Claims Denied: A Hospitalogy Podcast

Blake Madden

Join one man’s quest to learn everything there is to know about the business of healthcare. Blake Madden and friends cut through the fluff to talk shop with influential healthcare leaders across innovation, strategy, finance, policy, and more. Learn about disruptive health tech startups, hear war stories, stay up to date on emerging health system transformation strategies, and listen in to scalding hot takes on pressing topics and the future of the industry. New episodes drop Mondays. Subscribe to get the latest!

  1. From Multiplan Insider to Multiplan Disruptor: The Daffodil Health Story (with Navin Nagiah, CEO of Daffodil Health)

    6d ago

    From Multiplan Insider to Multiplan Disruptor: The Daffodil Health Story (with Navin Nagiah, CEO of Daffodil Health)

    In this latest episode of Claims Denied, Blake Madden sits down with Navin Nagiah, co-founder and CEO of Daffodil Health. Navin spent nearly two years inside Multiplan trying to modernize their repricing model from the inside — went to the board three times, couldn't get alignment, and left to build the AI-native version himself. Blake and Navin get into the No Surprises Act arbitration imbalance (88% provider win rate), why the "percent of savings" model is built on a fake pricing anchor, and Daffodil's vision to evolve from OON repricing into a full smart plan platform. Plus, Navin shares why a 10-day silent meditation retreat is a founder development hack. --- Navvis partners with health systems and health plans to deliver real performance improvement across value-based care and fee-for-service models. ⁠https://navvishealthcare.com/vbc⁠ --- For expert analysis on healthcare M&A, strategy, finance, and markets, join 68K+ readers of Blake Madden’s Hospitalogy newsletter. Subscribe here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hospitalogy.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like our podcast? Listen to previous episodes here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hospitalogy.com/podcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠  Be sure to leave us a review, and share our podcast with colleagues. Follow Blake Madden on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakecmadden/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  --- To learn more about Daffodil Health, check out their website: https://daffodilhealth.com/ Follow Navin Nagiah on LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/navin-nagiah-8ab16⁠

    47 min
  2. MA is a Flat Circle, the Physician Subsidy Bear Case, and Why Density Beats Scale (with Jason Ross, EVP at Privia Health)

    Jun 2

    MA is a Flat Circle, the Physician Subsidy Bear Case, and Why Density Beats Scale (with Jason Ross, EVP at Privia Health)

    Hospitalogy's Blake Madden sits down with Jason Ross, EVP of Medical Groups at Privia Health, a guy who has worked basically every seat at the healthcare table. Jason is currently running the largest portion of Privia's single-TIN medical group footprint across a publicly traded enabler. Coming out of Privia's Q1 print, Blake and Jason leaned into on the stuff Wall Street keeps missing. The MA down-cycle and whether VBC is actually broken or just on a familiar back-half-of-the-cycle slump. Privia’s portfolio philosophy — why Privia runs 100+ FFS contracts alongside 100+ VBC contracts when half the market chased pure-play full-risk.  The unsustainability of the health system physician subsidy model from somebody who lived it. Density vs. scale. The PE second-bite math falling apart in real time. Privia is hitting singles and doubles (Not flashy, but Tony Gwynn never hit for power either...and he ended up in the Hall of Fame!) --- Navvis partners with health systems and health plans to deliver real performance improvement across value-based care and fee-for-service models. https://navvishealthcare.com/vbc --- For expert analysis on healthcare M&A, strategy, finance, and markets, join 68K+ readers of Blake Madden’s Hospitalogy newsletter. Subscribe here: ⁠⁠⁠https://hospitalogy.com/⁠⁠⁠ Like our podcast? Listen to previous episodes here: ⁠⁠⁠https://hospitalogy.com/podcast/⁠⁠⁠  Be sure to leave us a review, and share our podcast with colleagues. Follow Jason Ross on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonwross/ Follow Blake Madden on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakecmadden/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

    55 min

  3. May 26

    Insuring Against the Incumbents: Why Indigo Technologies' Jared Kaplan Is Betting MedMal Is Ripe for Disruption

    You may think the insurance industry is dull, but not this conversation! For this episode, I sat down with Jared Kaplan, CEO and founder of Indigo Technologies, to talk about why medical malpractice insurance is one of the last bastions of healthcare that hasn't been touched by modern technology.  We also discussed how Indigo is using 1,500+ predictive attributes to blow up the 15-page application and individualize physician risk in a $13B market.  And we got into InsureTech 3.0, nuclear verdicts reshaping hospital balance sheets, why the best technology in the world means nothing without broker trust, and whether AI-enabled clinical care will eventually become a malpractice discount the way a burglar alarm lowers your homeowners’ premium.  --- Learn more about Indigo Technologies: https://www.getindigo.com/ Follow Jared Kaplan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-kaplan-683412/ --- Follow Blake Madden on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakecmadden/⁠⁠⁠  For expert analysis on healthcare M&A, strategy, finance, and markets, join 68K+ readers of Blake Madden’s Hospitalogy newsletter. Subscribe here: ⁠⁠https://hospitalogy.com/⁠⁠ Like our podcast? Listen to previous episodes here: ⁠⁠https://hospitalogy.com/podcast/⁠⁠  Be sure to leave us a review, and share our podcast with colleagues.

