MedAxiom HeartTalk

MedAxiom HeartTalk
  • 4.8 (17)
  • SCIENCE
  • UPDATED SEMIMONTHLY

Cardiovascular leaders discuss today’s most innovative ideas and pressing challenges, with the goal to transform cardiovascular care for all. Top cardiologists, hospital administrators, industry experts and consultants talk patient care, physician culture, financial management, new technology, legislation and more. Executive Producer: Candice Reineke. Host: Melanie Lawson. Producers and Editors: Laura Bragg and Megan Fox.

  1. APR 1

    Rewriting the Business Model of Cardiology: Thriving Beyond Inpatient Care

    Cardiology is shifting from inpatient to outpatient care. In this MedAxiom HeartTalk, host Melanie Lawson, MS, talks with Amy Brownell, MSN, FNP-C, FACC, cardiovascular service line director at Ascension Illinois Market about strategies for expanding ASCs and office-based labs while maintaining clinical quality. They also discuss operational and financial considerations that help health systems thrive in this changing landscape.

    8 min

  2. MAR 18

    Care Transformation in Action: Kootenai Health's Success Story

    Cardiovascular programs often evolve over time — but without intentional structure, silos can form, creating operational and strategic challenges. In this episode, Joel Sauer, MBA, executive vice president of consulting at MedAxiom, is joined by Kootenai Health’s Kevin Kavanaugh, MD, cardiologist, and Rhonda Powell, MBA, CNMT, executive director of the cardiovascular division. They discuss their journey to formalize dyad leadership and unify inpatient and outpatient cardiovascular operations. They share how MedAxiom supported this transformation through a comprehensive assessment and strategic guidance to build a cardiovascular institute structure tailored to their organization.

    7 min
  3. Care Transformation in Action: Heartflow's Success Story

    MAR 4

    Care Transformation in Action: Heartflow's Success Story

    Explore the strategic partnership between MedAxiom and Heartflow, as Nicole F. Knight, LPN, CPC, CCS-P, executive vice president of Care Transformation Services and Revenue Cycle Solutions at MedAxiom, sits down with Cara Santillo, senior vice president of Market Access and Reimbursement at Heartflow. Together, they detail how MedAxiom amplifies HeartFlow's message across the cardiology community. Discover how MedAxiom leverages its extensive reach and analytics to connect HeartFlow's innovative FFR-CT and AI plaque analysis solutions with administrators, clinicians, and operational staff, driving adoption and understanding.

    6 min
  4. Ablations in the ASC: What's on the Horizon?

    FEB 18

    Ablations in the ASC: What's on the Horizon?

    A major change in outpatient cardiac care is underway. On this MedAxiom HeartTalk, host Melanie Lawson, MS sits down with David Kenigsberg, MD, FACC, FHRS, a clinical cardiac electrophysiologist based in Northern Broward County, Florida. Together, they unpack the shift toward performing ablation procedures in ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) — why it’s happening, how it improves patient access and cost-effectiveness.

    12 min

  5. FEB 4

    Meet the Experts: Katie Willerick

    In this “Meet the Experts” HeartTalk, host Melanie Lawson, MS, sits down with Katie Willerick, vice president of Care Transformation Services at MedAxiom, to explore what it really takes to move from dashboards to better patient care. Katie shares why “trust in the data” is essential to driving change and how building that trust across teams makes analytics fully actionable. She pulls back the curtain on how Lean Six Sigma thinking and clear definitions help teams work smarter and stay aligned. Guest Bio: Katie Willerick Vice President, Care Transformation Services, MedAxiom As Vice President of Care Transformation Services, Katie Willerick provides strategic leadership for MedAxiom’s care transformation analytics and consulting initiatives, helping cardiovascular organizations translate data into sustained operational and clinical improvement. She partners closely with MedAxiom members, partners and internal teams to advance system-wide performance across the continuum of cardiovascular care. Katie leads efforts to align data, process improvement and operational strategy, directing awareness and adoption of MedAxiom resources such as MedAxcess, Medicare claims data, population prevalence and incidence insights, and member-reported benchmarking. Her work supports informed decision-making related to access, capacity, workforce optimization and financial sustainability. With deep expertise in Lean Six Sigma methodology and healthcare operations, Katie provides guidance in areas including cath and EP lab utilization and staffing optimization, ambulatory surgery center pro formas and ramp-up strategy, device clinic operations, and broader cardiovascular service line performance. She is known for helping organizations move from insight to execution by designing scalable, data-driven improvement models. Katie began her healthcare career in 2005 in the hospital setting at a Baldrige Award-winning organization in the Midwest. She spent three years in the safety department, where she conducted failure modes and effects analyses (FMEAs), supported regulatory compliance initiatives, and implemented a system-wide hand hygiene observation program. She later transitioned to the process management department, facilitating enterprise-wide Kaizen events, developing productivity and performance metrics, and establishing benchmarking frameworks to support continuous improvement. During this time, she earned her Lean Six Sigma Green Belt through Motorola University. Katie holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a Master of Arts in industrial/organizational psychology from Western Michigan University.

