• Direct Contracting Done Right: How Employers & Hospitals Win Together with: Doug Hetherington
    Mar 4 2026

    What if employers and hospitals weren’t negotiating againsteach other… but building together?

    In this episode of the Dysrupt Healthcare Podcast,Lester sits down with Doug Hetherington, founder of Health to Business, to talk about a different approach to healthcare purchasing one rooted in transparency, partnership, and long-term alignment.

    This isn’t about fighting the system.
    It’s about strengthening relationships inside the communities we all serve.

    Doug shares:

    ✔ Predictable payments
    ✔ Stronger patient relationships
    ✔ Reduced collection strain
    ✔ Better plan stability
    ✔ Healthier communities

    At its core, this episode is about moving from atransactional model to a community health partnership model.

    Hospitals are not the enemy.
    Employers are not the enemy.
    Misalignment is the problem and alignment is the solution.

    If you’re a hospital leader, CFO, employer, broker, oradvisor, this conversation will give you a new lens on what’s possible when we build together.

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    54 mins
  • “Duh.” Why Imaging Is the Easiest Way to Cut Healthcare Costs Without Hurting Employees
    Jan 28 2026

    Imaging is often treated like a “small” service line item.
    It’s not.

    In this episode of the Dysrupt Healthcare Podcast, Lester sits down with Dr. Cristin Dickerson, practicing radiologist and founder of Green Imaging, to unpack one of the most overlooked—and easiest—wins in healthcare cost containment.

    Here’s the headline:
    Imaging can represent 11–13% of total healthcare spend, not the 5% most carriers report.
    And the price variation can be 8–10x for the exact same exam.

    In this conversation, we cover:

    • Why imaging costs are rising faster than overall healthcare inflation

    • How hospitals and private equity have distorted imaging pricing

    • The real math behind $4,700 CT scans vs. $485 alternatives

    • Why imaging is the easiest lift for employers (no doctor disruption, no plan overhaul)

    • How employers can offer $0 out-of-pocket imaging and still save millions

    • The access problem nobody talks about: delayed care due to deductibles

    • Why “free imaging” does not increase unnecessary utilization

    • How direct contracting creates a win for employers, employees, and providers

    We also walk through a real case study:

    • 2,500-employee company

    • 3,800 imaging transactions

    • $2.7M in savings

    • Significant reduction in deductible exposure

    • Improved access, productivity, and employee trust

    This isn’t theory.
    It’s arithmetic.

    If you’re an employer, advisor, CFO, or HR leader wondering where to start in 2026—this is it.

    As Lester puts it:

    “This isn’t witchcraft. Nobody loses. And that almost never happens in healthcare.”

    Learn more or request an impact assessment at greenimaging.net.

    Like, share, comment, and—most importantly—do something different.

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    42 mins
  • Stop Renewing Like a Victim: What Employers Must Do Differently in 2026
    Jan 13 2026

    If you’re an employer, you’re one of the largest purchasers of healthcare in the U.S.—and somehow you have the least control.

    This is a summary episode of our conversation with Nurse Deb (Deb Alt), President of AIMM, and it drops right after the turn of the calendar—Happy 2026—in what many are calling the worst renewal season in years.

    Here’s the hard truth:
    If you didn’t do anything different during renewal… why did you expect a different result?

    In this recap, Lester breaks down the mindset shift employers (and advisors) must make to stop being passive victims of a system designed to be opaque—and start acting like real purchasers.

    We cover:

    • Why healthcare is confusing on purpose (and how it mirrors getting a grocery bill with zero itemization)

    • The dangerous gap: employers scrutinize paperclips, but not their 2nd/3rd largest expense

    • Why consumers research cars, flights, and concerts—but not surgeons, facilities, or cost differences

    • What changes when you build a plan around advocacy (call the nurse first)

    • The uncomfortable “wait, what?” reality of misaligned incentives in healthcare and advisory models

    • Why raising deductibles and payroll contributions is not a strategy—and never bends the curve

    If you’re an employer, ask yourself:
    Do I actually see my claims? Do I get data? Do we do pre-renewal?
    Or am I stuck in “thank you sir, may I have another”?

