A Health Podyssey

THIS SPONSORED PODCAST IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE COBRE ON OPIOIDS AND OVERDOSE AT RHODE ISLAND HOSPITAL.

The US overdose crisis is changing. While opioid-related overdose deaths have begun to decline, researchers are seeing a growing role for stimulants, including cocaine and methamphetamine, in overdose risk.

In this sponsored episode, Leslie Erdelack speaks with Dr. Jaclyn White Hughto from Brown University about what researchers are learning from the evolving overdose epidemic. They discuss findings from the POINTS (Preventing Overdoses Involving Stimulants) study, a CDC-funded project examining stimulant-involved overdoses in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The conversation explores:

• How the US overdose epidemic has evolved, from prescription opioids to fentanyl and stimulant involvement
• Why stimulant-involved overdoses differ from opioid overdoses
• The rise of stimulant-only overdose deaths
• What researchers learned from interviews with people who use drugs
• Misconceptions about fentanyl contamination in the stimulant supply
• How people who use stimulants perceive and manage overdose risk
• The role of fentanyl test strips, naloxone, and other harm-reduction tools
• Community-driven strategies to improve overdose prevention
• Challenges surrounding Good Samaritan laws and emergency response
• Why surveillance data and public health monitoring remain critical
• New research examining potent stimulants and opportunities for earlier intervention

Dr. Hughto also discusses ongoing NIH-funded research aimed at understanding rising stimulant-only overdoses and identifying ways policymakers, clinicians, and communities can respond more effectively.

RELATED LINKS:

• The Center of Biomedical Research Excellence on Opioids and Overdose
• The POINTS (Preventing Overdoses Involving Stimulants) study

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.

What happens when Medicare stops requiring certain surgeries to be performed in hospitals?

In this episode of A Health Podyssey, host Rob Lott speaks with David H. Howard about new research estimating that removing procedures from Medicare’s inpatient-only list shifted care to outpatient settings and reduced spending by billions of dollars. The paper raises important questions about patient care, hospital incentives, and the future of Medicare payment policy.

Order the November 2026 issue of Health Affairs.

Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to stay up to date on health policy news and analysis.

Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.

Hospital systems are increasingly becoming both providers and insurers, but what does that mean for healthcare prices?

In this episode of A Health Podyssey, host Rob Lott speaks with University of Michigan's Mitchell Mead about his new Health Affairs research examining whether provider-sponsored health plans negotiate healthcare prices differently than traditional insurers.

Drawing on hospital price transparency data and national health system datasets, Mead explains how vertically integrated payer-provider organizations have grown since the Affordable Care Act and why Medicare Advantage has become a major driver of that trend. The discussion explores the finding that provider-sponsored health plans negotiated lower prices for 44 of 46 healthcare services studied.

The conversation also examines what these findings mean for policymakers grappling with healthcare affordability, consolidation, antitrust oversight, and the future of vertically integrated healthcare organizations.

Order the October 2026 issue of Health Affairs.

Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to stay up to date on health policy news and analysis.

Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.

Health Affairs Publishing’s Rob Lott speaks to Scott Laughery of the Congressional Budget Office about new research examining how generic drug entry affects net prescription drug prices and spending in Medicare Part D. 

Their conversation explores the often-hidden role of rebates, how generic competition reshapes drug markets, and what newly available data reveal about savings after loss of exclusivity.

Order the October 2026 issue of Health Affairs.

Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to stay up to date on health policy news and analysis.

Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

THIS SPONSORED PODCAST EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY DrFIRST.

In this sponsored episode, Dr. Colin Banas, chief medical officer at DrFirst, joins Health Affairs Publishing's Rob Lott to discuss prior authorization, why the process continues to create delays and administrative burden, and the future of prior authorization in the health care ecosystem.

Colin Banas joined DrFirst in 2019 after spending 17 years as CMIO at VCU Health System, where he also practiced as an internal medicine hospitalist. He has testified before the U.S. Senate on health IT and meaningful use and previously served as a health IT Fellow at the ONC. 

At DrFirst, Dr. Banas drives innovation in medication workflows, focusing on non-disruptive decision support that creates better experiences for providers and patients, including how AI can reduce clinical burnout and improve patient outcomes. 

This conversation explores the root causes of prior authorization challenges, from fragmented workflows and outdated technology to the competing incentives facing providers and payers. Dr. Banas and Lott also discuss how automation, interoperability, and artificial intelligence are beginning to reshape prior authorization and help organizations reduce friction while maintaining appropriate oversight of care.

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.

Health Affairs Publishing’s Rob Lott speaks to Sumedha Gupta of Indiana University about new research on the dementia care workforce and how clinician experiences vary across provider types. They examine what those differences could mean for access, diagnosis, and care as dementia prevalence increases in the years ahead.

Order the October 2026 issue of Health Affairs.

Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to stay up to date on health policy news and analysis.

Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.

This month marks a major milestone for Health Affairs. In October 2006, the Health Affairs Blog was launched as a new experiment in health policy dialogue. Twenty years later, that platform has evolved into Health Affairs Forefront, publishing hundreds of articles annually and serving as a leading venue for evidence-based analysis, commentary, and debate.

On this special anniversary episode of A Health Podyssey, host Rob Lott sits down with Chris Fleming, Editor of Forefront, to reflect on two decades of growth, innovation, and influence. Together, they discuss the origins of the publication, its transformation from a fledgling blog into a respected policy forum, and the editorial principles that have guided its success.

Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to catch all the latest Forefront articles.

Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.

A Health Podyssey host Rob Lott chats with Dr. Alister Martin, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, about his path from emergency medicine to public health leadership, his vision for improving health outcomes across New York City, and how the city's lessons in public health can be applied to other locales.

Their conversation explores the local response to federal health policy changes, efforts to protect Medicaid coverage and reduce medical debt, and the public health challenges shaping New York City's future.

Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to stay up to date on health policy news and analysis.

Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.

Health Affairs Publishing’s Rob Lott speaks to Irene Papanicolas of Brown University about her recent paper examining how Americans contribute to health care financing through taxes, premiums, and out-of-pocket spending. The conversation explores differences in those contributions across income groups and insurance status, and considers the implications for health care affordability and financing policy.

Order the September 2026 issue of Health Affairs.

Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to stay up to date on health policy news and analysis.

Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.

What happens when Medicare Advantage plans receive lower payments under a new risk adjustment model?

Health Affairs Publishing’s Rob Lott speaks to Niru Ghoshal-Datta of the University of California, Berkeley about his recent paper exploring CMS’s updated Medicare Advantage risk adjustment model. They discuss how the policy change reduced payments to Medicare Advantage plans, had little effect on premiums and cost sharing, and led to modest reductions in some supplemental benefits

 
Order the September 2026 issue of Health Affairs.

Sign up for our free Health Affairs newsletters to stay up to date on health policy news and analysis.

Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.