Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan are joined by Sachin Jain, CEO of the nonprofit Scan Health Plan, who argues that the managed care industry must dramatically reorient itself towards patient care. Harlan looks at the long-term health effects of the L.A. wildfires and an effort to replace the widely used body-mass index; Howie reflects on the growing mistrust of doctors and its connection to declining vaccination...

Howie and Harlan discuss health and healthcare headlines, including misaligned incentives keeping medicine from its mission, burdensome out-of-pockets costs, ultraprocessed foods, and serving the growing population of cancer survivors effectively. Links: Vivek Murthy's parting letter to America "Surgeon General Urges Americans to 'Rethink How We're Living Our Lives' in Closing Letter to the Countr...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale physician Dana Dunne, who leads a new coaching program designed to help medical students develop a lifelong orientation toward growth and building knowledge. Harlan reports on a new generation of AI that can diagnose patients more consistently than human doctors; Howie explains how the state of Connecticut wiped out medical debt for thousands of low-income resid...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Jaewon Ryu, CEO of Risant Health, a nonprofit company that brings together integrated health systems with the goal of spreading the adoption of value-based care. Harlan reports from the annual Cardiovascular Clinical Trialists Forum on progress toward faster and more effective clinical trials; Howie reflects on the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.  Link...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Aaron Kesselheim, a physician, attorney, and public health expert, to discuss the shifting legal landscape for healthcare regulation and his experiences serving on an FDA advisory committee. Harlan reports on the growing evidence of widespread health impacts from microplastics; Howie provides an update on the bird flu outbreak.  Links: Microplastics "Landmark study l...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Vin Gupta, a physician, a medical analyst for NBC News, and the chief medical officer of Amazon Pharmacy. Harlan reports on the Biden administration's proposal to cover obesity drugs with Medicare and Medicaid; Howie offers some reasons to be thankful.   Links: Coverage of Obesity Medication "White House Fact Sheet: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Takes Latest Step to L...

Howie and Harlan are joined by investor and entrepreneur Halle Tecco to discuss her work connecting the worlds of technology and healthcare, and her latest venture, which allows women to freeze their eggs for future use for free if they donate half of them to a couple in need. Harlan checks in from the annual meeting of the American Heart Association; Howie discusses his concerns about Robert F. K...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Rahul Rajkumar, founder and CEO of Accompany Health, which provides a team of providers for patients who are on both Medicare and Medicaid. Harlan reflects on a visit to China and the healthcare ramifications of proposed legislation that would force U.S. biotech companies to cut ties with some Chinese partners. Howie provides an update on healthcare-related measures...

Howie and Harlan discuss health and healthcare headlines, including generational shifts in doctors' approach to work, a promising vaccine for norovirus, the latest on the bird flu outbreak, and the struggles of corporate-backed primary care companies.  Links: Norovirus CDC: Norovirus "Bivalent norovirus mRNA vaccine elicits cellular and humoral responses protecting human enteroids from GII.4 infec...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Stephen Knight, president and managing partner of the healthcare and technology venture capital firm F-Prime Capital, to discuss his varied career and the breakthroughs he has helped enable. Howie and Harlan discuss AI in medicine and what a second Trump administration could mean for healthcare.  Links: Respiratory Illnesses, AI, and the Physician Shortage CDC: Respi...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Michael Sherling, a dermatologist and a founder of Modernizing Medicine, which aims to save doctors time with an intelligent, specialty-specific electronic health record. Harlan provides updates on COVID-19 variants and vaccines, and on the acquisition of CareBridge, which provides value-based home care for Medicaid patients. Howie explains why cases of pertussis—who...

Howie and Harlan discuss health and healthcare issues in the headlines, including a powerful—but dangerous—new gene therapy, racial disparities in excess deaths during the COVID pandemic, and the limited insurance coverage for highly effective new obesity drugs.  Links: The Physician Shortage "Opening the Door Wider to International Medical Graduates—The Significance of a New Tennessee Law" "New L...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Max Laurans, a Yale neurosurgeon and hospital administrator, and a founder of the healthcare staffing company Nomad Health. Harlan discusses the problem of doctors giving too much weight to suggestions from AI; Howie celebrates a milestone in the campaign to eliminate trachoma, a common cause of preventable blindness in the developing world.   Links: Automation Bias...

