Healthcare Reframed
Healthcare Reframed
Podcast Description
Health and the delivery of healthcare are topics of importance around the globe. There is little debate that much of the world, and much of the United States, feels that their healthcare system needs to improve and perhaps even to change dramatically. The US healthcare system is our focus, and it has the dubious distinction of generating worse outcomes at greater cost than any peer nation. Why is that? What can we do about it? Why have we all been talking about this for what seems like forever and not made things better yet? If you share our passion for digging into these topics, gathering ideas and insights into how to change the system, and maybe want to stretch your world view a bit, you have come to the right place.
We have each been fortunate to have the time and space to talk with each other and to learn and think hard about our experiences and insights into the world of healthcare. We created this site and this podcast series to share our reflective conversations with smart, experienced and insightful healthcare leaders who are passionate about making the world a better place, to amplify their important voices, and to share what we have learned about the issues and ideas that these interviews led us to explore more deeply. For each episode, we have also created a scrollstory to share additional background and context for a selection of the topics discussed during the interviews between Judson and our guests. Working to put together all of this content has been hugely energizing and enlightening for us, and we are eager to share what we have learned with you.
The world definitely does not have a shortage of healthcare related information available on the internet. Between all of the podcasts and websites and news articles and magazines and corporate websites and government websites and published medical research, we often seem to be drowning in healthcare related information. And it is not always easy to tell who is creating and curating that content, or how much of the information provided is really designed to generate clicks and views and to sell you things. You will find no ads or corporate sponsors or paywalls on this site, no attempt to monetize your interest. But we do have to keep the lights on, so if you find our efforts here interesting and maybe even useful, please consider making a donation of whatever size seems appropriate to you.
Our team
Judson HoweSeries - creator and producer
Judson is a healthcare executive with more than a decade of leadership experience as both a hospital CFO and CEO, primarily in rural Northern California. He has seen first-hand the pressures facing our organizational leaders as they try to make high-quality healthcare a core value in our communities. Judson’s passion for understanding the forces shaping our healthcare system and for seeking new insights into how to create change are the driving forces behind this podcast series.
Micah Buller - Video and sound recording an...
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on topics related to the US healthcare system, exploring themes such as healthcare equity, innovative payment models, and community health improvements, with episodes discussing practical cases like Dr. Somava Saha's work on global payments and healthcare justice.
Health and the delivery of healthcare are topics of importance around the globe. There is little debate that much of the world, and much of the United States, feels that their healthcare system needs to improve and perhaps even to change dramatically. The US healthcare system is our focus, and it has the dubious distinction of generating worse outcomes at greater cost than any peer nation. Why is that? What can we do about it? Why have we all been talking about this for what seems like forever and not made things better yet? If you share our passion for digging into these topics, gathering ideas and insights into how to change the system, and maybe want to stretch your world view a bit, you have come to the right place.
Our Team
Judson Howe
Host, series creator
Micah Buller
Creative Director
Lindsay Hunt
Co-producer
Todd Carpenter
Co-producer
Discover the framework reframing U.S. health from “sick care” to well-being.
In this feature-length conversation, host Judson Howe sits down with Becky Payne (20 years at CDC; now at The Rippel Foundation) to explore the Vital Conditions for Health & Well-Being, why Belonging & Civic Muscle sits at the center, and how Shared Stewardship helps leaders bridge divides and shift dollars from perpetual emergencies to prosperity.
Inside: what went wrong in COVID communications, what communities can do locally, and what happens when 47 federal agencies row in the same direction.
Why Watch
• Health ≠ well-being. Expand the playing field beyond hospitals to housing, education, safety, work, nature, and belonging.
• From crisis loops to prosperity loops. Stop paying only for urgent services; invest in conditions that prevent the next emergency.
• Shared Stewardship 101. Fifteen skills that help leaders bridge, learn, and create—no saviors required.
• What hospital leaders can do now. Use CHNAs, community benefit, and convening power to invest where health is produced.
• Trust after COVID. Inside the unified command: communication gaps, lessons learned, and why local institutions matter most.
• Evidence, not slogans. Modeling suggests a +20-point jump in thriving and +2.6 years when investments shift across all seven Vital Conditions.
Chapters
00:00 – Episode opening and audio issue
02:03 – Becky’s upbringing and path to public health
04:32 – Structural injustice, wealth, and well-being
09:51 – Defining health vs. well-being and the seven vital conditions
13:05 – Belonging, civic muscle, and community assets
14:47 – Origin and theory behind the vital conditions and “Thriving Together”
18:47 – Shared stewardship and steward skillsets
21:54 – How stewards act and build bridges across differences
26:46 – Pandemic insights: systems fragility and adopting vital conditions
33:45 – Framework use across agencies and cautions on turfing
39:23 – Hospitals, community leadership, and applying the vital conditions locally
46:33 – Modeling the impact: national and state examples
54:42 – Pandemic experience, trust erosion, and agency challenges
63:43 – Language, equity, and engaging different communities
75:25 – Foundations, systems change, and the urgency to rebuild locally
84:21 – Practical leadership: local convening, secretary priorities, and homework
96:16 – Long-term vision, call to curiosity, and closing ask
What You’ll Take Away
A usable map—the 7 Vital Conditions—to guide place-based investments.
How Belonging functions as a public-health strategy.
When to fund urgent services vs. when to shift toward prosperity loops.
Practical steps for health systems: CHNA reframe, community-benefit alignment, and cross-sector convening.
A leader’s posture: suspend certainty, get curious, and co-create.
Who It’s For
Health-system CEOs, hospital administrators, public-health officials, community-foundation leaders, city/county leaders, FQHCs, CHNA teams, payers, philanthropies, educators, students—and anyone tired of hearing U.S. healthcare is “too broken” to fix.
Press play, take notes, then share this with the colleague who needs the map.
Disclaimer
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