- 15
- Episodes
- 1
- Ratings
- Bi-weekly
- Cadence
- 2026
- First episode
About Rockin' HIT Sales
Rockin' HIT Sales is the show for founders, sales leaders, and investors who care about selling Health IT the way hospitals actually buy. Host David Hacker, CPHIMS and MEDDPICC® Certified Trainer, sits down with the people on the other side of the deal table—CMIOs, CNIOs, CFOs, innovation leaders, GPO executives, and federal policy and standards leads—to unpack: How health systems really evaluate digital health and AI solutions What separates "interesting pilot" from scaled enterprise deployment How MEDDPICC®, AI risk, and interoperability policy show up in real deals What risk, finance, and clinical leaders listen for in vendor conversations Guests include health system executives, innovators, and policymakers such as: Chief Medical Innovation Officers, CFOs of major health systems, technology leaders from national GPOs, and federal Health IT and AI standards leaders. New episodes drop every other week, with short, practical conversations designed to help you qualify better, de-risk deals, and align your go-to-market with the way hospitals make decisions. If you're building or selling Health IT or healthcare AI—and you want fewer stalled pilots and more scalable wins—this is your front-row seat.
- Publisher
- David Hacker
- Category
- business · news
- Language
- en
- Explicit
- No
- First episode
- 2 Feb 2026
- Latest episode
- 27 Oct 2026
Latest episodes
15 episodes in the feed.
27 Oct 2026
Community Hospital Buying Reality: How CIOs Balance Innovation, Operations, and Practical Adoption
In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker is joined by Nitin Agarwal, CIO at Wayne Memorial Hospital, for a practical look at how community hospitals evaluate, buy, implement, and scale Health IT. Much of Health IT go-to-market strategy is built around large academic medical centers and IDNs. Nitin explains why community and rural hospitals operate under a very different set of realities — tighter resources, smaller teams, competing priorities, limited implementation bandwidth, and little patience for technology that does not solve a real problem. They discuss: Why technology needs to solve a clearly defined problem before it ever becomes a buying conversation How limited staff, budget, and operational bandwidth shape technology decisions What vendors need to establish in the very first conversation Why product knowledge is not enough if the vendor does not understand the hospital's actual use case Where vendors underestimate the work required after the contract is signed Why financial impact and measurable outcomes still matter in community hospitals What "we integrate with your EHR" really needs to mean Why interoperability, implementation effort, security, and support should be addressed early What separates a true long-term partner from a vendor that disappears after go-live How community hospitals decide whether a pilot is ready to scale Why honesty about what a solution can — and cannot — do builds trust Why Health IT companies should never approach a community hospital the same way they approach a large academic medical center Nitin also explains why successful vendors understand that they are not simply selling technology. They are asking a hospital to commit staff time, workflow changes, integration resources, security review, implementation effort, and ongoing support — all within an environment where resources are already stretched. For Health IT founders, product leaders, GTM teams, and investors, this episode offers a direct provider-side view of what community hospitals actually need from technology companies — from the first conversation through implementation, go-live, and long-term partnership. Nitin is also available to advise Health IT companies seeking a better understanding of community-hospital operations, technology evaluation, implementation realities, and provider expectations.
25 Sept 2026
Bonus Episode: Whose Lens Is Your Health IT Go-to-Market Strategy Built Through?
Health IT companies naturally build go-to-market strategies around their products, sales processes, pipelines, and growth goals. Hospitals and health systems experience that same commercial process through a very different lens. In this bonus episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker, CPHIMS, looks at 10 questions provider buyers need answered before they can evaluate, fund, adopt, and scale new technology. David explores questions including: Is the problem important enough for the provider to act? Does a successful pilot actually prove the solution can scale? When will the provider recover its investment? Can the technology be adopted into real clinical and operational workflows? Can the provider trust both the technology and the vendor? Who needs to become confident enough to approve the purchase? Can the organization actually procure and contract for the solution? Will the technology work inside the provider's environment? Does the vendor understand how health systems actually buy? Is the opportunity genuinely moving toward a decision? The episode is based on Elevate HIT Sales' new provider-informed Field Guide, Whose Lens Is Your Health IT Go-to-Market Strategy Built Through? The central premise is simple: The strongest Health IT go-to-market strategies are not built around how the vendor wants to sell. They are built around how the provider needs to buy. Explore the complete Field Guide: https://elevate-hit-sales.com/health-it-go-to-market-strategy/ Rockin' HIT Sales — where provider reality meets Health IT go-to-market.
