Originally broadcast on November 9, 2023 Experienced health care executive Dr. Kyu Rhee, recently named as the president and CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers, says member organizations are working on three big goals: Being the provider of choice, the employer of choice and the partner of choice. As he and NACHC members focus on these items, they’re also nervously awaiting congressional action. In late September, Congress passed a short-term extension of funding for...

Originally broadcast on November 2, 2023 Dr. Rajiv Shah, president of The Rockefeller Foundation, served on the National Security Council and elevated the role of development as part of our nation’s foreign policy while he was USAID Administrator. Dr. Shah, our guest this week on “Conversations of Health Care,” explained that the war in Gaza requires a need to balance defense, diplomacy and development. His new book Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens, takes readers inside past...

Originally broadcast on October 26, 2023 Dr. Shereef Elnahal, the Under Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, says their most important clinical care and public health issue right now is preventing veteran suicides. The data show that 17 vets a day die by suicide. Their work includes making sure vets know that the 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline is available for them. He also explained that the VA has communicated to the U.S. Attorney General and... Read More Read More

Originally broadcast on October 19, 2023 Dr. Mandy Cohen, the new CDC director, is facing big hurdles as she tries to explain to Americans the benefits of three vaccines now available at the same time: the updated COVID and the flu vaccine (for everyone 6 months and older) and the RSV vaccine (for eligible older adults). There’s vaccine skepticism and have been some issues with insurance payments. At the same time, she’s trying to rebuild trust in the CDC when... Read More Read More

While both parties in Washington dig in for a longer fight over the budget, health care policy hangs in the balance. Ben Leonard with POLITICO and Nathaniel Weixel with The Hill both cover health care policy and join us for a reporters’ roundtable to go over the pending issues as the government faces another funding shutdown in mid-November. Join us as hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter highlight how the direction of Congress will impact America’s health care system. Conversations......

Portions of this broadcast previously aired in May 2021. As we mark Hispanic Heritage Month, we hear from Dr. Elena Rios, President and CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association, which represents the interests of the nation’s 50,000 Latino physicians. This is an encore presentation from 2021 yet many of the issues we discussed then are still relevant, including Latino vaccine hesitancy and the pandemic’s mental health toll. Join hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter for their...

Researchers just announced they have found clear differences in the blood of Long COVID patients—this is the scientific proof that some in the health care sector want to see. Right before this news broke, we asked Dr. Lisa Sanders, the director of the new Yale New Haven Long COVID Multidisciplinary Care Center, about the lack of a Long COVID blood test. She pushed back on skeptics because she has seen clinical evidence of the condition. Now, it appears Dr. Sanders... Read More Read More

Lola Adedokun is executive director of the Aspen Global Innovators Group, which advances a portfolio of programs focused on health and prosperity in the U.S. and around the world. This work includes a focus on what she calls powerful women who are redesigning health systems to better meet the needs of families. Join hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter as Adedokun explains how local leaders are at the forefront of designing solutions that work for local populations. Conversations on...

Two of the leading and most influential experts in LGBQT+ health issues join “Conversations on Health Care” to discuss what the Human Rights Campaign calls its community’s “state of emergency.” Dr. Marwan Haddad is the immediate past chair of the HIV Medicine Association and the medical director at the Center for Key Populations at Community Health Center, Inc. Dr. Carl Streed is the president-elect of the US Professional Association for Transgender Health and the research lead for the...

Dr. Ashish Jha, the former White House COVID Coordinator, says he expects vaccines updated for this fall will provide a “great deal of protection” but he acknowledges there are questions about whether a young person should get the booster. “My best read of the literature is that, yes, they should [get the COVID booster shot]. A reasonable person could read the literature and say, ‘I don’t know if that’s true and let’s have that debate.’” Dr. Jha says, unfortunately, that... Read More Read More

The director of Mayo Clinic’s COVID Activity Rehabilitation Program says they’re seeing a decrease in Long COVID cases, likely due to variant changes and the effectiveness of vaccines. Dr. Greg Vanichkachorn describes Long COVID as a group of symptoms that linger longer than the normal COVID recovery period. He says fatigue and physical complaints decrease but patients have lingering cognitive effects like brain fog. Unfortunately, Dr. Vanichkachorn says patients can still face stigma for the...

Federal provisional data shows more people died from suicide in the United States last year than any other year on record. American Psychiatric Association President Dr. Petros Levounis is at the center of efforts to prevent suicides, with substance use addictions a key part of his focus. He and the 38,000 APA members have launched a campaign called “Confronting Addiction: From Prevention to Recovery.” Dr. Levounis discusses vaping, opioids, alcohol and the rapidly growing addiction to tech....

