Dr. Cecil Wilson, president-elect of the American Medical Association, on the impact of health reform on health care, medicine and society.

Conversations on Health Care® speaks with the president-elect of the American Medical Association. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter talk to Dr. Cecil Wilson about why the AMA supported this health reform legislation, and what it will do to improve health care for both patients and their providers.

Jeff Williams, Chief Operating Officer of Apple

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Jeff Williams, Chief Operating Officer of Apple. Mr. Williams is in charge of the tech giant's entire distribution chain and is overseeing Apple's foray into health care with the development of the Apple Watch, Apple HealthKit and ResearchKit, which are aimed at simplifying health and medical research by leveraging participation from Apple's 700 million users around the globe.

Jeff Williams, Chief Operating Officer of Apple

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Jeff Williams, Chief Operating Officer of Apple. Mr. Williams is in charge of the tech giant's entire distribution chain and is overseeing Apple's foray into health care with the development of the Apple Watch, Apple HealthKit and ResearchKit, which are aimed at simplifying health and medical research by leveraging participation from Apple's 700 million users around the globe.

Dr. Gail Wilensky, economist and former administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration: Exploring reform in a changing landscape

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on health-care reform and predicted outcomes of reforms still under consideration by Congress. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter talk with Dr. Gail Wilensky, economist, former administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration and John M. Olin, Senior Fellow at Project HOPE, an international health education foundation, about what lies ahead for health-care reform in a changing national economy and landscape.

Gail Wilensky, economist and senior fellow at Project HOPE.

This week, Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with health economist Dr. Gail Wilensky, Senior Fellow at Project HOPE and former Administrator of Medicare and Medicaid. Gail discusses the future of Medicare and Medicaid in the wake of the Affordable Care Act and how to make those services less costly and more patient-centered.

GOP Health Economist Dr. Gail Wilensky Explores the Future of Health Reform under the Trump Administration

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Gail Wilensky, Senior Fellow at the Center for Health Affairs at Project Hope, GOP health economist and former Administrator for the Health Care Financing Administration under President George H. W. Bush. Dr. Wilensky examines the likely changes coming to the Affordable Care Act under the Trump Administration and GOP-controlled Congress.

John Wilbanks, Chief Commons Officer, Sage Bionetworks

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with John Wilbanks, Chief Commons Officer at Sage Bionetworks, a non-profit collaborative of network partners seeking to transform biomedical research through the use of openly shared data. Mr. Wilbanks has been advocating for the open science movement as well as for the creation of an infrastructure that will support the free flow of biomedical data to scale up research efforts.

David Whitlinger, Executive Director of the New York e-Health Collaborative

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with David Whitlinger, Executive Director of the New York e-Health Collaborative, a consortium of policy makers, providers and health industry leaders working to improve health care for all New Yorkers through integrated health information technology. Mr. Whitlinger talks about innovative policies that are helping to facilitate interoperability of the state’s many electronic health systems and mobile health platforms.

Marc Wetherhorn, national advocacy director for the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC).

Conversations on Health Care® continues the discussion on community health centers this week. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Marc Wetherhorn, national advocacy director for NACHC, about bipartisan political support for health centers going forward and their role in transforming health care.

Darrell West, Director of the Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Darrell West, Founder and Director of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution and author of Digital Medicine: Health Care In the Internet Era. Mr. West explores the mobile economy project at Brookings, which is examining the myriad ways mobile technology is being deployed to improve health care delivery and outcomes.

David Wessel, economics editor of the Wall Street Journal.

This week, Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with David Wessel, economics editor of the Wall Street Journal. He'll give us his perspective on the economy and the forces that are shaping health care and living standards around the world.

Dr. John Wennberg, the Peggy Y. Thomson Professor for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth College.

This week on Conversations on Health Care®, Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. John Wennberg whose research for the past 40 years has focused on variations in health care around the country and its implications on the individual, the community and the health care system as a whole. Dr. Wennberg is the Peggy Y. Thomson Professor for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth and founder and director of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, home to the Dartmouth Atlas Project.

Dr. Leana Wen, Commissioner of Health for the City of Baltimore

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Leana Wen, Commissioner of Health for the City of Baltimore. Dr. Wen, an emergency room physician and author of When Doctors Don't Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests discusses her innovative approaches to tackling Baltimore's most pressing public health issues such as poverty, violent crime and the opioid crisis.

Dr. Leana Wen, Day One: Charting Planned Parenthood's Course for Protecting Women's Health

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Leana Wen, newly appointed President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of American. Dr. Wen talks about successful interventions she launched as Baltimore's Health Commissioner on opioids, maternal mortality and gun violence, planning to take her tough public health approach to addressing challenges to women's health and reproductive rights in America.

Dr. Leana Wen’s Advice for President-Elect Biden: Fireside Chats and a COVID Czar

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Leana Wen, CNN Medical Analyst, contributing columnist to the Washington Post and Visiting Professor of Public Health Management at George Washington University. Dr. Wen discusses the public health tactics President-elect Biden should deploy immediately to get out ahead of what could be the worst impact seen yet by the pandemic. She recommends he appoint a COVID-19 Czar to coordinate a national response, and conduct regular “fireside chats” to open a clear line of communication to the public who need a cohesive message about public health protocols and the coming vaccine.

Dr. Leana Wen on the Pandemic and the ‘Fight for Public Health'

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Leana Wen, emergency physician, former Baltimore Health Commissioner, and medical analyst for CNN. Dr. Wen’s new book, “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health” addresses the dramatic failings of the public health system to adequately address the pandemic, the need to create a more coordinated national and international public health system and the way forward through the pandemic.

Dr. Leana Wen Grades RFK Jr. on Health Care: What Does She Say?

Dr. Leana Wen, a health news commentator for The Washington Post and CNN, is known for trying to have an open view toward untraditional opinions. For instance, she tells “Conversations on Health Care” that the new National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration directors are both “qualified individuals who have credentials from major medical institutions, who have worked in those fields.”

She says her hope is that “behind the scenes they will act as tempering force… against the worse excesses around …Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and vaccine policy.”

But she also tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter that “Of course, this is an extremely worrisome time… many of the changes we’re seeing are even more extreme than may have been anticipated.”

In addition, Dr. Wen urges nuance in evaluating public health claims. “It’s important for us to evaluate each of these claims separately… and not have a knee-jerk reaction to everything [Kennedy] says.”

This episode dives into the politics of vaccines, the measles outbreak, food additives, artificial intelligence in medicine, and the evolving role of trust in public health.

Governor Bill Weld Mounts Challenge against President Trump: Discusses Health Care, Climate Change and Bipartisanship

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter kick off a series of interviews with presidential candidates. Our first interview was with Governor Bill Weld, who announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination yesterday. They discuss his views on the Affordable Care Act, climate change, and his thoughts on how to bring the divided nation together.

Any Hope to Avoid Govt. Shutdown in ’24? Health Care Reporters Assess the Chances

The advice from one of Washington’s health care policy reporters is to rest up and enjoy the holidays because 2024 is going to be a very intense time. The top items on the agenda include a federal fight over the budget (including health care) that could lead to a government shutdown at the beginning of the year, a presidential campaign that will place health issues at the forefront, continuing concerns about AI and health, and a Supreme Court decision expected by June on medication abortion.

Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter get the health care policy prognosis for 2024 from: Joyce Frieden, who oversees MedPage Today's coverage of Washington and health policy; Caitlin Owens, a senior policy reporter for Axios; and Nathaniel Weixel. a health policy reporter for The Hill.

Budget Woes & Health Care Policy Snarls: Latest Views from D.C

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.