Coordinated Care for High Use Patients: CareMore Health CEO Sachin Jain on Improving Outcomes

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Sachin Jain, CEO of CareMore Health, a coordinated and integrated health care system focused on high-use Medicare and Medicaid patients. Dr. Jain discusses CareMore's team-based approach to chronic disease management deploying ride-sharing and meal delivery services, loneliness prevention and patient support across the care continuum.

Do Your 2025 Healthcare Predictions Match Up With What an Expert Says?

Noted healthcare leader Dr. Sachin Jain has been publicly releasing his annual predictions for the sector for five years and is proud of his “pretty accurate” track record. He’s out now with his list of top 10 predictions for the healthcare industry for 2025. Dr. Jain states that “Heretofore fringe ideas about wellness and disease causation and medications will continue to go mainstream.”

Dr. Jain has held top positions at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. More recently, he’s been a leader in the nonprofit health world, so he has a unique perspective on the entire field. Listen in as he discusses his ideas with “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter.

What You Need to Know About COVID-19 With Dr. Saad Omer of the Yale Institute for Global Health

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Saad Omer, Director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, on the expanding COVID-19 outbreak. A renowned epidemiologist, Dr. Omer discusses the best protocols against spread of the Coronavirus epidemic, the need for evidence-based science to guide government responses, and how the global research community is working together to tackle this outbreak and create a vaccine in record time.

How VA Innovation Affects the Entire Health Care System

The U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs operates the nation’s largest integrated health care system. But how much do you know about how well VA Medical Centers and clinics identify innovative therapies, practices and policies and then diffuse them across a large footprint?

Ryan Vega, MD, MSHA, leads the Innovation Ecosystem within the Veterans Health Administration. This initiative focuses on being the catalyst for enabling the discovery and spread of mission-driven health care innovation to advance care delivery and service.

Dr. Vega highlights point-of-care manufacturing and its 3D Printing Network that were essential during the early days of COVID and the VA’s history of deploying the first cardiac pacemaker.

Conversations on Health Care hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter talk to Dr. Vega about these breakthroughs, how they help the entire health care sector and where the VA is partnering with Federally Qualified Health Centers.

A Roadmap to Improve Health Outcomes By Investing In Green and Healthy Homes

There are many ways to address the social determinants of health but do we need to pay more attention to the one right in front of us? The Green and Healthy Homes Initiative thinks so, and it’s focused on addressing health inequities by making homes healthier, safer and more energy efficient.

Russell Branzell, President and CEO of the College of Health Information Management Executives

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Russell Branzell, President and CEO of the College of Health Information Management Executives or CHIME. They discuss the many challenges being faced by health IT executives in the quest for full adoption of electronic health records, meeting meaningful use standards, cybersecurity, and the problematic delay of ICD 10 adoption.

Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle, Founder and CEO of Iora Health

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle, Founder and CEO of Iora Health, a Cambridge-based startup that is seeking to transform primary care delivery. Dr. Fernandopulle speaks about his quest to reinvent all aspects of care delivery by adressing many of the ailments in the current health care system, including payment models, staffing, IT systems and culture.

Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle, Founder and CEO of Iora Health

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle, Founder and CEO of Iora Health, a Cambridge-based startup that is seeking to transform primary care delivery. Dr. Fernandopulle speaks about his quest to reinvent all aspects of care delivery by adressing many of the ailments in the current health care system, including payment models, staffing, IT systems and culture.

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.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf Discusses the Top News Stories

Dr. Robert Califf, commissioner of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, discusses the promising research behind a new class of diabetes and obesity drugs that could improve tens of millions of lives in America impacted by the obesity epidemic.

He addresses the FDA's pending new tobacco control rules, as well as improvements to the infant formula pipeline in the wake of recent shortages. Dr. Califf also voices deep concerns that health misinformation is the 'leading cause of death in America now.'

American Well Co-Founders Drs. Roy and Ido Schoenberg on Apple Heart Study and the Future of Telemedicine

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with brothers Dr. Roy Schoenberg and Dr. Ido Schoenberg, co-founders of the telehealth company American Well which is partnering with Apple and Stanford on the ground-breaking Apple Heart Study, using the Apple Watch to detect the presence of atrial fibrillation. The Schoenbergs discuss the telemedicine component their company will provide and how this may signal a pivotal moment for telehealth.

Reporters' Roundtable: Why Health Care Will Impact the Election—But To Whose Advantage?

It’s about seven months to election day and our regular panel of health care journalists sees a lot of divisions in the electorate. Joyce Frieden, who’s in charge of MedPage Today's coverage of Washington and health policy, says the debate over abortion is driving voter interest. Yet Ben Leonard, a health care reporter at POLITICO, notes that Republican voters place issues such as immigration ahead of health care.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel Weixel, a health policy reporter for The Hill, says the health care sector should consider itself a winner for avoiding the chopping block during the recent federal budget showdown. This trio of journalists joins hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to share their insights about their news stories including Washington’s take on artificial intelligence in health care and efforts to get federal dollars for the new obesity drugs.

Rosemary Gibson, author of The Treatment Trap: How the Overuse of Medical Care is Wrecking Your Health and What You Can Do to Prevent It.

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on patient safety. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Rosemary Gibson, nationally known for her work in patient safety, communications and healthcare quality. Her latest book, The Treatment Trap, focuses on the overuse of medical care and what can be done to reduce it.

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.

Dr. Roni Zeiger, CEO of Smart Patients

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Roni Zeiger, CEO of Smart Patients, a clinical trials search engine and online community for cancer patients, their caregivers and clinicians to share information about best practices in cancer treatment.

Ron Pollack, Chairman of the Board of Enroll America

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Ron Pollack, Chairman of the Board of Enroll American and Founder and Executive Director of Families USA, whose mission is to assist all Americans seeking insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Pollack discusses Enroll America's mission to facilitate navigation of the online insurance exchanges as well as help those customers who will benefit from the Medicaid expansion.

Health Care Budget Fight: Hear Each Side’s Argument

Republicans in the U.S. House passed a deal that lifts the debt ceiling along with spending cuts aimed at the nation’s health care safety net.

Romina Boccia, Director of Budget and Entitlement Policy at the Cato Institute, supports the move. She says, “I do think there’s quite a bit of improper spending, waste for certain and things the federal government shouldn’t be involved with anymore, where members of Congress could cut.”

Jennifer Wagner, Director of Medicaid Eligibility and Enrollment with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, is a critic of the GOP actions. “These cuts would devastate these programs especially when you protect certain programs that have been taken off the table…that means cuts to other programs like Medicaid like SNAP would be absurdly large,” she explains.

Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter give you the chance to hear both sides on this vitally important budget fight that will continue as President Biden and the Senate make the next moves.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky Talks Boosters, Masks and Health Equity

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Walensky defends the science behind lifting mask restrictions for vaccinated Americans, examines the ongoing research on vaccine efficacy against emerging COVID variants and possibility of a need for booster shots. She also outlines efforts underway by the CDC and the Biden Administration to leverage provisions in the American Recovery Act to address health inequity by strengthening the nation’s public health infrastructure