Healthcare Bridge Podcast
The Healthcare Bridge
*The Healthcare Bridge,* hosted by Nathan Kaufman, dives into the complex world of healthcare finance and politics with clarity and insight. Each episode features expert guests alongside Kaufman’s sharp analysis, offering listeners practical perspectives on the forces shaping America’s healthcare landscape.
Nate Kaufman Hosts the Healthcare Bridge Podcast April 28, 2026
Brutal Truths About Healthcare Leadership
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A Conversation with Lou Shapiro, CEO of Hospital for Special Surgery and Author of From Seat to Soul
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I wanted to be a doctor until I took organic chemistry at University of Pittsburgh, and it was apparent that that wasn’t going to happen. Had no idea what I wanted to do. Like many people, they’re exposed to the industry because their parents were sick. I also had a little bit of a business interest so I sort of stumbled upon the profession... I remember vividly, standing in the hallway by the auditorium one day, people were talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up. I said, well, I want to be a hospital CEO about halfway to 50 - very superficial comment - and that’s what I decided I was going to do, and just never looked back.
Nate: And then you wrote up a book called “From Seat to Soul.”
Lou: That was an accident. The 40 years went by like that, Nate. You look back on it, it’s just a great fun run, hopefully, made a few contributions along the way, but it was really great.
Nate Kaufman Hosts the Healthcare Bridge Podcast March 29, 2026
Nate Kaufman Hosts the Healthcare Bridge Podcast March 26, 2026
Healthcare Gets Better When Leaders Invest In People
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A Conversation with Quint Studer, known for his contributions to the healthcare industry, business entrepreneurship, and community development
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Healthcare keeps getting labeled “more complex,” but that line can become a trap. When leaders accept it as truth, they stop simplifying, stop teaching, and stop making clear decisions. I sat down with Quint Studer to talk about what’s actually breaking healthcare operations and hospital finances right now and what we can do that’s practical, not performative.
Quint connects the dots between Medicare Advantage denials, the ballooning cost of fighting those denials, and the painful reality of physician enterprise losses...
Can Hospitals Survive? Grumpy Old Men Take on Today's Healthcare System
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A Conversation with Dr. Jeff Goldsmith, Author and Internist, Santa Monica, CA
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Price caps make for great politics and terrible bedside reality when they ignore how hospitals actually survive. Nate Kaufman sits down with healthcare analyst and futurist Dr. Jeff Goldsmith for a blunt conversation about why “just cap hospital prices” can sound like reform while quietly setting up the next access crisis, especially for safety net hospitals and rural communities with heavy Medicare and Medicaid payer mix.
Nate Kaufman Hosts the Healthcare Bridge Podcast Feb. 28, 2026
From Law To Healthcare Media
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A Conversation with Scott Becker on Building Becker's and Fixing Care
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Scott Becker is a distinguished entrepreneur, investor, and legal professional with a career spanning healthcare, media, and law. He is the founder and publisher of Becker’s Healthcare, a leading healthcare media company, and a longtime partner at McGuireWoods, a top AmLaw firm... His expertise and experience have made him an authority in his field, providing valuable guidance and strategies for navigating the complexities of building and scaling successful ventures.
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I’m excited to chat with Scott Becker, Esquire. Scott is a lawyer, entrepreneur, one of the first podcasters in healthcare, and an author of a new book. He has been at the forefront of healthcare for decades. I can remember ...actually working with you, Scott, on one of the first ambulatory surgery center deals - so welcome.​​
Nate Kaufman Hosts the Healthcare Bridge Podcast Jan. 27, 2026
On PBMs, Rebates, And Rewiring Healthcare Incentives
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A Conversation with Mark Cuban, CostPlusDrugs.com
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Mark is one of the few people who has successfully disrupted healthcare with his Cost Plus pharmacy, of which my son is a client. Mark, we can start wherever you want, but if it’s okay, let’s start with our nation’s pharmacy distribution system, what you’ve done, and why you’ve done [it], why you have disrupted the industry.
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Mark replied, "... becasue...There’s no transparency, and it was obvious that people had no idea what the cost of their medications were. That’s an inhibitor to adherence to just good market principles. We saw it as an opportunity to use that as a foundational point from which to work to try to change healthcare..."
Nate Kaufman Hosts the Healthcare Bridge Podcast Nov. 17, 2025
How a System CEO Drives Access and Affordability with Optimism
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A Conversation with Jeffery Flaks, CEO of Hartford HealthCare
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I consider myself so blessed to work in this field. I love this field. I love what we do in healthcare. I think it’s the greatest place to work. We have such an opportunity to get up every day, make our community better, make the world better... I started working as a delivery boy at a local pharmacy, and did it for about two years. It just afforded me a chance to see healthcare, both in community centers, FQHCs (Federally Qualified Health Centers), hospitals, nursing homes, and doctors offices. It really gave me the chance to see so much about healthcare and to see so much about what it really means; I fell in love with it from that day forward. I’ve been fortunate now for about 30 years to have been able to contribute to trying to make healthcare better every day.
Nate Kaufman Hosts the Healthcare Bridge Podcast Sept. 25, 2025
Healthcare at a Tipping Point
Cat Herding 101: A Spine Surgeons Guide to Healthcare Leadership
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Nate Kaufman's Conversation with Dr. Leo Spector, CEO OrthoCarolina
Our goal is to provide an insider’s perspective on our complex, crazy healthcare system. Today, my guest is Dr. Leo Spector, the CEO of OrthoCarolina, and a renowned spine surgeon in Charlotte, North Carolina. Leo, welcome.
Nate Kaufman Hosts the Healthcare Bridge Podcast Sept. 5, 2025
The Healthcare System is Broken...but we can fix it.
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A Conversation with Dr. Jeff Goldsmith, Internist, Santa Monica, CA
Our goal is to provide an insider's perspective on our crazy healthcare system. Today, we have a true insider and a good friend of mine, Dr. Jeff Goldsmith. Jeff, greetings, why don't we start with your origin story?
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Give us a little background on your education, your experience, and we will go from there.
Nate Kaufman Hosts the Healthcare Bridge Podcast July 29, 2025
Nate Kaufman Hosts the Healthcare Bridge Podcast July 1, 2025
The Crisis of Healthcare Economics: How Marketing Must Evolve
A Conversation with Brandon Edwards, co-founder and CEO of Unlock Health
Welcome to the Healthcare Bridge. I'm Nate Kaufman, and our purpose here is to provide an insider's perspective to our crazy healthcare system. I continue to work with physicians in hospitals all over the country, and today, we are fortunate to have as a guest Brandon Edwards, who, in my opinion, is probably the leading authority on healthcare marketing and branding in our country.
Who Guards the Guardians?
Inside Healthcare Governance
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A Conversation with Jamie Orlikoff
Jamie Orlikoff, renowned governance consultant and active health system board member, joins host Nathan Kaufman to reveal the dramatic transformation of healthcare governance from ceremonial volunteer boards to professionalized leadership structures. With startling candor, Orlikoff explains that what once made hospital boards work—community connections and social relationships—now often prevents them from making necessary but difficult decisions.
