Listening In (With Permission): Conversations About Today's Pressing Health Care Topics

Have we made headway in addressing the quality of maternity care, or haven’t we? Suzanne calls Elliott Main, obstetrician and Medical Director of the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC), to find out. Listen in on his thoughts about both the biggest pain points and brights spots in US maternal health.

Suzanne dials up Leemore Dafny, a Harvard professor and economist, to find out how she keeps a “glass half full” outlook in the face of provider consolidation and higher prices in health care. She draws on her economics expertise to share specific ideas on what employers and others can do to increase competition.

Suzanne talks to Diane Meier, Director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) about a specialty that is not getting the attention it deserves yet- palliative care. Learn what it is and why we so desperately need to advance its use to help the many Americans with serious illness cope with pain in the United States, and save money in the process.

Suzanne turns to Marty Gaynor, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon and former Director of the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission, to explain why we all need to pay attention to the underlying dynamics of the health care market place, including how increased competition can improve quality, innovation, and the overall patient experience.

Episode 17: Andrea Ducas on how Scorecard 2.0 helps achieve RWJF's mission for a culture of health by Catalyst for Payment Reform

When Suzanne wants to get a sense of what Americans are thinking about health care issues, she calls Mollyann Brodie, the Executive Director of Public Opinion and Survey Research at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Find out the surprising things Mollyann has learned in surveying Americans impacted by the opioid epidemic in the U.S.

Suzanne asks Dr. Kavita Patel, a Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a practicing primary care physician, the toughest questions about rising pharmacy prices. What's behind the increase? Why isn't value-based contracting more prevalent for drugs? Who can we really blame for high prices? What role can payment reform play? Listen in to hear the answers.

Suzanne has the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Neel Shah, an obstetrician and professor at Harvard Medical School, again. This time they focus on the surprising state of maternity care in the U.S today including cost, the c-section rate, the maternal mortality rate, our paid family leave, and more

Listen in as Suzanne chats with Francois de Brantes, Vice President and Director at The Altarum Institute, about a brand new benefit design called Medical Episode Spending Accounts (MESA)that build on value-based insurance design to reduce out of pocket costs for consumers.

Suzanne chats with Dr. Neel Shah, an obstetrician and professor at Harvard Medical School, about how surprising it is that many providers still don't know what health care costs and what he's been trying to do about it.