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MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2019

25-64 Year Olds Are Dying Earlier and Here’s Why: Our Conversations with VCU’s Dr. Steven Woolf

This week on Conversations on Health Care, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Steven Woolf, Distinguished Chair in Population Health at Virginia Commonwealth University - and Health Equity Director Emeritus and Senior Advisor at the V-C-U Center on Society and Health. He talks about their just-released report – showing a decline in life expectancy among working aged adults in the US – a result of the lingering effects of the recession, the opioid crisis and other so-called deaths of despair. The data show this trend has been underway since the 1980’s and has now hit critical mass.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2019

Protecting Your Personal Health Data: US Senator Bill Cassidy on Bipartisan Smartwatch Data Act

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with US Senator Bill Cassidy (R) LA, on the bipartisan bill he co-sponsored aimed at protecting personal health information from industry profiteering. He discusses the “Smartwatch Data Act” which seeks to protect data generated on smart watches, personal electronic devices and genomics testing, to give patients more control over how their data is used for commercial gain.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2019

Ending HIV Epidemic in a Decade: CDC Director Robert Redfield on Treatments, Prevention and Hope For Vaccine

This week, on the eve of World Aids Day, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter revisit their conversation with Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on the quest to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in ten years. They discuss the CDC’s efforts to advance infection prevention in high risk groups through the use of PrEP, better treatment protocols for those already infected, and the ongoing quest to develop an AIDS vaccine.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2019

America's Growing Diabetes Threat: American Diabetes Association's Dr. Louis Philipson on Challenges and Breakthroughs for Nation's 30 Million Diabetics

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Louis Philipson, President of Medicine and Science at the American Diabetes Association and Director of the Kovler Diabetes Center at the University of Chicago who addresses the enormous public health threat of 30 million Americans diagnosed with diabetes as well as 70 million more with pre-diabetes. He examines the challenge of helping patients manage their conditions and talks about promising new research on genomics-based precision medicine approaches to treating certain types of diabetes.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019

United States of Care Founder Andy Slavitt on the ACA, Expanding Coverage and Fixing US Health Care

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Andy Slavitt, former Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Obama, and founder of United States of Care, a non-partisan think tank dedicated to expanding health coverage to all Americans. He examines how efforts to derail health coverage for Americans has become political 'kryptonite' and how there must be bipartisan solutions to expanding coverage, reducing drug costs and addressing health disparities in this country.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2019

America's Mental Health Crisis: NAMI Medical Director Dr. Ken Duckworth on Expanding Screening and Telehealth Services to Meet Demand

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome Dr. Ken Duckworth, Medical Director for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation's largest grassroots organization addressing mental health issues. They discuss causes behind the growing problem of anxiety, depression, suicide and the opioid use disorder, and viable solutions to address the gap in access to mental health care through better screening, telehealth and better training of primary care clinicians.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019

Admiral Joe Sestak, Democratic Presidential Contender, Talks Health Access, Cybersecurity and Caution on Swift March to Medicare For All

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with former Pennsylvania Congressman and three-star Navy Admiral Joe Sestak on his late entry into a run for the Democratic Presidential nomination. He shares his expertise on cybersecurity and threats to American health data, the need to move slowly towards any version of Medicare for All, and the promise of the Veterans Health Administration to meet growing gaps in rural health needs.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2019

Primary Care Transformation Pioneer Dr. Tom Bodenheimer on Need for More Team-Based Health Care

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome a giant in the world of primary care transformation, Dr. Tom Bodenheimer, Co-Director of the Center for Excellence in Primary Care at the University of California San Francisco. They discuss Dr. Bodenheimer's "Ten Building Blocks for High-Performing Primary Care" which offers essential guidelines for improving primary care practices and patient health outcomes through better use of teams, data, health coaching and reducing administrative burdens in the clinical setting.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2019

Addressing Upstream Causes of Poor Health: UCSF's Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo on Embedding Social Determinants Into Healthcare

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California at San Francisco, who recently chaired a committee at the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on the social determinants of health. She discusses their report on ways to incorporate social care into health care, shifting the American health system towards better management of upstream causes of poor health.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

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.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Vaping and the Rise of Teen Nicotine Addiction: Warnings and Solutions from Matthew Myers, CEO of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome Matthew Myers, co-founder and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a leading organization dedicated to reducing tobacco use and harm around the country and the world. He discusses the dramatic decline of teen tobacco use, until the recent rise in vaping and e-cigarettes among the nation's youth - leading to a dramatic increase in nicotine addiction. He discusses the best approach to addressing this public health crisis.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

Quest to Improve Maternal And Childhood Health: Dr. Diana Bianchi Talks About Research Mission at the NICHD

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Diana Bianchi, Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the NIH, the largest funder of health research in the world. She oversees a $1.5 billion budget conducting research in all phases of child health from maternal and reproductive health, to infant diagnostics, adolescence into adulthood, and all people with intellectual disabilities.

MONDAY, SEBTEMBER 9,2019

From Civil Rights to the ACA: House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Fight for Health Equity in America

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter celebrate 10 years on the air and our 500th episode with Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC), House Majority Whip and the third ranking Democrat in Congress. He talks about the legacy of the Affordable Care Act in advancing health equity, and the need to strengthen the nation's community health centers through a national broadband and telehealth initiative to more effectively deploy quality health care to all Americans.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2019

2020 Democratic Presidential Contender Montana Governor Steve Bullock on Health Care, Climate Change and Gun Safety

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Montana Governor and 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Steve Bullock. They discuss his views on strengthening the Affordable Care Act, protecting women's health rights, taking action on climate change, enacting sensible gun laws, and reducing the influence of dark money on American politics.
MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2019

AMA's First African American Female President, Dr. Patrice Harris on Quest for Health Equity

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Patrice Harris, the 174th President of the American Medical Association and the first African American woman to hold the post. She talks about the AMA's efforts to innovate for the evolving health care of the 21st century, with a focus on tackling the opioid crisis, addressing racial disparities in the medical profession, and advancing health coverage, equity and behavioral health parity for all Americans.
MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 2019

Microsoft's Voice and AI Evangelist Noelle LaCharite Talks About Transforming Healthcare With Applied AI Coding

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Noelle LaCharite Principal Program Manager for Applied AI and Cognitive Services at Microsoft, and one of the original voice 'skills' developers for Amazon's Alexa. She talks about the promise of applied AI, machine learning and voice technology systems which enable coders, developers or anyone to create their own applications and voice skills to enhance and advance the health care experience.

MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2019

Addressing War Crimes and Human Rights Violations: Susannah Sirkin of Physicians for Human Rights

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome Susannah Sirkin, Director of Policy at Physicians for Human Rights, an organization using the power of medicine and science to document human rights violations in conflict zones around the world. She discusses their recent report on Syria's attack on its own health care system, the banning of land mines and their work documenting trauma experienced by refugees and asylum seekers here and around the globe.
MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 2019

Medicare-for-All on the Campaign Trail: Kaiser's Larry Levitt Explains It All

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Larry Levitt, Executive Vice President for Health Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation who looks at the differences in proposals from the Democratic presidential candidates. He looks at variations in the "Medicare-for-all" proposals, how it would impact consumers, and examines the shifting role of insurance companies in the ongoing health policy debate.
MONDAY. JULY 29, 2019

The Art of Compromise: Missouri Governor Jay Nixon on Navigating Health Policy in Hyper-partisan Times

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, now Senior Fellow at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, on ways to create effective health policy in this hyper-partisan era. He discusses successful strategies he deployed as a Democratic governor in a red state that might prove effective across the country and in Washington.

MONDAY, JULY 22, 2019

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.