Turn on the Lights Podcast

Hosted by Dr. Philip McAdoo, Director of Internal Equity and Workplace Well-Being at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), Turn on the Lights is a podcast that aims to improve health care worldwide by shedding light on health care issues through thought-provoking, patient-centered conversations. By demystifying health care problems, we hope to activate both the public and health care professionals to help accelerate changes leading to health and health care improvements worldwide. Our discussions cover various topics such as health care delivery, health equity, quality, and social justice. The podcast features solutions from around the world and encourages listeners to take action. Brought to you by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) .

Turn on the Lights Podcast is a health podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 146 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Turn on the Lights Podcast, a health show with 146 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Turn on the Lights Podcast

  The Workforce We Need: Nurses as Healers, Leaders, and the Future of Care with Dr. Beverly Malone

  Aug 14, 202653 min

  What would health care look like if nurses had the power to shape the systems they work in? In this episode, Dr. Beverly Malone, President and CEO of the National League for Nursing, discusses why nurses must be recognized not simply as health care workers, but as healers, leaders, educators, and system shapers. She explains how nursing's unique combination of scientific expertise, empathy, advocacy, and whole-person care gives nurses a critical perspective on what patients and health care systems need. Dr. Malone calls on health care organizations to invest in nurses by providing career pathways, supporting well-being, fostering inclusion, and ensuring meaningful participation in decision-making, arguing that the future of health care depends on listening to and empowering the nurses already at the center of care. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about the power nurses already hold, and what health care systems can do to listen to, support, and empower them to lead!  About Dr. Beverly Malone: Dr. Beverly Malone is President and CEO of the National League for Nursing. A nurse, educator, clinician, and global health care leader, she has held senior leadership roles in the United States and the United Kingdom, including serving as Federal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health under President Bill Clinton and as General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing in the UK. Her work has focused on nursing education, leadership, diversity and equity, evidence-based practice, and advancing nurses' roles in shaping health care systems. Things You’ll Learn: Nurses are healers whose work combines science, skill, empathy, trust, and hope. Nurses exercise leadership every day by coordinating complex systems around patient care. Health care organizations must replace gratitude alone with meaningful structural support for nurses. Nurses need a seat at decision-making tables because their frontline perspective can reveal what systems miss. Nursing education and clinical practice must collaborate to prepare and support nurses throughout their careers. Cultures of belonging and well-being are essential to retaining nurses and delivering quality care. Empowered nurses can help lead health care toward prevention, health promotion, and more coordinated care. Resources: Connect with and follow Dr. Beverly Malone on LinkedIn. Follow the National League for Nursing on LinkedIn and explore their website! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Turn on the Lights Podcast

  A New Season: What Health Care Needs Now

  Aug 10, 202611 min

  What does health care truly need now, and who is already showing us the way forward? The newest season of Turn On The Lights centers on one defining question: What does health care need now? Host Philip McAdoo speaks with experts and changemakers about workforce well-being, public health, HIV prevention, aging, technology, AI, cybersecurity, patient advocacy, and health equity. Rather than focusing solely on problems, each conversation highlights practical strategies, innovative thinking, and the leaders driving meaningful improvement across the health care system. Together, these stories reinforce that better care begins with trust, safety, dignity, and a willingness to listen. If you're passionate about improving health care through leadership, innovation, equity, and human-centered care, this season offers inspiring conversations you won't want to miss. About Dr. Philip McAdoo: Dr. Philip McAdoo is a highly accomplished individual with an impressive background. He boasts a degree in communications studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MA in transformative leadership from The California Institute of Integral Studies, and a Doctor of Education from The University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education.  Dr. McAdoo is a staunch LGBTQ activist who fearlessly fights homophobia. In collaboration with Rep. John Lewis, he has introduced legislation to Congress that streamlines the process for same-sex couples to adopt children from foster care. As an openly gay educator, Dr. McAdoo specializes in character development, diversity, and inclusion. He has authored articles on these topics and has led numerous workshops and professional development sessions on LGBTQ advocacy.  Additionally, Dr. McAdoo is a published author with three books under his belt: Every Child Deserves, Darius Wants a Dog, and Independent Queers: LGBTQ Educators in Independent Schools Speak Out. He is also the Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Philip McAdoo Diversity and Inclusion Consulting, LLC. Currently based in Maryland with his partner, Sean, his son, Zaden, and their dogs, Bart-ley and Dobby, Dr. McAdoo exudes confidence and an unwavering commitment to his work. Things You’ll Learn: Health care improvement starts with supporting the workforce caring for patients every day. Equity requires addressing the communities that continue to be left behind. Public health lessons from HIV remain highly relevant today. Person-centered care should be designed around what matters most to patients. Technology should strengthen trust, not simply automate processes. AI, cybersecurity, and digital transformation require strong leadership and governance. Patient advocacy remains essential for reducing disparities. Meaningful improvement begins by listening to patients, caregivers, and communities. Resources: Connect with and follow Dr. Philip McAdoo on LinkedIn and visit his website! Follow the Institute for Healthcare Improvement on LinkedIn and explore their website! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Turn on the Lights Podcast