    If you’re an advisor:
    If your entire book is carrier-centric, this is your challenge to rethink what “advising” really means.

    Watch/listen with one goal: What’s one thing I can take from this episode and do differently this year?

    Like, share, and comment what topics you want next—and if you haven’t heard the full episode with Nurse Deb, go listen to it right after this.

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    19 mins
  • Best Care, Lowest Cost? The Math Behind Nurse-Driven Healthcare Navigatio
    Jan 7 2026

    What if the fastest way to lower healthcare costs… is to finally put the patient at the center?
    In this powerful conversation, host Lester Morales sits down with Deb Alt — “Nurse Deb” — Founder and President of AIM, a team of nurses and physicians who guide patients through the two most confusing systems in America: healthcare delivery and health insurance.

    This episode exposes the misaligned incentives that keep costs rising, why patients actually get worse outcomes with traditional navigation, and how a nurse-led model radically improves both quality and affordability.

    Deb breaks down:

    • Why patients—not doctors—should handle prior authorizations

    • How top-quality care is actually cheaper in a fee-for-service system

    • Real stories of redirecting patients to better outcomes for $0 out-of-pocket

    • Why 64% of Americans avoid care because of cost fears

    • How employers can eliminate deductibles + copays and STILL spend less

    • The cultural shift required to make employees want to call the nurse

    • Why the MLR (Medical Loss Ratio) rule keeps insurers from lowering claims costs

    • The math behind Deb’s ability to cut claim spend 50% in year one

    Whether you're an employer, CFO, advisor, or simply someone who’s felt lost inside the healthcare maze, this episode is a masterclass on how real change happens.

    This isn’t concierge care. It’s the way healthcare should have worked all along.

    📌 Want an analysis of your plan data or a clinical quality breakdown?
    Use the link in the show notes to request the free assessment Deb mentions.

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    48 mins
  • We Have Been Dysrupted, And We Are Ready
    Dec 31 2025

    In our final episode of the year, Lester J. Morales shares the real why behind moving from Impact Healthcare to Dysrupt Healthcare. This isn’t a cosmetic change—it’s a sharpened mission informed by everything we learned this season: self-funding that actually bends the curve, PBM transparency, employer-led innovation, and data over hype.
    Here’s the blueprint for the next chapter:

    • Keep the straight-talk interviews with advisors, clinicians, employers, and operators.

    • Add case files where costs drop and outcomes rise—“with the receipts.”

    • Ship practical Monday-morning playbooks you can run in the wild.

    • Elevate patient and employer voices to anchor what truly matters.

    Key takeaways

    • The strategic reason for the shift—and why now.

    • What stays: candor, data, employer-first lens.

    • What’s new: deeper case studies + step-by-step execution.

    • How this community moves from insight to repeatable systems in the new season.


    Follow Dysrupt Healthcare Podcast, share this finale with your team, and send the case studies you want dissected next season. We have been dysrupted—and we’re ready.

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    7 mins
  • The PBM Problem Exposed: Why 1–3% of Members Drive 60% of Costs
    Dec 24 2025

    In this recap episode, host Lester Morales breaks down the powerful conversation with Rachel Strauss — widely known as the “PBM Princess” and one of the clearest, boldest voices exposing how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) really work.

    Rachel spent much of her career inside a leading PBM that didn’t play the traditional rebate and spread-pricing games. Today, she’s on a mission to educate employers, advisors, and everyday consumers on the hidden mechanics of drug pricing — and why most people have no idea what they’re actually paying for.

    In this recap, Lester dives into:

    • The emotional, financial, and human cost of a broken pharmacy system

    • How PBMs actually make money (and why the incentives are completely misaligned)

    • Why a $10 copay tells you nothing about the true price of a drug

    • The spread-pricing “black box” and how it hurts patients, employers, and local pharmacies

    • The shocking reality: 1–3% of plan members drive up to 60% of total pharmacy spend

    • Why employers can reduce costs by 50–70% on high-cost drugs using modern, patient-first strategies

    • The false belief that “employees won’t understand change” — and how it delays real solutions

    • Real-world paths to get the exact same medication for employees at zero cost

    Rachel and Lester outline a simple but powerful truth: If the PBM profits when drug prices stay high, the game will never change.

