A Second Opinion with Senator Bill Frist, M.D.: Recent Episodes
A Second Opinion Podcast
The goal is to have A Second Opinion be seen as the go to place for learning how to improve health and health care. Together we will have conversations with the health thought leaders, the entrepreneurs, the clinicians, the policy makers, the business leaders, and the consumers— to better understand how we all can improve health and well-being — of ourselves as individuals, of our families — and of our communities. We achieve this through education and engagement at the nexus of policy, medicine, and innovation
How do we go from creating buildings that are sick – to buildings that are healthy? We as humans spend 90% of our time indoors, yet we think very little about the health of our indoor environment.
Dr. Joseph Allen, director of Harvard’s Healthy Buildings Program, wants to change that. He joins us on the podcast today to share the latest science – which shows that prioritizing building health can not only reduce disease transmission, but improve worker performance, lead to better mental clarity and sleep, and more.
As an Associate Professor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and a renowned forensic investigator of “sick buildings,” Dr. Allen is the leading expert in transforming our indoor environments with health and well-being in mind. His thought-provoking message – including how to keep your home healthy – is one you won’t want to miss.
He's also the author of the new book: Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Can Make You Sick―or Keep You Well – named a NYT and Fortune Magazine Best Book of the Year: https://healthybuildingsbook.com/
A quick note for our listeners – our fourth season is coming to a close – after over 200 hundred episodes, we are going to pause for the holidays and will be back in the spring with a new podcast format, exploring the intersection of nature, biodiversity, climate, and health. I’ll be back in your feed soon with more details on this exciting new series.
Allison Sesso is the President & CEO of RIP Medical Debt, a non-profit established for the sole purpose of reducing the medical debt burdens of low-income individuals across the country. To date, their innovative model has abolished over $7 billion in debt for nearly 4 million people.
Healthcare costs are the #1 cause of bankruptcy for America’s families. In the past five years, more than half of U.S. adults report they’ve gone into debt because of medical or dental bills. About 1 in 7 people with debt said they’ve been denied access to a hospital, doctor, or other provider because of unpaid bills.
RIP Medical Debt is working to change that. On today’s show, Allison shares how they are able to relieve about $100 in debt for every dollar donated, gives insights into their work with heath systems to prevent debt in the first place, and how philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s transformative gift to RIP is making a difference.
Learn more about RIP Medical Debt and how to donate at: https://ripmedicaldebt.org/
Dr. Marc Harrison is the former President and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, a Utah-based integrated health system that is the largest healthcare provider in the Intermountain West. Marc left this role in August to start a revolutionary healthcare platform company with General Catalyst, which is still in its early stages.
Ranked No. 26 on Fortune Magazine's annual list of 50 of the “World's Greatest Leaders,” Marc is known for his transformational, founding leadership of the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi – which today delivers the best healthcare in the Middle East.
On today’s show, he shares with us how his own health crisis has informed his leadership and life choices, what made his time at Intermountain “the best job in healthcare,” and what he’s next excited about.
Dr. Marc Harrison is the former President and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, a Utah-based integrated health system that is the largest healthcare provider in the Intermountain West. Marc left this role in August to start a revolutionary healthcare platform company with General Catalyst, which is still in its early stages.
Ranked No. 26 on Fortune Magazine's annual list of 50 of the “World's Greatest Leaders,” Marc is known for his transformational, founding leadership of the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi – which today delivers the best healthcare in the Middle East.
On today’s show, he shares with us how his own health crisis has informed his leadership and life choices, what made his time at Intermountain “the best job in healthcare,” and what he’s next excited about.
Dr. Ranga Krishnan is the former CEO of the RUSH University System for Health, and currently serves as Senior Advisor to the CEO. He is a national leader in medical education – known for his efforts to reconceptualize traditional medical classroom learning. For four years, he served as dean of the RUSH Medical College, and for eight years led the Duke-N.U.S. Graduate Medical School Singapore, a joint venture between Duke University and the National University of Singapore.
You’ll want to hear his approach for creating an engaging, first-class medical education that significantly lowers costs and reduces barriers to recruiting educators. A psychiatrist by training, Dr. Krishnan also gives his take on the mental health crisis our nation is facing.
Annie Lamont is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Oak HC/FT, where she focuses on growth equity and early-stage venture opportunities in Healthcare and FinTech. One of the most successful women in venture history, Annie has been featured on the Forbes Midas List, and was named one of the top 10 most influential people in healthcare in 2021 by Modern Healthcare.
Annie and I have known each other for a long time, and have had the opportunity to partner on several exciting companies. I have so much admiration for her vision and insightful approach to building impactful healthcare organizations. You’ll want to hear her thoughts on today’s market and how entrepreneurs and investors should be approaching it, as well as her advice for those looking to build a career in venture.
For today’s show, you’re going to hear an engaging, and wide-ranging, conversation between myself and my friend Dr. James Hildreth. We cover health equity, big data, climate change and the healthcare sector, and takeaways from the recent White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.
My co-panelist, Dr. James Hildreth, is the 12th President and CEO of Meharry Medical College, the nation's largest private, historically black academic health sciences center. and in February 2021, Dr. Hildreth was named to President Biden’s Health Equity Task Force.
My conversation with Dr. Hildreth was part of an in-person event hosted on September 30th, 2022 by the Nashville Health Care Council. Established in 1995, the Council is a premier membership association and has provided a foundation for collaboration in healthcare for nearly 30 years.
At this particular gathering, we convened nearly a decade of healthcare leaders who had graduated from the Council’s Fellows program. Each year, a new class of experienced senior leaders from all of health care’s sectors is brought together in Nashville to engage in a nationally unique discussion guided by renowned thought leaders. You can learn more about the Fellows program and how to apply at healthcarecouncilfellows.com.
I want to thank the Nashville Health Care Council for letting us share this event with our listeners.
On September 28, 2022, the White House hosted a landmark conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, the first of its kind in over 50 years. Previously in 1969, a similar White House conference dramatically shifted and shaped the direction of our nutrition guidelines and federal food support programs. There is hope that this convening in 2022 will lead to the development of a national strategy around our nation’s most pressing food challenges.
We are sharing with you today a sampling of the conference. Our show features the panel I moderated, “Evidence to Action: Using research to guide policy and scale pilots.” On the panel, I’m joined by:
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Swati Chandra, Director of the Los Angeles County Food Equity Roundtable,
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Dr. Angela Odoms-Young, the Nancy Schlegel Meinig Associate Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition and the Director of the Food and Nutrition Education in Communities Program at Cornell University
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And Ross Wilson, the Executive Director of the Shah Family Foundation, a foundation in Boston focused on education, health care and community.
I want to thank the Biden-Harris White House for letting us share this event with our listeners.
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You can watch the full White House Conference here: https://health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/white-house-conference-hunger-nutrition-and-health/conference-streaming/
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Biden-Harris Administration National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, Released September 2022: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/White-House-National-Strategy-on-Hunger-Nutrition-and-Health-FINAL.pdf
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A Fact Sheet on new White House commitments related to hunger, nutrition, and health can be found here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/28/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-administration-announces-more-than-8-billion-in-new-commitments-as-part-of-call-to-action-for-white-house-conference-on-hunger-nutrition-and-health/
Dr. Randy Wykoff is the Dean of the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health, and the founding director of the new Center for Rural Health Research. He is a physician trained in both pediatrics and preventive medicine. His research focuses on the inter-relationship of poverty and health, with a specific interest in how to improve the health status of people living in poor and/or rural areas.
Prior to his time at ETSU, Dr. Wykoff served as senior vice president for international operations at Project HOPE. He also spent time in the federal government as the deputy assistant secretary for health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and worked for 11 years in the Food and Drug Administration, holding the positions of associate commissioner for AIDS and special health issues, and, later, associate commissioner for operations.
Dr. Wykoff and I spend the next hour diving into the health challenges facing the people of Appalachia, and the proven solutions that can move the needle on health outcomes in rural America.
Dr. Randy Wykoff is the Dean of the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health, and the founding director of the new Center for Rural Health Research. He is a physician trained in both pediatrics and preventive medicine. His research focuses on the inter-relationship of poverty and health, with a specific interest in how to improve the health status of people living in poor and/or rural areas.
Prior to his time at ETSU, Dr. Wykoff served as senior vice president for international operations at Project HOPE. He also spent time in the federal government as the deputy assistant secretary for health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and worked for 11 years in the Food and Drug Administration, holding the positions of associate commissioner for AIDS and special health issues, and, later, associate commissioner for operations.
Dr. Wykoff and I spend the next hour diving into the health challenges facing the people of Appalachia, and the proven solutions that can move the needle on health outcomes in rural America.
Dean Rosen is a partner at Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas. He’s one of Washington's foremost experts on America’s complex health care system--and a master of both the politics and policies that shape it. He has more than two decades of experience developing and advancing health policy initiatives
on Capitol Hill and in the private sector.
Dean previously served as my chief healthcare advisor when I was Senate Majority Leader. There, he helped draft and navigate to final passage landmark legislation creating the Medicare prescription drug benefit, as well as major bioterrorism legislation following the 9/11 and anthrax attacks.
On the show today, he shares his predictions for the midterm Congressional elections, what it will mean for health policy, and the trends business leaders should be prepared to navigate coming out of Washington.
Dean Rosen is a partner at Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas. He’s one of Washington's foremost experts on America’s complex health care system--and a master of both the politics and policies that shape it. He has more than two decades of experience developing and advancing health policy initiatives
on Capitol Hill and in the private sector.
Dean previously served as my chief healthcare advisor when I was Senate Majority Leader. There, he helped draft and navigate to final passage landmark legislation creating the Medicare prescription drug benefit, as well as major bioterrorism legislation following the 9/11 and anthrax attacks.
On the show today, he shares his predictions for the midterm Congressional elections, what it will mean for health policy, and the trends business leaders should be prepared to navigate coming out of Washington.
Chad Pendleton is President of Amerigroup Tennessee, a leading managed care provider of health benefits for Tennessee residents who participate in the state’s Medicaid programs. Chad has more than 25 years of healthcare and executive leadership experience working with payers and providers across Medicaid, Medicare, Tricare, commercial and workers compensation insurance product lines. Prior to joining Amerigroup, he served as Vice President of Business Development at CareSource, and currently is a volunteer member of the Tennessee Medical Reserve Corps.
In today’s conversation, we dive into the intricacies of Medicaid, discuss how Amerigroup is innovating to address health issues like diabetic retinopathy, and consider how to tackle challenges like our high maternal mortality rates.
Chad Pendleton is President of Amerigroup Tennessee, a leading managed care provider of health benefits for Tennessee residents who participate in the state’s Medicaid programs. Chad has more than 25 years of healthcare and executive leadership experience working with payers and providers across Medicaid, Medicare, Tricare, commercial and workers compensation insurance product lines. Prior to joining Amerigroup, he served as Vice President of Business Development at CareSource, and currently is a volunteer member of the Tennessee Medical Reserve Corps.
In today’s conversation, we dive into the intricacies of Medicaid, discuss how Amerigroup is innovating to address health issues like diabetic retinopathy, and consider how to tackle challenges like our high maternal mortality rates.
Michael Anderson is CEO of Iowa-based PurFoods, also known as Mom’s Meals. PurFoods delivers refrigerated, ready-to-eat, medically-tailored meals to any U.S. address. Partnering with over 500 health plans, Medicare and Medicaid plans, and others, PurFoods has advanced health by making nutritious meals available to those in need.
Mike has been an integral part of the company since its inception in 1999. You’ll hear the story of this family grown business – where the “mom” in Mom’s Meals is Mike’s own mother. And we explore why food increasingly needs to be viewed as medicine for our aging and chronic disease diagnosed populations. It can mean the difference between a healthy recovery or a hospital readmission.
Michael Anderson is CEO of Iowa-based PurFoods, also known as Mom’s Meals. PurFoods delivers refrigerated, ready-to-eat, medically-tailored meals to any U.S. address. Partnering with over 500 health plans, Medicare and Medicaid plans, and others, PurFoods has advanced health by making nutritious meals available to those in need.
Mike has been an integral part of the company since its inception in 1999. You’ll hear the story of this family grown business – where the “mom” in Mom’s Meals is Mike’s own mother. And we explore why food increasingly needs to be viewed as medicine for our aging and chronic disease diagnosed populations. It can mean the difference between a healthy recovery or a hospital readmission.
Mark Yancy is the CEO of NashvilleHealth, a community collaborative focused on improving the health and well-being of all Nashvillians. A lifelong Tennessean, Mark has led the organization for less than a year, but has already made tremendous progress in bringing together diverse stakeholders to creatively move the needle on population health outcomes.
Prior to joining the non-profit, Mark spent 15 years in healthcare focusing on the underserved, with leadership roles at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis and at DaVita Kidney Care.
NashvilleHealth is an organization we started in 2016 with a group of committed community leaders who wanted to see the health of our residents reflect our status as the health services capital of the nation. Surprisingly, Nashville’s health consistently ranks below that of our peer cities.
In my conversation with Mark today, we talk about changing our city’s health trajectory, how our approach can be a model for other cities, and why establishing baseline data is central to understanding the problems and forming solutions.
Learn more about NashvilleHealth at: https://www.nashvillehealth.org/
Nashville Community Health & Well-being Survey: https://www.nashvillehealth.org/survey/
We are joined today by Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator, who gives us a timely update on all things Covid. We discuss the next generation of vaccines and the latest in treatments – including when you should get your booster and what is really behind the “Paxlovid rebound.”
Dr. Jha previously joined us on the podcast on December 13, 2021 in his capacity as Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. He’s on temporary leave from that role to serve in the Biden Administration.
An accomplished physician, health policy researcher and global health advocate, Dr. Jha has led groundbreaking research around Ebola and has been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response since the outset of the pandemic, continuously serving as a trusted voice who translates complex science into language we all can understand.
Today we’re bringing you a special, time sensitive episode sharing what you need to know about monkeypox. We’ll discuss the symptoms, the treatments and vaccinations, who’s at risk, and why it’s been declared a public health emergency.
We’re joined by Dr. William Schaffner, who has been a familiar and nationally recognized face and trusted voice on all matters COVID during the pandemic. As one of our nation’s preeminent infectious disease experts, Dr. Schaffner is a master communicator and was a colleague of mine when I was doing heart and lung transplants at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Today he is medical director and past president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. He’s also Professor of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Health Policy and Professor of Medicine in the Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Latest figures show over 30,000 cases of monkeypox across 88 countries, as well as over 9,000 in the U.S. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a global health emergency. This is a rapidly evolving public health emergency, changing day by day. So, please continue to follow the latest recommendations by the CDC.
Scott Tapp is President and CEO of Trella Health. An Atlanta-based company, Trella provides market intelligence and a CRM platform built for post-acute providers and suppliers organizations, to drive more effective performance and business growth. With market visibility, healthcare organizations can identify the highest-potential referral targets, evaluate opportunities for new markets or services, and monitor performance metrics. With Trella’s solutions, business development teams can better manage referral relationships to advance their organizations with certainty.
Scott shares what it means to be one of only a few companies deemed both a Qualified Entity by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and an Innovator under CMS’s Virtual Research Data Center Program.
I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Scott through our firm Cressey & Company, and have admired how he’s stewarded Trella through dynamic growth that is making a difference in health outcomes.
Trella Health’s Post-Acute Care Industry Trend Report: https://www.trellahealth.com/2021-industry-trend-report-medicare-data-analytics/
Dr. Lee Fleisher is the Chief Medical Officer & Director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He is responsible for executing all national clinical, quality, and safety standards for healthcare facilities and providers, as well as establishing Medicare coverage determinations for services that improve health outcomes. An anesthesiologist by training, he is Professor Emeritus and Former Chair of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
Dr. Fleisher and I discuss how the pandemic impacted hospital and patient safety and what it says about our health care system’s safety culture & infrastructure, and we dive into the details of CMS’s ambitious new National Quality Strategy.
Learn more about CMS’s National Quality Strategy here: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Value-Based-Programs/CMS-Quality-Strategy
Cindy Baier is President and CEO of Brookdale Senior Living, the largest senior living operator in the nation. The $2.8 billion company operates nearly 700 senior living communities and has the ability to serve approximately 60,000 residents through its independent living, assisted living, memory care, and continuing care retirement communities.
As CEO, Cindy led the company through the largest public health crisis in 100 years by prioritizing the health and well-being of residents, patients, and associates. Her new book, Heroes Work Here: An Extraordinary Story of Courage, Resilience, and Hope from the Front Lines of COVID-19, recounts how she and her team successfully navigated this period of uncertainty and upheaval. She shares her lessons learned, her compassionate leadership philosophy, and how her experiences growing up on a farm in a small town in Illinois shaped her as an executive today.
