The Week in Review and Understanding the Medicaid Data Dump with Samir Unni

The Week in Review and Understanding the Medicaid Data Dump with Samir Unni

Author: The Doctor's Lounge February 21, 2026 Duration: 1:11:23

Episode Title: The Medicaid Data Dump: $1.7 Billion in Billing From Shell Companies and Why Nobody Stopped It

Guest: Samir Unni | Biomedical Engineer, former Palantir healthcare data lead, currently working on federal data modernization efforts

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Technical Difficulties

02:47 Reflections on Jay Bhattacharya's Insights

06:04 Navigating Polarization in Science

08:50 Moderna's Flu Vaccine Controversy

11:56 Understanding the FDA's Refusal to File

14:58 The Medicaid Data Dump and Its Implications

17:50 Duplicate Payments in Medicaid

20:59 The Role of Transparency in Healthcare

24:01 Home Health Services and Fraud Risks

42:57 Understanding Fraud in Government Billing

46:51 Political Ramifications of Home Health Agencies

50:53 Analyzing Data for Fraud Detection

56:30 Incentives and Accountability in Healthcare

01:01:52 The Role of Technology in Fraud Prevention

01:12:32 Legislative Solutions to Healthcare Fraud

Resources Mentioned:

About Samir Unni:

Samir Unni is a biomedical engineer who has spent over a decade working at the intersection of healthcare and data analytics. He previously served as a lead at Palantir working with government and healthcare organizations, and is now focused on modernizing how the federal government leverages AI and data tools to identify waste and fraud in public health programs.

Subscribe to The Doctor's Lounge: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | RSS

Follow the Show: X: @drsloungepod

Co-hosts: @anish_koka | @drdanchoi | @dutchrojas | @sdixitmd | @DrDiGiorgio


In The Doctor's Lounge, the white coat comes off for a conversation that moves freely from the exam room to the boardroom. This isn't a lecture hall; it's the back table where practicing physicians gather to unpack the complex systems that define modern medicine. Hosted by Dutch Rojas and Anthony DiGiorgio, DO, with regular voices like Anish Koka, MD, Dan Choi, MD, and Sanat Dixit, MD, the discussions are built on frontline experience. You'll hear unfiltered perspectives on the policy debates that shape care, the realities of navigating business and entrepreneurship within a medical practice, and the constant push for meaningful reform. The dialogue is grounded in a shared commitment to physician autonomy and, ultimately, better patient outcomes. Each episode in this podcast connects the dots between clinical fitness and the health of the medical profession itself, offering a rare look at the challenges and opportunities that exist where patient care meets the mechanics of the healthcare industry. It's a space for the nuanced, often contentious, and always real conversations happening behind the scenes.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 49

The Doctor's Lounge
Podcast Episodes
Side Table: Who Really Decides What Doctors Get Paid? Inside the RUC [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:09
Send us a text🎯 Why ListenEver wonder who actually decides how much doctors earn for surgeries, visits, or procedures? This episode takes you inside the mysterious but powerful Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC)…
Who’s Steering the $50B? Doctors, Dollars & the Media Machine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:55
Send us a text🎯 Why ListenA spicy, inside-baseball roundtable on why rural healthcare dollars keep missing physicians, how enterprise EHRs and retail chains distort priorities, and why media narratives around leaders’ he…
Patients, Politics, and the FDA: Who Decides What’s Enough Evidence? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:35
Send us a text🎯 Why ListenDive into one of the most consequential debates in medicine: how should the FDA balance speed, safety, and patient need in approving new drugs and gene therapies? Dr. Bob Goldberg, joins the Doc…
Futile Care, Dignity at the End of Life, and Physician-Owned Hospitals [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:34
Send us a text🎯 Why ListenWhen an 88-year-old with dementia lands in the hospital, should we implant a device simply “because we can”? The panel examines futile care, ICU economics, malpractice fears, and the cultural bi…
Physician Shortage, Visas, and Why Doctors Are Leaving Medicine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:19
Send us a text🎯 Why ListenIs there really a physician shortage—or just bad incentives driving doctors out of practice? In this episode, the crew unpacks Representative Greg Murphy’s call for more foreign-trained doctors,…
Hope vs. Power: Gene Therapy, FDA Shake-Up, and Truth in Medicine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:38
Send us a textOriginal Substack Release: Aug 23, 2025🎯 Why ListenWhen hope collides with billion-dollar incentives, who protects patients? We unpack Vinay Prasad’s FDA resignation, Sarepta’s $3.2M Duchenne gene therapy,…