22 Sept 2026
Healthcare Cybersecurity, Vendor Trust & Security Review with Gary S. Chan
In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker is joined by Gary S. Chan, System Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at SSM Health, for a practical discussion on what Health IT companies need to understand about cybersecurity, vendor trust, and provider security review. Gary explains why security review is not simply a late-stage technical checkpoint. It is part of how health systems evaluate trust, patient safety, operational continuity, regulatory exposure, and whether a vendor is prepared to operate inside a provider environment. They discuss: When security should enter the Health IT sales process Why operational approval does not mean the deal is done What provider security teams are really evaluating What makes a vendor easier — or harder — to assess Why documentation, third-party validation, and dedicated security ownership matter How AI is changing security questionnaires and vendor assessments Why honesty and transparency build long-term provider trust Why vendors need to tailor their message to security, operations, clinical, financial, and executive audiences Gary also brings his unique perspective as the Security Mentalist, combining cybersecurity, psychology, and mentalism to make security lessons more memorable. He closes the episode with a live mentalism demonstration that reinforces one of the key themes of the conversation: information is only valuable if people remember it and act on it. For Health IT founders, product leaders, GTM teams, and investors, this episode offers a provider-side lens on why security readiness is part of product readiness, implementation readiness, and go-to-market readiness. Learn more about Gary's Security Mentalist work: https://www.securitymentalist.com/ Episode page: https://elevate-hit-sales.com/healthcare-cybersecurity-vendor-trust-gary-s-chan/ #HealthcareCybersecurity #HealthIT #SecurityMentalist #VendorRiskManagement #GarySChan
7 Jul 2026
From Local Win to System Standard: The Supply Chain Playbook for Scaling Change
In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker speaks with Marisa Farabaugh, Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer at AdventHealth, about what Health IT companies need to understand when selling into enterprise health systems. The conversation explores how health systems think about supply chain, value analysis, vendor trust, local versus system-level decision-making, pilot success, and what it really takes for a solution to move from a local win to a broader system standard. For Health IT founders, sales leaders, and GTM teams, this episode offers a provider-side perspective on why strong ROI claims are not enough, how internal decisions actually get made, and what vendors can do to build credibility before trying to scale across a complex healthcare organization.
16 Jun 2026
AI Governance in the Real World: What Vendors Need Before Provider Review
In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker sits down with Dr. Yasir Tarabichi, Head of Digital & CMIO at Ovatient and Chief Health AI Officer at MetroHealth, for a practical conversation on AI governance in the real world. This episode focuses on the questions AI-enabled Health IT companies need to be ready for before they enter provider review: What does AI governance actually mean inside a health system? How does an AI product, internal use case, or vendor solution enter the "front door" for evaluation? How do health systems balance innovation speed with safety, discipline, and operational control? What separates a low-risk AI use case from one that requires deeper governance review? What do mature vendors do differently when explaining implementation, monitoring, risk, and workflow impact? At what point in the sales process should companies start addressing AI readiness, especially when early conversations may be with operational or clinical leaders rather than AI experts? And one of the most important questions from the episode: What is one thing AI companies should just stop saying or doing when talking to a health system? For founders, product leaders, GTM teams, and investors, this episode is a practical look at what provider organizations need to understand before AI-enabled solutions can be approved, trusted, implemented, monitored, and scaled.
2 Jun 2026
Why Great Health IT Fails Without Great Change Management
In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker sits down with Olga Maciejewski, MBA, PMP, PROSCI CMP, CPHIMS-CA, for a practical conversation on why great Health IT can still fail without great change management. Olga explains why successful digital transformation is not just about the technology. It depends on people, process, sponsorship, governance, workflow readiness, stakeholder engagement, and reinforcement. The conversation also explores Olga's "three-legged stool" for transformation: project management, executive sponsorship, and change management. If one leg is missing, even a strong solution can struggle to gain traction after go-live. For Health IT companies and investors, this episode is a clear reminder: you are not just selling technology — you are selling change.