You can find more information on Cindy’s book, Heroes Work Here: https://www.brookdalenews.com/brookdales-ceo-shares-book-on-how-to-navigate-crisis-and-beyond-heroes-work-here-is-available-now-in-hardcover.htm
And purchase it here: https://www.amazon.com/Heroes-Work-Here-Extraordinary-Resilience/dp/1955884056
Fay Rotenberg is the President and CEO of Firefly Health, a virtual-first primary care, behavioral health, and specialty care company that has launched a ‘care + coverage’ health plan offering to provide half-priced healthcare that is twice as good, clinically and emotionally. Fay brings extensive, dynamic experience as a Healthcare Founder, CEO, Venture Investor, and Developer.
You’ll want to listen to hear how Fay and Firefly are building what they’re calling a ‘virtual-first Kaiser Permanente’ – restructuring how care is delivered to solve for value, and then passing that value onto employers and patients.
Today I am joined by Bill Mixon, CEO of National Seating & Mobility, considered North America’s most experienced provider of complex rehabilitation seating, mobility and positioning systems.
Prior to joining NSM, Bill served as President for Universal Hospital Services, and in key leadership roles at Philips Medical Systems.
Bill is passionate about the clients he serves at NSM, and how their products can change lives for the disabled, and those living with chronic, neurological, and degenerative diseases. I’ve had the opportunity to advise National Seating & Mobility, and know this is a terrific company with visionary leadership that you’ll want to learn more about.
Dr. Kim Williams is a nationally renowned cardiologist who has long advocated for disease prevention through nutrition. He is the incoming chair of the University of Louisville Department of Medicine, and most recently served as the chief of the Division of Cardiology at Rush University and associate dean for faculty diversity, equity and inclusion. He is also a past president of the American College of Cardiology and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, and former chairman of the board of directors of the Association of Black Cardiologists.
Dr. Williams is an expert in health equity, and the founder of the Urban Cardiology Initiative in Detroit, a program that works to reduce ethnic heart care disparities.
In our conversation today, you’ll want to hear his fascinating personal story of growing up on the South Side of Chicago, and how the poor care he received as an 11-year old helped inspire his medical career. And the data he shares on nutrition’s impact on disease prevention and longevity may have you rethinking your own diet!
Today I am joined by Tim Manning, an emergency response expert who served as the National Covid-19 Supply Coordinator for the White House Covid Response Team through May of 2022. Tim’s unique role was created by President Biden to respond to the pandemic, a position he took on after previously serving as FEMA’s deputy administrator for all eight years of the Obama White House.
You’ll want to hear Tim’s fascinating experiences solving for the challenges in our nation’s supply chain, how he made the tough decisions impacting the health and lives of Americans, and what still keeps him up at night on the supply chain horizon.
Today I am joined by Stu Clark, CEO of Premise Health. Stu has led Premise since its inception in 2014, and has held executive roles in the direct healthcare industry for more than 20 years, including serving as the CEO of CHS Health Services, Inc.
Stu is a longtime friend, and in our conversation today we discuss how direct healthcare has evolved and is making a difference for both employers and their employees. Stu also shares his dealmaking and acquisition experience, and why you can’t ignore culture – in fact, it’s the most important thing when growing a business.
Today I am joined by Dr. Anand Shah, a practicing physician and policy maker who has worn multiple hats at the highest levels of our federal health agencies. Most recently, Dr. Shah served as Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs for the Food and Drug Administration, where he developed and led high-priority FDA policy initiatives. He also served at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, both as senior medical advisor as well as the Chief Medical Officer for CMMI —the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation. He practices as a radiation oncologist specializing in the early detection & treatment of prostate cancer, and he is currently an Operating Advisor to the global private investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and serves as a director for a number of healthcare companies.
In our conversation, we dive into the innerworkings of federal health agencies in the midst of a pandemic, we touch on issues like the threat of antimicrobial resistance, and increasing access to breakthrough medical devices. You’ll want to hear Dr. Shah’s experience in bringing new technologies to market, redesigning health care delivery with economic incentives, and expanding competition and consumer choice. All that and much more …
To learn more from Dr. Shah, follow him at:
- Twitter: @AnandShahMD
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anandshahmd/
Today I am joined by Dr. Keith Smith, the co-founder of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, which provides transparent, affordable healthcare services to patients from all over the country.
Keith is a pioneer of price transparency and affordable healthcare. At his surgery center, patients pay up-front for services at a fraction of their cost at major hospitals. In 2009, Keith launched a website displaying all-inclusive, bundled pricing and co-founded the Free Market Medical Association.
Join us for our conversation today as Keith and I breakdown the impact of transparent pricing in healthcare, why healthcare has historically struggled to fit into traditional markets, and how the narrative of price transparency is changing.
Brian Blase joins us today. He is the founder and president of Paragon Health Institute, a non-partisan, not-for-profit health policy research institute that focuses on free-market policy solutions so that patients can make more informed health care decisions.
Brian previously served as a special assistant for economic policy at the White House’s National Economic Council from 2017-2019.
In our conversation today, Brian and I discuss price transparency—what it means and the rules, regulation, and enforcement being implemented—and the importance of health policy institutes like Paragon and their work seeking to make sure that patients are informed when it comes to healthcare pricing and decisions.
Today our subject is “compassionate leadership” in healthcare – what it is, how it is manifested and how it will improve your own life – and your bottom line.
I am joined by four distinguished healthcare leaders: Founder of Vertice Pharma -- Don DeGolyer; Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of PeopleOne Health—Dr. Zane Gates; former CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota—Dr. Craig Samitt; and, by my good friend and global health activist—Donato Tramuto.
Donato just this month published his book, The Double Bottom Line: How Compassionate Leaders Captivate Hearts and Deliver Results. It is already Number 1 in a number of Amazon book categories. The book specifically defines compassionate leadership, interweaving inspiring stories about healthcare leaders and other leaders putting empathy into action.
Don DeGolyer, Dr. Zane Gates, and Dr. Craig Samitt—each leaders from across the healthcare sector—share how compassion has cultivated their own style of leadership and why compassion is essential to establishing trust and ultimately driving transformational change.
In our conversation today, we breakdown what it means to be a compassionate leader and the myths that surround it; we talk about the importance of tenderness, trust, and toughness; we advocate for the importance of institutionalizing compassion, empathy, and, most importantly, action in our personal and organizational mission and values; and, we discuss how compassion can be used as a basis to better connect and promote unity at the workplace and at home.
You will learn the 9 words that these leaders believe best characterize “compassionate leadership.” You’re going to love it!
For more on what we discuss in today’s show, pick up Donato’s new book: The Double Bottom Line: How Compassionate Leaders Captivate Hearts and Deliver Results: https://www.amazon.com/Double-Bottom-Line-Compassionate-Captivate/dp/163908004X
Today I am joined by Dr. Shiv Rao. He is the CEO and co-founder of Abridge, a company using Artificial Intelligence to summarize and structure medical conversations, allowing patients to receive better quality care by improving how they communicate with clinicians.
Shiv is revolutionizing and improving care delivery by reinventing how patients and providers communicate during the examination room and beyond. He is devoted to reshaping and restructuring the healthcare landscape with a technology that directly benefits patients, payors, and providers alike.
In our conversation today, Shiv and I discuss why the art of conversation is fundamental to quality healthcare, how ambient artificial intelligence is improving patient-provider communication, and the importance of developing innovations and technologies with large scale, reach, and impact.
Today I am joined by Dr. Daniel Stein, the CEO and Founder of Embold Health, a physician led data analytics company.
Daniel is bringing quality measures and improvement to the forefront of medical practice- allowing patients and payors to see how clinicians compare at clinical diagnostics, treatment, and outcomes.
In our conversation today, Daniel and I discuss the impactful innovation taking place at Embold Health, the importance of quality measures and physician evaluation, and how to transparently analyze and assess the quality of care clinicians provide.
Today, Dr. Peter Pronovost joins us. He is the Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, where he is a champion for innovation as well as patient safety and value improvement. His devotion to value improvement in this role reduced Medicare Annual expenditures by 21% over a two-year period.
Nicknamed “Dr. Checklist,” Peter garnered worldwide recognition for a patient safety checklist that he developed. And, in 2008, he received a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” and was named by Time magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People.”
In our conversation today, Peter and I talk about what it means to provide high quality care, about the necessary cultural shifts that are taking place in healthcare, about how even seemingly simple innovations can have long-lasting impacts on providing patients with better care, and about the power of our beliefs, human connection, and love in positively impacting others.
Additional Resources:
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University Hospitals’ Journey to Zero Harm: https://vimeo.com/687888354
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Pronovost on Love Wins: https://vimeo.com/555014083/162fedf615
Todd Park is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Devoted Health. A leader in the Medicare Advantage space, Devoted was started five years ago and today has a valuation of over $12 billion, and boasts an extraordinary member Net Promoter Score of 79 (higher than Apple, Netflix, and Amazon).
Prior to co-founding Devoted, Todd served as U.S. Chief Technology Officer and, in that position, as an Assistant to President Obama. He has had a hand in building some of the most innovative healthcare technology companies today, previously co-founding Athenahealth, a developer of cloud-based healthcare products and electronic health record systems, and Castlight Health, a web-based healthcare shopping service for consumers.
In the candid discussion that we’re sharing with you today, Todd reveals the most important quality he looks for when building a team, how he maintains a strong company culture through expansive growth, and why he’s committed to Devoted Health for decades to come.
My conversation with Todd was part of an in-person event on “Transformation and Innovation within Health Care” hosted on March 24th by the Nashville Health Care Council. Established in 1995, the Council is a premier membership association and has provided a foundation for collaboration in healthcare for nearly 30 years.
I want to thank the Nashville Health Care Council for letting us share this event with our listeners. And special thanks to our event sponsors Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, Bass Berry & Sims, Cressey & Company, and LifePoint Health, for making this discussion possible.
Today I am joined by Nancy Agee. She is the President and CEO of the Carilion Clinic serving over a million people in Virginia and West Virginia. Nancy is also the former chair of the American Hospital Association.
She is renowned for her leadership and has been named repeatedly to the Top 25 Women in Healthcare. She has devoted her life to serving communities and improving healthcare accessibility, affordability, and outcomes in rural, underserved communities.
In our far-reaching conversation today, Nancy and I discuss the value of more female leadership in healthcare, the future of value-based care, how the pandemic expedited the need for behavioral health and telehealth, and our obligation to lift up our communities so that everyone has a chance at a long, healthy life.
My friend, Dr. Julio Frenk, joins us today. He is the president of the University of Miami as well as the former Dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and former Minister of Health of Mexico.
Julio has devoted his life to “Health, Hope, and Healing” and is a globally recognized leader in public health and education.
In our conversation today, Julio and I discuss the importance of clear communication both in medicine and in policy, how we can reimagine the education of health professionals, what the future of healthcare holds as we navigate lessons learned from the pandemic, and the catalytic power that foundations have in truly promoting the common good.
Elad Walach joins us today. Elad is the co-founder and CEO of Aidoc, a New York & Tel Aviv-based company providing Artificial Intelligence solutions for medical imaging and health systems. Aidoc’s artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the accuracy of medical diagnoses and improving the outcomes and quality of care patients receive.
Elad began his career in an elite Israeli Defense Force technology program and went on to lead AI research in the Israeli Air Force.
In our conversation today, Elad and I look into cutting edge healthcare technology innovation, discussing the uptake and cultural acceptance of technology in modern medicine and how Artificial Intelligence provides information management solutions by increasing efficiency and decreasing waste and cost.
Dr. Mandy Cohen joins us today. You will be inspired. On March 1st, she took over as CEO of Aledade Care Solutions (ACS), and an Executive Vice President for Aledade. A “primary care enablement company,” Aledade is on the forefront of revolutionizing value-based care by working to establish a more efficient and a more effective delivery system for primary care.
Dr. Cohen previously served as the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. And, before that, she served for over 5 years in Washington, D.C. at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Starting with CMMI Innovation Center and ending being Chief Operating Officer.
In our conversation today, Dr. Cohen and I talk about a range of issues, about how whole-person care and value-based care can result and will result in better quality care, how necessary good, actionable data leads to effective wrap-around solutions to benefit the health and wellbeing of patients, and about how policy can allow communities to lead with equity.
Additional Resources:
Nashville Covid-19 After Action Report highlighted by Senator Frist: “Strategies For Future Preparedness: Examining The Impact Of Covid-19 In Nashville,” https://www.nashvillehealth.org/covid-response/
Jonathan Bush joins us today. He is the founder and CEO of Zus Health (pronounced Zeus), a young and rapidly growing company working to “reverse the curse of health data isolation” by creating the healthcare industry’s first shared development platform backed by a shared data record.
Prior to founding Zus, Jonathan was a co-founder and CEO of athenahealth. Currently, he also serves as the Executive Chairman of Firefly Health.
In our conversation today, Jonathan and I will take you on a fast-moving tour on empowering digital-first healthcare for better patient experiences and outcomes, on how policy set the stage for the founding of Zus, on pivotal points in his career and life and how setbacks lead to growth, on his fantastic ride and leadership with athenahealth, and, finally, on a crystal ball look into the future.
Robin Shah is the co-founder and CEO of Thyme Care, a fast-growing, two-year old company that guides cancer patients through a complex healthcare system by providing highly personalized support, quality resources, & quick access to high-value, holistic care.
Prior to founding Thyme Care, Robin held leadership roles at OneOncology and Flatiron Health, two innovative and cutting-edge healthcare organizations that are at the forefront of rethinking cancer care. And I’ve personally had the opportunity to work closely with him through Thyme Care’s partnership with Frist Cressey Ventures.
In our conversation, Robin and I consider why treatment for cancer has become so complicated for today’s patients, and what an ideal care journey can look like with the right support.
Dr. Ashish Shah is the Alfred Blalock Endowed Director and Chair, Department of Cardiac Surgery, and director of Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Vanderbilt. He is the driving force behind the nation's busiest heart transplant center. Vanderbilt does more heart transplants than any hospital in the world.
February is American Heart Month, and in today’s conversation, Dr. Shah and I do a deep dive on heart health and the latest in transplantation – the miraculous, life-giving procedure that is rapidly evolving with today’s cutting-edge science. We cover pig hearts, novel “heart in a box” technology, and medical progress that once sounded like science-fiction.
Additional Resources: Below are the videos cited in today’s show re: Vivien Thomas:
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American Experience “Partners of the Heart” (TV Episode 2002) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328241/
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“Something the Lord Made,” HBO Movie, 2007 - https://amzn.to/3uJngIE
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Vivien Thomas, “Partners of the Heart: Vivien Thomas and His Work with Alfred Blalock: An Autobiography,” 1998 - https://amzn.to/3rMSQn5
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Gwendolyn Hooks & Colin Bootman, “Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas,” Children’s book, 2016 - https://amzn.to/3LvUDof
Wright Lassiter is the President and CEO of the Henry Ford Health System, overseeing the $6.6 billion integrated health system comprised of five acute care hospitals, three behavioral health facilities, a regional health plan and a wide range of ambulatory, retail and other health services across Michigan.
Wright is also the 2022 Chairman of the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees, becoming the top-elected official of the national organization representing America’s hospitals and health systems.
In our discussion today, Wright and I consider the future of America’s hospitals, and the innovation and disruption that’s shaping healthcare today.
Dr. Linda Burnes Bolton is the Senior Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer at Cedars-Sinai. She joined Cedars-Sinai in 1971, was named vice president of nursing in 1991, and serves as the inaugural holder of the James R. Klinenberg, MD, and Lynn Klinenberg-Linkin Chair in Nursing.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, Dr. Burnes Bolton has impacted healthcare policy, clinical practice and patient care nationally while elevating the role and enhancing the professional training of nurses. One of the nation’s leading experts in the field, she’s served as president of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, the National Black Nurses Association and the American Academy of Nursing.
In our discussion today, Linda and I do a deep dive on the challenges in the nursing profession – including shortages, equity, and nursing education.
