Vaping Crisis, Public Health Heroes and Open Notes: A Look Back at the Best of 2019

This week, Mark and Margaret take a look at some of the highlights from the shows of 2019, the year we celebrated ten years on the air. They revisit their conversations with Flint Michigan pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha on the water crisis, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids CEO Matthew Myers on the vaping crisis, and health care innovators like Dr.Tom Delbanco of Open Notes and primary care transformer Dr. Bodenheimer, and the show's 500th guest, House Majority Whip James Clyburn.

Henry J. Aaron, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Henry J. Aaron, the Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. He analyzes the case before the Supreme Court, King versus Burwell, which challenges the legality of the tax subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, and the potential impact of the High Court's decision.

Lee Aase, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media.

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on the revolution in how patients and provider are harnessing the power of social media to improve communication and health care. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Lee Aase, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, about how social media tools are engaging patients and providers, advancing medical knowledge, and improving the patient experience.

Targeted Therapies and Big Cost Savings: Personalized Medicine Coalition President Edward Abrahams on Precision Medicine's Potential

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Edward Abrahams, President of the Personalized Medicine Coalition which supports the emerging science of precision medicine and the huge potential it holds for cost savings with pharmacogenomics, targeted therapies, and improved outcomes for patients and health systems. They discuss the Coalition's upcoming summit at Harvard which will bring together policy makers, leading scientists, advocates and provider organizations to devise strategies for advancing precision medicine.

Dr. Howard Adelman, co-director of the national School Mental Health Project, a strategy to bring behavioral health services to schools.

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on behavioral health in our nation’s schools. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Howard Adelman, co-director of the School Mental Health Project in California and its federally supported National Center for Mental Health in Schools, a strategy to bring behavioral health services to schools.

Linda Aiken, the Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing, professor of sociology, and director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

This week, Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with one of the country's most influential nurse leaders. Dr. Linda Aiken is known for her ground breaking research linking nurse-to-patient ratios with patient outcomes. Dr. Aiken discusses the Institute of Medicine's Future of Nursing recommendations, innovations in nursing practice both in the U.S. and globally, and strategies to advance the IOM recommendations on nursing practice, education and leadership in the U.S. healthcare system.

National Access to Primary Care and Minister of Loneliness: Dr. Charles Alessi on the UK's Approach to Population Health and Dementia Prevention

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Charles Alessi, Senior Advisor for Dementia Prevention at Public Health England, the UK's equivalent of the CDC. Dr. Alessi talks about the prevention strategies being deployed across the UK to delay the onset of dementia, the lack of barriers to primary care services, and their recently announced Minister of Loneliness to confront this chronic health issue.

National Access to Primary Care and Minister of Loneliness: Dr. Charles Alessi on the UK's Approach to Population Health and Dementia Prevention

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Charles Alessi, Senior Advisor for Dementia Prevention at Public Health England, the UK's equivalent of the CDC. Dr. Alessi talks about the prevention strategies being deployed across the UK to delay the onset of dementia, the lack of barriers to primary care services, and their recently announced Minister of Loneliness to confront this chronic health issue.

How Do We Make Healthy Buildings the Next Public Health Revolution?

Joseph Allen is the director of the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. As the co-author of “Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity,” his views are closely followed as we try to move quicker than COVID can spread.

“Conversations on Health Care” co-hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter talk with Allen about new efforts to elevate the quality of indoor spaces in an overall health strategy.

Reaction to New CDC Ventilation Targets in Light of COVID

Stuart Altman, a leading health-care economist, on meeting the future demands under health-care reform.

Conversations on Health Care® turns its’ focus to the future challenges now that reform has passed. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Stuart Altman, a leading health-care economist and professor of National Health Policy at Brandeis University, about the potential for reform to deliver on its’ goals.

Dr. Drew Altman, President and CEO of Kaiser Family Foundation

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Drew Altman, President and CEO of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on major health care issues facing the nation as well as global health. Kaiser is dedicated to providing non-partisan health information and analysis for policy makers, the media and general public.

Stuart Altman, Ph.D, Heller School of Public Policy, Brandeis University

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Stuart Altman, PhD, Sol C. Chaikin Professor of National Health Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Dr. Altman is an expert on universal health coverage and discusses his recent work as Chair of the IOM Committee assessing progress on recommendations made in the 2010 Institute of Medicine Report on The Future of Nursing, which advocates for a stronger role for nurses in the expanding health care system.

Drew Altman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Drew Altman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. An innovator in the world of foundations and leading expert on national health policy, Dr. Altman discusses the Foundation's dedication to tracking America's views on health and health policy through its non-partisan polling and publishing entities, and discusses the current mood of American voters on health policy heading into the Presidential election.

Dr. Ruben Amarasingham, Founder and CEO of PCCI

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Ruben Amarasingham, Founder and CEO of PCCI, a non-profit research and development corporation in Dallas, Texas that specializes in real-time predictive and surveillance analytics for health care. Dr. Amarasingham discusses the system he created that is significantly reducing hospital readmissions and the potential for greatly improved health outcomes utilizing real time health data analytics.

Dr. Gerard Anderson, Director of the Center for Hospital Finance and Management, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Gerard Anderson, Director of the Center for Hospital Finance and Management at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Anderson shares his expertise on health care payment reform and living well with chronic disease.

Margaret Anderson, Executive Director of FasterCures

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Margaret Anderson, Executive Director of FasterCures, an action tank dedicated to saving lives by speeding up and improving the medical research systems. They discuss the ongoing threat to NIH research due to funding reductions, but also the game changing potential of new technologies and increased patient engagement to advance biomedical research.

Jack Andraka, Intel Science Fair Winner

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with 16 year old Intel Science and Engineering award winner, Jack Andraka. The young scientist, cancer researcher and inventor has won numerous global awards for creating an early detection device for pancreatic cancer.

The Expanding Obesity Revolution: New Options

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 from current offerings. He also believes more choices will lower prices for consumers.

“I think we’re at a watershed moment, this is really sort of an inflection point if you will, in thinking about the potential change in the landscape and how we conceptualize treatment of obesity. For the longest [time], a lot of the basic thinking about how we treat obesity was rooted in it was just a calorie imbalance…people were eating too much and exercising too little. As you know, that clearly has not worked,” says Dr. Ard.

He shares more insights on “Conversations on Health Care” with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter.

Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, President of the National Physicians Alliance

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, President of the National Physicians Alliance, an organization founded to restore trust in the medical profession by eliminating conflicts of interest. Dr. Arkoosh discusses their “Un-Branded Doctor” initiative which urges physicians to refuse payments of any kind from the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, and talks about the organization’s “Good Stewardship” program which calls for doctors and patients to reduce costly and unnecessary tests.