovation truly looks like in action. Our mission, highlight real people who are really innovating within healthcare. Guests include healthcare entrepreneurs, providers, payers, and professionals from the investment community. We showcase little wins as well as valuable lessons learned from setbacks through these interviews. The real innovators in healthcare are often the ones in the trenches doing the work with razor-sharp focus. We find these innovators and bring their stories to light. 🔗 Michael’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstamo 🎧 Subscribe for more episodes that move beyond theory and into the heart of what’s really possible in healthcare. Join our group, Advancing Healthcare Innovation Forum on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7056196/

  6. Sep 4

    Why 88% of Hospitals Can’t Offer Clinical Trials | Heather Grey | E200

    Every medical breakthrough begins with a clinical trial. Yet for millions of patients, participating in one has never really been an option. Only 12% of U.S. hospitals are currently equipped to run clinical trials, leaving most patients dependent on where they live, where they receive care, and whether they can travel to one of the relatively few centers offering research. Heather Grey believes we’ve been asking the wrong question. Instead of asking how we get more patients to clinical trials, what if we brought clinical trials to the patients? In Episode 200 of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show, Michael Stamatinos sits down with Heather Grey, CEO and co-founder of Elixir Trials, to explore her effort to rethink how clinical research reaches patients, physicians, community hospitals, and underserved health systems. Heather has spent more than 15 years working across clinical trials, pharmaceutical partnerships, and healthcare. The idea behind Elixir Trials came into focus during a dinner with the leadership team of a safety net hospital struggling just to make nursing payroll. The hospital wanted to participate in clinical research. The patients were there. The physicians were there. What they didn’t have was the money, people, technology, regulatory infrastructure, and operational support required to build a clinical trial program. Heather saw a problem worth solving. Elixir Trials is building a model designed to turn community hospitals into research-ready sites without forcing each organization to recreate the infrastructure of a major academic medical center. The conversation goes well beyond clinical trials. Heather shares the unlikely path that took her from kindergarten teacher and single mother to pharmaceutical sales, clinical research executive, and eventually founder and CEO. She talks about the grandmother who taught her that nobody else gets to decide what she is capable of, why building LEGO helps her think through difficult problems, and why she never set out to become an entrepreneur. Michael and Heather also unpack two of the biggest bottlenecks in clinical research today: patient enrollment and patient adherence. When participating in a trial means repeatedly traveling hours away from home, leaving the physician you trust, and adding appointments while already dealing with a serious illness, access becomes more than a logistical problem. It becomes a human one. In this episode: 00:00 – Welcome to Episode 200 of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show 04:24 – Why Heather builds LEGO when she gets stuck 07:05 – What Heather was like as a kid 08:01 – The grandmother who shaped how Heather sees possibility 11:17 – From kindergarten teacher and single mom to healthcare 14:52 – The problem Heather could no longer ignore 15:07 – Why only 12% of U.S. hospitals can offer clinical trials 17:13 – The dinner that became the origin story of Elixir Trials 20:59 – Using philanthropy to expand clinical trial access 22:45 – Leaving a successful career to build something new 24:13 – Where the traditional clinical trial model breaks down 26:46 – Building Elixir Trials like a LEGO set 27:42 – The two biggest bottlenecks in clinical research 29:21 – Why bringing trials closer to patients matters 31:26 – Technology vs. trust: which is harder to build? 34:12 – How becoming CEO changed Heather’s view of leadership 36:37 – Where AI can actually improve clinical research 40:05 – A message for community hospitals considering research 41:26 – Where to follow Heather and Elixir Trials 42:09 – Lightning round Learn more about Elixir Trials: elixirtrials.com 📣 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE About the Show The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show is hosted by Michael Stamatinos, a nationally recognized connector, strategist, and advocate for innovation with purpose. Each week, Michael interviews healthcare leaders who are driving meaningful change—highlighting stories of access, resilience, equity, and transformation. The AHI Show started with the idea of wanting to highlight stories of what healthcare innovation truly looks like in action. Our mission, highlight real people who are really innovating within healthcare. Guests include healthcare entrepreneurs, providers, payers, and professionals from the investment community. We showcase little wins as well as valuable lessons learned from setbacks through these interviews. The real innovators in healthcare are often the ones in the trenches doing the work with razor-sharp focus. We find these innovators and bring their stories to light. 🔗 Michael’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstamo 🎧 Subscribe for more episodes that move beyond theory and into the heart of what’s really possible in healthcare. Join our group, Advancing Healthcare Innovation Forum on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7056196/

