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Health Affairs This Week is off for a few weeks. We will return for a special episode in December before returning to our regular schedule in January 2025.

For the next few weeks, we present the three-part A Disproportionate Share, a podcast from NYC Health + Hospitals's Michael Shen, a primary care doctor and Chief Creative Officer for the medical education podcast Core IM, as part of the Health Affairs Pathways show that we published in 2023. We encourage listeners to check out the other series from that podcast.

Unique series were created by fellows at the Health Affairs Podcast Fellowship Program, designed to support early to mid-stage professionals pursue an audio project and tell a unique health care story.

In A Disproportionate Share, NYC Health + Hospitals's Michael Shen, a primary care doctor and Chief Creative Officer for the medical education podcast Core IM, explores the role of safety net hospitals in caring for America's vulnerable populations.

In the second episode, Shen discusses how we pay for essential care for low income patients delivered through our safety net hospitals and the complex patchwork of supplemental payments for such care. He interviews individuals from America's Essential Hospitals and NYC Health + Hospitals to explain cost-shifting, uncompensated care, payer mixes, cash on-hand, and more.

Related Links:

• What Types of Hospitals Form the Safety Net? (Health Affairs)
• Podcast: Understanding Private Equity Investment in Hospitals (A Health Podyssey)
• Can Safety-Net Hospital Systems Redesign Themselves To Achieve Financial Viability? (Health Affairs Forefront)
• Safety-Net Hospitals More Likely Than Other Hospitals To Fare Poorly Under Medicare's Value-Based Purchasing (Health Affairs)

Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Health Affairs This Week is off for the next three weeks. We will return for a special episode in December before returning to our regular schedule in January 2025.

For the next three weeks, we present the three-part A Disproportionate Share, a podcast from NYC Health + Hospitals's Michael Shen, a primary care doctor and Chief Creative Officer for the medical education podcast Core IM, as part of the Health Affairs Pathways show that we published in 2023. We encourage listeners to check out the other series from that podcast. 

Unique series were created by fellows at the Health Affairs Podcast Fellowship Program, designed to support early to mid-stage professionals pursue an audio project and tell a unique health care story.
  
A Disproportionate Share explores safety net hospitals and how we pay for them.

In this first episode, Shen looks at the closure of Hahnemann University Hospital, a large urban hospital affiliated with a major academic medical center, to ask how safety net hospitals sustain themselves on thin financial margins. He shares what safety net hospitals are and their role in caring for America's vulnerable populations.

Related Links:

• Michael Shen
• Graduate Medical Education Should Not Be A Commodity (Health Affairs)
• Podcast: Graduate Medical Education Should Not Be A Commodity (Health Affairs Narrative Matters)
• The Death of Hahnemann Hospital (The New Yorker)
• To Protect America's Safety-Net Hospitals, Establish a New Federal Designation (Health Affairs Forefront)

Listen to the full series here.

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Health Affairs' Jeff Byers is joined by Frank McStay of Duke Margolis Institute for Health Policy to discuss the results of a recent CMS report that explores the impacts of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) in 2023 and beyond.

Health Affairs’s Research and Justice For All podcast returns for its second season, focusing on drivers of health.

Bookmark Health Affairs Forefront to keep an eye out for future articles from guest Frank McStay and colleagues.

Related Articles:

• PRESS RELEASE: Medicare Shared Savings Program Continues to Deliver Meaningful Savings and High-Quality Health Care
• Building On CMS's Accountable Care Vision To Improve Care For Medicare Beneficiaries (Health Affairs Forefront)
• Do Teams Work Better Than Solo Providers? Spoiler Alert: Yes (A Health Podyssey)

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Health Affairs' Jeff Byers is joined by Jason Resendez, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving, to discuss the recent finalization of CMS's 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and how these policies will impact family caregivers and the integration of these individuals into the health care system.
 
Health Affairs’s Research and Justice For All podcast returns for its second season, focusing on drivers of health. Check out the first episode.
 
Check out the 200th episode of A Health Podyssey featuring Leemore Dafny of the Harvard Business School discussing vertical integration.
 
Join Health Affairs on November 20 for a virtual event with John Bowblis examining how the loss of public health emergency funds challenges the financial viability of nursing homes.

Related Articles:

• PRESS RELEASE: HHS Finalizes Physician Payment Rule Strengthening Person-Centered Care and Health Quality Measures 
• 11/20/2024: Caregiver Nation Summit (Agenda and Virtual Attendance Options)

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Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers is joined by Deputy Editor Chris Fleming and Zachary Baron of Georgetown University's O'Neill Institute to discuss what the outcome of the 2024 US Presidential Election could mean for future health care decisions.

