Tradeoffs

There’s growing excitement that artificial intelligence can make health care better by speeding up care, improving diagnoses and easing the burden on a burned out workforce. But there are also concerns that these powerful new tools will perpetuate biases and inequities long baked into our health care system.In the first of two back-to-back episodes on racial bias in health care AI, we explore the challenge of diagnosing bias in AI and what one health system is trying to do about it.Guests:Emily Sterrett, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Director of Improvement Science, Duke University School of Medicine Department of PediatricsMark Sendak, MD, MPP, Population Health & Data Science Lead, Duke Institute for Health InnovationGanga Moorthy, MD, Global Health Fellow, Duke Pediatric Infectious Disease ProgramPaige Nong, PhD Candidate, University of Michigan School of Public HealthLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Black Americans are at higher risk for many serious illnesses like dementia and kidney failure. But data show they are less likely to have their pain treated and less likely to access services like hospice and palliative care that can reduce suffering, especially at the end of life.This week, we explore what stops seriously ill Black patients and their families from getting the care they want in life and in death.Guests:Deborah Brunson, PhD, Caregiver and Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina WilmingtonKaren Bullock, PhD, LCSW, Professor, Boston College School of Social WorkLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every year, 100,000 Americans — mostly teens and young adults — experience their first psychotic episode. Research shows getting specialized, holistic treatment early can help, but most people don’t get that care. KQED’s April Dembosky shares her reporting on why early treatment for psychosis can be so hard to get.GuestApril Dembosky, Health Correspondent, KQED NewsLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Medicare could soon pay hospitals much less for common outpatient services like x-rays and checkups.This week, we explain an old policy gathering new steam in Washington, how it could save Medicare and patients billions of dollars a year, and why it has hospitals worried.Guests: Loren Adler, MS, Fellow and Associate Director, USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health PolicyJoe Antos, PhD, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise InstituteAmol Navathe, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Medicine, University of PennsylvaniaHannah Neprash, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota School of Public Health Ashley Thompson, MHA, Senior Vice President, American Hospital AssociationLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just like the rest of us, when clinicians are short on time and overwhelmed by complex decisions, their brains look for corners to cut, numbers to round, patterns to repeat. This week, Dan talks with Harvard physician and economist Bapu Jena about the surprising impact these mental shortcuts can have on our health care.Guest:Bapu Jena, MD, PhD, Professor of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General HospitalLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new class of drugs can help people lose up to one-fifth of their body weight and manage serious health conditions associated with obesity. But they’re also raising difficult questions. This week, we talk with STAT reporter Elaine Chen about how these breakthrough treatments are changing how we view and treat obesity. Guest:Elaine Chen, Cardiovascular Disease Reporter, STAT Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About half of people on Medicare use hospice care before they die, but as the popular benefit turns 40 this year, it is struggling with waste, access and inequity issues. This week, we look at a federal experiment revamping Medicare's hospice policy, and how it could ultimately change the way millions of people die.Guests:Vince Mor, PhD, Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice, Brown UniversityBethany Snider, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Hosparus HealthDavid Stevenson, PhD, Professor of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University School of MedicineLeslie Walker, Senior Producer, TradeoffsLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for Research Corner, our free weekly newsletter, featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Affordable Care Act faces yet another in a long string of legal challenges. Last Thursday's ruling, by a conservative federal judge who has targeted the ACA before, jeopardizes a provision in the law that gives 150 million Americans access to free preventive care for conditions like HIV and cancer.Guest:Nicholas Bagley, JD, Professor of Law, University of MichiganLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We dig into three research papers to make sense of what will happen to 15 million people set to lose their Medicaid over the next year.Guests:Sayeh Nikpay, PhD, Tradeoffs Senior Research Advisor; Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, University of MinnesotaLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The pandemic pushed Medicare to start paying for “hospital-at-home” care for the first time, launching the largest test ever of home-based hospital care. This week, we look at what we’ve learned from the hospital-at-home explosion and questions about home-based care remain unanswered.Guests: Bruce Leff, MD, Director, The Center for Transformative Geriatric Research, Johns HopkinsDavid and Melanie MercurioConstantinos “Taki” Michaelidis, MD, Medical Director, Hospital at Home Program, UMass Memorial HealthMichelle Mahon, RN, Assistant Director of Nursing Practice, National Nurses UnitedNathan Starr, DO, Medical