Los Angeles Health Director Dr. Mitchell Katz Talks Lessons Learned in LA That Have Improved Population Health

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Mitchell Katz, Director of Health for the City of Los Angeles, who is taking over the New York City Health System in January. Dr. Katz helped transform the LA system to provide more robust support for primary care, housing the chronically homeless to improve health outcomes and costs, and embedding mental health services within the public health system.

Dr. Molly Coye, Chief Innovation Officer, UCLA Health System

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Molly Coye, Chief Innovation Officer of the UCLA Health System. Dr. Coye discusses broad reaching transformations underway at UCLA Health that are utilizing innovative technology and team-based medicine to yield better health outcomes for their patient population, while reducing costs within the system.

Dr. Mollyann Brodie, Executive Director of Public Opinion Research, Kaiser Family Foundation

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Mollyann Brodie, Sr. Vice President of Executive Operations and Executive Director of Public Opinion Research at the Kaiser Family Foundation, where she oversees the non-profit's public polling efforts. Dr. Brodie conducts the Foundation's monthly tracking poll which charts the mood of the nation on a variety of health policies and provides unbiased polling data for policy makers.

HHS Data Chief Dr. Mona Siddiqui on Addressing the Challenges of Health Data Liberation

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Mona Siddiqui, Chief Data Officer at the Department of Health and Human Services, who is overseeing a transformation in health information sharing between all agencies at HHS. She discusses the infrastructure changes required to facilitate data liquidity, and growing partnerships with outside entrepreneurs to expedite the process.

Flint Water Crisis Whistle Blower Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha on the Aftermath of the Poisoning of a City

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Pediatrician and public health activist, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who exposed the Flint Water Crisis brought on by state and city officials who switched Flint's water supply. She discusses her book on the crisis, "What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance and Hope in an American City" which exposes government efforts to deny their role, and the ongoing community-wide effort to address the public health crisis.

Flint Water Crisis Whistle Blower Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha on the Aftermath of the Poisoning of a City

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Pediatrician and public health activist, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who exposed the Flint Water Crisis brought on by state and city officials who switched Flint's water supply. She discusses her book on the crisis, "What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance and Hope in an American City" which exposes government efforts to deny their role, and the ongoing community-wide effort to address the public health crisis.

“Cash for Moms and Babies”: How it Works & Why

What if health care for moms and babies came with a cash prescription for them?

In this Conversations on Health Care episode, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome back Dr. Mona Hanna, the Flint pediatrician whose research exposed the city’s water crisis and sparked a national reckoning on environmental justice.

Vaccines and Communities of Color: Johns Hopkins’ Dr. Monica Schoch-Spana on Quest for Equitable Distribution and Lasting Solutions

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Monica Schoch-Spana, Senior Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is Co-Chair of the Working Group on Equity in COVID-19 Vaccination, CommuniVax, which just released a detailed report, “Equity in Vaccination: A Plan To Work With Communities of Color Toward COVID-19 Recovery and Beyond”, with recommendations for state and local governments to support a vaccination campaign and coordinated pandemic recovery plan that addresses health disparities for people of color.

Addressing Toxic Childhood Stress with California’s First Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome Dr. Nadine Burke Harris to the show. Governor Gavin Newsome chose Dr. Burke Harris to be California’s first official Surgeon General for her expertise on the impact of Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) and their role in future health problems. They discuss how ACEs affect brain development and DNA makeup. Dr Burke Harris also talks about how the newly-launched ACEs Aware program seeks to provide a framework for early primary care screening and intervention to mitigate the long term effects.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Dr. Mitch Katz, San Francisco's Director of Public Health, discuss the public option and the universal access program.

Conversations on Health Care® is an innovative radio show debuting today with special guest U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Dr. Mitch Katz, the nationally-known health director for the city and county of San Francisco, will also make a guest appearance. The show can be heard on WESU-FM at 88.1 or you can listen online at www.wesufm.org—streaming live worldwide. Join us for what we anticipate to be a memorable and inspiring inaugural show.