Order the November 2024 issue of Health Affairs with a focus on health insurance, pharmaceuticals, and more.

Check out a recent episode of A Health Podyssey featuring author Janice Jhang discussing her recent paper from the November 2024 issue that explores how regulatory and market forces are driving adoption of biosimilars.

Join Health Affairs on November 20 for a virtual event with Senior Editor Kathleen Haddad and author John Bowblis examining how the loss of public health emergency funds challenges the financial viability of nursing homes.

Related Articles from Zachary Baron:

• New Lawsuit Threatens Affordable Care Act’s Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions (Health Affairs Forefront)
• Supreme Court Overrules Chevron Doctrine: Ripple Effects Across Health Care (Health Affairs Forefront)
• Another Administration Win In Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Lawsuits (Health Affairs Forefront)

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Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Deputy Editor Rob Lott back to the program to discuss the 2024 election on the state level with ballot initiatives focused on reproductive health, cannabis restrictions, Medicaid work requirements, and more.

Check out our upcoming events:

• 11/7/2024 - BRIEFING: Financial Integration of Medicare and Medicaid: Necessary But Not Sufficient (Open to All)
• 11/20/2024 - JOURNAL CLUB: Nursing Home Financial Stability and Funding Challenges (Health Affairs Insiders Exclusive Event)

Related Articles:

• HEALTH POLICY BRIEF: Direct Democracy And Population Health: Making Health Policy Through State Ballot Initiatives (Health Affairs)

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Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Leslie Erdelack back to the program to discuss the current state of retail clinics within retailers such as Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart, the challenges these operations have faced, and what the future implications for consumers might be as some retailers shutter some arms of these operations.

Check out our 2024 Election Collection available from Health Affairs with featured paywalled content made available for $39.95.

Related Articles:

• Why Retail Health Clinics Failed (Harvard Business Review)
• Why Walmart, Walgreens, CVS retail health clinic experiment is struggling (CNBC)
• CVS and Walgreens are ailing. Here’s why (NPR)

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Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Ellen Bayer to the program to take a closer look at the health care-related topics tied to the upcoming US presidential election. The two cover home care, reproductive health, drug pricing, and more throughout their conversation.

RSVP for our upcoming Journal Club Event on 10/21 featuring an examination on the timing of new drug launches in low-, middle-, and high-income markets from 1982 to 2024.

Check out our 2024 Election Collection available from Health Affairs with featured paywalled content made available for $39.95.

This week, Forefront debuted a new series focusing on "Ethics and Health System Change." The first article from M Gregg Bloche can be read here and information about submitting articles for the symposium can be found through our submission portal.

Related Articles:

• Eye on The IRA series (Health Affairs)
• 2024 Election Collection (Health Affairs)
• PBMs. What Are They Hiding? w/ Stacie Dusetzina (Health Affairs This Week)
• Rachel Sachs Explains the FTC's Pharmacy Benefit Manager Lawsuit & PBM Reform (Health Affairs This Week)

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Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Michael Gerber back to the program to discuss Medicare open enrollment, the newly-announced 2025 Medicare Advantage and Part D Star Ratings, and how large insurance companies may be scaling back Medicare Advantage product offerings.

Check out the October 2024 issue of Health Affairs.

RSVP for our upcoming Journal Club Event on 10/21 featuring an examination on the timing of new drug launches in low-, middle-, and high-income markets from 1982 to 2024.

Check out our 2024 Election Collection available from Health Affairs with featured paywalled content made available for $39.95.

In preparation of our November 2024, explore a new ahead-of-print article from Gary Claxton and coauthors on employer strategies for covering GLP-1 agonists, mental health, substance use, and other family benefits as employer-sponsored health insurance premiums continue to increase.

Related Articles:

• PRESS RELEASE FROM CMS NEWSROOM: 2025 Medicare Advantage and Part D Star Ratings
• Medicare Advantage Supplemental Benefits: Origins, Evolution, And Issues For Policy Making (Health Affairs Forefront)

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This episode was originally published on June 14, 2024.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers is joined by Michael Chernew to discuss the recently released National Health Expenditures Projections for 2023–32 from the Office of the Actuary (OACT) at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Join us for these upcoming events:

• 6/18/24 - Journal Club: “Community Power-Building Groups And Public Health NGOs: Reimagining Public Health Advocacy”
• 7/10/24 - Lunch and Learn: Supreme Court Wrap-Up

Related Articles:

• National Health Expenditure Projections, 2023–32: Payer Trends Diverge As Pandemic-Related Policies Fade (Health Affairs)
• National Health Expenditure Data from CMS

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