Director for Home Services, Castell; Director of Telehospitalist Program, Intermountain HealthcareLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Even though more Americans than ever have health insurance, medical debt is a pervasive problem in the United States.Guests: Noam Levey, Senior Correspondent, Kaiser Health NewsWesley Yin, PhD, Associate Professor of Economics, UCLALearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Less than a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, some states are rethinking their abortion bans.This week, reporter Alice Miranda Ollstein introduces us to a Republican lawmaker pushing to add exceptions to the ban he helped pass, and we consider how well exceptions work - or don't - in practice. Guests:Alice Miranda Ollstein, Health Care Reporter, PoliticoState Sen. Richard Briggs, MD, Tennessee General AssemblyYarnell Beatty, JD, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Tennessee Medical AssociationWill Brewer, JD, Director of Government Relations, Tennessee Right to LifeKatrina Kimport, PhD, Associate Professor, ANSIRH, University of California San FranciscoKatie MayLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meet the man behind our revamped research newsletter bringing you the latest health policy studies, original analysis, interviews with leading researchers and more every Tuesday.Subscribe at tradeoffs.org/researchGuest: Soleil Shah, Research Reporter, TradeoffsWant more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Later this year the Supreme Court is set to decide whether to close a legal pathway that Medicaid recipients have used for more than 50 years. This week, we talk with Farah Yousry about the potential consequences of this decision.Guests:Farah Yousry, Health Equity Reporter, Side Effects Public Media Susie Talevski, patientChris Schandevel, Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending FreedomJane Perkins, Litigation Director, National Health Law ProgramLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People leaving jail and prison are at extremely high risk of hospitalization and death. This week, why policymakers from deep blue California to solidly red Utah think bringing Medicaid behind bars could help.Guests:Lee ReedShira Shavit, MD, Professor of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco; Executive Director, Transitions Clinic NetworkJacey Cooper, Director, California Medicaid ProgramCindy Beane, MSW, LCSW, Commissioner, West Virginia Bureau of Medical ServicesAmy Katzen, JD, MPP, Director of Policy and Strategy, Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human ServicesMike Levine, Medicaid Director, MassHealthDana Flannery, Former Senior Policy Advisor, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment SystemKhalil Cumberbatch, MSW, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Council on Criminal JusticeLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Medicare’s historic plan to slow prescription drug spending is taking shape. Last Thursday federal health officials began detailing how one of two major drug price reforms contained in the Inflation Reduction Act will work and who it will affect. This week, we talk with Medicare director Meena Seshamani about the “opportunity of a lifetime” to put these unprecedented policies into action.Guest:Meena Seshamani, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Medicare and Deputy Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid ServicesLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One year of health insurance premiums for a family of four now costs as much as a car. Nine states are trying to lower those costs in an aggressive way - by holding hospitals and insurance companies accountable for high spending. In this episode we look to see if any of those efforts have bent the cost curve.Guests: Leemore Dafny, PhD, Harvard University economistMichael Bailit, MBA President and Founder Bailit HealthDavid Seltz, Executive Director Massachusetts Health Policy CommissionAmy Rosenthal, MPH, MPA Executive Director Health Care For AllLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Black Americans report higher levels of mistrust in the health care system than white Americans and suffer worse outcomes in everything from maternal mortality to life expectancy. What if improving health literacy and demystifying health information could be the part of the solution?This week, one doctor’s crusade to help more people understand their own health care and why insurers are starting to buy in.Guests:Lisa Fitzpatrick, MD, MPH, MPA, Founder and CEO, Grapevine HealthKeith Maccannon, Director of Marketing, Outreach and Community Relations, AmeriHealth Caritas District of ColumbiaYvonne Smith, Grapevine ClientKaren Dale, RN, MSN, Market President, AmeriHealth Caritas District of ColumbiaLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Popping into the feed with a bit of breaking news on a story we've been reporting on for months: For the first time ever, some people incarcerated in jail or prison will have access to Medicaid. We'll have a full episode on this dramatic policy change in February.Sign up for our weekly newsletter to see what research health policy experts are reading right now, plus recommendations from our staff.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter @tradeoffspod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After 20 years, Humira – the best selling drug of all time – is finally facing direct competition. Typically, once generic drugs arrive on a market they dominate sales and deliver big savings. But Humira’s competitors, known as biosimilars, aren’t like most other generics.This week, what makes this prescription drug showdown so unusual – and so important.Guest:Marta Wosińska, PhD, Visiting Fellow, Brookings InstitutionLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.