    55 min

  4. May 19

    From Surgery Center Newsletter to Healthcare Media Empire (with Scott Becker)

    In this episode, Blake Madden sits down with Scott Becker, founder of Becker's Healthcare, practicing healthcare lawyer at McGuireWoods, and one of the longest-running names in healthcare media, for a wide-ranging conversation that ended up being as much about building businesses as it was about healthcare itself. This was Blake's first time meeting Scott, and yeah, they are nominally competitors. But Scott immediately reframes it: rising tide, abundant landscape, etc. Then he proceeds to show he walks the walk, sharing what he's learned building one of healthcare's most recognized media brands over 30+ years. Blake and Scott get into: The origin of Becker's (Spoiler Alert: zero genius involved, just disciplined doubling down!) Why short-form journalism was a battlefield internally before it was obvious externally, the 10–20 relationships that actually build careers Scott's pretty blunt takes on the state of U.S. healthcare This is a great one for anyone building something, in healthcare or otherwise. --- Becker’s Healthcare: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/ Follow Scott Becker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-becker-ab7056176/ --- Follow Blake Madden on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakecmadden/⁠⁠  For expert analysis on healthcare M&A, strategy, finance, and markets, join 68K+ readers of Blake Madden’s Hospitalogy newsletter. Subscribe here: ⁠https://hospitalogy.com/⁠ Like our podcast? Listen to previous episodes here: ⁠https://hospitalogy.com/podcast/⁠  Be sure to leave us a review, and share our podcast with colleagues.

    55 min

  5. May 12

    Debating AI, ICHRA, and the Employer Exit (with Teira Gunlock & Dr. Eric Bricker)

    In this latest episode of Claims Denied, Hospitalogy's Blake Madden pulls in two co-hosts — Teira Gunlock, CEO of First Stop Health, and Dr. Eric Bricker, Chief Medical Officer of AHealthcareZ — and the crew battle it out! Three topics. No script. Just healthcare's messiest debates. Listen as Tiera, Eric, and Blake get deep into AI regulation and whether EMRs need to be forced open. They jump into ICHRA vs. captives and why small/mid employers keep getting crushed on renewals. And you won't want to miss when Tiera pushes back on whether any of this is actually good for patients vs. just good for employers, the federal government, and everyone else trying to pass the healthcare cost hot potato (the “not it” dynamic). They even get philosophical about what work even looks like when intellectual labor gets commoditized.  Oh, and Eric lost a chicken the day he and Blake were supposed to meet for lunch. So there's that.  --- For expert analysis on healthcare M&A, strategy, finance, and markets, join 68K+ readers of Blake Madden’s Hospitalogy newsletter. Subscribe here: ⁠https://hospitalogy.com/⁠ Like our podcast? Listen to previous episodes here: ⁠https://hospitalogy.com/podcast/⁠  Be sure to leave us a review, and share our podcast with colleagues. --- First Stop Health: https://www.firststophealth.com/  AHealthcareZ: https://www.ahealthcarez.com/ Follow Teira Gunlock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teiragunlock/ Follow Dr. Eric Bricker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbrickermd/  Follow Blake Madden on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakecmadden/

    1h 6m

  6. May 5

    1,300 Point Solutions Killed, CHF Admissions Halved, and the Mercy Playbook | Steve Mackin, Mercy CEO

    Blake sits down with Steve Mackin, CEO of Mercy — one of the top 15 health systems in the country with 55+ hospitals across Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas — to talk about how Mercy is quietly building one of the most interesting care model playbooks in the industry. Steve and Blake get into everything: why Mercy deliberately conceded on price to win on care model, how they cut CHF ED admissions in half, a 1,300 point solution purge, the Mayo data partnership, AI deployment at scale, and why Steve thinks there will be clear winners and losers among health systems over the next few years. This one's packed! --- Mercy: https://www.mercy.com/ Follow Steve Mackin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-mackin-18771021/ Follow Blake Madden on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakecmadden/  --- For expert analysis on healthcare M&A, strategy, finance, and markets, join 68K+ readers of Blake Madden’s Hospitalogy newsletter. Subscribe here: https://hospitalogy.com/ Like our podcast? Listen to previous episodes here: https://hospitalogy.com/podcast/  Be sure to leave us a review, and share our podcast with colleagues.

