Grey's Anatomy boss previews Season 16's focus on "broken" medical care system, says Station 19 is similar to early Grey's

The Hollywood Reporter

"At this point in the season, we are having rich character discussions about the consequences of what Meredith did in committing insurance fraud and it's because of our immigration policies but also because of our broken medical care system," shorunner Krista Vernoff tells The Hollywood Reporter of Season 16. "Because that story is very much in play, conversations about our broken medical care system are at play." Vernoff also discussed adding Station 19 showrunner duties, saying that the first responders' storylines remind her of early Grey's Anatomy. "The first responders are the first step to the medicine," she says. "We are trying to lean a little harder into the idea that we can expand the world of Grey's Anatomy by expanding our understanding of how many highly trained hands a person has to move through to go from trauma and crisis to post-op." Vernoff adds: "What I have discovered in diving into the world of first responders is how simultaneously high stakes everything those heroes do every day is. Everything they do is at a Level 11. They stay incredibly calm in the face of what you and I would be completely traumatized in a moment-to-moment basis. It reminds me of Grey's Anatomy in the early years: The conversation was surgeons are basically like auto mechanics. You want to believe that they're reverent in the OR but they do this all day, every day."