As of October 6, 2022, all health care organizations in the United States are legally required to give patients unrestricted access to all their health records in a digital format.

Micky Tripathi, Ph.D., National Coordinator for Health IT at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, is excited about this change and its ability to empower patients. Yet the free flow of data also poses security risks. He tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter what protections Americans can take and the incredible opportunities health IT offers us during this time of medical challenges.

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Early voting has already started in some parts of the United States as Americans make important decisions about who they want to represent them. The polls show that health-related issues are some of the most important ones to voters this year.

We discuss health care on the ballot with policy experts from two prominent Washington D.C. think tanks.

Joseph Antos, Ph.D., with the American Enterprise Institute and Emily Gee, Ph.D., with the Center for American Progress join hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to discuss health care on the ballot.

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In less than five weeks Americans should know the outcome of the midterm elections. Will overturning Roe v. Wade propel Democrats to surprise wins? Will Republicans seize the moment with their vision of how to fix health care? Sheryl Gay Stolberg with The New York Times and Victoria Knight with Axios examine how the November results will likely impact health care policy in the next two years and beyond. They’re guests this week on “Conversations on Health Care” with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter.

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Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo leads the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health; she was initially hired for the role by Dr. Ashish Jha, who is now the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator.

Dr. Nuzzo tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter that COVID remains a fairly significant health threat, especially in terms of possible variants, but we’re not in the same situation we were two years ago. She reacts to President Biden’s recent statements about the state of the pandemic and believes one way to assess its end is how people are living today.

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Wednesday, Sept. 28, the Biden-Harris Administration will host the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, the first one in over 50 years. What will the experts and community leaders discuss? How will we reach the goal of ending U.S. hunger and reducing diet-related diseases in a majority of Americans by 2030?

“Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter get answers from Dan Glickman, the former Secretary of Agriculture, and Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a renowned expert on food systems. They’re co-chairs of an independent effort to inform America’s leaders as the attendees prepare for this important day.

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Majority Whip James Clyburn, the third-most powerful Democrat in the U.S. House, makes a passionate case for community health centers. His goal is to get a center within commuting distance of each American. “Every time legislation comes forward on health care I’m always trying to figure out how we can get community health centers to benefit from this legislation…not satisfied with where we are because we are not where we need to be yet,” he says.

Clyburn also confirms to hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter that President Biden’s cancer moonshot will have the “rocket fuel” it needs to succeed and he responds to critics of the Inflation Reduction Act. Join us as we kick off our 14th season with this important conversation.

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Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator, joins “Conversations on Health Care” to discuss the latest details about this rare, infectious viral disease.

Dr. Daskalakis talks with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter about the spread of the disease in the U.S., the vaccination efforts, and how the entire health care community is careful to avoid stigmatizing any community while focusing on the virus itself.

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CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and colleagues will soon review data for the new bivalent booster shot for COVID; she says it relates to very small changes in the mRNA sequence and that “shouldn’t impact safety at all…if we wait for those data to emerge in human data…not just mice data but human data…we would be using what I would consider to be a potentially outdated vaccine…it’s best to use a vaccine that’s tailored to the variant we have right now.”

Still, Dr. Walensky urges anyone who’s eligible to get the current booster right now while the U.S. government reviews the bivalent research. She points out that most of the cases of severe disease and death from COVID are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated people. “We have now given over 600 million doses of this vaccine in this country so we have an extraordinary safety profile, probably unlike any we’ve seen with any vaccine in history.”

Listen in to this important conversation with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter.

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Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Tom Frieden shares his thoughts about the news Dr. Anthony Fauci will soon leave government service. Frieden explains how the next director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will need to be realistic that he or she will have big shoes to fill.

Frieden, who now leads the nonprofit Resolve to Save Lives, also tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter that he endorses an independent commission to review what happened during the COVID pandemic. He was interviewed as part of a CDC review and he lays out what must change in terms of its mission, approach and budget.

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Dr. Atul Gawande, Assistant Administrator for Global Health at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), joins us to share how countries are responding to the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

He says, “There have been some instances of concern about a possible chilling effect…I’ve been in touch to address questions and meet with our partners…the United States is the largest supporter of family planning around the world…we are the leading experts in how to ensure modernized forms of family planning women reach the world, making sure women have rights and that voluntary family planning is a critical right.”

Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter also ask him about USAID’s efforts involving COVID and the war in Ukraine.

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