Rolling Health Care to Where It's Needed Most: Harvard's Dr. Nancy Oriol on her Family Van Mobile Health Clinic

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Nancy Oriol, founder of the Family Van, a mobile health clinic on wheels that brings prevention and primary care interventions right into the neighborhoods who need it most. She talks about building a health care network based on trust, saving costs and improving outcomes, and how it’s gaining in popularity in a more user-friendly, prevention-focused health care system.

The 16th Anniversary Show: Our First Guests Are Back!

Happy anniversary to “Conversations on Health Care”! We posted our first program 16 years ago on Sept. 23, 2009. Now, we’re bringing back our first two guests to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re going in health care.

Nancy Pelosi was serving as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and trying to get the Affordable Care Act passed when she joined us on that inaugural show. Today, she continues to serve as Speaker Emerita and remains a stalwart supporter of community health centers. “They’re there…they’ve been there and we always want them to be there…this is so important. I’ve been working with our community health centers,” she says.

Our other returning guest is Dr. Mitchell Katz, now serving as CEO and President of New York City Health + Hospitals. He was in a similar role in San Francisco when he was on that initial program. Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter ask him to reflect on what’s changed the most. “The big successes [from ACA] are getting people involved in primary care and chronic disease management…those primary care relationships are incredibly healing.”

Click to hear our conversation with these guests, including Dr. Katz's insights on how AI can help recover what’s been lost in healthcare.

Two Community Health Centers Almost Destroyed Rise Up to Serve Their Communities: Puerto Rico and California

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with two community health center directors, Naomi Fuchs of Santa Rosa Health in Northern California, and Gloria Amador of Salud Integral en la Montana in Puerto Rico, who both experienced severe devastation in the wake of massive hurricanes in the Caribbean and wild fires in Northern California. They both share their experiences of continuing to deliver care to their patient populations in spite of harrowing conditions and massive destruction, and how they hope to rebuild.

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.

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.

Dr. Neel Shah, Founder of Costs of Care

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Neel Shah, Asst. Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harvard Medical School and Founder of Costs of Care, a global NGO dedicated to helping delivery systems provide better care at lower costs. He's also the co-author of "Understanding Value Based Care" which seeks to promote cost awareness in the medical profession.

Dr. Neel Shah, Founder of Costs of Care

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Neel Shah, Asst. Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harvard Medical School and Founder of Costs of Care, a global NGO dedicated to helping delivery systems provide better care at lower costs. He's also the co-author of "Understanding Value Based Care" which seeks to promote cost awareness in the medical profession, starting with medical school.

Mystery No More: Howard Hughes’ Legacy Advances Science

Eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes founded his eponymous Medical Institute over 70 years ago devoted to “unlocking the fundamentals of biology and building an open, inclusive future for science.”

Some say Howard Hughes Medical Institute is bringing its founder’s vision into the future with its one-of-a-kind Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia. On this 281-acre parcel of land, integrated teams of lab scientists and tool-builders pursue a small number of scientific questions with potential for transformative impact. To drive science forward, they share their methods, results, and tools with the scientific community.

Damning Research Reveals Extent of Pediatrics Care Gap: Children of Color Receive Worse Treatment

Across the board, children of color in America receive less treatment and fewer life-saving interventions than white children, according to a research review published in Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. The data find that strongest disparities between whites and children of color involved pain management; kids of color are less likely than their white peers to get painkillers for a broken arm or leg, for appendicitis or for migraines.

Dr. Nia Heard-Garris, pediatrician and researcher at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, helped lead the project. She explains that the research also shows white children are sometimes overtreated, which is also not good for their health. Join hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter as they examine the findings and look for policy solutions.

Dr. Nicholas Christakis, researcher and Harvard professor of medical sociology.

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on the social factors that affect health. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Harvard professor Dr. Nicholas Christakis about his research on social connections and social determinants of health that impact our personal, community, and public health.