Conversations On Health Care

Looking to the future of healthcare, Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Rasu Shrestha on the two things that are needed to truly transform the system: design thinking and a culture of innovation.

Data, artificial intelligence, and telehealth protocols are three of the biggest buzzwords in the health care industry right now, but it’s not all just hype. Dean of the Stanford School of Medicine Dr. Lloyd Minor reveals how these three elements are part of his strategic plan for advancing 21st century biomedicine and medical education.

It’s an unfortunate reality that cultural trauma has impacted practically every aspect of American Indians’ lives—including their access to quality healthcare. Diving into this issue affecting millions of Americans are Mark Masselli, Margaret Flinter, and their guest Dr. Donald Warne, who discusses this impact and the key strategies that aim to resolve these disparities, such as mentoring Native youth in health professions.

To explore the origin of our country’s opioid epidemic, Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning Barry Meier, author of Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America's Opioid Epidemic which dives into the pivotal role Purdue Pharma, makers of the narcotic OxyContin, played in the greatest public health crisis of the 21st century.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Peter Yellowlees, President-elect of the American Telemedicine Association which seeks to improve health care delivery through better use of remote medicine technologies. Dr. Yellowlees discusses his decades of work at the University of California Davis advancing the use of telemedicine in clinical and behavioral care.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Chip Kahn, CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals which represents over a thousand of the nation's owner-operated hospitals. The long time health industry strategist speculates on changes to health coverage for millions of Americans under the GOP health reform bill, and what it might mean for the hospital industry and health care in this country.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Paul Gionfriddo, CEO of Mental Health America, the nation's oldest organization dedicated to advancing access to mental services for all Americans. He discusses the need to change the nation's response to mental illness from a public safety to a public health approach.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Keith Boone, "Interoperability Guru" at GE Healthcare. Mr. Boone discusses his work developing standards for health information technology as a board member at HL7 International, and how HL7's new FHIR standards, as well as growth of Accountable Care Organizations, will accelerate the pace of interoperability in health care.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Katherine Hayes, Director of Health Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, which has issued a report to Congress urging them to move slowly on repeal of safety net programs supported by the ACA. She warns that states and vulnerable populations will suffer consequences under repeal of support for CHIP as well as federal matching grants for the Medicaid expansion.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Allan Coukell, Sr. Director for Health Programs at the Pew Charitable Trusts, where he oversees the FDA, drug and medical device safety and the opioid crisis. He discusses suggested changes to the FDA made by the Trump Administration, and how best to promote reforms at the US Food and Drug Administration to better respond to 21st century advances in research and discovery.

This week, Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter talk with President Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Dr. David Shulkin. Dr. Shulkin talks about the challenges he has faced coming from the private sector, the important role of the VA health care system, and ways that other issues such as housing play into health care access and delivery.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with health policy expert Timothy Jost, Emeritus Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law, and frequent contributor to Health Affairs. Professor Jost examines the respective gains made and challenges faced in health insurance coverage and access to care under the Affordable Care Act, and his views on potential losses to millions of Americans with repeal and replacement of the ACA.

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with renowned neuroscientist Dr. Adam Gazzaley, Director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center and Gazzaley Lab at UC San Francisco. Dr. Gazzaley discusses his closed loop system designed to improve brain function through personalized game design and feedback, which are already undergoing FDA clinical trials for therapeutic interventions for a number of brain disorders including ADHD, aging brain, PTSD and addiction.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Michael Leavitt, an advisor to President-elect Donald Trump's transition team and former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush. They discuss anticipated changes in health policy under the new administration including the future of the Affordable Care Act, the role of community health centers, and the need for bipartisan cooperation.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Victor Dzau, President of the National Academy of Medicine (the former Institute of Medicine) a private, non-profit entity dedicated to tackling the nation's complex problems in medicine, technology and science. Dr. Dzau talks about the Academy's shift towards more cooperation between the scientific disciplines to advance evidence-based research that will inform the health care providers and policy makers around the country and the world.

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Eric Dishman, newly appointed Director of the Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program at the National Institutes of Health. This initiative seeks to galvanize a million American volunteers to offer their electronic health information to be coalesced in a national database that will advance research in the discovery of disease cures and prevention.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Deven McGraw, Deputy Director for Health Information Privacy at the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, where she oversees compliance with HIPPA regulations governing portability of patient data, patient privacy concerns and the growing threat of health data breaches.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Katherine Baicker, PhD, the C. Boyden Grey Professor of Health Economics at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard. An expert on the health and economic impacts from gaining insurance coverage, she discusses her noted study of the Oregon Medicaid Experiment as well as the impact of the Medicaid Expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Mary Jo Assi, PhD, Director of Nursing Practice and Work Environment at the American Nurses Association which represents the nation's 3.4 million nurses. They discuss the expanding scope of the nursing work force in the ACA era, as well as the organization's current focus on workforce safety.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Michael Botticelli, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy at the White House. The nation's "Drug Czar" talks about ONDCP's quest to battle the rising tide of opioid addiction and overdoses, now the leading cause of accidental death in America, by targeting resources towards more effective treatments and interventions.