    9 min

  6. JAN 28

    Emergency Department-Cardiology Synergy: Smarter Care, Smoother Flow

    Cardiology and emergency medicine teams are coming together to transform cardiovascular care. In this MedAxiom HeartTalk, host Melanie Lawson, MS, is joined by David Wohns, MD, FACC, FACP, FSCAI, division chief of cardiology at Corewell Health, and Meredith Busman, MD, emergency physician at Corewell Health, to discuss how shared pathways, trust, and streamlined communication are improving patient outcomes and hospital efficiency. They share real-world examples of protocol-driven care that enable faster decision-making and support smoother patient flow.

    13 min

  7. JAN 21

    Meet the Experts: Joel Sauer

    In this “Meet the Experts” HeartTalk, host Melanie Lawson, MS, talks with Joel Sauer, MBA, executive vice president of consulting at MedAxiom, about building trust, aligning physicians and hospitals, and moving beyond purely transactional relationships. Joel reflects on what keeps him motivated—“I wanna be part of something bigger. And what’s bigger than patient care?” He also teases a project he’s deeply invested in—one that could reshape how programs think about quality and accountability. Guest Bio: Joel Sauer, MBA Executive Vice President, Consulting, MedAxiom Since 2010, Joel Sauer has been providing consultative services around the country to accelerate the value transition in cardiovascular care. A significant area of concentration has been creating contemporary and effective physician/hospital partnership structures, utilizing employment and other contractual arrangements (such as professional services agreements) and joint ventures. His work includes full service line advancement, including governance and leadership development, and the creation of targeted co-management programs. Joel is an expert in vision and strategy setting, cultural and operational integration, and physician compensation plan design that promotes the vision and objectives of the organization. Prior to consulting, Joel spent 14 years in executive roles, including as CEO of a large health system medical group enterprise, a practice CEO and as an operating executive. This affords him perspectives and insights from multiple critical provider perspectives. A recognized national resource in cardiovascular physician compensation, Joel is the author of the annual MedAxiom Provider Compensation & Production Survey and has expertise in provider workforce planning and development. Along with the entire MedAxiom Care Transformation Services team, he is a resource in new federal payment models such as the Quality Payment Program, Value-Based Plans and other at-risk payment-based arrangements. Joel is often published in health care magazines, blogs and trade journals and is a regular speaker at national health care meetings.

    19 min
  8. Expanding ECMO Access: Improving Patient Outcomes and Hospital Finances

    JAN 14

    Expanding ECMO Access: Improving Patient Outcomes and Hospital Finances

    What does it really take to build a successful ECMO program? On MedAxiom HeartTalk, host Melanie Lawson, MS, speaks with John Mehall, MD, president of Integration Health and senior vice president of Heart & Vascular Partners, about the expanding role of ECMO in cardiac care. Dr. Mehall discusses rising utilization, improved survival outcomes, economic benefits for hospitals, and the critical importance of physician leadership, training, and institutional support to sustain effective ECMO programs.

    10 min
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4.8
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

Cardiovascular leaders discuss today’s most innovative ideas and pressing challenges, with the goal to transform cardiovascular care for all. Top cardiologists, hospital administrators, industry experts and consultants talk patient care, physician culture, financial management, new technology, legislation and more. Executive Producer: Candice Reineke. Host: Melanie Lawson. Producers and Editors: Laura Bragg and Megan Fox.

Information

  • Creator
    MedAxiom HeartTalk
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    138
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright MedAxiom
  • Show Website
    MedAxiom HeartTalk

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