19 May 2026
Why Clinical AI Dies in Pilot: From Impressive Demo to Hospital-Ready System
In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker sits down with Sam Morhaim, CEO of Vantage IO, to explore why clinical AI pilots often fail after a strong demo — and what separates an impressive prototype from a hospital-ready system. Sam explains why the problem is rarely the model alone. Clinical AI often breaks in the surrounding architecture: evidence grounding, audit trails, failure handling, PHI data flow, workflow fit, compliance, and the safeguards needed to survive real-world provider review. A major focus of the conversation is RAG — retrieval-augmented generation — and why HealthTech teams need to understand how data is indexed, retrieved, separated, and exposed before bringing AI into clinical environments. Sam highlights how poorly designed RAG workflows can create risks around PHI leakage, evidence grounding, patient-level separation, and trust. In this episode: Why clinical AI pilots fail after a strong demo What separates "works on GPT" from "hospital-ready" Why model accuracy alone is not enough for clinical trust How RAG / retrieval-augmented generation can create PHI and evidence-grounding risks What hospital reviewers look for around traceability, auditability, and failure handling Why clinical AI companies should stop saying "hallucination-free" How architecture has become part of go-to-market readiness for healthcare AI 3 Brief Takeaways: Clinical AI rarely fails because of the model alone. RAG is becoming a major clinical AI risk area. Architecture is now part of go-to-market readiness. Related Resource: Download the AI Risk Self-Assessment Toolkit: https://elevate-hit-sales.com/mc-ai-risk-toolkit/
12 May 2026
Bonus Episode: Connecting the MEDDPICC® Dots From Our Guests
In this bonus episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker connects the dots from several provider-side conversations and looks at how health systems really buy through a MEDDPICC® lens. This is not a methodology lecture. It is a practical look at how MEDDPICC® maps to what provider leaders have been telling us all season about why Health IT deals move, stall, or quietly disappear. David breaks down why strong demos and positive conversations are not enough, why buyer evidence matters more than seller confidence, and how health systems evaluate pain, metrics, finance, workflow fit, adoption risk, decision process, paper process, and internal champions. In this episode: Why Health IT deals stall even when the product is strong How MEDDPICC® maps to real provider buying behavior Why "good conversations" are not the same as buyer evidence How CFO, innovation, policy, GPO, workflow, and standards perspectives connect Why payback, workflow fit, and internal champions help move deals forward 3 Brief Takeaways: MEDDPICC® is not sales theater — it is buyer alignment strategy. Deals should advance on buyer evidence, not seller confidence. Payback, workflow fit, and internal champions are what move Health IT deals toward close. Questions, comments, or guest ideas? Email: podcast@elevate-hit-sales.com
5 May 2026
Designing With Nurses, Not For Them : A Playbook for Health IT Founders
In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker sits down with Hiyam M. Nadel, MBA, RN, Director, Center for Innovations in Care Delivery at Massachusetts General Hospital, to give Health IT founders and investors an unfiltered, nurse-led view of why "great" technology still fails on the floor—and what it takes to earn real adoption. Hiyam works at the intersection of bedside reality, nursing leadership, and innovation. She makes a clear case that nurses can't be treated as "end users" who get trained at the end—they need to be co-designers from day one. If your product touches workflows, staffing, safety, documentation, or patient experience, this episode is a practical playbook for how to build with nurses, not for them. You'll hear what strong vendor partnerships look like—and what immediately breaks trust. Hiyam breaks down the signals that tell her a team has done its homework (and the red flags that say they haven't). She also explains how innovation programs and nurse-led initiatives evaluate outside partners: what gets attention, what gets stalled in governance, and what it takes to move from an "interesting pilot" to something worth scaling. The conversation also tackles the current wave of AI in nursing: where she's optimistic, where she sees risk, and what founders should be prepared to answer before they show a demo—especially around safety, workflow impact, and equity. If you're building automation or "AI copilots" for frontline teams, Hiyam offers a grounded way to talk about change that feels supportive rather than threatening. What you'll take away: How frontline clinicians actually experience new tools (and why adoption fails before rollout) What makes a vendor easy—or painful—to work with during pilots and co-development How to co-design workflows that nurses will actually adopt and sustain How to engage innovation centers and nurse leaders in a way that builds trust and momentum What it takes to move from pilot to scale without running over governance, change management, and the people doing the work If you're building for care delivery, this is the episode that helps you "get out of the boardroom" and design for reality.
