What was supposed to be a journalists' roundtable with Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and Wal-Mart Stores Executive Vice President Linda Dillman turned into an exclusive interview for me when other invited reporters failed to show. Their loss is my gain—and yours.

I now have a podcast with two of the most powerful business people in America, on the subject of large healthcare purchasers demanding technology-driven quality from the people who provide health services to their employees. It continues on the theme that Barrett spoke on during his keynote address to the Third Health Information Technology Summit in Washington last month, which I reported on here. This interview took place shortly after the speech.

Podcast details: Exclusive interview with Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and Wal-Mart SVP Linda Dillman, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2006. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 13.9 MB, running time 30:23.

00:40 Barrett's interest in healthcare
01:05 Pilot programs to promote IT and quality
01:30 Purchasing power of large employers
01:58 Wal-Mart's $4 co-pay for generic drugs
03:20 Completeness of personal health records
04:33 Lack of price information for consumers
05:30 Cost shifting in healthcare
06:00 Wal-Mart's IT investment
06:40 Looking at the big picture
07:30 Getting a broad coalition involved
08:10 Debate vs. actions, cost shifting
09:10 Consumers ultimately pay the bills
09:40 Opportunity in the health system and incentives for healthcare to modernize
10:35 Current insurance at companies
10:55 Wal-Mart will be requiring quality
11:40 How to show transparency
12:25 Feedback from employees
13:40 Employees are savvy business`people
14:15 Duplication in the system
14:50 Medical liability and access to information
16:40 Systemwide quality should be overriding issue
18:00 What creates quality problems?
18:35 IT's role in alleviating the nursing shortage
19:45 Opinion of Kolodner
20:20 Barrett on AHIC and the slow pace of reform
22:15 Every other industry has adopted technology
22:50 Framing the debate over who pays
23:35 Quality tolerance in other industries
23:50 Roles of various stakeholders
24:35 "Forcing function" of change
26:18 Private payers are middlemen responding to the rules.
27:00 How to put pressure on suppliers
27:35 Purchasers have been passive for too long
28:36 How long until purchasing changes start showing results?
28:53 American competitiveness