    This episode is a must-listen for employers, advisors, CFOs, HR leaders, and anyone who wants to understand why pharmacy costs are exploding — and what to do about it.

    👉 Listen to the full conversation with Rachel Strauss in the main episode.

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    15 mins
  • The Pharmacy Benefit Game Is Rigged — Here’s How to Beat It (ft. Rachel Strauss)
    Dec 17 2025

    The pharmacy benefit world is broken — and it’s costing employers millions while pushing families into medical debt.
    In this eye-opening episode of the Disrupt Healthcare Podcast, Lester Morales is joined by Rachel Strauss, founder & CEO of PBM Princess Consulting and one of the most outspoken pharmacy reform advocates in the country.

    After 23 years inside a major PBM, Rachel has seen every angle of how drugs are priced, discounted, rebated, repackaged, and marked up — often leaving patients confused, employers overcharged, and advisors in the dark.

    Together, Lester and Rachel unpack:

    • Why 5% of members drive 80–90% of pharmacy spend
    • How fully insured carriers inflate drug prices in reporting
    • The truth about rebates and why they almost never benefit employers
    • Why employers are told “there’s nothing you can do” — even when there absolutely IS

    International sourcing (Canada, Israel, UK, NZ)
    340B pharmacy partnerships
    Patient assistance programs
    Medication recycling (90% cost reduction)
    • How Rachel saved a Texas city 60% on their top 7 drugs within 30 days

    Rachel breaks down why this exploding class of drugs is the single biggest threat to employer healthcare budgets — and how to prepare before 2030 hits.

    Rachel and Lester share the emotional stories behind their work — from medical bankruptcy to life-saving treatments — and why pharmacy reform isn’t just financial… it’s deeply personal.

    If you are an employer, advisor, HR leader, or healthcare innovator, this conversation will completely shift how you think about pharmacy benefits and what’s possible.

    🔥 What PBMs don’t want employers to know💊 Real pharmacy strategies that work — today⚠️ The GLP-1 Problem (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro)❤️ Why this matters: the human impact

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    45 mins
  • Why Healthcare Is Actually a Finance Problem
    Dec 11 2025

    In this recap of the Disrupt Healthcare Podcast, host Lester J. Morales breaks down a powerful conversation with Dean Jargo, CEO of Fair Market Health, whose personal story and financial background expose a truth most employers never hear:


    👉 Healthcare isn’t a healthcare problem. It’s a finance problem.


    Dean—longtime CFO and free-market advocate—shares how his wife’s cancer and emergency heart surgery forced him into the system as a consumer, not an executive. In that vulnerable moment, even a numbers expert couldn’t make sense of the bills, the stress, or the total lack of transparency. And that’s the point.

    The system is designed to be confusing.
    But it doesn’t have to be.

    Lester recaps the key themes of the conversation, including:

    • Why the real payers of healthcare (employers & employees) are separated from the sellers of healthcare (hospitals & providers)

    • How misaligned incentives make premiums go up every year—while benefits get worse

    • The insane friction created by deductibles, out-of-pocket costs & denied access

    • Why direct contracting and fair-market pricing consistently save 35–40% on big-ticket procedures

    • The emotional and financial toll on families navigating the system while dealing with serious medical events

    • Why CFOs need to stop delegating benefits decisions and start treating them like the massive P&L line item they are

    • Why the status quo carriers have no incentive to change—and why real reform must come from inside the industry

    This episode is a must-listen for employers, CFOs, benefits advisors, HR leaders, and anyone tired of feeling powerless in the healthcare system.

    If you’ve ever thought:
    “There has to be a better way…”
    —this recap outlines exactly what that better way looks like.

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    15 mins