21 Apr 2026
Standards That Scale: Building healthcare AI that's testable, reliable, and safe
In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker sits down with Ram D. Sriram, a long-time AI researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to translate "trustworthy AI" from a buzzword into a practical checklist for digital health leaders. Ram has worked across the major waves of AI—from early knowledge-based systems to neural networks and today's large language models—and explains what's genuinely new, what's simply being rebranded, and why the next leap may be neuro-symbolic AI. From there, the conversation goes deep on what many founders and product teams underestimate: measurement. If AI is an "instrument" used in clinical and operational settings, what does it mean to calibrate it? What is the ground truth? How do we measure accuracy, reliability, and failure modes—especially when a model is seeing something it was not trained for? Ram breaks down why metrology for AI, and even "AI for metrology," matters now that AI is becoming pervasive in healthcare workflows. You'll also hear practical guidance on: • Designing for a world of smart networked systems, including wearables, devices, EHRs, registries, and multiple data sources • Why standards and interoperability are often the missing ingredient, and how to use what already exists instead of reinventing the wheel • Applying the NIST AI Risk Management Framework in healthcare terms • Why uncertainty quantification—knowing when a model does not know—can change clinical pathways and risk • The red flags that make AI leaders nervous, including data or model manipulation and why guardrails matter This is a no-fluff episode for digital health founders, product leaders, and GTM teams who want to move beyond demos and build with more credibility, stronger market readiness, and better sales strategy for real-world adoption.
7 Apr 2026
Inside GPOs: How Health IT Actually Gets Evaluated and Purchased
In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker sits down with James Ludwig, a former Premier GPO leader, to demystify Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) for Health IT founders and go-to-market teams. James breaks down GPOs using a simple "bridge" analogy: on one side are health systems, on the other are suppliers, and the GPO operates the contracting and competitive-bid "toll bridge" that makes commerce easier—funded through supplier administrative fees (often shared back with member providers). You'll hear what vendors routinely misunderstand (hint: you don't just "show up" and get a contract), what has to be true for a technology solution to be taken seriously, and how value analysis and member collaboration work behind the scenes. James also explains why scale readiness is non-negotiable in a GPO environment—because a solution must be deployable across hundreds (sometimes thousands) of member facilities. The conversation also covers how GPOs can partner with vendors beyond contracting—through licensing models and, in some cases, investment + technology deployment—and why a GPO contract doesn't commoditize you; it simply removes friction so you can sell faster (if you're ready to execute). If you're building or scaling a provider-facing Health IT company, this episode will help you build a practical GPO strategy: what to do, what to avoid, and how to position your solution so it can win—and scale—inside the GPO ecosystem.
24 Mar 2026
How CFO's Evaluate Health IT: Value, Risk and the Business Case that Wins
In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker sits down with Robin Damschroder, Chief Financial Officer at Henry Ford Health, for a rare, practical look at how health systems evaluate—and ultimately approve—digital health, data, and AI-enabled investments. Robin explains why the CFO sits "in the center" of these decisions: investment dollars flow through finance, but the outcomes depend on the teams who must deploy and own the change. She shares how Henry Ford approaches governance for AI and IT, including how the organization thinks about core enterprise platforms (like major EHR and ERP systems), strategic large-scale partners, and more specialized one-off solutions—each with different risk, integration, and longevity considerations. You'll hear the questions financial and operational leaders instinctively ask when a new technology proposal hits the desk: Does it align to enterprise priorities and existing platforms? What people and process changes are required to make it successful—and what upskilling or role shifts should be planned? Is the solution a narrow one-off, or something robust and "evergreen" that can be embedded and improved over time? How does it integrate into the core systems without creating fragmentation, new security exposure, or long-term maintenance burden? Robin also breaks down what separates a credible business case from a shiny proposal. Her lens is total cost of ownership—not just licensing or subscription price. She wants a holistic view of costs and impact: implementation and integration effort, security and governance needs, workflow redesign, training, and ongoing operational ownership. And she emphasizes the importance of a balanced KPI scorecard that includes more than ROI: operational improvement metrics, payback period, patient/consumer engagement, and workforce impact. One of the most actionable parts of the conversation: downside scenarios and assumption stress-testing. Robin is clear—if a vendor doesn't model downside, the health system will. But she explains why this isn't about "shooting holes" in a proposal; it's about assessing readiness and building a rollout plan that actually works. Adoption and engagement—especially clinician adoption—often determine whether a business case holds or slips. We also discuss the realities vendors often underestimate: The CFO is rarely the lone decision maker—health systems rely on process, governance, and cross-functional ownership. Budget cycles and prioritization windows are real; miss them and timing can slip significantly. Organizations may reserve funds or approve out-of-cycle investments when priorities emerge mid-year—but only if the initiative is already moving through governance with internal champions. With today's margin pressure and reimbursement headwinds, systems are increasingly prioritizing initiatives with near-term returns and clear cost-structure impact. Robin closes with a direct challenge to Health IT leaders: be crystal clear on how your solution will reduce operating issues and improve cost structure in the near term, not just in theory. At the same time, she shares why she's genuinely optimistic—excited, even—about how AI can drive workplace transformation across the enterprise when implemented responsibly. If you build, sell, or invest in Health IT, this episode is a must-listen to understand what it takes to become fundable, approvable, and scalable in a real health system.
