The Dose

A well-functioning public health system is vital to keeping individuals, and the population at large, safe and healthy. Except that success is often invisible when it comes to public health—we don't notice it until the system breaks down. The U.S. public health system has taken a drubbing from COVID-19. But the pandemic has also driven home just how critical it is to invest in this key component o...

Racial bias in medical care extends all the way to the prescription pad. Research shows that people of color are less likely to receive the most effective treatments for life-threatening conditions, including cancer and heart disease. One way to address this is by aiming for "pharmacoequity" — where all patients, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, disability, or other characteristics, have...

Nurses in the United States are experiencing burnout at unprecedented rates. More than two years into the pandemic, they are still processing the trauma of what they witnessed in the early days. Staffing shortages, meanwhile, are creating unmanageable workloads. On the latest episode of  The Dose  podcast, host Shanoor Seervai interviews Rebecca Love, a nurse and president of SONSIEL, the Society...

When a federal judge lifted the national mask mandate on airplanes, trains, and other public transportation, some Americans broke out the champagne. Others wrung their hands, dreading the removal of a relatively simple public health tool at a time when COVID-19 cases are rising across the U.S. On the latest The Dose podcast, Celine Gounder, M.D., Senior Fellow and Editor-at-Large for Public Health...

Access to health care is a constitutional right for the 2 million Americans in our criminal justice system. For some of those incarcerated – overwhelmingly people with low income and people of color – the first time they receive care is behind bars. But when individuals transition back into their communities, this care often vanishes. On the latest episode of  The Dose , Emily Wang, M.D., director...

  In the face of overwhelming demand for behavioral health services, the unmet needs of one group stands out: Black and brown teenagers.   One reason they're not getting the care they need is the shortage of child and adolescent mental health providers in the U.S. — particularly providers of color. Making matters worse are the racial stereotypes that play out in how Black and brown teens are perce...

  In the face of overwhelming demand for behavioral health services, the unmet needs of one group stands out: Black and brown teenagers.   One reason they're not getting the care they need is the shortage of child and adolescent mental health providers in the U.S. — particularly providers of color. Making matters worse are the racial stereotypes that play out in how Black and brown teens are perce...

Although primary care is the lifeline of a health care system, the United States spends less on it, and more on specialty care, than other high-income countries. This sends a message to our primary care workforce: we don't value what you do. The result? Burnout, high turnover, physician shortages—all of which were dire crises before the pandemic but are even worse now. On the latest episode of The...

Americans pay more for prescription drugs than people in other countries do. As medicines become increasingly unaffordable — particularly for people with low incomes — policymakers in both parties are feeling the urgency to address the problem. But what could they do? On the latest episode of The Dose  podcast, Robin Feldman, a professor at the UC Hastings College of Law and an expert on intellect...

Social programs like Medicaid are supposed to help people, but often they reproduce racial inequities — and sometimes actually create them. That's because even well-intentioned policymakers can't always see the disproportionate impact their decisions have on people of color. But what if there were a tool to help legislators and government officials identify when and how they should be thinking abo...

Climate change can have a devastating impact on our health. When people are injured or exposed to disease related to floods or fires, it's up to health systems to pick up the pieces. But health care itself is one of the world's most carbon-intensive industries, responsible for 4.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. What can health systems do to address climate change? In the United Kingdom,...

The Omicron variant is sweeping across the United States and the rest of the world, breaking previous records of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. While it may cause milder illness, its transmissibility and ability to evade vaccines make this surge particularly challenging to navigate. On the latest episode of The Dose podcast, host Shanoor Seervai asks Alison Galvani, founding director of the...

A year after adults in the U.S. began getting vaccinated against COVID-19, children ages 5 and up are now eligible for the shot. So far, uptake has been slow – in part because of parents' concerns over vaccine safety. On the latest episode of The Dose , pediatrician and American Academy of Pediatrics board member Michelle Fiscus, M.D., and the Commonwealth Fund's Rachel Nuzum shed light on challen...

The U.S. maternal health crisis has been well documented. Black Americans are three times as likely as white Americans to die from pregnancy-related causes. Why do these disparities persist? And what would it take to dismantle structural racism in reproductive health care? On the latest episode of The Dose , Rachel Hardeman, tenured associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Publ...

Vaccines have saved thousands of lives and are an incredible tool in the seemingly endless battle against the coronavirus. But even with COVID surging anew in Europe as winter approaches, the rate at which Americans are getting vaccinated has plateaued.   On the latest episode of The Dose , Alison Galvani, founding director of the Yale Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis, and Eric...

The U.S. housing crisis and health care are inextricably linked. Compared to the general population, people experiencing homelessness have higher rates of illness and mortality. These struggles are even more acute for transgender people, who often face discrimination when they seek both housing and health care. On the latest episode of The Dose , Pam Klein, Manager of Transgender Services at the B...

When the pandemic hit last March, mental health care, which was typically delivered in face-to-face sessions, rapidly moved online. At a time when the need for support was greater than ever, this was a welcome shift. But as we glance – with cautious optimism – toward a return to "normal," will telehealth be the dominant mode of delivering mental health services? On the latest episode, Latoya Thoma...

While rich countries are doling out booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, many poor countries have vaccinated less than five percent of their population. And, while many leaders agree that vaccinating the world is the only way out of the pandemic, vaccines are still not moving around the globe in a rapid and equitable manner. This is because "we live in a hierarchy of health," says Priti Krishtel...

Even as the Delta variant rages through the U.S., many Americans have not received a COVID-19 vaccine. The reasons are complex, but for Black and Latinx communities, a long history of poor access to health care has been a tall barrier. On the first episode of our brand-new season of The Dose podcast, host Shanoor Seervai talks to Rhea Boyd, M.D., a pediatrician and public health advocate, about wh...

The Dose is the Commonwealth Fund's podcast that asks, What can the U.S. do differently when it comes to health care? Join host Shanoor Seervai every other Friday for conversations with leading and emerging experts. This season we're focusing on new ideas that could strengthen and improve health care for everyone. Get the Dose in your inbox: https://thedose.show/signup Music by Blue Dot Sessions. 

Many Americans have started to behave as if the pandemic is over, but large numbers of people remain unvaccinated. At the same time, other parts of the world are experiencing their worst COVID-19 surges yet. On the season finale of The Dose , Sandro Galea, physician, epidemiologist, and dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, talks about what it will take to vaccinate the entire wor...

When the pandemic hit last March, the U.S. was still facing another major public health crisis —the opioid epidemic. Between COVID-19 lockdowns and economic devastation, overdose deaths soared. Experts estimate that around 90,000 people died of a drug overdose in 2020. That's the highest number of overdose deaths ever, and it represents the largest one-year increase. On the latest episode of The D...

Many of us can recall a time we felt nervous about seeing a doctor. Maybe it was because we were wary about how much the visit would cost, or what a diagnosis would mean for our health. Now, imagine how much more stress you would feel if you had experienced trauma — from domestic violence or human trafficking, for example. Trauma survivors are the people family medicine physician Anita Ravi, M.D.,...

Migrants are crossing the southern border in record numbers this year, many of them unaccompanied children. What happens to them once they make it into the U.S., or if they've been here for a long time, when they need health care? On the latest episode of The Dose podcast, Carrie Byington, executive vice president of University of California Health explains, drawing on her expertise as a pediatric...

The Biden-Harris administration has taken several measures in its first three months to strengthen the nation's social safety net. Many of these policies will have an outsized impact on women — particularly women of color, who often struggle to access health care and now are bearing the brunt of the COVID-induced economic crisis. From mandating paid sick leave and shoring up childcare to addressin...