INBW30: A Hot Take on Healthcare Stakeholders Not Collaborating

In this In Between episode, Stacey Richter shares a hot take on why healthcare stakeholders need to collaborate with organizations across the care continuum — even the ones they have a problem with — and how fragmentation of care is directly tied to higher costs and lower quality.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why the US ranks last among peer countries on healthcare fragmentation, according to a Commonwealth Fund study

✅ How fragmented care is linked to higher costs, more departures from clinical best practice, and higher rates of preventable hospitalizations

✅ Why fixing fragmentation requires stakeholders across the care continuum to collaborate, even with organizations they have a problem with

✅ What the difference is between collaboration and collusion

WHY THIS MATTERS

Fragmentation isn't an abstract inefficiency — it's measurably associated with worse outcomes and higher costs, even for patients with the same chronic condition. If the goal is to fix American healthcare, that means fixing fragmentation, and fixing fragmentation means stakeholders who may not love each other still have to find a way to work together.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

🔗 Healthcare Industry Acronyms and Terms

✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter

🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar

📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel

🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts

🎤 Listen on Spotify

=== CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM ===

✭ LinkedIn ✭ Threads ✭ Bluesky ✭ X

00:00 Introduction

00:12 What's Stacey's hot take on collaboration in healthcare?

00:43 Why is collaboration so vital, and how does fragmentation play into that?

01:38 "To fix American healthcare, we need to fix fragmentation."

03:23 "Nobody gets to be holier than thou."

04:38 What is the bottom line on collaboration in healthcare?

05:20 What's the difference between collaboration and collusion?

05:35 "More is not usually better."