JAMA Health Forum Conversations

Benjamin D. Sommers, MD, PhD, of Harvard University, speaks with JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, about differences in Medicaid enrollment as measured in surveys and administrative data. These differences have implications for estimating coverage now that the federal policy of continuous Medicaid eligibility during the COVID-19 pandemic has end...

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, speak with Rachel A. Prusynski, DPT, PhD, of the University of Washington about differences in the use and outcomes of home health services provided to beneficiaries in traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Related Content: Differences in Home Health Services and Outcomes Between Traditional Medicare and...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions in ambulatory care. In this interview with JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, Rishi K. Wadhera, MD, MPP, MPhil, of Harvard Medical School discusses how access to care and preventive services changed for different racial and ethnic groups in the US from 2019 to 2022. Related Content: Changes in He...

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, speak with Lindsay D. Allen, PhD, about how setting-specific opioid prescription duration limits helped reduce opioid overuse in West Virginia. Related Content: Opioid Prescribing Patterns After Imposition of Setting-Specific Limits on Prescription Duration

Smoking remains a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the US. Rafael Meza, PhD, of the British Columbia Cancer Research Institute, discusses recent trends in smoking by US adults across different age and income groups in this interview with JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD. Related Content: Trends in US Adult Smoking Prevalen...

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, speak with Ge Bai, PhD, CPA, author of Pharmacy Benefit Managers: History, Business Practices, Economics, and Policy, about how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have evolved in recent decades to play a central role in the US prescription drug market, including the benefits and policy challenges that PBMs present...

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, spoke with Heather Taylor, MD, from Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, about the costs of untreated mental illness in the state of Indiana. Considering a wide set of direct and indirect costs, her team estimated the cost to Indiana is over $4 Billon per year. Related Content: Econom...

In this interview, JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, explore with Erin K. McCreary, PharmD, and Atheendar S. Venkataramani, MD, PhD, how a large regional health system used a weighted lottery and intensive outreach to provide high-risk individuals in disadvantaged communities more equitable access to scarce monoclonal antibodies for preventing C...

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, discuss with Sandra B. Nelson, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston), her JAMA Health Forum study of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Massachusetts during 2 different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. She found transmission rates were very low but varied by district and the availability of vaccines. Rela...

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Associate Editor Julie Donohue, PhD, speak with Aaron S. Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH, and Genevieve P. Kanter, PhD, about the role of advisory committees convened by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to guide its decisions on whether to approve new prescription drugs. They also consider how the FDA has responded to recommendations from these...

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, talk with Anne N. Thorndike, MD, MPH, about the challenge of connecting Medicaid Accountable Care Organization (ACO) members with flexible benefits to address food and housing insecurity issues. Dr Thorndike and colleagues used a mixed-methods approach to conduct this evaluation of the implementation of a novel...

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, discuss with Brystana G. Kaufman, PhD, Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy, how health care use and spending differ for individuals residing in the community or nursing homes who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. They also explore the potential value of more tailored approaches to integrating ben...

In this interview, JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, speak with Megan B. Cole, PhD, MPH, about changes in performance measures and use of ambulatory services provided by federally qualified health centers in the US during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Related Content: Changes in Performance Measures and Service Volume at US Federal...

Adjusting quality measurements and payments for health care services to reflect the social as well as clinical risk factors of patients is controversial. JAMA Health Forum Editor John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda B. Buntin, PhD, discuss a structured approach that can be used to make decisions about social risk factor adjustment in Medicare with Yale's Kasia J. Lipska, MD. Related...

In this interview, JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, speak with David A. Hyman, JD, MD, about the role of paid malpractice claims in the past as a predictor of future paid malpractice claims, including how this link applies to lower-risk and higher-risk medical specialties. Related Content: Association of Past and Future Paid Medical Malpractice...

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health care in many domains, including mental health services. JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, discuss with Ryan K. McBain, PhD, MPH, of RAND Corporation how the use of mental health care—both in-person and telehealth visits—changed for commercially insured adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandem...

Medicare spending growth per beneficiary has been historically low since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. JAMA Health Forum Deputy Editor Melinda B. Buntin, PhD, of Vanderbilt University, speaks with JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Associate Editor Zirui Song, MD, PhD, about the factors that explain this slowdown in Medicare spending and the implications for poli...

In this conversation with Zoe Bouchelle, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, discuss the magnitude of the increase in food insufficiency among US households following the discontinuation of the COVID-19 pandemic–related monthly child tax credit payments. Related Content: Food Insufficiency Following Discontin...

Authors Andrew Feher, PhD, of Covered California, and Adrianna McIntyre, PhD, MPP, MPH, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, speak with JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, about research on the best ways to help people losing Medicaid coverage to enroll in health insurance Marketplace plans so they do not become uninsured. Related Content...

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, most states approved temporary regulatory changes so out-of-state physicians could provide telemedicine services to residents. Ateev Mehrotra, MD, of Harvard Medical School, and Chad Ellimoottil, MD, MS, of the University of Michigan, speak with JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, about the features of telemedicine visit...

President Biden has signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act containing important provisions related to prescription drug costs. JAMA Health Forum Editor John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda B. Buntin, PhD, discuss the effects of these provisions on patients with Aaron S. Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Related Content: New Ref...

Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017 was one of the most costly and catastrophic storms in US history. In this podcast, Maricruz Rivera-Hernandez, PhD, of Brown University speaks about her study of migration and mortality among patients with kidney failure requiring dialysis in Puerto Rico before and after Hurricane Maria with JAMA Health Forum Editor John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor...

Rishi K. Wadhera, MD, MPP, MPhil, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discusses his article investigating the association of the Medicare Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program with changes in patient care experience at safety-net vs non–safety-net hospitals with JAMA Health Forum editors John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Melinda B. Buntin, PhD. Related Content: Association of the Medicare Value-Ba...

In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of...

Through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion has yielded clear improvements in insurance coverage and access to care for low-income adults younger than 65, but has Medicaid expansion also had spillover benefits for adults 65 and older? In this interview with JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, Melissa McInerney, PhD,...