24 Feb 2026
Interoperability, AI, and Policy: What Health IT Builders Need to Know Now from Steve Posnack at HHS
In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David talks with Steve Posnack, Principal Deputy National Coordinator for Health IT and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy at HHS, about how federal policy really shapes digital health and AI go-to-market. We cover: How interoperability, FHIR APIs, and TEFCA affect Health IT vendors What information blocking and data-sharing rules mean for startup roadmaps How federal AI and technology policy will impact healthcare innovation Practical advice for founders and investors selling into hospitals and health systems If you're building or selling Health IT or healthcare AI, this is a playbook-level conversation on staying aligned with ONC and HHS policy.
10 Feb 2026
From Pilot to Scale: Dr. Barry Katzen on Health System Innovation
Why do so many Health IT pilots succeed on paper—but never scale? In this episode of Rockin' HIT Sales, David Hacker sits down with Dr. Barry Katzen, Chief Medical Innovation Officer at Baptist Health of South Florida, to unpack what really determines whether new technology earns the right to scale inside a health system. Dr. Katzen shares the provider-side reality behind pilots, innovation programs, and co-development partnerships—including why "proof of value" is only the first gate, what vendors routinely underestimate about pilots, and how internal dynamics like supply chain, contracts, and organizational fit ultimately decide adoption. If you sell, build, or invest in Health IT, this conversation offers a rare inside look at how health systems evaluate innovation—and why many promising solutions stall. You'll learn: What a credible pilot actually requires (and why "let's try it" fails) Why successful pilots still don't guarantee system-wide scale The difference between innovation partnerships and supply-chain buying What vendors should stop doing—and what immediately builds trust with health systems Rockin' HIT Sales is a short, practical podcast where provider reality meets Health IT go-to-market—focused on what actually moves deals, drives adoption, and delivers outcomes.
2 Feb 2026
Trailer for Rockin' HIT Sales
Rockin' HIT Sales is the show for founders, sales leaders, and investors who care about selling Health IT the way hospitals actually buy. Host David Hacker, CPHIMS and MEDDPICC® Certified Trainer, sits down with the people on the other side of the deal table—CMIOs, CNIOs, CFOs, innovation leaders, GPO executives, and federal policy and standards leads—to unpack: How health systems really evaluate digital health and AI solutions What separates "interesting pilot" from scaled enterprise deployment How MEDDPICC®, AI risk, and interoperability policy show up in real deals What risk, finance, and clinical leaders listen for in vendor conversations Guests include health system executives, innovators, and policymakers such as: Chief Medical Innovation Officers, CFOs of major health systems, technology leaders from national GPOs, and federal Health IT and AI standards leaders. New episodes drop every other week, with short, practical conversations designed to help you qualify better, de-risk deals, and align your go-to-market with the way hospitals make decisions. If you're building or selling Health IT or healthcare AI—and you want fewer stalled pilots and more scalable wins—this is your front-row seat.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
- Apple Podcasts (US)
- 5.0 / 5
- 1 ratings
Contact Rockin' HIT Sales
- Guest appearances
- Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Rockin' HIT Sales?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show
Podcast research with Pod Engine