National Academy of Medicine Future of Nursing Reports:
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2011: The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health - presents a set of bold recommendations to strengthen the capacity, education, and critical role of the nursing workforce: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12956/the-future-of-nursing-leading-change-advancing-health
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2016: The Future of Nursing: Assessing Progress on the Institute of Medicine Report - highlights promising progress made since the 2011 report while noting that much more needs to be done: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27010049/
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2021 - The Future of Nursing 2020 – 2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity – focusing on the achievement of health equity in the United States built on strengthened nursing capacity and expertise: https://nam.edu/publications/the-future-of-nursing-2020-2030/
On January 14th, A Second Opinion joined with the Princeton University Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies and Princeton’s Center for Health and Wellbeing for Part 5 in a series, on the fiscal, monetary and health policy response implications of Covid-19. You can hear Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4 of this series in our podcast episode numbers 48, 69, 96 and 122.
For our discussion, I’m joined by Princeton’s leading economic and health policy experts:
- Jessica Metcalf, Associate Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary Biology & Public Affairs,
- Alan Blinder, the Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, and a former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,
- And Dr. Bill Dudley, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and now Senior Research Scholar at the Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies.
In this wide-ranging discussion, we cover the latest on how our current public health crisis has dramatically changed and continues to impact our economy, and our fiscal and monetary policy. You can see the video version of this talk, which includes presenters’ slides, on our YouTube channel.
We’re sharing with you a special discussion we had at the end of last year with Dr. Michael Petersen, who in 2021 served as the Chief Clinical Innovation Officer of NTT DATA Services. Dr. Mike is a pediatric emergency medicine physician, served in the U.S. Army, and brings over 20 years of deep health industry knowledge of emerging technologies and strategy. Today, he is at PwC as Managing Director - Clinical Health Transformation Lead.
With his early childhood spent in a Vietnamese orphanage, his personal life experiences have informed his executive leadership in addressing complex issues of health equity.
Dr. Mike and I came together as a part of an immersive Telehealth Academy series organized by the Nashville Entrepreneur Center’s Project Healthcare, The Disruption Lab, and Sage Growth Partners. Thank you to the event organizers for letting us share this discussion with our A Second Opinion audience.
Eric Hargan served as the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 2017 to 2021. As Deputy Secretary, he oversaw the development and approval of all HHS, CMS, and FDA regulations, as well as the day-to-day operations and management of the department – the largest in the federal government with a budget in excess of $1.3 trillion and over 80,000 employees.
Eric was instrumental in Operation Warp Speed, the Trump Administration’s price transparency initiatives, as well as reforms that allowed for major telehealth expansion. Also a veteran of the Bush HHS department, today Eric leads the Hargan Group and serves as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University.
He shares with us his fascinating experience working at the highest levels of both the public and private healthcare sectors.
This episode is brought to you by MEDHOST, a Trusted EHR for Healthcare Facilities. To learn more, go to Medhost.com.
Shawn Morris is CEO of Privia Health, an exciting, national physician enablement company that’s shaking up primary care and other specialty areas. Shawn has led Privia since 2018, expanding into new provider areas including California and West Texas, and successfully taking it public this year. Privia was recently recognized among Inc. Magazine’s Best-Led Companies for 2021.
Shawn previously served as the President and COO of Cigna-Healthspring, overseeing Cigna’s multi-billion dollar Medicare Advantage business. In today’s discussion, he brings his extensive knowledge of the insurance market, and how to equip physicians with the tools they need to deliver the high-value care they want to provide – and consumers want to receive.
For more on Privia Health:
Privia Health's Chief Clinical Officer, Keith Fernandez, MD, and Chief Medical Officer of Privia Medical Group — Mid-Atlantic, Fred Taweel, MD, were recently featured by the American Medical Association regarding Privia's ACO success within the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) for the 2020 performance year. Read it here: https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/payment-delivery-models/physician-leaders-patient-access-drive-privia-health-s
This episode is brought to you by MEDHOST, a Trusted EHR for Healthcare Facilities. To learn more, go to Medhost.com.
Dr. Wes Ely is a pulmonologist, critical care physician and tenured professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is also the founder and codirector of the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship Center, an organization devoted to research and ongoing care for patients and families affected by critical illness.
Dr. Ely’s groundbreaking investigations introduced crucial changes that reshaped intensive care: minimizing sedation, maximizing mobility, attending to the family, and providing supportive aftercare.
His new book, Every Deep-Drawn Breath (https://www.icudelirium.org/every-deep-drawn-breath), rethinks critical care – a shift that was sparked in Dr. Ely when suddenly he found himself not as the physician, but as the loved one at the bedside of a sick family member. Dr. Ely is donating all his net proceeds from this book to a fund established to help ICU survivors and their families.
This episode is brought to you by MEDHOST, a Trusted EHR for Healthcare Facilities. To learn more, go to Medhost.com.
Dr. Ashish Jha is a physician, health policy researcher, and the third Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. Dr. Jha is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic preparedness and response, has led groundbreaking research around Ebola and is now on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response, leading national and international analysis of key issues and advising state and federal policymakers. He previously led the Harvard Global Health Institute and teaching at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.
You’ll want to hear our discussion on the future of public health and how to address its increasing politicization.
Today we’re sharing with you a special episode that we recorded in front of a live audience out at my farm, Old Town. I’m joined by Bruce Broussard, President and CEO of Humana, and Glen Tullman, CEO of Transcarent, to discuss the evolution of care models and where healthcare is headed in the future.
A special thanks to Emids Technologies, a leading provider of digital transformation solutions to the healthcare industry, for organizing this timely panel. Learn more about their work at www.emids.com.
As the nation and world continue to grapple with COVID-19, there is much to learn about how to improve our health preparedness in the midst of crisis. Nashville is one of the first communities in the nation to do a comprehensive review of lessons learned from Nashville's health, business and community response to the pandemic.
Today, we’re going to share with you highlights of this review, with takeaways that all cities and communities nationwide should be considering as they assess, plan, and prepare for future.
I’m joined by Meharry Medical College President Dr. James Hildreth, a member of President Biden’s COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, and Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician, former Health Commissioner of Baltimore, and a senior adviser to Avalere Health. Both have played important roles in Nashville’s Covid-19 response review, and as physicians with significant public health leadership experience, they give their candid thoughts on what went right, and what went wrong.
Special thanks to NashvilleHealth, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Nashville Health Care Council, Meharry Medical College, and Avalere Health, for making this review possible.
Read the summary and the full Nashville Covid-19 Response Review here: https://www.nashvillehealth.org/covid-response/
This episode is brought to you by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are in every ZIP code in every state, working to improve health and expand access to care. Community by community. For the health of America.
I’m joined today by the top leadership of Seniorlink, an innovative company that provides coaching, emotional and financial support for families caring for loved ones. Tom Riley serves as CEO, and Matt Marek is the President and Chief Operating Officer. Together, they are working with Medicaid-eligible and Medicare Advantage members who want an alternative to nursing home care. Seniorlink supports and provides the needed tools to the millions of family caregivers who are key to keeping their loved ones healthy and cared for in the home setting.
With November being National Family Caregivers Month, our discussion today is both timely and needed.
Today we’re sharing with you a special bonus episode. As we head into our second holiday season in the midst of a global pandemic, I sit down with NIAID Direction & President Biden’s Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s discussion on COVID-19, the Forecast for the Holidays, 2022 & Beyond.
We touch on when we’ll move to the endemic phase of Covid, childhood vaccinations, bipartisanship & science, and his advice for staying safe & healthy during the holidays.
You can listen to the full BPC event here: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/event/covid-19-whats-the-forecast-for-the-holidays-2022-beyond/
Tom Spann is CEO of Brightside, a comprehensive financial health engagement platform that partners with employers to give employees and their families the financial care they need. Previously, he was the founding CEO of Accolade, which today helps over 2 million people navigate the health system.
Our discussion today is centered on how one’s personal financial health has a direct impact on health and well-being. With three out of four Americans ranking their finances as the No. 1 stress in life, Brightside is on a mission to change that, improving not just personal finances but employee happiness.
We are joined again today by one of our very first guests on the show. Sam Quinones is an award-winning journalist and the New York Times bestselling author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic.
Two years ago, Sam and I discussed how opioid addiction had transformed the health and healthcare landscape of our nation. Today, Sam is back to share with us his latest book, out now, The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth.
His fascinating, in-depth reporting reveals the rapidly evolving drug epidemic that, while overshadowed by a global pandemic, has in many ways intensified. He also shares stories of hope that demonstrate we still have a path forward on this uniquely challenging public health crisis. And if you enjoy today’s episode, I encourage you to go back and listen to our original discussion in Episode #12.
Dr. Kevin Churchwell is the president and CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital, ranked the number one pediatric hospital in the nation. There, they treat more rare and complex pediatric cases than any other hospital in the world.
On today’s show, Dr. Churchwell shares his inspiring story of how he went from being a practicing physician to leading major pediatric health systems – previously serving as CEO of the Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware, the Vanderbilt Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital in Nashville, and today leading Boston Children’s.
Dr. Emily Wang is a professor in the Yale School of Medicine and directs Yale’s new SEICHE Center for Health and Justice, which works to stimulate community transformation by identifying the legal, policy, and practice levers that can improve the health of individuals and communities impacted by mass incarceration.
Today with Dr. Wang, we’re covering a topic we’ve never touched on in A Second Opinion: the effect of mass incarceration on individual and community health. It’s an issue that’s overlooked and ignored by our traditional healthcare systems – yet so many are impacted: half of Americans have family members who have been incarcerated. Dr. Wang’s expertise on this issue will have you rethinking our approaches to jail, prison, and healthcare.
To read more about what doctors, health system leaders and policymakers can do to support decarceration, Dr. Wang recommends: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2773226.
For a general review on mass incarceration: https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)30259-3.pdf.
Additional information on the Transitions Clinic Network:
- Website: https://transitionsclinic.org/
- NPR article: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/12/05/499775644/helping-ex-inmates-stay-out-of-the-er-brings-multiple-benefits
- NY Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/health/ex-prisoners-health-california.html
On October 6th, the United Way of Greater Nashville hosted a timely and compelling discussion on “Healthcare Disparities in Our Own Backyard.” The panel was made possible by the United Way’s de Tocqueville Society, a now-global society that was founded in 1981 by my brother Dr. Tommy Frist, Jr., to deepen relationships between the United Way and community leaders.
We’re sharing this discussion with you as a close look at the health and healthcare disparities in one southern city, my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, as well as examine how our leading healthcare providers are working to specifically address these shortfalls.
In the discussion, we highlight some of the concerning statistics uncovered in a recent community health and well-being survey, which you can find at: www.nashvillehealth.org/survey
Now let me turn to our panel, where I’m joined by:
- James Hildreth, President & CEO of Meharry Medical College, and a member of the Biden-Harris COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force;
- Consuelo Wilkins, Senior Vice President & Senior Associate Dean for Health Equity and Inclusive Excellence at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center;
- Tama Van Decar, Chief Medical Officer of HCA Healthcare – TriStar Division; who prior to joining the private sector had a highly decorated 20-year military career, and
- Mary Kate Mouser, Director of Community Health and Benefits at Ascension Saint Thomas, where she works to establish strategies to improve the health of communities.
Dr. Harvey Fineberg is president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. He previously served as president of the U.S. Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine), as provost of Harvard University, and as dean of the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.
Our wide-ranging discussion today hits on so many topics, including the role of foundations in impacting health, his research on the controversial 1976 federal immunization program against swine flu – and its applications today, and how we should reform American medical education. It’s a discussion you don’t want to miss.
This episode is brought to you by MEDHOST, a Trusted EHR for Healthcare Facilities. To learn more, go to Medhost.com.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb is the 23rd commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, serving from 2017 through 2019. Today, he’s a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, serves on the board of Pfizer, and is one of the most knowledgeable, sought-after experts on drug and device regulation and our nation’s public health.
He also has a new book out called, Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic. In today’s discussion, Dr. Gottlieb shares with us what he learned in writing this authoritative account, including everything that went wrong that left us excessively vulnerable to Covid-19, including how we over-focused on political failures and continue to overlook our nation’s systemic shortcomings. He gives an update on when we can expect Covid vaccine approval for kids, and what we need to do to be prepared for the next pandemic.
Learn more about Dr. Gottlieb’s new book, including where to buy it, here: www.uncontrolledspread.com/
A note for listeners: we are taking a short break and won’t have a podcast next week on October 4th, but we’ll be back in your feed on Monday, October 11th.
This episode is brought to you by MEDHOST, a Trusted EHR for Healthcare Facilities. To learn more, go to Medhost.com.
Dr. Keith Churchwell is the president of Yale New Haven Hospital. A strategic and innovative leader, Dr. Churchwell is leading Yale New Haven into the new era of hospital care with an eye towards equity and diversity.
With his roots here in Nashville, Dr. Churchwell shares with us how his family’s commitment to excellence shaped his career – he and his two brothers are all hospital system leaders. And we talk about what it takes to make the tough calls in healthcare that take guts but result in true breakthroughs.
For more insights from Dr. Churchwell, read the following resources:
- Call to action in Circulation: structural racism as a major driver of health disparities: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000936
- Working towards more equitable communities: https://www.ynhh.org/publications/bulletin/111220/an-interview-with-keith-churchwell-md-president-yale-new-haven-hospital.aspx
- Fighting Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy: https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/ynhh_naacp_town_hall/
- Pushing for diversity in clinical trials: https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/churchwell_interview/
Dr. Kelly Arnold is a pioneering physician who founded Clinica Medicos, a medical clinic designed to meet the unique needs of Chattanooga, Tennessee’s Latino community. Will an entirely bilingual medical staff and a commitment to address all patients needs in a culturally sensitive approach, the clinic is based on a principle that no one who walks in will ever be turned away. In just over five years, Dr. Arnold has grown Clinica Medicos to treat thousands of patients, in a model that communities nationwide should look to as a way to provide care for the underserved and minority populations.
Today we are doing a deep dive into the revolutionary new field of synthetic biology. I’m thrilled to be joined by Dr. Jason Kelly, the CEO and co-founder of the company that’s leading this revolution, Ginkgo Bioworks.
Ginkgo is the largest designer of synthetic DNA in the world, and programs cells for customers in the chemical, pharmaceutical, food, and energy industries. It’s valued at $15 billion and has been listed for the past three years on CNBC's Disruptor 50 List of fast-growing companies.
I truly believe this field will dramatically transform future industries in the way that Apple and Microsoft have changed our lives with technology – and Jason tells the story of how this future is possible on today’s show.
This episode is brought to you by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are in every ZIP code in every state, working to improve health and expand access to care. Community by community. For the health of America.
Today we’re focusing in on rural behavioral health, looking at Montana as an example for some of the barriers we’re seeing nationwide, and a model for potential solutions to these challenges.
I’m joined by two experts providing the clinical and insurer perspectives:
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Julie Kelso, a board-certified adult psychiatrist who served at the Billings Clinic from 2007-2021 as Department Chair, Program Director for the UW Montana Track psychiatry residency and medical director of Integrated Behavioral Health. Now at Riverstone Health in Yellowstone County, she’s a collaborative care psychiatrist.
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John Doran is the Divisional Vice President of External Affairs at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana. With a background in journalism and communications, John oversees all government, public and media relations, community outreach, and corporate strategy for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana.
Today we’re having a compelling discussion about pricing in healthcare. I’m joined by three thought leaders who are disrupting the status quo in both the business and policy arenas.
By popular demand, we’ve invited back my longtime friend and colleague, Professor Larry Van Horn. Larry is a renowned expert and researcher on health care management and economics at the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management. Larry served as an advisor to the Trump Administration on healthcare price transparency and on the Health and Human Services Quality Summit Panel.
I’m also joined by Patrick Quigley, co-founder and CEO of Sidecar Health, an innovative new health insurance model that gives consumers the ability to pay directly for care — often at steep discounts to the prices that patients would be charged through traditional insurance plans.
And by Paul Ketchel, Founder & CEO of MDsave, a company whose unique bundling technology makes medical procedures price transparent, shoppable, and instantly transactable – ending surprise billing for consumers.
In our discussion today, we ask the tough questions regarding how to reform our healthcare system to make it more transparent and affordable and look at some solutions geared to better serve the patient.
Mike Uchrin is the CEO & Co-Founder of Monogram Health, an innovative, exciting new company that’s transforming one of the most complex and underserved areas of healthcare: managing chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Monogram partners with health plans to fill a systemic gap in kidney disease care with a new, in-home, evidence-based model that improves patient outcomes and quality of life while dramatically reducing costs for the health care system.
