How a Former $10B Hospital CEO Would Fix Provider Data if He Started Today | Steve Klasko

Steve Klasko was a DJ named Little Stevie Kent who got into medical school partly because an admissions officer recognized his voice from the radio. He then spent 40 years proving that listening (really listening) separates transformational leaders from the ones who just manage decline.As CEO of Jefferson Health, he took a $1.5 billion system to $10 billion in nine years, fought the FTC, and made enemies in every insurance boardroom in Philadelphia. His method was simple: stop asking lawyers what you're allowed to do. Tell them what you're going to do, and ask them how to defend that action.In this episode:Why Jefferson was "a place where good ideas go to die" and how Klasko changed that by deciding the lawyers worked for him, not the other way aroundThe credentialing nightmare hiding inside every hospital M&A deal, and what those three months of lost revenue actually costWhy healthcare is 15 years behind finance: "We select doctors for organic chemistry grades. Then we're amazed they aren't more empathetic."The MRI pricing story: Klasko called six facilities, asked a simple question, and the last one hung up on himHow defragmenting a hard drive became his mental model for fixing broken provider data infrastructureHis vision for 2031: patients own their data, credentialing happens in milliseconds, and the whole apparatus is a commodityHis one wish for healthcare, told through a Jason Kidd quote about turning things around 360 degreesFollow Provider Data Dorks on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for weekly conversations with the leaders who built the system and the ones rebuilding it. New episodes every Wednesday.