The nation’s expanded focus on community health and family (or primary) care didn’t just occur by chance. It took the dedicated commitment of professionals across the country to make it happen. This week we present a special edition of “Conversations on Health Care” with Dr. Carl Lecce. For 45 years he’s served as a family physician with Community Health Center in Middletown, Connecticut. Our hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter have worked closely with Dr. Lecce through the years and......

Millions look to NBC News Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. John Torres for advice and insights about their health. But how is he coping with surveys that show Americans lost trust in mainstream media during the pandemic and are increasingly turning to social media for health news? He gives us good advice about where to go for verified information. Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter also ask him about his role with NATO Special Forces on a variety of initiatives including... Read More ...

Scientists say this July was the Earth’s warmest month on record in “hundreds, if not thousands, of years.” The City of Los Angeles is taking a unique approach to help its people deal with the record-breaking temperatures through the leadership of Marta Segura, one of the few appointed chief heat officers in the world. Her work is focused on finding solutions when the weather causes physical and mental health issues and she’s keeping equity at the forefront of their efforts.... Read More ...

We’re on location at Aspen Ideas-Health, talking with the leaders of a new innovation effort. Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is backed by $2.5 billion dollars in federal money with a mandate to accelerate better health outcomes for everyone. The initiative aims to work outside of traditions with a “range of performers and a variety of approaches to solve” health care’s biggest hurdles. Can they find a way to reduce cancer deaths? That’s one of the questions hosts......

One of the nation’s top experts on Long COVID explains that it’s still a mystery why virus symptoms remain months and sometimes years after an infection. Dr. Leora Horwitz helps lead the National Institute of Health’s study of Long COVID. She’s the director of the Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science at NYU Langone Health, where they’re integrating the research activities of almost 200 clinical sites. She says they have found evidence of the virus persisting as well as......

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra joins “Conversations on Health Care” to answer questions about the big issues he’s facing as the nation’s top health official. Most importantly, he’s dealing with the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision turning abortion law over to the states. Secretary Becerra says, “A woman is three times more likely to die of a complication during pregnancy if she happens to reside in a state that restricts her access to abortion......

Dr. Kenneth Davis, CEO of Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, juggles a multitude of challenges operating one of the largest systems in the U.S. These include trying to overcome hurdles with a population health initiative as an alternative to the traditional fee-for-service insurance model and defending its Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Davis also reflects on how he and his colleagues traversed the early COVID wave. Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter talked...

Dr. Anthony Fauci shared a sobering message with “Conversations on Health Care”: In the past year about 20% of Americans have received the COVID booster vaccine; “that’s not good if you really want to get a degree of immunity that you can lift up,” he says. Fauci explains that getting to 50% should be the goal. “What we’re hoping is that people who come in with the uptake of a flu vaccine would also come in…at the same time, the... Read More Read More

Law professor and public policy advocate Christina S. Ho’s new book, “Normalizing an American Right to Health,” boldly makes the legal case for health as a right that should already exist in the United States. She explains why and unpacks how reinsurance and a Health Impact Assessment fit into her analysis. Join hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter as she wonders why we can provide government subsidies for things like fracking, which has negative health effects, but avoid doing more......

June 24 will mark the one-year anniversary since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling, taking away the constitutional right to abortion. That decision negated nearly five decades of legal precedent and pushed the abortion question to the 50 state legislatures. This week’s guests explain the effect of the ruling on women and maternal health in ways that are just now starting to be fully understood. Dr. Herminia Palacio is president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, which...

The World Health Organization recently issued a statement expressing concern about artificial intelligence in health care. Mayo Clinic’s Chief Information Officer Cris Ross, who’s been leading innovation projects for over 30 years, says “perhaps” we should be worried about ChatGPT. “These technologies are value-neutral but their usage is not necessarily value-neutral. Bad people can use good technology for bad purposes. So I think there’s a very robust debate about whether these technologies...

As many Americans start the summer stressed about their physiques and health, there are important developments. Drug-makers report successful mid-stage trials for oral compounds that could soon join the injectable prescription medication to treat obesity that’s already on the market. Dr. Jamy Ard, president-elect of The Obesity Society, says he believes oral obesity medications offer new options for those not comfortable with an injectable drug and for those who suffer adverse side effects...

Dr. Vivian Lee, an author and senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School, is impressed by a study that found a large majority of patients responded in a favorable way when a pediatrician shared climate change details during well-child visits. She joins hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to explain why we need health care providers and health systems to step up to do more about the undeniable risks from climate change. Listen in as they discuss her perspective and her... Read More Read More