One in 7 adults suffer from chronic kidney disease and ESRD, and the cost of covering people with kidney disease represents 20% — or $114 billion — of traditional Medicare expenditures. In our discussion today, Mike shares how Monogram is creatively and proactively addressing this national care challenge.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky is the 19th Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prior to leading the CDC, she served as Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Walensky was on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic and conducted research on vaccine delivery and strategies to reach underserved communities. She is also an influential scholar whose pioneering research has helped advance the national and global response to HIV/AIDS.
We are honored to have her on the show today, where she’ll be sharing the latest on the Delta variant, how our pandemic response is shifting, and where the CDC is headed in the years to come beyond Covid-19.
Dr. Shantanu Nundy is a primary care physician, technologist, and business leader who serves as Chief Medical Officer for Accolade, which helps over 2 million people navigate the health system. In addition, he practices primary care in the greater Washington, DC, area and serves as a senior advisor to the World Bank and a lecturer in health policy at the George Washington University Milken Institute for Public Health.
He is the author of the powerful new book, Care After Covid: What the Pandemic Revealed Is Broken in Healthcare and How to Reinvent It: https://www.amazon.com/Care-After-Covid-Pandemic-Healthcare/dp/1264259123
In our discussion today, Dr. Nundy shares compelling patient stories that force us to ask some hard questions about our healthcare system – and think about how we need to change to meet the needs of all patients – not just those who can make it to the clinic and afford care.
For more from Dr. Nundy:
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Nundy penned an op-ed in the Washington Post about how the pandemic changed healthcare and uses his mom’s experience reversing her diabetes with a virtual program as an example: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/health-care-covid-diabetes-home/2021/05/12/ae298558-b26e-11eb-ab43-bebddc5a0f65_story.html
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Nundy’s interview on the NPR Shots blog: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/13/996233365/how-health-care-in-the-u-s-may-change-after-covid-an-optimists-outlook
This past year has sparked a major care transition and greater awareness of the need for and value of home-based care. And that is our topic today – focusing on Landmark Health I have with me today two experts in the field: Adam Boehler, the founder and CEO of Landmark Health for its initial five years, and since then, former head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, the first CEO of the new U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and now founder & CEO of Nashville-based Rubicon Founders.
And Nick Loporcaro, CEO of Landmark Health, who has led the company since 2018 following Adam’s departure to government service. Landmark is the largest provider of in-home medical care for seniors with complex chronic conditions, and operates in 18 states and growing.
Our conversation today is a fascinating look at how two brilliant leaders can make a seamless management transition that allows an innovative, fast growing-company to maintain its culture and continue to grow, thrive, and further its mission for seniors with chronic disease.
This episode is brought to you by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are in every ZIP code… in every state, working to improve health and expand access to care. Community by community. For the health of America.
Jacob Sattelmair is Co-Founder and CEO of Wellframe, a digital health management company… providing care management and advocacy solutions to health plans nationwide. Under his leadership, Wellframe has partnered with dozens of health plans all across the country ... to improve their relationships with members, to close gaps in care, …and improve health outcomes.
Jake is a Harvard-trained epidemiologist who has also been a World Economic Forum Young Global Shaper. He shares with us how his own personal health experiences and doctoral research influenced his decision to take a risk, to innovate, and start Wellframe. He’s got an amazing story which will inspire you.
Dr. William Schaffner, a familiar and nationally recognized face and trusted voice on all matters COVID during the pandemic, is an infectious disease colleague of mine … when I was doing heart and lung transplants at Vanderbilt University medical enter. Today he is the medical director and past president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. He’s Professor of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Health Policy and Professor of Medicine in the Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. A little over a year ago, Dr. Schaffner joined us as one of the nation’s leading experts in infectious diseases… to shed light on the novel virus we now …all know too well, …Covid-19. Today he’s joining us again to share all that we’ve learned, what we’re still learning, what we can anticipate, and how this record-setting scientific progress is changing the future of science forever. Stay tuned and together we will learn a lot. For more information about the topics in today’s episode: • Article by Dr. William Schaffner, “With a global pandemic, it is more important than ever to keep up on recommended vaccinations,” https://www.bcbsprogresshealth.com/insights/with-a-global-pandemic,-it-is-more-important-than-ever-to-keep-up-on-recommended-vaccinations • Vaccines: Safe, effective and necessary: https://www.bcbsprogresshealth.com/data/vaccines-safe-effective-and-necessary • Vaccine Myth vs. Fact: https://www.bcbsprogresshealth.com/myth-vs-fact For more on how BlueCross BlueShield companies are working to address Covid-19 and the health challenges brought on by the pandemic: • Aiding the most vulnerable seniors with vaccines: https://www.bcbsprogresshealth.com/five-min-read/aiding-the-most-vulnerable-seniors-with-vaccines- • Postponement of routine care due to COVID-19 increases public health risk: https://www.bcbsprogresshealth.com/data/postponement-of-routine-care-due-to-covid-19-increases-public-health-risk • Fighting for America’s health since the start of the pandemic: https://www.bcbsprogresshealth.com/community/fighting-for-americas-health-since-the-start-of-the-pandemic
On June 30th, community health collaborative NashvilleHealth, the Metro Nashville Public Health Department and the Nashville Health Care Council hosted a timely discussion on Covid and re-opening Music City, USA – Nashville, Tennessee. We’re sharing this discussion with you as a close look at how one southern city is handling vaccine distribution, addressing vaccine hesitancy, adapting to new variants of Covid, and adjusting to our new normal.
I want to thank our event sponsor, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, for making this panel possible.
Today we’re sharing with you a special episode. I recently sat down with Andy Slavitt for Book TV’s After Words program, where we discussed in detail Andy’s new book: Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response.
Andy Slavitt is uniquely qualified to tell this story. As the former head of Medicare and Medicaid and one of our nation’s most recognizable and influential voices in healthcare, Andy was working with key players inside and outside of the government throughout the pandemic. Most recently, he served in the Biden Administration as the lead White House advisor on the country's Covid-19 response.
You’ll want to hear his incredible insights, the stories he has from the frontlines of the response, and what we need to do to prevent unnecessary loss of life in future health crises.
Thanks to C-SPAN’s Book TV for allowing A Second Opinion to share this important content with our listeners. Find more compelling After Words conversations here: https://www.c-span.org/series/?afterWords
Today we’re sharing with you a discussion we had on June 22nd with the Cato Institute on medical malpractice litigation, legislation, and the future of reform.
I’m joined by Professor David Hyman, a physician, the Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Health Law & Policy at Georgetown University Law Center, and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. He is the coauthor of Medical Malpractice Litigation: How It Works — Why Tort Reform Hasn’t Helped, the book we are discussing today. You can find it linked in our show notes.
I’m also joined by Dr. Richard Anderson, the chairman and CEO of The Doctors Company, the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer. He was a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and is past chairman of the Department of Medicine at Scripps Memorial Hospital, where he served as senior oncologist for 18 years.
Dr. Hyman and Dr. Anderson agree there are serious problems with medical malpractice litigation today, but each advocate different solutions.
Adam Schechter is the Chairman, President, and CEO of Labcorp, a leading global life sciences company, with a presence in over 100 countries and annual revenue of $14 billion. LabCorp has become a household name during the global pandemic, and Adam was only a few months into his role as CEO when Covid-19 hit. He has a fascinating story of pivoting to scale the company to respond to this unforeseen challenge, and how he did it all while expanding LabCorp’s reach beyond its core of diagnostics, into life sciences and health.
In getting to know Adam, I found we both share a passion for water – and by that I mean we both care deeply about improving access to clean water globally. Nearly 1 million people die each year from diseases that could be prevented if families have access to safe water and sanitation. Adam is helping to close that gap as Chairman of the Board of Water.org.
I also loved hearing his thoughts, as a diagnostic leader integral to our Covid response, on the top three things we need to do to be better prepared for future health crises.
Dr. Marty Makary is a New York Times bestselling author, Johns Hopkins gastrointestinal surgeon and Professor of Health Policy. His newest book, The Price We Pay, is just out now in paperback with new Covid-19 updates, and has been called the “The Big Short” of American Medicine. Marty’s research has led to actionable solutions that reduce waste and overtreatment, improving quality of care to the patient AND saving our health care system millions of dollars.
You’ll want to stay tuned to hear his thoughts on, “what broke American health care – and how to fix it.”
Today’s episode is one of the most fun, insightful, thought-provoking discussions I’ve had on the show. Our guest is the only physician executive I know who started as a disc jockey, and went on to become one of the most transformational thought leaders in the healthcare space today.
Dr. Stephen Klasko is the President & CEO of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health. He’s constantly challenging the status quo, writing in his new book UnHealthcare that, “The not-so-dirty secret of the old healthcare system is that almost everybody makes more money when more people are sick.”
You’ll want to hear our discussion on how he’s trying to change that – marrying 21st-century technology with person-centered care to reimagine our industry.
I’m really excited to have my friend and colleague, former Congressman Patrick Kennedy joining me today.
Patrick has used his own personal experience with mental health and addiction to become one of the nation’s most influential advocates to reduce the stigma around mental illness, and to make real change to increase affordable access to care. He’s the co-author of the landmark Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equality Act, the founder of The Kennedy Forum, and co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Behavioral Health Integration Task Force. The Task Force just released a terrific report on integrating behavioral health treatment into primary care, and we’ve included a link to it in our show notes. Definitely check it out. You’ll want to stay tuned to hear the powerful turning point that changed how Patrick thought about mental health, and we’ll also talk about an exciting company, Psych Hub, that we’re collaborating on today.
Links and more information on issues discussed in our podcast with Rep. Kennedy:
• Read the Bipartisan Policy Center’s new report, “Tackling America’s Mental Health and Addiction Crisis Through Primary Care Integration,” here: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/behavioral-health-2021/ Report is authored by the Task Force Co-Chaired by Rep. Kennedy.
• Find Patrick Kennedy’s book, A Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction, here: https://www.amazon.com/Common-Struggle-Personal-Journey-Addiction/dp/0399185712
• Learn more about The Kennedy Forum’s events here: https://www.thekennedyforum.org/events/
• Rep. Kennedy’s latest op-ed is here: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/mental-health-care-must-be-treated-health-care-my-friend-ncna1266861
On May 11th, A Second Opinion joined with Vim, a technology company building digital infrastructure for improved healthcare performance, for a live virtual discussion on “Assessing a New Era of Payer-Provider Partnerships.”
For our conversation, I’m joined by:
• Oron Afek, Co-Founder & CEO of Vim; he’s a serial entrepreneur who was previously part of the Israeli Special Forces,
and
• Tim Kaja, Senior Vice President of OptumCare, who is a 36-year veteran of United Health Group.
We cover evolving payment models, advancing information technology, and the shifting marketplace dynamics that are fueling accelerated collaboration between payers and providers.
Paul Diaz is President & CEO of Myriad Genetics. Thirty years ago, Myriad Genetics played a pivotal role in one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of healthcare: discovering the precise location and sequence of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which increase the risk of breast cancer. This led to the emergence of genetic testing as a tool that has saved millions of lives. Now, with Paul at the helm, Myriad Genetics aims to play as pivotal a role in the next 30 years of genetics and precision medicine as they did in the first 30, applying the power of data-driven genetic insights. You’ll want to hear how Paul and Myriad are empowering patients and physicians to better detect, treat, and prevent disease.
To learn more about the work Paul and Myriad Genetics are doing to lead the way on genetic testing and precision medicine, read Paul’s latest blog post: https://myriad.com/health-illuminated/
Paul Kusserow is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Amedisys, a publicly traded, leading provider of home health, hospice, palliative and personal care services with over 22,000 employees in 39 states and Washington, DC, making over 12.3 million patient visits per year. Under his leadership, the company has grown its value 9-times itself and has been established as a clinical leader in the fast-growing home health and hospice industry.
You’ll want to hear how Paul completely revamped his board to mirror his employees and the patients he’s serving, and why the biggest career risk he’s ever taken changed his life.
Dr. Mark Hyman is the Head of Strategy and Innovation of the Cleveland Clinic for Functional Medicine, a fourteen-time New York Times bestselling author, founder and director of the Ultra Wellness Center, and Board President for Clinical Affairs for the Institute for Functional Medicine.
Dr. Hyman's latest book—if you pick it up you will read it cover to cover -- is The Pegan Diet: 21 Practical Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World. It's packed with super practical information about food, -- and your health, the role it plays in our environment and the world around us. You will look at what you eat in a whole different context.
Dr. Hyman is the host of, the top, most listened to health and wellness podcast, The Doctor’s Farmacy.
Dr. Hyman Is leading a health revolution —one revolving around using food as medicine, to support longevity, energy, mental clarity, happiness, and to improve the health of the planet.
Did you realize that wheat bread is worse for you than sugar. You will learn why – and more.
Jennifer Morris is Chief Executive Officer of The Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organization working with partners around the world to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Jennifer leads nearly 4,000 global staff who are dedicated to creating a world where people and nature thrive together.
Better than anyone, Jennifer understands that the health of each individual and each family is inextricably linked to the health of the environment. Earth Day was just last week, and I want to challenge our listeners to think about conservation as not only a good thing to do for the natural world, but as something that is vital to our health and long-term well-being.
The pandemic we’ve all been living through is just one example of how nature affects us all. How we choose to interact with nature can dramatically shape our nation’s and our world’s trajectory.
Below are some resources to learn more about the topics Jennifer discusses in the podcast: • Investing in Nature for a Resilient Future By Jennifer Morris, Chief Executive Officer | April 23, 2021 https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/jennifer-morris-investing-in-nature-resilient-future/ • Flush it and Forget it? Three Things to Know About Sewage Pollution By Stephanie Wear, Senior Scientist and Strategy Advisor | March 12, 2021 https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/flush-and-forget-three-things-about-sewage-pollution/ • Nature: Our Best Prescription for a Healthy World | April 06, 2021 https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/nature-prescription-healthy-world/ • The Global Food System Is Ripe for Change By Jennifer Morris, CEO, The Nature Conservancy, United States | October 28, 2020 https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/grow-positive-regenerative-global-food-system/ • A Silver Lining Amid Northwest India’s Thick Smog | November 27, 2019 https://www.tncindia.in/what-we-do/stories-in-india/silver-lining-northwest-india-smog/
On April 16th, A Second Opinion joined with the Princeton University Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies and Princeton’s Center for Health and Wellbeing for Part 4 in a series, on the fiscal, monetary and health policy response implications of Covid-19. You can hear Parts 1, 2 & 3 of this series in our podcast episodes numbers 48, 69 and 96. For our discussion, I’m joined by Princeton’s leading economic and health policy experts: • Dr. Jessica Metcalf, Assistant Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary Biology & Public Affairs, • Dr. Alan Blinder, the Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, and a former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, • And Dr. Bill Dudley, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and now Senior Research Scholar at the Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies. Before we dive in – I just want to reflect back for a moment. The four of us first got together a year ago this April for our very first virtual event on Covid and the economy – and I don’t think any of us predicted at that time all the challenges our nation would face in the year that followed. In this wide-ranging discussion, we cover what the latest economic indicators mean, what we can learn from the events of the past year, and how the pandemic will influence policy going forward.
Stephen Ubl is the president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, which represents America's leading biopharmaceutical research companies.
The U.S. biopharmaceutical sector directly employs more than 800,000 Americans and invests more than $100 billion in research and development annually -- more than any other industry in America. Steve leads the advocacy for this industry in Washington, DC and across the country.
A policy expert with a record of enacting meaningful healthcare reform, Steve joins me today to do a deep dive on the drug industry – examining costs, the supply chain, and the industry’s unprecedented response to Covid-19.
Dr. Richard Besser is president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest private foundation in the country devoted solely to improving the nation’s health.
A practicing pediatrician, Dr. Besser is also the former acting director for CDC, and ABC News’ former chief health and medical editor.
Dr. Besser is a leading voice on the importance of health equity, advocating for racial justice, full inclusion of people with disabilities, and a COVID-19 response and recovery that prioritizes those most impacted.
In our conversation today, you’ll hear how a 14-mile difference in where you’re born can translate into a 14-year difference in life expectancy, and what we can do about it.
Today we’re doing something a little different. For the next 15 minutes I’ll be sharing my thoughts – as a provider with a 60-year history with telehealth – on the virtual care revolution we are living through now that will forever change healthcare as we know it.
I shared a version of this talk at a recent National Academy of Medicine event, where I joined with other leaders in the field to discuss the Academy’s Vital Directions for Health and Health Care: Priorities for 2021.
David Dill is President & CEO of LifePoint Health, a Brentwood, Tennessee-based health system with 88 hospital campuses across 29 states. Under his leadership, the company has expanded its footprint, with revenue growing from $3 billion in 2009 to more than $8 billion in 2018, and enhanced its focus on quality and patient safety.
