The Health System Fix

Dr. Rupinder "Rupi" Legha is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist based in Los Angeles. She is the founder of Antiracist MD, an international speaker, and an advocate for mental health equity and decolonizing mental health care.

Website: https://antiracistmd.com/

AntiRacism in Mental Health Fellowship: https://antiracistmd.com/armh-sales-page/

Joe Feldman is the founder and president of non-profit Cover My Mental Health. He is a consumer representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Website: http://www.covermymentalhealth.org/

Paper on Medical Necessity Letter: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34398579/

Alen Voskanian, MD, MBA, FAAHPM, FACHE is the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Network. He is a board-certified physician in Family Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-Joy-Medicine-Fulfillment-Happiness/dp/B0BF31GJRX

Brett J. Feldman, MSPAS, PA-C, is the Director and co-founder of USC Street Medicine and is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine. Brett is the Vice Chair of the International Street Medicine Institute and has practiced street medicine since 2007. On this podcast he says ”people experiencing unsheltered homelessness are not a vulnerable population. Vulnerability supposes that something bad might happen. Something catastrophic has already happened.” 

https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/brett-feldman/

https://www.streetmedicine.org/

This podcast is a masterclass where Dr. Julie Hayden, Psy.D., tells us how to build culture and community at an organization that allows both staff and people served to thrive. Dr. Hayden, is a licensed psychologist and CEO of East County Transitional Living Center (ECTLC), where she leads one of the region’s most comprehensive, outcomes-driven approaches to homelessness, addiction, and mental health recovery. Dr. Hayden co-developed the Rhombus Model, a systems-based operating framework that integrates operations, finance, and human transformation into a single, accountable structure.

https://ectlc.org/

https://gorhombus.com/

Sonia C. Tucker, MBA, is the Vice President of Population Health for San Ysidro Health, where she provides executive leadership over a comprehensive portfolio that includes Quality, Access, Social Services, Cancer Detection and Management Programs, Case Management programs (including Enhanced Care Management and the HCBA Waiver), Risk Management, and Medical Records. We had an interesting conversation covering her journey as a physician from Venezuela and her critical work of quality improvement and care innovation at a large organization.

Dr. Dan Ariely, is a behavioral economics researcher and author of books like Payoff and Predictably Irrational, that help make science accessible to everybody. His focus includes irrationality, motivation to work,  decision making, behaviors that impact health. He is the Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University and a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight.

Website: https://danariely.com/

Website: https://advanced-hindsight.com/

Book: Payoff- https://danariely.com/books/#book-payoff

I am happy to share the new episode of the Health System Fix podcast where I speak with Don Fitz. Don is the Author of Cuban Healthcare The Ongoing Revolution, published in 2020. We discussed the unique community centered features of the Cuban model of healthcare delivery. 

He is also on the Editorial Board of Green Social Thought, a newsletter of the Green Party USA. He was the 2016 candidate of the Missouri Green Party for Governor.

A recent publication: https://countercurrents.org/2026/05/why-hate-cuba-especially-its-medical-practices/

Book: https://a.co/d/0eoRZktf

I am excited to share this new episode of The Health System Fix podcast where we discuss  Emergency Psychiatry Innovation & EmPath Units with Dr. Scott Zeller. 

Dr. Scott Zeller is a true pioneer in emergency psychiatry. He is the creator of the EmPATH Unit (Emergency Psychiatry Assessment, Treatment and Healing Unit) model for behavioral health emergency care. And led Project BETA (Best Practices in the Evaluation and Treatment of Agitation).

Website: vituity.com/healthcare-services/psychiatry/empath-units/

Website: empathunits.com

Darrell Steinberg has been at the epicenter of California’s mental health and public policy for decades. He has served in the California State Assembly for six years, the California State Senate for eight years, during which he was President Pro Tempore for six years, and, most recently, as Mayor of Sacramento for eight years. He also founded the Steinberg Institute, dedicated to improving mental health and substance use care in California.

Website:https://steinberginstitute.org/

Website:https://www.manatt.com/darrell-steinberg