Howie and Harlan welcome Vivek Murthy, the 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States and a graduate of the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale School of Management. They talk about his campaigns to tackle parental stress, gun violence, and the dangers of social media, and the importance of communicating across political divides. Links: Parents Under Pressure: The U.S. Surgeon General's A...

Howie and Harlan discuss recent headlines, including the latest round of COVID and flu vaccines, a lousy report card for the U.S. healthcare system, and a rare case of swine flu. Plus: Howie investigates a mysteriously escalating pharmacy bill.  Links: COVID and Flu Vaccines CDC FluView: Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report: Key Updates for Week 36, ending September 7, 2024 CDC: Staying Up to D...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Ania Jastreboff, a Yale endocrinologist and an expert on obesity medication, to talk about the remarkable range of diseases treated by drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro, and Wegovy. Harlan discusses new Apple devices with the ability to detect sleep apnea and aid in hearing; Howie reports on outbreaks of polio in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Gaza.  Links: Apple and Health "...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Margaret McGovern, deputy dean for clinical affairs at the Yale School of Medicine, CEO of Yale Medicine, and chief physician executive of the Yale New Haven Health System. They discuss her path from the lab to healthcare leadership, and her efforts to better align Yale's medical school and its health system. Harlan reflects on the anniversary of the September 11 att...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Lee Schwamm, associate dean for digital strategy and transformation for Yale School of Medicine and chief digital health officer for Yale New Haven Health System, to discuss how AI and other digital tools can be part of fixing a broken healthcare system. Harlan reports on lightly regulated compounding pharmacies producing anti-obesity drugs; Howie gives an update on...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Joshua Sharfstein, a longtime public health official in federal, state, and local government, to discuss the state of the opioid epidemic, lessons from the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, and our readiness for a bird flu outbreak. Harlan reports on the summer surge in COVID-19; Howie remembers his mentor Gail Wilensky, a health economist who directed Medicaid and Medicare...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Kate Goodrich, chief medical officer for Humana and a former Medicare staffer, to discuss the improvements in care and outcomes that result when providers are paid for each patient, not each service. Harlan looks at the challenge of payment for AI-based diagnostic tools; Howie asks if free tuition at Johns Hopkins medical school will address the real problems in medi...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Timothy Westmoreland to discuss his long career in health policy and law, and the far-reaching consequences of the Supreme Court decision overturning Chevron deference. Harlan looks at President Joe Biden's debate struggles; Howie reports on the many healthcare-related Supreme Court decisions.  Links: The Presidential Debate Harlan Krumholz: "Did Cold Medications Aff...

Howie and Harlan catch up on healthcare headlines, including the politics of treating gun violence as a public health crisis, the growing evidence for the dangers of artificial sweeteners, and the latest on the bird flu outbreak. Links: Aspen Ideas: Health 2024 Harlan Krumholz: "The Next Era of JACC" "First Issue of JACC Debuts Under Harlan M. Krumholz" "U.S. clinical trials begin for twice-yearly...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Lisa Suter, a rheumatologist and the senior director of the Quality Measurement Program at Yale's Center for Outcomes Research & Evaluation. Harlan reflects on the meaning of Juneteenth and reports on a Yale-led report card on health equity; Howie comments on Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's call for warning labels on social media.  Links: Juneteenth National Museum of...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Anna Reisman, a physician and writer who leads Yale's Program for Humanities in Medicine. They discuss the gaps in care she encountered when her developmentally disabled sister was diagnosed with cancer, and her work reviewing the "dude wall" of portraits at Yale Medical School. Harlan asks what we've gained from a new definition of long COVID; Howie provides an upda...

Mitesh Rao, co-founder and CEO of OMNY Health, joins Howie and Harlan to discuss his entrepreneurial journey and how his company is creating a common layer of data connecting healthcare providers and researchers. Harlan reports on a study showing how many lives could be saved by improving quality of care; Howie reflects on the health consequences that have accompanied the legalization of cannabis....