David shares with us how he as a CEO stays connected with each community his health system serves, and how his small town upbringing shaped his career and approach to leadership.
Dr. Patty Gabow is a nationally known leader in delivery system innovation who served for 20 years as CEO of Denver Health and Hospital Authority, an integrated safety net health care system. Dr. Gabow has a background as a physician-scientist specializing in nephrology, focusing on polycystic kidney disease. She served as a founding member of the federal Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission.
She’s also the author of more than 130 articles, 37 books and book chapters, and a recent book, TIME’S NOW for Women Healthcare Leaders: A Guide to the Journey.In today’s discussion, we do a deep dive on her learnings in researching and writing “Time’s Now.” Women make up 75 to 80 percent of the healthcare workforce but less than 15 percent of the top leadership positions. We explore why, and what we need to do to change that.
This episode is brought to you by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are helping more people access health care by expanding telehealth and virtual care. Rising to meet the challenge, for the Health of America.
Jason Gorevic is CEO of the global virtual healthcare leader, Teladoc Health. 2020 was a monumental year for Teladoc as demand for telehealth exploded in the midst of the pandemic. Jason shares the behind-the-scenes story of how he and his team navigated this rapid growth while meeting critical health care needs, all while completing the major acquisition of digital disease management company Livongo.
I’ve worked closely now with Jason as a member of the Teladoc board for seven years, and I’m constantly inspired by his vision, his leadership, and how he’s transformed a near start-up to a billion-dollar global enterprise. He is truly rethinking American health.
Alex Gorsky is Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson – a 135-year-old company that is at the forefront of innovation in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer health products. It’s perhaps the only American business that has played a leading role responding to both the 1918 Spanish flu and today’s Covid-19 pandemic – and today is the largest and most admired drug company in the world.
Alex is a brilliant leader who brings us the latest on J&J’s newly authorized, game-changing Covid-19 vaccine, and shares his compelling insights into how J&J has stayed competitive, on top, cutting-edge and profitable for generations. You will love his thoughts on how this life-altering pandemic is changing health and science for years to come.
Dr. David Feinberg is the head of Google Health. He is a visionary leader in healthcare, having previously run Geisinger and the UCLA health system. A triple-board certified psychiatrist, Dr. Feinberg is a champion for improving mental healthcare and making healthcare compassionate.
Our discussion today covers so much exciting ground – from the breakthrough health work Google is leading on, to their innovative efforts to respond to Covid-19, to the role technology can and will play in advancing healthcare of the future.
- Background on Google’s response to Covid-19: https://blog.google/inside-google/covid-19/
- Google providing timely info on Covid-19 vaccines: https://blog.google/technology/health/accurate-timely-information-covid-19-vaccines/
- Covid-19 Community Mobility Reports: https://www.google.com/covid19/mobility/
- LinkedIn article by Dr. Feinberg: “Children’s mental health is an unseen, yet very real casualty of the coronavirus”: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/childrens-mental-health-unseen-yet-very-real-casualty-david-feinberg/
Bob Ortenzio co-founded Select Medical in 1997, serving as its CEO for nearly 13 years, and now serves as its Executive Chairman. Select is one of the largest operators of critical illness recovery hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, physical therapists, and outpatient rehab clinics in the United States.
In today’s discussion, we discuss the evolution of this company and the long-term acute care industry, how to build an accountable culture in an organization, and what’s next for Select Medical.
Larry Levitt is the Executive Vice President for Health Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, overseeing KFF’s policy work on Medicare, Medicaid, the health care marketplace, the Affordable Care Act, women’s health, and global health. Prior to joining KFF, he served as a Senior Health Policy Advisor to the Clinton White House and Department of Health and Human Services.
Larry is a true policy wonk who breaks down the latest complicated health issues into language we all can understand – which in many ways is part of KFF’s mission, serving as a non-partisan, non-profit source for information on national health issues. In today’s episode, we do a deep dive on what to expect in health policy from the Biden Administration and the new Democratic Congress in 2021 and beyond.
On February 3rd, community health collaborative NashvilleHealth and the Metro Nashville Public Health Department hosted a critically important discussion on the vaccine rollout in Nashville-Davidson County and the state of Tennessee. We’re sharing this discussion with you today, where I’m joined by experts spearheading the Volunteer State’s vaccine distribution:
- Lisa Piercey, the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health, and
- Alex Jahangir, an orthopedic trauma surgeon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and chair of the Metro Board of Health and the Nashville COVID-19 Taskforce.
We discuss Tennessee’s experience as a leader in effective distribution, the challenges our state has faced, and efforts to improve vaccine uptake.
I want to thank our event sponsor, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, for making this panel possible.
Susan DeVore is the CEO of Premier. Serving as its CEO since 2009, Susan is an industry-leading thinker who has consistently been named to Modern Healthcare's 100 Most Influential People and Top 25 Women in Healthcare lists.
In the past year under Susan’s leadership, Premier has taken an active role in responding to the pandemic – from securing PPE for its members to establishing itself as a conduit for drugs that were in short supply to care for COVID patients.
Susan shares what she’s learned with us today – including fantastic insights into how to make our supply chain resilient, our vaccine distribution successful, and the environmental factors that can shift the entire healthcare landscape.
Today we’re sharing with you a special bonus episode. As the nation faces mounting COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and vaccine delays and shortages, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Future of Health Care Initiative released a new report with a set of urgent actions for the administration and Congress that would bolster the federal response to the pandemic.
The BPC is a Washington, DC-based think tank that works with both Republicans and Democrats to find bipartisan solutions to our nation’s most pressing problems. Together with my friends former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and former Medicare & Medicaid Administrator Dr. Gail Wilensky, we co-chair a group of 14 of the nation’s leading health experts, who have over the past six months developed these recommendations.
Today I’m sharing with you our six key recommendations for immediate action. And while we are pleased that many of our recommendations align with the Biden administration’s COVID-19 national strategy, BPC’s report offers additional details that are important to implementing an effective, immediate response.
Report: “COVID-19: Urgent Federal Actions to Accelerate America’s Response”: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/future-of-health-covid19/
Dr. Rod Hochman is the President and CEO of Providence, a national, not-for-profit Catholic health system with 51 hospitals, employing nearly 120,000 caregivers serving communities across seven states: Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. In addition to running the third-largest health system in the United States, Dr. Hochman is also the 2021 Chair of the American Hospital Association.
He is widely known as a disruptive, innovative leader who is driving change in healthcare – from conceptualizing the hospital of the future to pioneering new ways to marry emerging technology with health. Rod is a big thinker whose ideas you don’t want to miss on this episode.
Today we’re sharing with you a special bonus episode. Last week I virtually kicked off the American Telemedicine Association’s annual EDGE telehealth policy conference, sharing my thoughts – as a provider with a 60-year history with telehealth – on the virtual care revolution we are living through now. I consider how far we’ve come, and outline what needs to be done to solidify these gains. And I look to future challenges and make six recommendations for health systems and innovators engaging in the field.
A special thanks to the American Telemedicine Association. And for more compelling information on the future of telehealth, be sure to join Telehealth Tuesdays hosted by the ATA, running through February 2nd. You can find more information at ataedge.org
Today we’re sharing with you a special bonus episode. Last week I virtually kicked off the American Telemedicine Association’s annual EDGE telehealth policy conference, sharing my thoughts – as a provider with a 60-year history with telehealth – on the virtual care revolution we are living through now. I consider how far we’ve come, and outline what needs to be done to solidify these gains. And I look to future challenges and make six recommendations for health systems and innovators engaging in the field.
A special thanks to the American Telemedicine Association. And for more compelling information on the future of telehealth, be sure to join Telehealth Tuesdays hosted by the ATA, running through February 2nd. You can find more information at ataedge.org .
Daniel Nutkis is founder and CEO of HITRUST, a Texas-based company that works to safeguard sensitive information and manage information risk for global organizations across all industries and throughout the third-party supply chain.
Dan has placed a heavy focus on establishing HITRUST programs as the standard for healthcare organizations seeking security, privacy, and certification.
As healthcare – and our own personal health data – becomes increasingly digitized, data protection and cybersecurity are quickly becoming central to our nation’s health systems. In today’s conversation, we dive into the nuances of this growing healthcare need, and discuss the growing cyber threats all in our industry should be aware of.
I’m honored today to be joined by my longtime friend, colleague, and brilliant physician-scientist Dr. Francis Collins, the Director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Collins has served as the NIH Director since 2009, first appointed by President Obama and reappointed in 2017 by President Trump.
Dr. Collins is a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the international Human Genome Project, which culminated in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book – something that amazingly was accomplished under budget & years ahead of schedule.
At the helm of the NIH, Dr. Collins is at the tip of the spear of our federal government’s Covid-19 treatment and vaccine research and development. He’s one of our nation’s most talented scientific minds and communicators, and you don’t want to miss his insights on our show today.
Richard Ashworth is President and CEO of Tivity Health, a forward-thinking healthy lifestyle solutions company home to flagship brands SilverSneakers, Prime Fitness, WholeHealth Living and Wisely Well.
Prior to joining Tivity in June 2020, Richard facilitated the growth of Walgreens for nearly 30 years, transforming the company into a global leader in pharmacy and health and wellness. He started at Walgreens as a store clerk in 1992, and most recently served as President, responsible for the leadership, development and management of all Walgreens operations.
A pharmacist by training, Richard has a keen understanding of the many factors that influence health, including social determinants, adherence to treatment and a healthy lifestyle – insights you’ll hear throughout our discussion today.
Earlier this month, the Nashville Health Care Council and community health collaborative NashvilleHealth co-hosted a virtual conversation on Health Equity and Action to Eliminate Disparities, part 3 of a 3-part series. We’re sharing this discussion with you today, where I’m joined by leading experts in the field:
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Joe Cacchione, Executive Vice President of Clinical & Network Services at Ascension, where he oversees system-wide clinical and care functions and subsidiaries, with a goal of addressing the holistic needs of patients. Prior to joining Ascension in 2017, he served as chairman of Operations and Strategy at the Cleveland Clinic's Heart & Vascular Institute.
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And Niesha Foster, Vice President of Product Access, Global Health & Patient Access at Pfizer, where her team is focused on addressing the patient affordability challenge. Ms. Foster also co-leads Pfizer’s Multicultural Center of Excellence which advances health equity in diverse communities.
In our discussion, we explore efforts to address inequity at the patient level from research to the bedside.
I want to thank our event sponsor RLDatix for making this panel possible.
The heart has been a central part of my life – growing up with a cardiologist father and a heart surgeon brother – and later becoming as a heart transplant surgeon myself. That’s why I’m excited about today’s conversation.
I’m joined by Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association – an organization that has been on the forefront of advancing heart health and cardiac research for nearly a century. Serving as CEO since 2008, Nancy has elevated the AHA as a global leader in heart disease and stroke science innovation, including launching the AHA’s Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine and One Brave Idea, an $85 million research collaboration to end coronary heart disease.
This global organization also makes a local impact – partnering with our community collaborative organization NashvilleHealth on Target: BP, an evidence-based, blood pressure control project with a with 1 million+ patient reach.
In today’s discussion, Nancy and I dive into the latest research, talk about promising partnerships, and consider how the incoming Biden Administration can act to improve heart health.
Judy Faulkner is the founder and CEO of Epic Systems. Judy started Epic in 1979 in a basement in Madison, Wisconsin, and 41 years later more than 250 million patients have a current electronic record in Epic. Her company’s enormous success led Forbes to name Judy the most successful female technology company founder. One of the few self-made women billionaires, Judy has signed the Giving Pledge started by Bill & Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, pledging 99% of her assets to philanthropy to help others. In our discussion, Judy takes us back to the start of Epic, when she was a student lured into the new field of computer science, and the journey that brought her to where she is today.
Today our topic is healthcare service innovation and disruption. Sean Slovenski is an exceptional healthcare industry innovator with a 30-year history of success after success. Sean started his career by helping to build and then lead one of the nation’s first large-scale wellness efforts for Fortune 500 clientele. Most recently Sean served as president of Walmart Health and Wellness, launching the now-familiar multi-disciplinary healthcare clinics known as the “Supercenters for Healthcare.” As you will hear, Sean and I worked together 11 years ago with South African-based Discovery Health and Humana.
In today’s interview, Sean shares why he’s made the jump to a new, little-known but cutting-edge company, BioIQ that’s set to disrupt the testing and diagnostics industry.
Dr. James Hildreth is the 12th President and CEO of Meharry Medical College, the nation's largest private, historically black academic health sciences center. Dr. Hildreth is an accomplished scientist and researcher with extensive experience
in virology, immunology, pharmacology, and internal medicine, and is an expert in health disparities. He was selected as the first African-American Rhodes Scholar from Arkansas in 1978, was the first African American in the 125-year history of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to earn full professorship with tenure in the basic sciences in 2002, and was the first African American dean at the University of California, Davis – where he led their College of Biological Sciences.
In today’s interview, Dr. Hildreth reflects on his unique, amazing life experiences – including his many “firsts.” And as a physician on the tip of the spear of the Covid-19 response, he gives us the latest on the pandemic.
Rich Whitney is Chairman and CEO of Radiology Partners, a nationwide company he co-founded in 2012 to transform the fragmented area of radiology. Today, RadPartners is the leading on-site radiology practice in the U.S., headquartered in Southern California partnering with approximately 1500 radiologists providing services to more than 1200 hospitals, clinics and imaging centers across 26 states.
Rich has a long track record of leading, founding and investing in healthcare organizations that have led meaningful change in their sectors. In today’s episode, we cover the landscape of leadership principles, the future of artificial intelligence in imaging, and what a Biden presidency means for healthcare.
On November 13th, A Second Opinion joined with the Princeton University Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies and Princeton’s Center for Health and Wellbeing for Part 3 in a series, on the fiscal, monetary and health policy response implications of Covid-19. You can hear Part 1 and Part 2 of this series in our podcast episodes numbers 48 and 69.
For our discussion, I’m joined by Princeton’s leading economic and health policy experts:
- Jessica Metcalf, Assistant Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary Biology & Public Affairs,
- Alan Blinder, the Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, and a former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,
- And Dr. Bill Dudley, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and now Senior Research Scholar at the Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies.
In this wide-ranging discussion, we cover the latest vaccine science, the implications of a Biden Presidency for fiscal and monetary policy, and Covid-19 relief, and the impact of the rapidly growing federal debt.
Pat Geraghty is President and CEO of GuideWell, a $19 billion mutual insurance holding company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. GuideWell is the parent to a family of forward-thinking companies focused on transforming health care, including Florida Blue, the leading health insurance company in Florida.
Geraghty was the architect of the restructuring that created GuideWell, considered a model of strategic reinvention that is featured as a capstone business case in the curriculum of Harvard Business School. GuideWell serves 27 million people across 35 states, including more than 5 million individuals in Florida.
Our conversation today – which focuses on leadership in crisis and adapting a major organization to address a pandemic and issues of social justice -- originally aired at the 2020 Emids Healthcare Summit. Thank you to the team at Emids for their work in facilitating this insightful discussion.
I’m excited to be joined today by two friends who are both physicians and effective policymakers, Dr. Kavita Patel and Dr. Scott Gottlieb.
Kavita is a Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a practicing primary care physician in Washington, DC. She previously served in the Obama Administration where she played a critical role in health reform and economic recovery policies.
Scott served as the 23rd Commissioner of the FDA, where he received bipartisan praise for his visionary, collaborative leadership of the agency from 2017 – April 2019. Dr. Gottlieb previously practiced internal medicine at New York University's Tisch Hospital, and is now a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Both of our guests have been outspoken, trusted voices throughout the pandemic. They share the latest with us on the Covid-19 response and where we will be a year from now.
Andy Slavitt is founder and chairman of the United States of Care – a non-partisan non-profit focused on mobilizing a movement to achieve long-lasting healthcare solutions for everyone. Over his career, Andy has led many significant and successful initiatives in health care impacting millions of Americans and the shape of the health care system. Most notably, he served as Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2015 – 2017, where he led a significant shift to pay-for-value payment models, the implementation of the bipartisan MACRA legislation, and the Affordable Care Act.
Today, Andy is an outspoken voice on the pandemic response, and one of the most influential leaders in public health today.
Lisa Clarke is the Executive Director of the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency. It’s is a $5.6 billion, public-private partnership designed to leverage the growth of Mayo Clinic and create “America’s City for Health” in Rochester, Minnesota.
