Healthcare Matters

If you were offered a financial incentive to change medications, would you do it? Many healthcare providers offer cash incentives to get their patients to switch to a new medication, but this quick cash practice can have serious, long-term health implications for patients. 

"Although this is not illegal, it is somewhat unethical because, again, it's blurring the lines between medical practice and insurance coverage,“ says Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at the Global Healthy Living Foundation.

Among the highlights in this episode: 

1:28- How providers are offering cash incentives for patients to switch medications

2:31- What's driving providers to offer incentives   

3:41- The negative outcomes of paying cash incentives to get patients to switch medications

5:33- Robert- “Instead of doing these gimmicky type of incentives...set up a system for patients to save money over time.”

7:42- What's being done to curb these "paying the patient" practices?

8:17-  Robert- "Although this is not illegal, it is somewhat unethical because, again, it's blurring the lines between medical practice and insurance coverage."

9:18- What can patients do to know about providers paying patients to switch medications

Contact our hosts: 

Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at GHLF, [email protected] 

Conner Mertens, Patient Advocate and Community Outreach Manager at GHLF, [email protected] 

We want to hear what you think. Send your comments, or a video or audio clip of yourself to [email protected].

Listen to all episodes of Healthcare Matters on our website or on your favorite podcast channel.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Patients are the last to know how much their insurance premiums, pharmaceuticals and hospital costs will be. What will it take for the healthcare system to become more transparent so patients have more information to make informed decisions and save money?

"It is just disturbing that the federal government, the largest payer of healthcare in the United States, does not have audit rights to go in, open up the ledgers of the pharmacy benefit managers and see where the money is going,“ says Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at the Global Healthy Living Foundation.

Among the highlights in this episode: 

1:25- Why is transparency in our healthcare system important? 

2:42- The 3 entities that benefit from the lack of transparency

3:30- How patients are harmed by the lack of transparency

3:55- Can too much transparency undermine the competitive marketplace? 

6:01- Are federal or state governments doing anything to improve transparency?

7:51- What is the most effective legislation that will impact the most patients? 

8:40- 8:53-  "It is just disturbing that the federal government, the largest payer of healthcare in the United States, does not have audit rights to go in, open up the ledgers of the pharmacy benefit  managers and see where the money is going."

10:30- Is there hope to see changes?

10:13- Robert’s story of how surprise billing impacted his hospital visit

11:52- The goal is to strive for better information for patients so they can make more educated decisions

12:17- Conner and Robert's takeaways from this episode

Contact our hosts: 

Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at GHLF, [email protected] 

Conner Mertens, Patient Advocate and Community Outreach Manager at GHLF, [email protected] 

We want to hear what you think. Send your comments, or a video or audio clip of yourself to [email protected].

Listen to all episodes of Healthcare Matters on our website or on your favorite podcast channel.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we are looking at how benefit design in Medicare creates vaccine design inequity. Even small out-of-pocket costs can deter some communities from getting the right vaccines and treatment they need. 

"Any type of a policy that reduces the access to vaccination, most definitely will impact patients and will increase this wasteful spending,“ says Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at the Global Healthy Living Foundation. "Vaccines should be regarded as—and are regarded as—the most cost-beneficial intervention in healthcare." 

Among the highlights in this episode: 

2:06- What is benefit design in Medicare? 

2:41- How wasteful spending in healthcare impacts vaccine care 

3:51- Robert discusses the differences between Medicare Part B and D for senior citizens

5:10- The evidence on people being discouraged or inhibited from getting vaccines

6:39- Robert cites research of the racial inequity surrounding out-of-pocket costs for vaccines 

7:35- Impact of removing out-of-pocket costs for vaccines? 

8:23- “Vaccines are regarded as one the most cost beneficial interventions in the healthcare system”

8:47- Legislation being debated to remove out-of-pocket costs for vaccines for seniors

9:31 - Conner and Robert's takeaways from this episode

Contact our hosts: 

Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at GHLF, [email protected] 

Conner Mertens, Patient Advocate and Community Outreach Manager at GHLF, [email protected] 

We want to hear what you think. Send your comments, or a video or audio clip of yourself to [email protected].

