The 229 Podcast

End the Wait: How AI Is Finally Fixing Patient Access | Executive Interview with Adnan Iqbal

June 3, 2026: Adnan Iqbal [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariqbal/], co-founder and CEO of Luma Health [https://www.lumahealth.io/], joins Bill Russell for a direct conversation about one of healthcare's most stubborn problems: patient access. With 14-day average waits for a PCP appointment, 18% no-show rates, and call centers buried in fax workflows, the problems haven't changed, but the tools finally have. Adnan shares how Luma built a platform from scratch to orchestrate access, intake, financial experience, and patient engagement in one unified system, why deep EHR integration separates real solutions from the AI noise, and how health systems are seeing 50% top-line revenue growth by solving access first. Keep up to date on the latest in health IT: https://thisweekhealth.com/news/ Key Points: * 03:59 From Waitlist to AI * 10:14 Omnichannel and Escalations * 12:35 Governance and ROI * 19:38 Platform Future Wrap X: This Week Health [https://twitter.com/thisweekhealth] LinkedIn: This Week Health [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ThisWeekHealth] Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer [https://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/3173454]

Leading Change, Growing Leaders, and When AI Actually Works | Flourish with Crystal Broj

June 2, 2026: Crystal Broj [https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalbroj/], Enterprise CDTO at MUSC [https://www.musc.edu/], is an IT executive, Becker's 2026 Digital Officer to Know, and Top 50 Women Leaders in Healthcare honoree who has built her career on one core belief: start with the problem, not the technology. In this episode of Flourish, Sarah Richardson sits down with Crystal to explore what it really takes to lead complex change, develop talent that outlasts you, and call out AI hype for what it is. From growing a team of one to ten at MUSC, to sharing the Lotus Notes failure that shaped her career, Crystal brings candor, energy, and a rare clarity to what great leadership actually looks like in healthcare today. Keep up to date on the latest in health IT: https://thisweekhealth.com/news/ Key Points: * 01:31 Leadership Energy and Mentorship * 11:37 Building Talent and Team Rhythm * 21:01 Vendor Partnerships and Pushback * 26:33 Career Growth and Final Takeaways X: This Week Health [https://twitter.com/thisweekhealth] LinkedIn: This Week Health [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ThisWeekHealth] Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer [https://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/3173454]

NYC Health + Hospitals Breach: The Biometric Data You Can't Take Back - 2 Minute Drill

In late 2025, cyber attackers slipped into New York City Health + Hospitals through a third-party vendor and stayed undetected for nearly three months. When they left, they took more than records and Social Security numbers. They took fingerprints and palm prints -- biometric data belonging to some of the most vulnerable patients in the country. You can cancel a credit card. You can get a new password. You can even navigate a stolen SSN. You cannot get new fingerprints. What walked out of that network in November is permanent. Drex uses this breach to ask a question every health system needs to answer right now: do you actually know where your biometric data lives, who can reach it, and what protections are in place? Badge readers, palm vein scanners, EHR workstations -- the collection has grown fast. The mapping hasn't kept up. Remember, Stay a Little Paranoid

Shadow AI, Shrinking Budgets, and the Agents Nobody Approved | Newsday

June 1, 2026: Bill Russell, Drex DeFord, and Sarah Richardson bring back the highlights from three simultaneous healthcare summits in Destin, Florida, covering imaging leaders, CTOs, and children's CIOs. The conversations were connected by a few uncomfortable truths: four in ten health systems cannot measure the AI they have already deployed, most organizations have dozens of agents running on their networks without anyone knowing, and budgets are getting squeezed by rising RAM costs and what leaders are calling the AI tax. From data literacy gaps and ungoverned agents to the idea of onboarding AI like a new hire, this episode captures what healthcare's sharpest leaders are actually wrestling with right now. Key Points: * 00:46 Summit Takeaways Setup * 09:55 Agents and Governance Gaps * 18:18 Proving AI ROI * 22:31 Budgets, Vendors, and Wrap Keep up to date on the latest in health IT: https://thisweekhealth.com/news/ X: This Week Health [https://twitter.com/thisweekhealth] LinkedIn: This Week Health [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ThisWeekHealth] Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer [https://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/3173454]

Healthcare at Home is Closer Than You Think | Flourish Rerelease with Asim Malik

May 29, 2026: Asim Malik [https://www.linkedin.com/in/asimamalik/], VP of Health System Partnerships at DispatchHealth [https://www.dispatchhealth.com/], joins Sarah to explore how high-acuity care is moving beyond traditional hospital walls. From pneumonia to COPD exacerbations, discover why this isn't just about convenience; it's about solving capacity constraints, improving margins, and giving patients back control. Asim breaks down the technology infrastructure, command center requirements, and clinical buy-in needed to make these programs succeed at scale. Key Points: * 02:01 Challenges and Solutions in Home-Based Care * 06:53 Technological and Operational Requirements * 09:46 Overcoming Barriers and Misconceptions Keep up to date on the latest in health IT: https://thisweekhealth.com/news/ X: This Week Health [https://twitter.com/thisweekhealth] LinkedIn: This Week Health [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ThisWeekHealth] Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer [https://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/3173454]