Lisa previously spent 20 years with Mayo Clinic where she served as Division Chair in Mayo Clinic’s Department of Public Affairs. She has been routinely recognized as one of the most effective and successful women in business in Minnesota. Our conversation today will explore the importance of fostering a healthy community setting to spur health system innovation.
Today’s episode is a little different. Last week I virtually joined the Greater Charlotte Healthcare Executives Group to share experiences and lessons learned from my years in transplantation, politics, and now in the private sector. It’s a wide-ranging discussion that covers what drew me to pursue elected office, who my mentors were, and I give my take on Covid-19 and how the pandemic is transforming healthcare.
Thanks to my former staffer and Greater Charlotte Healthcare Executives Group President Ryan Campbell for a fantastic interview and for letting me share the discussion with our listeners.
On September 30th, the Nashville Health Care Council and NashvilleHealth co-hosted a virtual conversation on Health Equity with United States Surgeon General Jerome Adams. We’re sharing this discussion with you today.
As our “Nation’s Doctor,” Vice Admiral Adams works to advance the health of the American people. His motto is “better health through better partnerships.”
He oversees the operations of more than 6,000 uniformed health officers who serve in nearly 800 locations around the world, promoting, protecting, and advancing the health and safety of our nation.
He is also a member of the President’s Coronavirus Task Force, and previously served as the Health Commissioner of Indiana, where he led the State’s responses to Ebola, Zika, and to the largest HIV outbreak in the United States related to injection drug use.
Before we turn to the episode, I want to take a moment to thank my friend, Dr. Herman Williams, for personally sponsoring this event. Dr. Williams is a board member of NashvilleHealth and author of CLEAR! Living the Life You Didn’t Dream Of. You can find out more at hermanwilliamsmd.com.
Diane Seloff is an expert business strategist and operations leader. We worked together in building Aspire Health, the nation’s leading non-hospice, community-based palliative care company that was acquired by Anthem in 2018. In our conversation today, we do a deep dive on how to build a multi-million dollar healthcare company from the ground up – the successes, the failures, and the lessons learned.
Diane and I continue to work together today in our new company, CareBridge, where she serves as Chief Operating Officer.
Last week I joined my longtime friend, Emmy-award winning television host Larry King to talk Covid-19, the 2020 Presidential election, and the Administration’s successes and shortcomings in pandemic response. Our interview aired on his show, PoliticKING, which you can find on Hulu and Ora TV. New episodes air every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30pm ET.
Thanks to Larry and his team for letting me share our interview with our listeners.
Dr. Prabhjot Singh is Associate Professor of Medicine, Health System Design and Global Health at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, as well as Special Advisor for Strategy and Design at the Peterson Center on Healthcare.
Dr. Singh was the inaugural Director of the Arnhold Institute for Global Health at Mount Sinai and founding Chair of the Department of Health System Design and Global Health. He also served as Vice-Chair of Medicine for Population Health.
Before coming to Mount Sinai, he was a faculty member at Columbia University and co-chair of the One Million Community Health Workers Campaign, a partnership of organizations dedicated to increasing the number and quality of health workers in sub-Saharan Africa.
Throughout his career, he has focused on how advances in community health systems globally can improve health in America, and is the author of Dying and Living in the Neighborhood: A Street-Level View of America’s Healthcare Promise.
Show Notes:
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More info on Dr. Singh’s book, “Dying and Living in the Neighborhood: A Street-Level View of America’s Healthcare Promise”: http://www.prabhjotsingh.org/dying-and-living
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Dr. Singh’s 2013 op-ed: “Harlem hate crime victim Prabhjot Singh: I’m feeling gratitude,” NY Daily News, 9/24/13, https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/hate-victim-prabhjot-singh-feeling-gratitude-article-1.1466721
Avik Roy is the President of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity -- FREOPP.org a non-partisan, non-profit think tank that conducts original research on expanding opportunity to those who least have it.
Avik is one of our nation’s sharpest policy minds, and has advised three presidential candidates on policy, including Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, and Mitt Romney.
Avik and I have worked together for years at the Bipartisan Policy Center, engaging with colleagues across the aisle to formulate bipartisan health care reform solutions. On today’s episode, he shares how he’s working to make a bipartisan healthcare deal a reality, one Member at a time.
Papers & websites mentioned in today’s episode:
Bipartisan Policy Center, “Bipartisan Rx for America’s Health Care”: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/bipartisan-rx/
The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity: https://freopp.org/
Avik Roy, “A Pathway To Consumer-Driven Universal Coverage,” Health Affairs, March 2020: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01435
Avik Roy, “Medicare Advantage for All: A patient-centered plan for universal coverage and permanent fiscal solvency”: https://freopp.org/medicare-advantage-for-all-ace74a1cb3bb
Avik Roy, “Bruce Westerman’s Fair Care Act: Market-Based Universal Coverage”: https://freopp.org/bruce-westermans-fair-care-act-market-based-universal-coverage-74480ea70d1a
We also wanted to share with our listeners FREOPP’s newly announced World Index of Healthcare Innovation, a first-of-its-kind ranking of 31 national health care systems on quality, choice, science & technology, and fiscal sustainability. Learn more here: https://freopp.org/wihi2020-505b1b60bce6
Dr. Dexter Shurney is the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Clinical Affairs for Zipongo, the San Francisco-based based digital health and wellness company that focuses on enabling healthy eating. Zipongo is “Healthy Eating, Made Simple”. Dr. Shurney also serves as the current president for the Academy of Lifestyle Medicine.
I know Dexter from his time in Nashville, when he was Vanderbilt’s Chief Medical Director of the Employee Health Plan for the University and Medical Center. His personal wellness journey is one that has evolved hand in hand with his career path, and his own experience is a testament to food as medicine.
On August 18th, the Nashville Health Care Council and NashvilleHealth co-hosted a virtual conversation on Health Equity and Action to Eliminate Disparities, part 1 of a 3-part series. We’re sharing this discussion with you today, where I’m joined by leading experts in the field:
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Cara James, President and CEO of Grantmakers in Health. Dr. James is a nationally recognized thought leader in health equity and improving health outcomes for vulnerable populations. She previously served as Director of the Office of Minority Health at CMS, where she developed the agency’s first Equity Plan to Improve Quality in Medicare and its first Rural Health Strategy, and I know her from her time at the Kaiser Family Foundation, where she served as Director of the Disparities Policy Project and Director of the Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program.
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And Dr. Andrea Willis, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. A pediatrician by training, Dr. Willis previously served the State of Tennessee as the director of CoverKids, helped develop Tennessee’s federally approved State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and served as deputy commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Health. I have the privilege of regularly working with and learning from Dr. Willis on the NashvilleHealth Governing Board.
In our discussion, we explore health inequity and its long-standing threat to business and community growth and vitality. And we outline actionable steps for individuals and organizations to take to reduce racial health disparities, and become part of the effort to turn this historic national moment into a movement.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin is the President of the American Action Forum. An accomplished academic turned influential policymaker, he has served as Chief Economist of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, and later as the 6th Director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which provides budgetary and policy analysis to the U.S. Congress.
You may remember Doug from his time on the campaign trail, where he was Policy Director for Senator John McCain 2008 presidential campaign.
Now, at the head of the American Action Forum, he and his team provide timely analysis and modern communications strategies to promote innovative, free-market solutions to build a stronger, more prosperous nation.
Dr. Jonathan Perlin is the President of Clinical Services and Chief Medical Officer at HCA Healthcare. As one of the nation's leading providers of healthcare services, HCA is comprised of more than 180 hospitals and over 2,000 sites of care in 21 states and the United Kingdom.
Before joining HCA in 2006, Dr. Perlin served as Under Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. I vividly remember working with Jon when I was Senator Majority Leader and he served as chief executive officer of the Veterans Health Administration, leading the nation’s largest integrated health system.
In today’s episode, you’ll hear how Dr. Perlin’s team at HCA has pioneered new approaches to care – reducing sepsis deaths and adverse health outcomes for newborns; his early efforts that shaped electronic health records today; and what thought provoking question from Bill Gates has stayed with Dr. Perlin and changed his approach to health system leadership.
This episode is brought to you by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Blue Shield companies are supporting health care partners on the frontline of this unprecedented fight. Ensuring patients don’t have to worry about costs. Caring when it counts the most, for the Health of America. Dr. Kavita Patel is a Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a practicing primary care physician in Washington, DC. She previously served in the Obama Administration as a senior aide to Valerie Jarrett, where she played a critical role in health reform, financial regulatory reform, and economic recovery policies.
Dr. Patel also has a deep understanding of Capitol Hill from her time spent on the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s staff as deputy staff director for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Kavita and I have worked together for years, including at the Bipartisan Policy Center and The Aspen Group, and she always has her finger on the pulse when it comes to the latest on healthcare policy. Today, we’re placing a timely focus on how healthcare can help schools reopen safely.
Dr. Deborah German is the Founding Dean of the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. Established in 2006, the UCF College of Medicine is one of the first U.S. medical schools in decades to be built from the ground up. Under her impressive leadership, the College of Medicine:
- Achieved full accreditation
- Raised funds to provide full four-year scholarships for the entire Charter class
- Built a team of over 500 faculty and staff, and
- Oversaw construction of 375,000 square feet of medical school space in the emerging Medical City at Lake Nona in Orlando.
In our discussion today, Dr. German shares how she took on this seemingly impossible task, uniting a community around this exciting vision.
Deb German is also a dear friend, someone I have known since our days together at Vanderbilt where she was Associate Dean for Students and later Senior Associate Dean of Medical Education. Her passion and inclusive leadership was clear then and is palpable in our interview today.
Anthony Iton is Senior Vice President for Healthy Communities at The California Endowment, where he oversees the organization’s 10-Year, multimillion-dollar statewide commitment to advance policies and forge partnerships to build a healthier California. Dr. Iton, who holds a medical degree from Johns Hopkins and a law degree and a Master’s of Public Health from UC Berkeley, previously led California’s Alameda County Public Health Department, worked as an HIV disability rights attorney, and as a physician and advocate for the homeless at the San Francisco Public Health Department.
A Lecturer of Health Policy and Management at the UC-Berkeley School of Public Health, Dr. Iton’s research focuses on disadvantaged populations and the contributions of race, class, wealth, education, geography and employment to health status. Stayed tuned to hear why zip code is a better predictor of your long term health than your genetic code.
Robert McDonald served Procter & Gamble for 33 years with the last four as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Following his career at P&G, Bob was named Secretary of Veterans Affairs by President Obama in 2014, taking the helm of an organization in crisis. An Army veteran and graduate of West Point, Bob was able to apply his military training and years of private sector experience to help transform the agency into one that delivered better care for our Military veterans. Bob’s shares with us some powerful leadership lessons, including how you build trust and compassion in times of upheaval.
Dr. Sarah Chouinard is a rural health expert and Chief Medical Officer at Community Care of West Virginia, a federally qualified health center operating 17 outpatient clinics and 50 school-based centers across 9 counties in central West Virginia. She recently served as National Faculty for CMS’s Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative, and was previously recognized by the West Virginia Rural Health Association as “Rural Practitioner of the Year.” In our discussion today, Dr. Chouinard shares the startling reality of what clinicians experience on the ground in rural communities, and how care can be transformed to better meet local needs.
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Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld is a senior associate dean, tenured professor of anesthesiology and director of the “Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment” at the Medical College of Wisconsin - a $470-million statewide health philanthropy. He serves on the American Medical Association Board of Trustees, and is a combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan.
For the past two decades, Dr. Ehrenfeld has advocated on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals. In 2018, in recognition of his outstanding research contributions, he received the inaugural Sexual and Gender Minority Research Investigator Award from the director of the NIH. Today, he’ll share with us some of the unique health disparity issues faced by the LGBTQ community, and steps we can take to advance health equity for all Americans.
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Our country is at a historic crossroads: the global coronavirus pandemic has laid bare our country’s racial disparities and inequities in health and healthcare, and the death of George Floyd and other events have sparked a national social justice movement. At A Second Opinion, we seek to better understand how race, structural racism, and implicit bias impact health and healthcare, which is why I’m honored today to have two global experts with us, Dr. Ruth Shim and Dr. David Williams. I know Dr. Shim from our working together as Trustees at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where vulnerable populations are at the center of everything we do. Dr. Williams and I worked together for two years on the landmark study that he led, the RWJF Foundation’s Commission to Build a Healthier America. Both Dr. Shim and Dr. Williams are widely published on the intersection of race and health, and are true national resources on informing our current national discussion. I want to get to the episode, but first some background on our experts: • Dr. Ruth Shim is a practicing clinical psychiatrist who serves as the Luke & Grace Kim Professor in Cultural Psychiatry and director of cultural psychiatry at the University of California, Davis. She is co-editor of the widely reference volume, The Social Determinants of Mental Health. • Dr. David Williams is the chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Professor of African and African American Studies and Sociology at Harvard University. He is the author of more than 475 scientific papers and has been ranked as one of the top 10 Most Cited Social Scientists in the world. The Everyday Discrimination Scale was developed by Dr. Williams, and is the most widely used measure of discrimination in health studies today. On today’s episode, we explore what’s at the heart of implicit bias, how “racism makes us sick”, and learn what simple childhood interventions can impact health and socioeconomic status for years to come.
Dr. Williams recommends:
- America’s Original Sin, by Jim Wallis
- Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime, by Elizabeth Hinton
Dr. Shim recommends:
- White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo
- The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, by Harriet Washington
- Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century, by Dorothy Roberts
- Code Switch Podcast
- Seeing White Podcast
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Bill Lucia is the Chairman, President & CEO of HMS, which provides a broad range of payment accuracy and population health management solutions for healthcare systems – saving billions of dollars annually and helping consumers lead healthier lives. Bill began his career in the life insurance industry, and will share why he made this mid-career change to help make a difference.
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Professor Larry Van Horn is a renowned expert and researcher on health care management and economics at the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management. He serves as Executive Director of Health Affairs and Founder and Director of the Center of Health Care Market Innovation at Vanderbilt. Larry is an advisor to the White House on healthcare price transparency, and serves on the Health and Human Services Quality Summit Panel, and is my longtime friend and colleague. His research and ideas continue to challenge the status quo in healthcare today.
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Ken Misch is the President and Chief Financial Officer of MEDHOST, a healthcare technology company focused on providing robust Electronic Health Records designed to meet the special and specific needs of rural and community health systems. Today, Medhost is a partner to over 1000 facilities in 49 states. And in our discussion today, you will find particularly fascinating Ken’s personal story overcoming adversity, and how this journey feeds his passion for making healthcare and the patient experience better.
Dr. Jaewon Ryu is President and CEO of Geisinger, a health system that includes 13 hospital campuses, a 600,000-member health plan, two research centers and the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. One year into leading this forward-thinking health system, Dr. Ryu shares with us their latest cutting edge innovations, how they are leading the response to COVID, and what the future of hospitals and healthcare will look like.
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Martin VanTrieste is the President and CEO of Civica Rx, a groundbreaking, non-profit pharmaceutical company that’s innovatively working to address our nation’s generic drug shortages. For years, our domestic drug manufacturing and supply chains have eroded, resulting in shortages of anesthetics, antibiotics, cancer drugs, even sterile IV fluids necessary for delivering nearly every drug used in a surgical setting. Martin, who was recently named one of Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare, is working at the cutting edge with his team at Civica to make drug shortages a thing of the past.
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On June 9th, A Second Opinion joined with the Princeton University Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies and the Center for Health and Wellbeing for our second virtual COVID-19 discussion on the “fiscal, monetary and health policy responses and implications for the economic outlook.” You can hear Part 1 of our discussion in our April 3rd podcast episode. In this wide-ranging discussion, we covered the potential economic impact of a second wave, how the federal government should rework its emergency unemployment benefits to incentive a return to work, and how the Federal Reserve’s decisions affect communities of color.
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Dr. Dean Ornish is considered the father of lifestyle medicine, pioneering programs that can reverse life-threatening illness with a combination of a plant-based diet, moderate exercise, meditation and therapy. Dean and I have known each other for over 40 years, dating back to our time together at Massachusetts General Hospital. Then, Dean’s ideas were considered outlandish. Today, we’re finding they may be the key to treating even our most challenging diseases like Alzheimer’s. Dean is a cardiologist, the founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, and a bestselling author. I haven’t been able to put down his latest book, “UnDo It! How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseases,” which he coauthored with his wife Anne.
