# Confronting Soaring Emergency Care Costs (feat. Al Lewis)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/moving-to-value-unscripted-6695836/confronting-soaring-emergency-care-costs-feat-al-lewis
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/moving-to-value-unscripted-6695836/confronting-soaring-emergency-care-costs-feat-al-lewis.md
Podcast: [Moving to Value Unscripted](https://stenobird.com/podcast/moving-to-value-unscripted-6695836)
Published: 2026-04-28T15:31:24+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moving-to-value-alliance/episodes/Confronting-Soaring-Emergency-Care-Costs-feat--Al-Lewis-e3ijeci
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/e7dc0824/podcast/play/119174994/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-3-28%2F423042285-44100-2-912586ee10124.m4a
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/moving-to-value-unscripted-6695836/episodes/confronting-soaring-emergency-care-costs-feat-al-lewis
Duration seconds: 2056

## Resource

ER visits account for roughly six percent of health plan spend, with costs rising faster than almost any other hospital service. Why is ER spending is spiraling out of control? And what should we do about it? Al Lewis, founder of The Validation Institute and the gamified health literacy platform Quizzify, has built a career exposing the financial sleights-of-hand many healthcare programs use to drain employer budgets. Lewis joins us to break down how hospitals have transformed federal mandates like the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) into high-margin profit centers through aggressive pricing and "up-coding" tactics. Lewis also shares strategies for individuals and employers to challenge the lack of transparency that often characterizes emergency department charges. Find the transcript of this episode at movingtovalue.org/transcript/lewis ________ Sign up for our email list. Thank you to our members who make our work possible! As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Moving to Value Alliance relies on generous supporters to advance our mission of creating a value-based healthcare ecosystem with high-quality health outcomes at a reasonable cost for plan sponsors and their members. Get involved at movingtovalue.org/membership .

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## Transcript

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