Listen to all episodes of Healthcare Matters on our website or on your favorite podcast channel.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we look at the major flaws in fail first, or step therapy, which mandates that a patient must fail on one or more less expensive drugs before “stepping up” to another drug. 

"Anything that we do from a policy perspective, and this is the mantra of Global; Healthy Living Foundation, policies, legislations, anything that passes, the patient has to directly benefit from them,“ says Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at the Global Healthy Living Foundation.

Among the highlights in this episode: 

1:46 - What is step therapy and why it's harmful to patients

3:03 - How the bottomline impacts treatment decisions and overall health outcomes 

4:06- How step therapy can set patients back on their treatment 

5:30 - Is there a better adherence to their drug treatment plan? 

6:31- What is being done about this legislatively?   

8:29 - An explanation of "Safe Step Act"

9:40 - Robert discusses his latest op-ed about how insurers should also take the oath healthcare professionals are required to take

10:58 - Conner and Robert's takeaways from this episode

Contact our hosts: 

Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at GHLF, [email protected] 

Conner Mertens, Patient Advocate and Community Outreach Manager at GHLF, [email protected] 

We want to hear what you think. Send your comments, or a video or audio clip of yourself to [email protected].

Listen to all episodes of Healthcare Matters on our website or on your favorite podcast channel.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we look at how the federal government can work in a bipartisan manner to improve our healthcare system. 

“Bipartisan initiatives are extremely important in healthcare because, at the end of the day, no physician, patient chart, hospital admissions record ever asks you about your political platform before you get treatment. And I truly believe that there is a bipartisan opportunity here. Patients are waiting and we need to help them out. They can no longer go on the way things are currently set up," says Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at the Global Healthy Living Foundation.

Among the highlights in this episode: 

2:08 - President Biden's framework to reduce drug costs 

3:11 - Why is bipartisan healthcare policy so difficult to achieve? 

6:11- Robert’s study of medicare money going directly to the patient

7:13 - Is there a bipartisan model to improve healthcare? 

8:43- The problem with pharmaceuticals

9:49 - Holding pharmacy benefit managers and the insurers accountable for out of pocket patient costs

10:49 - Robert and Conner’s big takeaways from this episode

Contact our hosts: 

Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at GHLF [email protected] 

Conner Mertens, Patient Advocate and Community Outreach Manager at GHLF [email protected] 

We want to hear what you think. Send your comments, or a video or audio clip of yourself to [email protected].

Listen to all episodes of Healthcare Matters on your favorite podcast channel.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we explore the history of vaccines, how the COVID-19 vaccines work, and what other vaccines are being developed. 

“We're developing vaccines not only for infectious diseases, but we're developing vaccines for oncology cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, HIV, AIDS. So if we are going to be so hesitant about vaccines, we're not going to be able to defeat some of these long term chronic illnesses that affect people," says Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at the Global Healthy Living Foundation.

Among the highlights in this episode: 

2:09 - Why the COVID-19 vaccines are critical vaccines 

3:30 - The mNRA technology behind the COVID-19 vaccines 

5:30 - How do we reach vaccine hesitant communities? 

8:11 - How does that reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine compared to other vaccines in history? 

9:50 - What are the long term consequences of misinformation of the COVID-19 vaccine? 

11:24 - What can we do to curb COVID-19 and prevent it from coming back? 

14:00 - What are the takeaways from this episode? 

Contact our hosts: 

Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at GHLF, [email protected] 

Conner Mertens, Patient Advocate and Community Outreach Manager at GHLF, [email protected] 

We want to hear what you think. Send your comments, or a video or audio clip of yourself to [email protected].

Listen to all episodes of Healthcare Matters on your favorite podcast channel.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Healthcare Matters! In this podcast, we talk about 'matters' in healthcare and why it matters to you! 

Our host Conner Mertens will speak with our talented Chief Science Officer Robert Popovian. And together, we will take on some pretty complex topics and distil them, so everyone can understand what is happening in the world of healthcare. 

The show is brought to you by the Global Healthy Living Foundation. 

www.ghlf.org

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.