  7. Aug 27

    AI Can’t Just Be Another Healthcare Project | Justin Norden, MD | E199

    Every health system seems to be investing in AI. The bigger question is whether they’re actually building the foundation to use it. In E199 of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show, Michael Stamatinos sits down with Dr. Justin Norden, CEO and co-founder of Qualified Health, to talk about what happens when healthcare moves beyond experimenting with AI and starts building it into the way the organization actually operates. Justin brings an unusual perspective to the conversation. He’s a physician, computer scientist, former Apple team member, venture capitalist, healthcare AI entrepreneur and, yes, a three-time world champion in ultimate frisbee. Their conversation gets into one of the biggest challenges facing health systems right now: AI tools are multiplying faster than many organizations can integrate, govern and measure them. Justin explains why Qualified Health approaches the problem from the infrastructure level, creating a common foundation that can support use cases across revenue cycle, clinical care, operations and the workforce instead of continually adding another disconnected solution. They also dig into: • Why trust may be the most important currency in healthcare AI • What health system leaders should look for when evaluating AI companies • Why customer outcomes matter more than AI marketing • How one health system generated significant financial impact in less than six months • Using AI to identify gaps in guideline-driven patient care • Why healthcare AI requires infrastructure, governance and measurable outcomes • How AI could change health system margins, workforce and operations • Why Justin believes health systems could soon begin separating into two very different groups • What happens when AI stops being a “project” and becomes part of how a health system operates Timestamps: 00:00 – Why Health Systems Are Losing Control of AI 03:16 – Meet Dr. Justin Norden 03:26 – From World Champion Athlete to Healthcare AI 05:22 – Why Medicine + Computer Science 08:41 – The Trust Problem in Healthcare AI 11:20 – What Qualified Health Actually Does 14:16 – How AI Created $15M in Health System Impact 18:00 – How Health Systems Can Separate AI Hype From Reality 21:07 – Why Customer Results Matter More Than Marketing 22:38 – What Healthcare Could Look Like in Five Years 26:08 – AI Can’t Just Be Another Project Justin also shares why some of the healthcare problems that interest him most aren't things medicine doesn't know how to solve. They're the things we already know how to solve, yet patients still fall through the cracks. That may be where AI ultimately creates some of its greatest value. If you work in healthcare leadership, digital health, AI, clinical operations, or health system innovation, this is a conversation worth hearing. 📣 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE About the Show The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show is hosted by Michael Stamatinos, a nationally recognized connector, strategist, and advocate for innovation with purpose. Each week, Michael interviews healthcare leaders who are driving meaningful change—highlighting stories of access, resilience, equity, and transformation. The AHI Show started with the idea of wanting to highlight stories of what healthcare innovation truly looks like in action. Our mission, highlight real people who are really innovating within healthcare. Guests include healthcare entrepreneurs, providers, payers, and professionals from the investment community. We showcase little wins as well as valuable lessons learned from setbacks through these interviews. The real innovators in healthcare are often the ones in the trenches doing the work with razor-sharp focus. We find these innovators and bring their stories to light. 🔗 Michael’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstamo 🎧 Subscribe for more episodes that move beyond theory and into the heart of what’s really possible in healthcare. Join our group, Advancing Healthcare Innovation Forum on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7056196/