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Dr. Julie Gerberding is Executive Vice President and Chief Patient Officer at Merck. She is a vaccine and infectious disease expert who served as former CDC Director under President George W. Bush during my tenure in the Senate. There she led the CDC in responding to HIV/AIDS, SARS, West Nile Virus, and H5N1 avian influenza. She joins us to share the latest on Merck’s new COVID vaccine announcement, and specifically what we need to do to better prepare for the next pandemic.
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Dr. Sarah Homitsky is the medical director for the Alexis Joy D’Achille Center for Perinatal Mental Health at the West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh. Dr. Homitsky specializes in Pregnancy-Related Depression, and the Center is one of the few places in the country to offer intensive mother-baby outpatient treatment for postpartum depression. For more information on Dr. Homitsky’s clinic, the Alexis Joy D’Achille Center for Perinatal Mental Health, visit: https://www.ahn.org/services/womens-health/behavioral-health/alexis-joy-dachille-center-for-perinatal-mental-health
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Dr. Judy Monroe is the President and CEO of the CDC Foundation. There, she mobilizes philanthropic and private sector resources to support CDCs critical health protection work, managing hundreds of programs across the United States, and in more than 130 countries. The first part of our conversation that you're about to hear occurred before COVID-19 came to the United States, and we cover the development of the Ebola vaccine, recommendations on building a career in public health and why it takes public private partnerships to eradicate a disease. In the second half of this episode, we continued our conversation remotely covering the foundation's remarkable response to COVID-19, including how the private sector has stepped up in partnership with the CDC and state public health departments all across the country to fight this virus.
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Dr. Eduardo Sanchez is the Chief Medical Officer for prevention at the American Heart Association, the nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Dr. Sanchez previously served as the Texas Commissioner of Health and has had advisory roles with the CDC, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Quality Forum. Throughout my professional career as a heart surgeon, the American Heart Association has played invaluable roles in my own training as a researcher, a teacher, and as an active clinical surgeon. Dr. Sanchez shares with us why our own good heart health is so important to reduce the risk associated with the COVID virus, and why zip code can be a better predictor of our own health than our genetics.
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Matthew Myers is president of the campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a leader in the fight to reduce tobacco use and its devastating consequences in the United States and around the world. Matt and I worked together on tobacco control when I was in the senate. Now he's turned his attention to the vaping epidemic that has seen nicotine addiction rates rise in our youth for the first time in nearly two decades. He'll also give us an update on risk related to tobacco and e-cigarette use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Visit A Second Opinion's website here:
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For this episode we’re doing something a little different. We’re taking you on the ground to Lake Nona Medical City in Orlando, Florida. First proposed in 2005, the city was built from the ground up with a new first-class medical school as its anchor - the UCF College of Medicine. Since that time several new nationally recognized healthcare institutions have opened their doors in Lake Nona, including: Nemours Children’s Hospital, the University of Florida Research & Academic Center and College of Pharmacy, the UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center, and soon a new HCA hospital. This convergence of medical and scientific knowledge is paired with a master-planned community focused on long-term health and wellness.
I was there in February for the Lake Nona Impact Forum, and saw firsthand this unique intersection of medical science and healthy living. Join me as we talk to leaders that are making this forward-thinking community of the future possible.
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Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University. She is a loneliness and social isolation expert whose research focuses on the longterm health effects of social connections. And she has made the remarkable finding that being socially isolated carries the same health risk as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. And it's more predictive of early death than the effects of air pollution or physical inactivity. We recognize today that the U.S. and a number of other developed nations are facing a loneliness epidemic. And Dr. Holt-Lunstad's years of research on this issue are ahead of its time. Visit A Second Opinion's website here:
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Senator Frist talks to Dr. Eric Topol, Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, on how COVID affects the heart, when we might see an effective treatment, and the role AI and data can play in beating this virus. Voted Most Influential Physician Executive in a national poll conducted by Modern Healthcare, Dr. Topol works on genomic and wireless digital technologies to reshape the future of medicine. He is a practicing cardiologist, a bestselling author and one of the top 10 most cited researchers in medicine.
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Last week I joined my longtime friend, Emmy-award winning television host Larry King to talk COVID, the 2020 Presidential election, and my pandemic prediction from 15 years ago. Our interview aired on his show, PoliticKING, which you can find on Hulu and Ora TV. New episodes air every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30pm ET.
Thanks to Larry and his team for letting me share our interview with our listeners.
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Today I’m joined by the innovative Dr. Joe Coughlin – the founder and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab. Recognizing that our society hasn’t adapted to meet the needs of our growing older generation, the MIT AgeLab was created as a multidisciplinary research program that works with business, government, and NGOs to improve the quality of life of older people and those who care for them. Just one example includes creating a suit that can be worn by students, product developers, engineers, architects, and others to experience the physical challenges of a person in their mid-70s. In addition to leading the AgeLab, Dr. Coughlin teaches in MIT's Department of Urban Studies & Planning and the Sloan School's Advanced Management Program. He was named by Fast Company Magazine as one the ‘100 Most Creative in Business’ and by the Wall Street Journal as inventing the future of retirement. His recent book, The Longevity Economy: Inside the World's Fastest Growing, Most Misunderstood Market, is one of CEO READ’s Business Bestsellers.
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Today I'm joined by Susan Salka, CEO AMN Healthcare Services. The largest healthcare staffing company in the nation. Susan joined AMN when it was just 18 employees. Rising through the ranks, she now runs this $2.5 billion company that leads the nation in placing nurses, physicians, and other healthcare personnel. She's also an advocate for promoting women in leadership and in the boardroom. And has implemented a bottom-up approach to increase diversity at all levels of AMN. Susan shares with us today her thoughts on clinician burnout, changes we need to make in our healthcare education system to address physician and nursing shortages, and how her company is evolving to meet growing workforce demands.
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Brian Castrucci is the President and CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on improving health at the community level by investing in tools, partnerships, policies, and the public health workforce. Brian is an award-winning epidemiologist who shares with us why it is vital to invest in our public health infrastructure in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Alan Levine is the President and CEO of Ballad health, the innovative integrated healthcare delivery system that serves 1.2 million people in 29 rural counties of Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Northwestern North Carolina, and South Eastern Kentucky. Alan is a longtime friend who is re-imagining our nation's approach to non urban and rural care with impressive results
Support for A Second Opinion comes from PYA, providing healthcare insights and strategy for nearly 40 years. Learn more at PYAPC.com.
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Today I’m by joined by Will Brady, the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary and Senior Advisor to the Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services. It’s a long title, but what it means is that Will is at the center of the major policy decisions being made in our nation’s Health Department. Specifically, Will leads the three issues we will discuss today: interoperability of medical information such as medical records, reducing unnecessary and burdensome regulations, and modernization of the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute.
Stay tuned to hear Will’s insights into HHS’s approach to removing regulatory burden in health delivery, as well as details on the new, much-anticipated interoperability rules released just a few weeks ago.
A Second Opinion is brought to you by Change Healthcare. From patient to provider to payer, Change Healthcare is inspiring a better healthcare system at every step of the patient journey with innovative clinical, financial, and engagement solutions that help solve healthcare’s biggest challenges. Visit changehealthcare.com/asecondopinion.
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You are about to hear a discussion I’m having on the COVID-19 pandemic with my good friend Dr. Marty Makary, New York Times bestselling author, John Hopkins surgeon and brilliant researcher; and Dr. Larry Van Horn, a healthcare economist, professor at the Vanderbilt Owen School of Management and advisor to the White House.
We are presenting virtually to our Nashville Health Care Council Fellows Class, a group of the brightest rising executives and leaders in the healthcare space.
We are taping on Friday, April 10th. This is a rapidly evolving crisis, changing day by day. So, please continue to follow the latest recommendations by the CDC.
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Rajeev Singh is the CEO of Accolade, the market leading personalized advocacy and population health solution for employers health plans and health systems. He was also the co-founder of Concur, the global leader in travel and expense management.
A Second Opinion is brought to you by Change Healthcare. From patient to provider to payer, Change Healthcare is inspiring a better healthcare system at every step of the patient journey with innovative clinical, financial, and engagement solutions that help solve healthcare’s biggest challenges. Visit changehealthcare.com/asecondopinion.
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You are about to hear a discussion I’m having on the COVID-19 pandemic with my good friend Dr. Jon Perlin, HCA Healthcare’s President of Clinical Services and Chief Medical Officer; and Dr. Larry Van Horn, a healthcare economist, professor at the Vanderbilt Owen School of Management and advisor to the White House.
We are presenting virtually to our Nashville Health Care Council Fellows Class, a group of the brightest rising executives and leaders in the healthcare space.
We are taping on Friday, March 27th. This is a rapidly evolving crisis, changing day by day. So, please continue to follow the latest recommendations by the CDC.
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You are about to hear a discussion I’m having on the COVID-19 pandemic with Dr. William Schaffner, an internationally renowned infectious disease specialist and public health expert with Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and Dr. Larry Van Horn, a healthcare economist, professor at the Vanderbilt Owen School of Management and advisor to the White House.
We are presenting virtually to our Nashville Health Care Council Fellows Class, a group of the brightest rising executives and leaders in the healthcare space.
We are taping on Friday, March 27th. This is a rapidly evolving crisis, changing day by day. So, please continue to follow the latest recommendations by the CDC.
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Dean Kamen, a friend with whom I've worked on global health issues for two decades, is a world renowned inventor and engineer, whose inventions have literally changed the way we live. In health, he invented the first drug infusion pump, now used and literally every hospital in America. He pioneered water purification systems, to deliver safe drinking water the world over. He holds the patents, which are making portable dialysis machines possible. For those with disabilities, his iBOT wheelchair crosses all terrain, including stair steps.
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On April 2nd, A Second Opinion joined with the Princeton University Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies and the Center for Health and Wellbeing to host a virtual COVID-19 discussion on the “fiscal, monetary and health policy responses and implications for the economic outlook.”
I was joined by Jessica Metcalf, Assistant Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary Biology & Public Affairs, an expert in disease modeling, vaccination programs, and the challenges of disease elimination. Alan Blinder, Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, a former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and economic advisor to President Clinton. And Bill Dudley, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and now Senior Research Scholar at the Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies.
In this wide-ranging discussion, we covered the projected economic impacts of COVID-19, what the Federal Reserve can hope to achieve with its toolkit, and what the disease models are telling us.
Dr. Michael Abramoff is the founder and executive chairman of IDX Technologies, the artificial intelligence diagnostic company that became the very first company in any field of medicine to get FDA approval for completely autonomous artificial intelligence. His remarkable instruments can independently analyze images of the retina for early signs of diabetic eye disease that thousands lose their vision to each year. This is the first in a three-part series on innovation in medicine and health. I'm your host, Senator Bill Frist.
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Today's episode focuses on telemedicine and telehealth. Today's pandemic with staying at home and sheltering in becoming the new norm across America has catapulted telemedicine to the top of the healthcare delivery system. It provides convenient and rapid and affordable access to healthcare doctors and nurses. Our guest today is Ann Mond Johnson, CEO of the American telemedicine association, the ATA, the leading national organization whose goal is to promote expanded access to medical care for consumers and health professionals alike using telecommunications, technology and virtual care. The ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis has put a spotlight on telemedicine and the ATA, the American Telemedicine Association has helped lead recent efforts in Congress and around the nation to advance new access. Now more than ever, we are seeing the value of receiving treatment in the comfort and the safety of our own homes. I'm recording today from New Castle, Virginia, a town of 150 in rural Craig County in Southwest Virginia. Amongst so many other issues we talk about today. We will discuss the challenges of rural access and the ethical issues of addressing our most vulnerable populations. We are taping on Monday, March 23rd this is a rapidly evolving pandemic changing day by day, so please continue to follow the latest guidelines issued by the CDC Centers for Disease Control and your local authorities.
For News, Policy Updates, Webinars and other resources on telehealth during the coronavirus pandemic, visit the American Telemedicine Association’s COVID-19 page for the latest information: https://info.americantelemed.org/covid-19-news-resources
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Dr. Victor Dzau is the president of the National Academy of Medicine, the independent, congressionally chartered organization originally created to advise the federal government and advance the wellbeing of the US population. Today, the National Academy's mandate is much broader. It includes members from across the globe and partners with organizations worldwide to address the challenges that affect us all. Dr. Dzau is past president and CEO of Due University Health System, former chairman of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and past chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University. Today we discuss clinician burnout, the opioid epidemic, and the Academy's landmark report on medical errors.
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Brent Shafer is chairman and CEO of Cerner, the largest electronic health record company in the world. We discuss the phenomenal degree of change that we'll see in healthcare over the next five years and the technology driving that change.
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Today, on A Second Opinion, we bring you our fifth Special Episode on the coronavirus. In times of crisis, it’s critical to learn from those with the most experience. And in today’s episode, we do just that. We bring you trusted information from Dr. Wenhong Zhang, the leading Chinese physician who has successfully spearheaded public health efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Shanghai.
Dr. Zhang, is the Head of Infectious Disease at Huashan Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai. He is considered the “gatekeeper of Shanghai” for his heavy involvement in creating the public health policies that worked and kept the city safe.
One model had predicted Shanghai would see 800,000 cases, but through their extraordinary early efforts to limit travel, end large gatherings, and immediately implement social distancing and testing, they limited cases to just 300. And Dr. Zhang and his team have cured 95% of their COVID-19 patients in his hospital.
Today on A Second Opinion, we bring you our third special episode in our continuing series of providing the most up to date coverage on the 2019 novel coronavirus. This is important information you can use today directly from the most trusted source, the CDC. I'm your host, Senator Bill Frist. We're joined today by Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She's played leadership roles in CDC emergency responses including the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza response, the 2003 SARS outbreak, and the 2001 bioterrorist anthrax response. We are taping on Wednesday, March 11th. This is a rapidly evolving epidemic changing day by day. So please continue to follow the very latest recommendations by the CDC.
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Today I sit down with my good friend, Dr. Jon Perlin, President of Clinical Services and Chief Medical Officer of HCA Healthcare. For something a little different for us, Jon interviews me in a wide-ranging discussion touching on electronic health records, the 2020 election and its implications for healthcare, how coronavirus changed the world overnight, and global health diplomacy through HIV/AIDS and a government program called PEPFAR.
This is a live taping at the Lake Nona Impact Forum. Each year more than 300 of the nation’s top CEOs, health care innovators and thought leaders gather here in Lake Nona Medical City, Florida to lead the conversation on building the Wellbeing Ecosystem of the Future.
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Seema Verma is the Administrator for CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She oversees the federal agency that provides vital healthcare programs to over 100 million Americans. There, she is aggressively pushing regulatory change to reduce administrative burdens on providers and improve transparency and outcomes for patients. I'm your host, Senator Bill Frist. We are broadcasting from the Lake Nona Impact Forum in Lake Nona Medical City, Florida.
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I'm excited to be joined by my good friend, Dr. Anand Parekh, who serves as chief medical advisor for the Bipartisan Policy Center. We've worked together since he joined the BPC in 2015, formulating policies related to the obesity epidemic and nutrition, domestic and global HIV/AIDS, business and public health collaboration, social isolation, rural health, and so many more issues. Anand is a board-certified internal medicine physician, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and an adjunct assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. He previously served for a decade at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including as an HHS deputy assistant secretary for health from 2008 to 2015. There he played an instrumental role in the implementation of the Recovery Act's Prevention and Wellness Fund, the Affordable Care Act's prevention initiatives, and HHS Multiple Chronic Conditions initiative. His new book, Prevention First: Policymaking for a Healthier America, was released in December, 2019. It argues that prevention must be our nation's top health policy priority.
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Today, on A Second Opinion, we bring you our third special episode in our continuing series of providing up to date, real-time coverage on the 2019 novel coronavirus, now known as COVID19 – a global crisis that has come to the United States. We are joined by Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2009 – 2017. Dr. Frieden is a global expert on pandemics who led CDC efforts to halt the Ebola epidemic of 2014 – 2016. This is a rapidly evolving crisis and emerging pandemic, changing minute by minute. Continue to follow the latest recommendations by the CDC.
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This our fourth and final episode of a special four part series where we share insights and predictions from our nation's leading healthcare economist. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Craig Garthwaite, an applied microeconomist who is the Herman R. Smith research professor in hospital and health service, and director of the program on healthcare at the Kellogg School of Management. Professor Garthwaite's research examines the effects of government policies and social phenomenon, with a focus on health and biopharmaceutical sectors. You will love his thoughts and his insights on the trade offs necessary to reduce drug prices, how US drug spending drives global innovation, and why presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' healthcare proposal is not actually Medicare for all.