    50 min

  7. Apr 28

    Cancer's $220B Tab Isn't Going Anywhere: Reimagine Care, Oncology Ventures, and the Evolving State of the Cancer Care Space | Dan Nardi, Reimagine Care and Ben Freeberg, Oncology Ventures

    In this episode, Hospitalogy's Blake Madden talks with two operators who actually walk the walk in oncology: Ben Freeberg, founder of Oncology Ventures (recently announced Fund II) and Dan Nardi, CEO of Reimagine Care.  They deep-dive on why 1,000 of the 1,700 Americans who die of cancer every day don't have to, why 97% of the cancer journey happens outside the clinic (and almost nobody is building for it), and how Remy, Reimagine's AI-based virtual cancer center, is resolving half of all patient interactions autonomously while cutting ED visits by 67%. Blake also pushes Dan on the drug-distributor vertical integration question (the one nobody wants to answer on the record), and Ben goes into the Fund II thesis: life insurance as a new buyer, outpatient CAR-T, and the coming consolidation wave in digital oncology. If you care about where oncology care delivery is actually headed over the next 3-5 years, this one's for you! --- 00:00:00 - Introduction to Oncology Ventures and Reimagine Care 00:04:40 - Current State of Oncology and Investment Opportunities 00:09:43 - The Value Proposition of Reimagine Care 00:14:43 - The Role of Technology in Cancer Care 00:19:45 - Personalized Patient Engagement and Data Utilization 00:30:19 - Understanding Stakeholder Value in Oncology 00:32:41 - Fee-for-Service vs. Value-Based Care Dynamics 00:34:22 - Rethinking Incentives in Cancer Care 00:39:06 - The Role of Orchestration in Patient Care 00:42:10 - Convergence of Care Models and Patient Experience 00:45:19 - The Importance of Ambulatory Strategies 00:47:17 - Future Directions for Reimagine Care 00:52:06 - Exploring Partnerships and Growth Opportunities Oncology Ventures: https://www.oncology.ventures/ Reimagine Care: https://reimaginecare.com/ Follow Ben Freeberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-freeberg/  Follow Dan Nardi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danjnardi/  Subscribe to Ben Freeberg’s newsletter: https://oncologyventures.substack.com/ --- For expert analysis on healthcare M&A, strategy, finance, and markets, join 68K+ readers of Blake Madden’s Hospitalogy newsletter. Subscribe here: https://hospitalogy.com/ Like our podcast? Listen to previous episodes here: https://hospitalogy.com/podcast/  Be sure to leave us a review, and share our podcast with colleagues. Follow Blake Madden on LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakecmadden/⁠

    1h 2m

  8. Apr 21

    Going Back to the Future: How Aetna is Redefining Itself and the Current State of Value-Based Care | Dr. Ali Khan, Chief Medical Officer of Medicare, Aetna/CVS Health

    What does it actually look like to run clinical strategy inside a vertically integrated giant when payor-provider trust is at a historic low? Blake Madden sits down with Dr. Ali Khan, Chief Medical Officer for Aetna Medicare, to get the answer to this question and more.  Dr. Khan has been employee 34 at Iora Health, a hospitalist/UM and CM medical director at CareMore, a division leader who scaled Oak Street Health from 23 to 75 clinics through the pandemic, and now he's trying to make CVS's vertical integration thesis actually work at the last mile. Key Topics: The real state of value-based care (spoiler: it's not as far along as anyone claims), Why Aetna is bringing nurses back to hospital bedsides, How behavioral economics is driving member engagement, and What AI should actually be used for in MA Amazing learnings in healthcare operations from someone who's practiced medicine and run P&Ls across every care model that matters. --- 00:00:00 - Introduction to Dr. Ali Khan and His Background 00:09:48 - The Evolution of Value-Based Care 00:18:45 - High Value Care vs. Value-Based Care 00:22:31 - Aetna's Transformation and Integrated Care Models 00:32:20 - Behavioral Economics in Healthcare 00:35:16 - Creating a Connected Ecosystem 00:38:54 - Navigating Structural Challenges in Healthcare 00:45:20 - Building Trust Between Payers and Providers 00:49:13 - Collaborative Care Models for Better Outcomes 00:55:11 - Triage of Current Healthcare Challenges 01:00:21 - Lessons from Healthcare Acquisitions --- Aetna Medicare: https://www.aetna.com/medicare.html  Follow Dr. Ali Khan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alikhan28/ For expert analysis on healthcare M&A, strategy, finance, and markets, join 67K+ readers of Blake Madden’s Hospitalogy newsletter. Subscribe here: https://hospitalogy.com/ Like our episodes? Be sure to leave us a review, and share our podcast with colleagues.

    1h 8m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Join one man’s quest to learn everything there is to know about the business of healthcare. Blake Madden and friends cut through the fluff to talk shop with influential healthcare leaders across innovation, strategy, finance, policy, and more. Learn about disruptive health tech startups, hear war stories, stay up to date on emerging health system transformation strategies, and listen in to scalding hot takes on pressing topics and the future of the industry. New episodes drop Mondays. Subscribe to get the latest!

Information

  • Creator
    Blake Madden
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Explicit

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