  8. Aug 20

    The $50 Billion Bet on Rural Healthcare | Sunny Lu Williams | E198

    What happens when $50 billion is put toward transforming rural healthcare? The money may be available. The need is certainly there. But Sunny Lu Williams believes the real question is whether rural communities will have a meaningful voice in deciding what transformation actually looks like. In Episode 197 of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show, Michael Stamatinos sits down with Sunny Lu Williams, President of TechServe Corporation, to explore the future of rural healthcare, community-based access, population health, and the Rural Health Transformation Program. Sunny’s story begins long before healthcare. Her grandmother immigrated to the United States from Taiwan, learned English, and started TechServe in 1992. Three generations later, Sunny is leading the family business and pushing it into an entirely different chapter. Their conversation explores why schools, faith-based organizations, community groups, and local leaders may become critical pieces of the healthcare infrastructure in rural America. Sunny also explains why simply putting more money into the existing healthcare system may not create transformation. The bigger challenge is making sure rural communities have a seat at the table. In this conversation: • How Sunny became the third generation of her family to lead TechServe • What she learned about leadership from watching another family business • Why TechServe moved from traditional IT into population health • Why schools can become a powerful front door to healthcare • How StatWatch supports community health, case management, and patient monitoring • What happened when nearly $20 million in contracted federal awards were rescinded • Why data and measurable outcomes matter when funding disappears • The opportunity behind the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program • Why governance may be one of the biggest barriers facing rural communities • The connection between rural health and economic development • Why transformation has to be built with communities, not simply delivered to them • Sunny’s vision for community-based healthcare access five years from now One idea from Sunny captures much of the conversation: “You can only be strategic on the outcomes.” This episode is about rural healthcare, but it’s also about something bigger: who gets a voice when systems are redesigned, where healthcare actually happens, and what it takes to build something that lasts. If you care about rural health, population health, healthcare access, community health, health innovation, or the future of healthcare delivery, this conversation is worth your time. Timestamps: 03:51 Why Rural Healthcare Transformation Matters 04:26 The Immigrant Story Behind TechServe 08:15 Becoming the Third Generation to Lead the Family Business 11:00 Changing the Culture of a Family Business 12:07 Why TechServe Moved Into Healthcare 13:10 Schools as a Front Door to Healthcare 16:09 How StatWatch Works 17:23 Bringing Healthcare Into the Community 21:01 Measuring the Impact of Community Health 22:00 When Nearly $20 Million in Federal Funding Disappeared 25:32 Why Outcomes Matter More Than Intent 26:57 The $50 Billion Rural Health Transformation Opportunity 28:48 Where TechServe Fits Into Rural Health Transformation 30:57 What Could Keep Rural Communities From the Funding 31:15 The Governance Problem No One Talks About 35:00 What TechServe Actually Does Today 36:42 Lightning Round 39:40 What Rural Healthcare Could Look Like in Five Years 41:46 Closing Thoughts 📣 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE About the Show The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show is hosted by Michael Stamatinos, a nationally recognized connector, strategist, and advocate for innovation with purpose. Each week, Michael interviews healthcare leaders who are driving meaningful change—highlighting stories of access, resilience, equity, and transformation. The AHI Show started with the idea of wanting to highlight stories of what healthcare innovation truly looks like in action. Our mission, highlight real people who are really innovating within healthcare. Guests include healthcare entrepreneurs, providers, payers, and professionals from the investment community. We showcase little wins as well as valuable lessons learned from setbacks through these interviews. The real innovators in healthcare are often the ones in the trenches doing the work with razor-sharp focus. We find these innovators and bring their stories to light. 🔗 Michael’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstamo 🎧 Subscribe for more episodes that move beyond theory and into the heart of what’s really possible in healthcare. Join our group, Advancing Healthcare Innovation Forum on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7056196/

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Michael Stamatinos is a visionary leader with a deeply rooted passion for making healthcare accessible to all. He’s the founder of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Consortium, where he leverages his two decades of experience in healthcare delivery, business development, and strategy to build ecosystems that enable sustainable growth.

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