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I’m here today broadcasting from the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, DC, where we are releasing a major report that has been three years in the making. For listeners who may not familiar with the BPC, it is a Washington, DC-based think tank that actively fosters bipartisanship by combining the best ideas from both parties to promote health, security, and opportunity for all Americans.
Now I’m sitting down with two of my “Big 10” colleagues, Chris Jennings, who most recently served as the Deputy Assistant to the President for Health Policy and Coordinator of Health Reform under President Barack Obama, and Dr. Gail Wilensky, an economist and the director of the Medicare and Medicaid programs under President George H.W. Bush. They are going to share how the sausage got made on this health care reform compromise, and highlight some key details in the report.
For the most up to date information on this epidemic please visit http://cdc.gov/ncov
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Today, we are bringing you a special episode focused on rural health. We're broadcasting from Nashville with a live taping entitled solving the rural healthcare puzzle, national state and provider perspectives. Our panel and discussion are organized by the Nashville Health Care Council, the premier healthcare membership association with nearly 300 members here in Nashville, and the Bipartisan Policy Center, Washington DC based think tank that actively fosters bipartisanship by combining the best ideas from both parties to promote health security and opportunity for all Americans. I'm joined on today's panel by Dr. Sarah Chouinard, rural health expert and chief medical officer of community care of West Virginia, a system of 17 federally qualified health centers operating across nine counties in rural West Virginia. Alan Levine, president and CEO of Ballad Health, an innovative integrated health care delivery system that serves 1.2 million people in 29 rural counties of Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Northwestern North Carolina and Southeastern Kentucky, and Stuart McWhorter, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration and the co-chairman of governor Bill Lee's Health Care Modernization Task Force. Our wide ranging discussion touches on workforce issues, the challenge is rural and non-urban health system space with current payment models, and what on-the-ground conditions continue to see with the ongoing opioid epidemic. Our panel puts forth solutions as well as defines the problems.
For the most up to date information on this epidemic please visit http://cdc.gov/ncov
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Today, I'm excited to be joined by the brilliant Doctor David Cutler, the Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics in the Department of Economics in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. David's research has directly impacted state and federal health policy. He was a key advisor in the formulation of Romneycare, advised presidential candidates on healthcare spending including Barack Obama, and played a leading role in the formulation of the recent cost control legislation in Massachusetts. He also served on the Council of Economic Advisors and the National Economic Council during the Clinton administration and has held positions at the NIH, National Academy if Sciences, and currently at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Professor Cutler is beloved by his students for his outstanding mentorship.
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Today on A Second Opinion, we bring you our second special episode in our continuing series of providing up to date coverage on the 2019 novel coronavirus. On February 7th I spoke with Dr. Jay Butler, the Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Butler has had extensive experience with serious global outbreaks. He directed CDC's 2009 H1N1 pandemic vaccine task force, which achieved emergency vaccination of more than 80 million Americans. Dr Butler's update includes what the public needs to know about this new strain of coronavirus. We are taping on the afternoon of February 7th, 2020. This is a rapidly changing situation and some of the data and developments shared in this interview may have changed by the time you hear this.
For the most up to date information on this epidemic please visit http://cdc.gov/ncov
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Today, on A Second Opinion, we bring you a special episode outside of our regular Monday show schedule to provide up to date coverage on the 2019 novel coronavirus. In this episode we cover all you need to know about this threatening virus, including policy, health and innovation. Answer all the basic questions, including how dangerous the virus is to you and your family, where it came from and how fast it’s spreading, what symptoms to watch out for, and how different it is from the routine seasonal flu on the one hand and measles on the other.
For the most up to date information on this epidemic please visit http://cdc.gov/ncov
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Today I'm joined by my friend, Dr. Sherry Glied, Dean of New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Sherry has had a brilliant career conducting health care research and actively creating federal health policy and I'm excited to have her with us today. Before her role as Wagner School Dean, Dr. Glied served as the assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services and as senior economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers in 1992 and 1993. Her principle areas of research are mental health and health policy reform. She's authored a number of books, including Better, But Not Well: Mental Health Policy in the US Since 1950.
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Dr. Pauly has made significant contributions to the fields of medical economics and health insurance. His classic study on the economics of moral hazard was the first to point out how health insurance coverage may affect patients use of medical services. He is considered one of the original architects of the individual mandate and presented it in fact as an option to President George H.W. Bush in the 1980s. Dr. Pauly is a former commissioner on the Physician Payment Review Commission and the coeditor and chief of the Springer International Journal of Healthcare, Finance and Economics.
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I was recently joined by Paul Fipps, the Chief Digital Officer of Under Armour and Gyre Renwick, Vice President of Lyft Business. We sat down before a live audience in Nashville, at the sixth annual emids Healthcare Summit, to discuss the topic of Google, Alexa and the future of voice activated healthcare. Our panel was part of a two-day event, focused on maximizing technology to fundamentally alter the business of care delivery.
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I'm joined by my good friend James Capretta, a healthcare entitlement and physical policy expert who currently holds the Milton Freedman chair at the DC based think tank, the American Enterprise Institute. Jim began his career by serving for 16 years in senior positions in the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. He was an associate director at the White House office of management and budget in the George W. Bush administration. There he handled healthcare, social security, education, and welfare programs. Like me he also spent time in the Senate. He was a senior analyst at the Senate Budget Committee. And in recent years he and I have worked together to find bipartisan healthcare policy solutions at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington DC.
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In today's episode I'm excited to have Matt Eyles, president and CEO of America's Health Insurance plans, known as AHIP, the national trade association of health insurance providers. Matt has more than two decades of healthcare experience in the private sector and in government. He's led teams at Fortune 200 healthcare companies in diverse roles, including public policy, government affairs, advocacy, and corporate communications, with both a U.S. and a global focus. He's been named a healthcare power player by Business Insider, and among the 100 most influential people in healthcare by Modern Healthcare. Matt began his career at the congressional budget office covering healthcare, budget, and regulatory policy.
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As president of the Healthcare Leadership Council, Mary's organization serves as the exclusive forum for the nation's most influential healthcare leaders to jointly develop the policies and plans and programs to improve American health.
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In today's episode we have with us my good friend and colleague, Doctor Margaret Hamburg, an internationally recognized physician and public health expert, who is currently serving as the foreign secretary of the National Academy of Medicine and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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I'm excited to be joined by Shirley Franklin, the former mayor of Atlanta and the executive chairman of the board of directors of Purpose Built Communities. Shirley Franklin, executive chairman of Purpose Built Communities, is working to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty, and thereby create a culture of health and wellbeing. She helps local leaders transform struggling neighborhoods and brings together the vital components necessary for holistic community revitalization. The 58th mayor of Atlanta, Shirley was the first woman to hold the post and the first African American woman elected mayor of a major southern city. Shirley helped Atlanta become one of the most progressive cities in the country.
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I'm excited to have Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention with us. For over four years Anne Schuchat has served as a principal deputy director of the CDC. She's played key roles in CDC emergency responses including the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza response. And during my own years in the Senate in Washington, the 2003 SARS outbreak in Beijing and the 2001 bio terrorist anthrax response. Globally, she's worked on meningitis, pneumonia and Ebola vaccine trials in West Africa and conducted surveillance and prevention projects in South Africa. In our conversation, we take a deep dive on the devastating vaping crisis that's affecting our youth and communities nationwide and hear how the CDC is addressing the problem.
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In A Second Opinion we believe that Medicine is one of the keys to advancing American Health. In this episode guest host Dr. Kavita Patel guides us through her favorite Medical focused moments from season one.
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In A Second Opinion we believe that Policy is one of the keys to advancing American Health. In this episode guest host Dr. Kavita Patel guides us through her favorite policy focused moments from season one.
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In A Second Opinion we believe that innovation is the key to advancing American Health. In this episode guest host Dr. Kavita Patel guides us through her favorite innovation focused moments from season one.
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I want to thank you for listening to the first season of “A Second Opinion.” Whether you’ve listened to all or some of the episodes, or if you’re tuning in for the first time - I sincerely appreciate your ongoing support and the support of our sponsors. I also want to give you a sense of what you can expect in Season 2, which is just around the corner.
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Jeff Goldsmith is President of Health Futures, Inc and National Advisor to Navigant Healthcare. For over a decade, Jeff was a lecturer in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago, on health services management and policy. He is one of the nation's foremost health industry analysts, specializing in corporate strategy, trend analysis, health policy, and emerging technologies. Wait till your hear his predictions for the future of health and healthcare.
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McArthur VanOsdale started myNEXUS, a technology-driven, care and benefit management service that enables individuals to live healthier lives in their homes. Their mission is to be the leader in health resource optimization. myNEXUS has seen tremendous growth, and McArthur has a keen eye for spotting needs in the market and filling those gaps with private sector solutions.
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Aaron Gani is the founder and CEO of BehaVR, LLC, which creates digital therapeutics for behavioral health through the unmatched psychological power of Virtual Reality. He is on the cutting edge of creating innovative consumer-centered, technological solutions to some of our major health challenges. Aaron previously served as Chief Technology Officer of Humana, and is a founding member of the Strategic Advisory Board of the Digital Medicine Society, and a founding advisory board member of the International Virtual Reality Healthcare Association. Wait till you year about the unparalleled promise Aaron is seeing in the application of VR to behavioral health.
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Justin Lanning is a social entrepreneur dedicated to making a meaningful impact on the national opioid crisis. He started and serves as CEO of 180 Health Partners, a Nashville-based company that prevents babies from being born dependent on opioids, by helping moms achieve their substance-free goals. He has created a private sector solution using the latest medical research in a capitated, value-based model that partners with Medicaid Managed Care Organizations for improved outcomes and real savings. Wait till you hear just how Justin and 180 innovatively and compassionately address the challenges posed by opioids and neonatal abstinence syndrome.
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I've known Paul Ketchel for over two decades when he first began to work with me as a technology wizard in my US Senate office in Washington. Paul has always had a tireless passion for creating solutions to problems. And it came as no surprise to me when he came up with the unique, the value-based bundled approach of MDsave, the world's first transactional healthcare marketplace. MDsave is all about transparency and consumer empowerment. It empowers patients to compare prices for healthcare services up front, potentially saving them hundreds, even thousands of dollars on costly procedures that we previously had no price transparency on.
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Sam Quinones is a journalist, storyteller, and author of the enthralling book Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic. Dreamland won a National Book Critics Circle award for the Best Nonfiction Book of 2015, and was selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Amazon.com, Slate.com, the Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, Seattle Times, Boston Globe, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Entertainment Weekly, and Audible. Sam lived in Mexico for 10 years as a freelance writer before returning to the U.S. to cover immigration, drug trafficking, neighborhood stories, and gangs for the LA Times. Wait till you hear how this crime reporter became an expert on opioids.
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Emily Evans is the Managing Director of Health Policy for Hedgeye Potomac Research, serving as a “translator and tour guide” for investors seeking to read the tea leaves coming out of Washington, DC. She previously spent 20 years financing health care facilities in the tax-exempt sector for J.C. Bradford and Avondale Partners. In our discussion, we delve into the health care pricing policies coming out of the current administration in Washington.
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Dr. Jeffrey Patton is the president of physician services at OneOncology, a rapidly growing, nationwide partnership of independent community oncologists serving patients in the communities in which they live. Dr. Patton serves as CEO and Chairman of Nashville-based Tennessee Oncology, one of the largest community oncology practices in the United States. In our episode, he shares how he has seen cancer care evolve over the decades, the exciting new role genetics play, and how data and technology are transforming delivery.
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Dr. Josh Umbehr is the founder of Atlas MD, which he considers a blue collar concierge medical service that nearly any American can afford. For $50 a month, a patient can have unlimited access to a physician, including after hours, weekends and holidays. Can receive house calls if needed. Reach the medical team via phone, email, or text. And perhaps most interestingly, get access to wholesale labs and medications, often for pennies and pill, lower than Walmart, lower than Walgreens. In our conversation, Josh shares why the Atlas MD model is the future of primary care.
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Dr. Cara James is the director of the Office of Minority Health at CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where she is also co-chair of the Rural Health Council. She's a nationally recognized expert in health disparities, in health equity, and improving health outcomes for vulnerable populations. Under her leadership, CMS developed it's very first CMS Equity Plan to improve quality in Medicare, as well as it's first formal Rural Health Strategy. And she continues to think creatively to move federal levers that make a difference in health and well being of the underserved.
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Dr. Marty Makary is a New York Times bestselling author, Johns Hopkins gastrointestinal surgeon and Professor of Health Policy. His newest book, The Price We Pay, is out THIS week and has been called the “The Big Short” of American Medicine. Marty’s research has led to actionable solutions that reduce waste and overtreatment, improving quality of care to the patient and saving our health care system millions of dollars. And as you probably know his previous book Unaccountable is now a hit TV series. You’ll want to stay tuned to hear his thoughts on what he calls, “the crisis of appropriateness.”
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Today we’re joined by Darin Gordon, one of the preeminent experts on the Medicaid program, having served as the nation’s longest-serving director of a state Medicaid agency. For 10 years, Darin ran Tennessee’s Medicaid program - TennCare, an $11 billion health care enterprise that provides services to over 1.5 million Tennesseans. During his time, Tennessee led the way in adopting managed care, dealt with expanding and, later due to budget constraints, having to reduce beneficiary rolls, and experimented with innovative ways to reduce costs while improving care. While Medicare is the federal health entitlement that gets most of the attention, it’s Medicaid that covers more Americans and has enabled states to innovate. In our conversation Darin share his insights into the future of this program and how we can improve care for the neediest Americans.
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I’m excited to be joined by Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle, Co-Founder and CEO of Iora Health. If you haven’t heard of Rushika or Iora Health yet, you will. He has designed a new model of primary care delivery that challenges the core assumptions of U.S. healthcare and produces better health outcomes at lower cost. He is a Harvard-trained physician who serves on the staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital and on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. His company Iora Health solves for some of the most pressing problems in our healthcare system today, including physician burnout and addressing social determinants of health. Our conversation touches on these issues and the future of our nation’s primary care.
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We often hear about how the tech companies of Silicon Valley are looking to solve our health and healthcare challenges, and we are lucky to have with us Facebook’s Dr. Freddy Abnousi. Freddy is doing just that type of work. He is a practicing interventional cardiologist and head of Facebook’s healthcare – research. We’ll hear a little bit more on what that actually means. Freddy also serves as innovation advisor to the American College of Cardiology and Assistant Professor Adjunct at Yale University School of Medicine. He has previously led innovative health care efforts at companies such as McKinsey and Google, and has served as founder and CMO of CorDynamix Inc., an interventional heart failure company. In our conversation we rethink American Health in the context of today’s rapidly changing technology.
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Aneesh Chopra is best known as our nation’s first U.S. Chief Technology Officer. During his time in the White House, President Obama said “Aneesh found countless ways to engage the American people using technology, from electronic health records for veterans, to expanding access to broadband for rural communities, to modernizing government records." Today he serves as President of CareJourney, which harnesses open data, methodologies, and APIs to provide market intelligence and actionable insights to help payers and providers. He is constantly pushing the envelope to increase access to data to empower patients and care providers, and has unique insights into how the government can facilitate innovation in the private sector.
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Senator Lamar Alexander is a two-term Governor of Tennessee, a former U.S. Secretary of Education under George H.W. Bush, and today Chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He is an enigma in today’s political climate, achieving major bipartisan legislative victories like the “21st Century Cures Act” and “Every Student Succeeds Act,” while Washington is gridlocked by partisanship. He is one of the most powerful people in health care today, and also one of the most respected, pragmatic and productive members of Congress. In this conversation Senator Alexander shares how he’s navigated Congress as an effective lawmaker, and what’s next on the health policy agenda.
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Dr. Toby Cosgrove is an acclaimed cardiothoracic surgeon by training, but later in his career took on the daunting challenge of running the Cleveland Clinic, one of our nation’s preeminent centers of healthcare. His leadership as president and CEO ushered in the most successful years in Cleveland Clinic history. Now he’s taking on a new challenge as Executive Advisor to the Google Cloud Healthcare and Life Sciences team. In this conversation Dr. Cosgrove shares some fantastic insights into leadership and what the future of medicine and hospital care will look like.
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Senator Bill Frist is no stranger to American health and healthcare. He is an accomplished heart and lung transplant surgeon, as well as a two-term United States Senator representing Tennessee. Now he is using his influence to connect with leaders and innovators to bring awareness and understanding to more than just healthcare, but health in general. Listen, and hear Dr. Frist’s second opinion.