“ChatGPT, MD”: Author Says AI-Empowered Patients, Doctors Take Control

The U.S. healthcare system could save up to 500,000 lives and $1.5 trillion a year by embracing the right technology, says Dr. Robert Pearl, a Stanford University professor and a noted healthcare influencer.

Pearl, who co-authored his new book “ChatGPT, MD” with the help of generative AI, says the tech’s strength lies in its access to the entirety of medical knowledge. “We shouldn't think of [generative AI] as just another AI tool. This is as … different from what's come before as the iPhone was from the telephone that was in most people's kitchens attached to the wall.”

For clinicians and patients alike, that access can be transformative. Parents might use it to uncover what’s wrong with their child when traditional medicine is still searching for answers. A doctor might identify rare diagnoses in minutes, work that would have taken days in a library.

Hospitals already collect massive data — about a terabyte per facility annually — but 97% of it is never reviewed, Pearl says. The key is narrowing it to specific diseases or trends.

Pearl tells “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter that Gen AI will gain widespread medical acceptance when studies compare outcomes with and without the technology

“We're going to find that the technology is 10% better than the average clinician … or the average nurse in a chronic disease management program…or, for that matter, potentially even the average physician doing inpatient care when there are five or six different doctors taking care of the same patient and they're not effectively communicating.”

Click now to hear his take on the technology’s other benefits.

Dr. Rishi Manchanda, Founder and President of HealthBegins

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Rishi Manchanda, Founder and President of HealthBegins, an online portal to link "upstreamists" - health clinicians working on solving the social and environmental determinants of health. He discusses his new book, The Upstream Doctors, in which he promotes a movement to develop a national force of "upstream" medical professionals dedicated to transforming health care at its source, where patients live, work and play.

Dr. Rick Bright to Lead Bold Pandemic Preparedness Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Rick Bright, Sr. Vice President for Pandemic Preparedness and Response at The Rockefeller Foundation, former chief of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) at HHS, and member of the Biden Transition Team on COVID-19. Dr. Bright is launching a new pandemic preparedness initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation, creating the first-of-its-kind national and global pandemic surveillance infrastructure to alert governments around the world about emerging pandemic threats. Dr. Bright resigned his post at BARDA after filing a whistleblower complaint against the previous administration for mishandling of the pandemic response.

Dr. Richard Gilfillan, acting director for the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on delivery system reform. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Richard Gilfillan, acting director of the newly launched Innovation Center at CMS, about its crucial mission to test, analyze and spread innovative payment and service delivery models to reduce healthcare costs and enhance quality.

Health Care Transformation Task Force Chair Dr. Richard Gilfillan on Value-Based Care Policies Trump and Congress Must Consider

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Richard Gilfillan, CEO of Trinity Health and Chair of the Health Care Transformation Task Force, a consortium of health industry leaders committed to improving health care in the US. Dr. Gilfillan discusses the need for continued support for value-based health care delivery improvements from Congress and the Trump Administration.

Former CDC Chief Questions U.S Reaction to Chinese COVID Outbreak

Dr. Richard Besser, who once led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doesn’t believe the recently enacted U.S. COVID testing requirement for anyone arriving from China will have much of an impact.

Besser, who is currently president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, says he feels such actions are often “more for show than truly for controlling a public health threat” and recalls that 14 years ago possible border closings during the H1N1 outbreak were seen as ineffective.

Besser joins hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to share his insights about the XBB.1.5 Omicron Subvariant, ways to strengthen public health and the tripledemic threat (RSV, COVID and the flu).

Have a Way to Beat an Illness? These Federal Experts Need to Hear From You

We’re on location at Aspen Ideas-Health, talking with the leaders of a new innovation effort. Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is backed by $2.5 billion dollars in federal money with a mandate to accelerate better health outcomes for everyone. The initiative aims to work outside of traditions with a “range of performers and a variety of approaches to solve” health care’s biggest hurdles. Can they find a way to reduce cancer deaths? That’s one of the questions hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter ask Renee Wegrzyn, ARPA-H’s director and Amy Jenkins, its director of Health Science Futures.

Opera Superstar Renée Fleming & Experts Reveal How Music Can Make Us Healthier in New Book

She’s received worldwide praise for singing at the Super Bowl, during a presidential inauguration and regularly for The Metropolitan Opera, but Renée Fleming is stretching her voice in new ways. She’s the editor of “Music and Mind,” a curated collection of essays from leading scientists, artists, creative arts therapists, educators and health care providers about the powerful impacts of music and the arts on health and the human experience.

Renée shares how she discovered her own music and mind connection early in her career when she had back pain and how a dinner with three Supreme Court justices led her to become an unexpected advocate for neuroscience.

Renée, a five-time Grammy award winner, also explains to hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter what happened when she saw the results of a functional MRI experiment she took and what it means for all of us.

This special edition of “Conversations on Health Care” will continue on April 18 with guest Dr. Francis Collins, the former National Institutes of Health director, who’s written the foreword to Renée’s book.

Self-healing joints? Perfect surgeries? Your tax $$ could make it happen

The director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) knows the eyes of the nation are on her. Renee Wegrzyn, Ph.D., leads the billion-dollar effort charged with leveraging research advances for real-world impact.

Wegrzyn talked with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter at Aspen Ideas: Health about the agency’s initiatives, including a $100 million sprint for women’s health and creating tissue-specific delivery of therapies.

