Healthcare Brew’s Shannon Young talks health tech

On Fridays, we schedule our rounds with Healthcare Brew readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

This week’s Making Rounds spotlights Shannon Young, our Massachusetts-based Healthcare Brew reporter. Young, who joined the Brew from Politico, has more than 10 years of experience covering healthcare and politics.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in journalism?

My job is to learn a lot of different things and share what I learn with other people. Most people don’t have the time in their day to sit down and really dive into something that affects them, whether it’s healthcare, politics, or education. There are so many things that people interact with on a daily basis that they can’t be the experts in. So, the way I approach journalism is to be that intermediary who does the work for them, and to present information in a non-biased way.

What healthcare trend are you most optimistic about in 2023?

Probably the healthtech side of things. Coming out of the pandemic, there was a lot more focus in things like how telehealth can help people, how biometrics can help. The tech industry right now is having some problems and downsizing, but I think on the whole, I’m really optimistic about what the future holds for the healthtech sector.

What area of the healthcare industry still stumps you?

The Medicaid program. I’ve covered it for years, and there are still so many things I don’t understand or fully grasp. That’s a rabbit hole you can go down for days.

Is there a story you're particularly proud of from your career so far?

Most recently, I worked on this profile of one of the country’s first overdose prevention centers in New York City. I went down there, I took a tour of it, I spoke to people who have utilized it, and I saw how it’s changing people’s lives. There are people who are going, and their lives are being saved—quite literally. And then there’s the surrounding community that is dealing with the effects after the center closes at night. It’s a really complicated issue with a lot of complicated emotions around it. But I was really proud of the journalism that I did on that.