  Encore Release: The Cost Shifting Cycle Behind Your Rising Premiums

  Jul 24, 202638 min

  Welcome back to a special encore presentation of Turn on the Lights! As we continue our transition series, our new host, Dr. Philip, has selected one of our most impactful and widely listened-to conversations from the archives to revisit. He introduces this timely discussion with Chris Van Gorder, which explores how cost shifting, regulatory mandates, and Medicare Advantage risk transfer are pushing healthcare toward structural unaffordability. Summary: Leading a major health system today means juggling patient-first ethics with a financing model that keeps tightening the screws. In this episode, Chris Van Gorder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scripps Health, explains why health care is becoming structurally unaffordable amid soaring premiums, uncompensated emergency care, and rising input costs. He describes how hospitals have become the default safety net as county systems disappear, while underpayment by Medicare and Medicaid forces cost shifting onto employers and commercially insured patients. Van Gorder also highlights California’s seismic rebuilding mandates, which create massive capital pressure without matching reimbursement. He critiques managed care, value-based care, and Medicare Advantage for pushing risk onto providers through prior authorization and denials, recounting Scripps’ difficult decision to exit several Medicare Advantage contracts after heavy losses and the downstream impact on patients. Tune in and learn how payment design, intermediaries, and regulation shape what hospitals can sustain and what patients can access. About Chris Van Gorder: Chris Van Gorder, MPA, FACHE, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Scripps Health in San Diego, where he has led the organization since 2000 after serving as its Chief of Healthcare Operations and COO. A veteran healthcare executive with decades of experience across California hospital systems, he previously held CEO and senior leadership roles at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Anaheim Memorial Medical Center, and Little Company of Mary Hospital. Beyond health system leadership, he has served on multiple boards, including Prolacta Bioscience and previously Abiomed and Z-Medica, and he has been active in national and civic service as a commissioner for the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. He also brings an uncommon public-safety background, including reserve service with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department and long-running involvement with California’s Emergency Medical Services Authority, earning a Distinguished Service Medal. An educator and author, he teaches at USC and wrote The Front-Line Leader (2014). Things You’ll Learn: Healthcare executives are dealing with an unprecedented volume of simultaneous operational, financial, and workforce demands, raising the stakes of everyday decisions.  Affordability isn’t just a household problem; it’s a system design problem that forces hospitals to cover the growing cost of unpaid care.  Cost shifting is not a theory; it is the mechanism that pushes public underpayment onto commercial premiums.  Regulatory and capital mandates can dramatically raise costs without generating new revenue, especially in California.  Medicare Advantage often adds friction through narrow networks, prior authorization, and payment disputes, while shifting risk downhill. Walking away from bad contracts can stabilize a system financially, but it creates real disruption for patients and exposes policy gaps in switching coverage. Resources: Connect with and follow Chris Van Gorder on LinkedIn. Follow Scripps Health on LinkedIn and explore their website! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Turn on the Lights Podcast

  Encore Release: Who Sets the Table for Quality Measurement in U.S. Health Care? with Brenna Rabel & Michelle Schreiber

  Jul 17, 202647 min

  Welcome back to a special encore presentation of Turn on the Lights! As we continue our transition series, our new host, Dr. Philip, is revisiting some of the most impactful conversations from the archives. For this episode, he selected a standout discussion with Dr. Michelle Schreiber and Brenna Rabel, exploring how quality measures are developed, adopted, and implemented across Medicare and Medicaid programs. Summary: How do we decide what “good care” looks like, and who gets to choose the scorecard? In this episode of Turn on the Lights, Kedar Mate speaks with Dr. Michelle Schreiber of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Brenna Rabel of Battelle about how quality measures are developed, adopted, and applied across Medicare and Medicaid programs. They explore why measurement is essential for accountability, patient choice, and improvement, while also acknowledging its vulnerability to politics, feasibility constraints, and “teaching to the test.” Using diabetes and sepsis as examples, they explain how performance cutoffs are established, why “all-or-none” measures often face resistance, and what makes complex measures difficult to report and score. The conversation also addresses efforts to reduce reporting burden, including CMS’s shift from broader MIPS reporting toward MIPS Value Pathways and the expansion of digital quality measurement through FHIR-enabled eCQMs. They conclude with a forward-looking discussion on how artificial intelligence could reduce manual chart abstraction and advance quality measurement, particularly as patient-reported outcomes play a larger role in shaping the future of value-based care. Tune in to hear how measures shape what health systems prioritize, what gets improved, and what “value” could look like in the future. Resources: Connect with and follow Dr. Michelle Schreiber on LinkedIn. Follow CMS on LinkedIn and explore their website! Connect with and follow Brenna Rabel on LinkedIn. Follow Battelle on LinkedIn and explore their website! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Turn on the Lights Podcast

  Encore Release: Who Sets the Table for Quality Measurement in U.S. Health Care? with Brenna Rabel & Michelle Schreiber

  Jul 17, 202647 minS0

  <p>Welcome back to a special encore presentation of Turn on the Lights!</p> <p>As we continue our transition series, our new host, Dr. Philip, is revisiting some of the most impactful conversations from the archives. For this episode, he selected a standout discussion with Dr. Michelle Schreiber and Brenna Rabel, exploring how quality measures are developed, adopted, and implemented across Medicare and Medicaid programs.</p> <p>Summary:</p> <p>How do we decide what “good care” looks like, and who gets to choose the scorecard?</p> <p>In this episode of Turn on the Lights, Kedar Mate speaks with...

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Turn on the Lights Podcast. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.