“How can we pursue some of these breakthroughs — in our case, for health — by empowering the scientists…the program managers…that have these really big ideas that are so risky that the technical sector, the private sector can’t address because there’s no proof of concept?”

She explained the process: Hire program managers with big ideas in health and give them a time frame to find solutions.

Wegrzyn said the time limit ensures they bring a sense of urgency to solving problems. In return, participants get resources to focus on technical risks.

Many of ARPA-H’s missions are cancer-centered, aimed at issues through what-if questions such as: “What if cancer surgeries were one-and-done?” “What if clinical trials evolved in the same way tumors do?”

She said, “The investments that we’ve made in cancer [include] our precision surgical interventions program. Think about reimagining the operating room suites, when a surgeon is looking into a surgical cavity and trying to remove a tumor.”

Election Year Stress? How Music Can Help the Mind Relax

The upcoming presidential election is stressing out 69% of American adults, according to a survey from the American Psychological Association. If you’re with the majority in feeling that way, there’s important advice to consider from worldwide acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming. She’s the editor of “Music and Mind,” a curated collection of essays from leading scientists, artists, creative arts therapists, educators and health care providers about the powerful impacts of music and the arts on health and the human experience.

Renée shares how she discovered her own music and mind connection early in her career when she had back pain and how a dinner with three Supreme Court justices led her to become an unexpected advocate for neuroscience.   

Renée, a five-time Grammy award winner, also explains to hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter what happened when she saw the results of a functional MRI experiment she took and what it means for all of us

Dr. Regina Benjamin, Surgeon General of the United States

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on the Surgeon General's goals to improve America’s health. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin about her priorities and strategies to promote health and eliminate health disparities.

Dr. Regina Herzlinger, Harvard Business School

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Regina Herzlinger, the Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration Chair at the Harvard Business School. She is considered "the "Godmother of consumer driven health care" and discusses new incentives in the wake of the Affordable Care Act that are increasingly taking the consumer into account, spurring innovation in health industry business models that are poised to better serve consumers while driving down costs.

Is your State ready for the Hurricane? Dr Rebekah Gee, Louisiana Commissioner of Health

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Rebekah Gee, Louisiana Health Secretary on the state's improved storm preparedness based on lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Gee talks about the newly created statewide data base of vulnerable patients, hospital evacuation plans and networked electronic health records as hedges against storm casualties, and how they are assisting Texas and Florida in the wake of two hurricanes. She also discusses the state's improved primary care network after Governor Edwards expanded Medicaid.

Louisiana Health Secretary Rebekah Gee on Tech-Driven Solutions to Storm Preparedness Developed After Katrina and How Expanded Medicaid Coverage Has Improved Population Health

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Rebekah Gee, Louisiana Health Secretary on the state's improved storm preparedness plans based on lessons learned from the devastation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. She talks about the robust state-wide electronic health record system created after the storm including a statewide data base of vulnerable populations for better evacuation strategies, what they've shared with other states facing weather disasters, and how expanded Medicaid has dramatically improved access to primary and preventive care in Louisiana, yielding better health outcomes.

Rebecca Patton, president of the American Nurses Association, on the critical role of nursing in meeting the challenge of healthcare access and transformation.

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week—National Nurses Week—on the role nursing played in health reform, and the challenges ahead. ANA President Rebecca Patton speaks with Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter about the opportunities for nursing and the country to achieve the goals of the health reform legislation.

Guns are Killing American Children: University of Michigan Researcher Rebecca Cunningham is Seeking To Find Out Why

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Rebecca Cunningham, Director of the University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center. Dr. Cunningham is leading a national team of scientists in ground-breaking collaborative research to examine the myriad causes of the gun violence epidemic in this country, now the leading cause of death for America’s teens, and second leading cause of death for American children overall. Congress has recently allocated money for gun violence research after a two-decade drought. Her team is examining social causes, policy requirements and prevention interventions to address the crisis.

Raymond Hurd, Regional Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Raymond Hurd, Regional Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the Medicare Open Enrollment period. He discusses the expanded number of plans available to seniors and also warns of the threat of fraud and scams that impact the Medicare population.

Reimagining the Future of Health Care: Chief Innovation Officer of UPMC, Dr. Rasu Shrestha on Design Thinking and Innovation

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Rasu Shrestha, Chief Innovation Officer of UPMC and VP of UPMC Enterprises, the entrepreneurial division of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Shrestha is also Co-Chair of Health Datapalooza, and discusses the need for design thinking and building a culture of innovation to truly transform the health care system.

Protecting the Health of Our Nation's Active Duty Military and Families: Defense Health Agency Director Vice Admiral Raquel Bono

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Vice Admiral Dr. Raquel Bono, Director of the Defense Health Agency, tasked with providing health services for some 9.4 million members and their families. She talks about the complex, integrated health system providing care from the home base to the battlefield, the implementation of an integrated electronic health records system, and the partnerships required to support the DHA's mission to deliver quality care to all members stationed around the globe.

Dr. Rajiv Bhatia, Founder and President of The Civic Engine

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Rajiv Bhatia, Founder of The Civic Engine which assists civic leaders in strengthening the economic drivers of health in communities. The long-time Director of Occupational and Environmental Health for San Francisco, Dr. Bhatia developed innovative Health Impact Assessment tools to improve health throughout all sectors of the city focusing on open data sharing and transparency.