The 229 Podcast

Major Biometric Breach, HIPAA Deadline Falls Flat, and the Microsoft AI Budget Blowout | Newsday

June 8, 2026: Bill Russell, Drex DeFord, and Sarah Richardson break down three headlines every health IT leader needs to hear. New York City Health and Hospitals suffered a breach that exposed biometric data, fingerprints, palm prints, and geotagged photo metadata through a third-party vector. Unlike passwords or Social Security numbers, that data cannot be replaced. Second, the long-anticipated HIPAA Security Rule update is overdue, and organizations that had two years to prepare are still unprepared. Lastly, Microsoft burned through its entire AI budget in five months. As AI spending spirals, the panel asks the harder question: Does every AI project reduce spend or increase revenue? If not, why is it funded? Key Points: * 02:31 Biometric Breach Fallout * 10:41 Data Retention and Hoarding * 12:59 HIPAA Security Rule Update * 21:10 AI Spend and ROI Reality 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]

Rewriting and Overcoming the Burnout Narrative | Flourish Rerelease with Bree Bacon

June 5, 2026: Bree Bacon [https://www.linkedin.com/in/breebaconauthor/] doesn't just talk about burnout; she survived it. Author, Speaker, & Elite Energy [https://www.linkedin.com/company/baconenterprises/]™ Coach, Bree spent years giving 110% to everything until panic attacks and her miscarriage forced her to crash. What she discovered in the aftermath became a life-saving framework that challenges everything healthcare leaders think they know about performance, capacity, and sustainable success. Elite Energy isn't just a theory; it’s tested through fertility loss, chemotherapy, and the impossible choice between career and survival. Key Points: * 02:54 The Reality of Burnout * 07:37 Bree's Personal Journey with Healthcare * 10:52 The Elite Energy Framework * 21:07 Overcoming Cancer and Embracing Life 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]

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