Susan Dentzer, editor-in-chief of Health Affairs.

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on the critical policy issues for innovation and legislation. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Susan Dentzer, editor-in-chief of Health Affairs, the nation's leading journal focusing on the intersection of health, health care and health policy in the United States and around the world.

Long Time Health Analyst Susan Dentzer Discusses Shifts in Health Policy That May Impact Innovation

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Susan Dentzer, President and CEO of the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation, which conducts research that informs policy impacting the US Health care system. The former Editor-in-Chief of Health Affairs looks at current health policy trends, and the potential impact of innovation on health care transformation.

COVID Emergency Ends but Mental Health Issues Remain

Today, as the United States officially ends the COVID public health emergency, we know too many Americans continue to deal with the aftereffects of the pandemic, including mental health and substance abuse challenges.

Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., serves as Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

She joins hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to explain plans for dealing with the fact there are more Americans dying of drug overdoses now than at any time in modern history. Research also shows over 5 million Americans are struggling with an opioid addiction.

40 Million Patients Strong: Dr. Tom Delbanco on Success of OpenNotes

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome OpenNotes founder Dr. Tom Delbanco on his movement to make clinicians' notes visible to patients through their electronic health records. They discuss the early reluctance of clinicians to participate, the high level of satisfaction from patients gaining access to their notes, with 40 million patients now utilizing OpenNotes.

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, ranking member on the Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Representative DeLauro discusses the opioid crisis, lead poisoning, lack of funding for research, as well as her efforts to create a permanent health emergency fund to be ready to confront emerging disease outbreaks like Ebola and the Zika Virus.

Coronavirus Pandemic and Congressional Action: Representative Rosa DeLauro on Protecting Families and Businesses Through Crisis

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, on the passage of the Families First and the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Act, two bills passed in Congress to address the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. Congresswoman Delauro discusses the need for more resources for testing and for health systems support, the need for paid sick leave and family leave, the rise of telehealth to meet demand and the need for the public to heed the warnings to stay home through the worst of the crisis.

House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro: More Money for Hospitals, Vaccines Forthcoming?

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, on her expectations for building consensus on revised Build Back Better legislation, as well as the possibility for more relief money for hospitals and other entities in the wake of the ongoing pandemic. She says the expanded Child Tax Credit has lifted millions of American children out of poverty, significantly easing economic pressures on working families, and that it should be restored. Representative DeLauro also discusses the President’s infrastructure law, which she says will have a dramatic impact on the nation’s aging transportation and clean water delivery systems, as well as create new jobs.

Democratic Presidential Hopeful John Delaney on His Market-Based Approaches to Universal Health Care and Addressing Climate Change

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome another 2020 Presidential candidate to Conversations on Health Care, former Maryland Congressman and entrepreneur John Delaney. They discuss his record as a centrist Democrat who favors more market-based approaches to universal health care, which gives all Americans access to coverage, but keeps private payers in the mix, providing more consumer choice than Medicare for All. He favors a carbon tax approach to addressing climate change to foster US innovation to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

200 Million Vaccines and Counting: Emory’s Dr. Carlos Del Rio on Effort To Target Vaccine Resistance

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with leading infectious disease expert Dr. Carlos Del Rio, Executive Associate Dean at the Emory University School of Medicine, and lead researcher on HIV/AIDS and now, COVID-19. Dr. Del Rio applauds the Biden Administration’s achievement of 200 million vaccine doses delivered in the US, but warns vaccine resistance in this country, and lack of supply globally, must be addressed to bring the pandemic fully under control. He lauds the remarkable science around mRNA technology that will have far reaching implications for tackling many diseases.

Dave deBronkart, Founding Member of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

This week, Conversations on Health Care focuses on patient participation in their health care. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dave deBronkart, better known as "e-Patient Dave" about how opening health care information directly to patients and encouraging their participation can lead to better health outcomes.

Governor Howard Dean

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with former Vermont Governor and Democratic National Committee Chairman Dr. Howard Dean. Governor Dean talks about decades-old efforts in Vermont to reform health care, making it accessible and affordable for all citizens, and he shares his views on various aspects of the Affordable Care Act and the future of health reform.

Rocketing with Captain Kirk To A New Frontier: Astronaut Glen de Vries on New Era of Innovation In Space Travel and Health Care

Update (11/12/2021): We are devastated to learn of the sudden passing of Glen de Vries. He was a thoughtful, brilliant guest whose innovative ideas we were lucky enough to hear firsthand on the show. Our deepest condolences to his family. He will be missed.

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Glen de Vries, Vice Chair for Health and Life Sciences at Dassault Systèmes and Founder and former CEO of Medidata, the first cloud based system supporting global clinical trials research. An astronaut aboard Jeff Bezos’ recent Blue Origin rocket flight with William Shatner of Star Trek fame, de Vries points to the scientific advances from the nation’s space program fueling the technologies that now support telehealth and precision medicine. Also author of The Patient Equation, he predicts a dramatic period of exponential growth in scientific and biologic discovery post-pandemic.

Francois de Brantes, Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute Inc.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Francois de Brantes, Executive Director of the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care costs and quality through better incentives for payment reform. Mr. de Brantes discusses the growing role of the consumer as an agent of change in the health care industry.

Daniel Dawes, Health Law Attorney and Author of 150 Years of Obamacare

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Daniel Dawes, health law attorney, Executive Director of Health Policy and External Affairs at Morehouse School of Medicine, and author of 150 Years of Obamacare. In his book, Mr. Dawes places the Affordable Care Act within the larger context of health reform and discusses the myriad measures in the law that promote health equity.

Dr. Karen Davis, PhD, leading economist, author, and President of the Commonwealth Fund

This week, Conversation on Health Care® talks with one of the country's leading economists, Dr. Karen Davis. As President of the Commonwealth Fund, a national philanthropy engaged in independent research on health and social policy issues, Dr. Davis and her team are highly influential researchers and thought leaders on issues of reform and innovation in health care.

Tough, Feisty, Visionary: Mount Sinai’s CEO On Location at Aspen Ideas: Health

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 with Dr. Davis on location at Aspen Ideas: Health, a premier gathering of health care leaders and influencers.

Health Tech Entrepreneur Dave Chase on Next Wave of Innovation to Disrupt Health Care

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dave Chase, CEO of the Health Rosetta institute and author of "The CEO's Guide to Restoring the American Dream: How To Deliver World Class Health Care to Your Employees at Half the Cost". Mr. Chase discusses the emerging high tech/high touch trend of Health 3.0, the need to pursue the 'quadruple aim' in health innovation and the growing influence of millennials in health care transformation.

Monkeypox Update from Top White House Coordinator

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator, joins “Conversations on Health Care” to discuss the latest details about this rare, infectious viral disease.

Dr. Daskalakis talks with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter about the spread of the disease in the U.S., the vaccination efforts, and how the entire health care community is careful to avoid stigmatizing any community while focusing on the virus itself.

Senator Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader and author of Getting it Done: How Obama and Congress Finally Broke the Stalemate to Make Way for Healthcare Reform.

This week, Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Senator Tom Daschle about the Obama administration's goals for health care, the public's response to healthcare reform and the likely path forward to implementation. Senator Daschle's new book is called Getting it Done: How Obama and Congress Finally Broke the Stalemate to Make Way for Healthcare Reform.

Former Senator Tom Daschle, Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with former Senate Majority Leader, Tom Daschle, now co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center. Senator Daschle discusses the Center's recent report, "Transforming Healthcare: The Role of Health IT". He outlines the steps that need to be taken to speed up the transition to universal use of electronic health records and digitized health information as a fundamental preface to real health care reform.