Health & Veritas – Details, episodes & analysis

In the 200th episode of Health & Veritas, Harlan offers end-of-the-year reflections on medicine drawn from his editor's notes in JACC (the Journal of the American College of Cardiology), and Howie provides updates on gun violence, flu, measles, and the health benefits of yoga.

Show notes:

Editor's notes by Harlan Krumholz

"The Day I Became a Doctor"

"When Your Patient Dies"

"Rethinking Physician Certification: A Call for a Modern, Meaningful Standard"

Gun violence, flu, and measles

"Mass shootings outnumber annual days in U.S., children are missing school due to measles, Covid-19 is peeping around the corner, and some hope"

"Measles outbreaks worsen in South Carolina, Arizona and Utah"

"Connecticut reports first measles case in years"

"New Flu Variant May Be Triggering Spike in Severe Disease"

"High-Dose Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness against Hospitalization in Older Adults"

"Pfizer Reaffirms Full-Year 2025 EPS Guidance and Provides Full-Year 2026 Guidance"

The benefits of yoga

"Yoga for chronic non‐specific low back pain"

"Yoga-based interventions may reduce anxiety symptoms in anxiety disorders and depression symptoms in depressive disorders: a systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-regression"

"Effect of Yoga on Frailty in Older Adults"

"Yoga in autoimmune disorders: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials"

"Long-term effects of yoga-based practices on neural, cognitive, psychological, and physiological outcomes in adults: a scoping review and evidence map"

"Yoga isn't just for flexibility. It may also protect brain health."

In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time.

Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings.

Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Basmah Safdar, a Yale School of Medicine emergency physician and an expert on sex-specific differences in cardiovascular and microvascular health, which have important implications for the understanding and treatment of heart attacks, long COVID, and other conditions. Harlan reports on Australia's ban on social media for kids, and a Medicare pilot program that will pay providers based on improved outcomes in chronic conditions. Howie unpacks the consequences of the CDC's change to its recommendations for newborn hepatitis B vaccination.

Show notes:

Social Media and Kids

"Australia's Social Media Ban for Children Takes Effect"

Health & Veritas Episode 197: Peter Hotez: Mapping the Anti-Science Machine

Medicare's ACCESS Payment Model

CMS: ACCESS (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions) Model

Basmah Safdar

"Medical School Enrollment Reaches 100,000 Students for the First Time"

Health & Veritas: Episode 176: Live at the Yale Innovation Summit 2025

"Myocardial ischemia in women: lessons from the NHLBI WISE study"

"Sex Differences in COVID-19 Immune Responses Affect Patient Outcomes"

"Scientists unravel mystery of sex disparities in COVID-19 outcomes"

Health & Veritas Episode 192: Akiko Iwasaki: What Have We Learned About Long COVID?

"Basmah Safdar, MD, FACEP, Appointed Director, Women's Health Research at Yale (WHRY)"

Women's Health Research at Yale

"Women's Health Research at Yale: The Prologue"

"History of Women's Participation in Clinical Research"

"Policy: NIH to balance sex in cell and animal studies"

"Heart attack symptoms often misinterpreted in younger women"

Harlan Krumholz: "Sex Difference in Outcomes of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Young Patients"

"Women's Health: More Than 'Bikini Medicine'"

"Celebrating Carolyn Mazure"

"Women's Health Research at Yale: Our Research" 

"Current Status of Gender and Racial/Ethnic Disparities Among Academic Emergency Medicine Physicians"

"New Women's Health Fund of Funds Launches to Activate $60B in Life Sciences Capital"

"Closing the women's health gap: A $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies"

"Blueprint to close the women's health gap: How to improve lives and economies for all"

"Gates Foundation pledges $2.5 billion to women's health initiatives"

"Milken Institute Launches New Women's Health Network, Former First Lady Jill Biden Joins as its Chair"

Women's Health Research at Yale: Pilot Project Program Funding

Note: Deadline is December 22.

Women's Health Research at Yale: Collaborative

CDC and Hepatitis B

"Panel Votes to Stop Recommending Hepatitis B Shots at Birth for Most Newborns"

CDC: Hepatitis B Vaccine Safety

WHO: Hepatitis B

"New review finds no evidence to support delaying universal hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination"

In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time.

Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings.

Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan discuss the roots of the crisis in emergency departments, the lack of oversight for hydration spas, new approaches in blood pressure treatment, an ingenious method to prevent malaria, and the CDC's backward steps on vaccines.

Links:

Emergency Departments

"I'm an ER doctor. JD Vance's claims about immigrants and wait times are just wrong."

"It's Just a Virus, the E.R. Told Him. Days Later, He Was Dead."

Video of Ron Paul: "Should society let uninsured die?"

American College of Emergency Physicians: Understanding EMTALA

"Explaining the G.O.P.'s Misleading Talking Point on the Looming Shutdown"

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid: Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA)

Health & Veritas Ep. 188: Kate Heilpern: Jumping into the Deep End

Health & Veritas Ep. 47: Dr. Jeremy Faust: Is COVID Over? It's Complicated.

Jeremy Faust: "Inside Medicine Read-Through: Commentary on the New York Times article about a tragic ER case"

Harlan Krumholz: "Early Warning Scores With and Without Artificial Intelligence"

Howard Forman: "Why Hospitals Need to Stop Boarding Patients in Emergency Rooms"

Howard Forman: "How to Keep Emergency Rooms Focused on True Emergencies"

The Revolving Door

"Peter Marks, FDA vaccine regulator ousted by RFK Jr., joins Eli Lilly"

Peter Marks Resignation Letter

"Peter Marks, FDA's top vaccine regulator, forced out"

"Fired C.D.C. Director Describes Clashes With Kennedy and Turmoil at Agency"

"Ex-CDER chief Patrizia Cavazzoni becomes Pfizer's chief medical officer"

Hydration Spas

Howard Forman: "State Policies and Facility Practices of IV Hydration Spas in the US"

Health & Veritas Ep. 123: Margo Harrison: Women's Health as a Path to Empowerment

"Hydration spas are largely unregulated, study finds"

New Developments in Blood Pressure Treatment

"Baxdrostat met the primary endpoint in Bax24 Phase III trial in patients with resistant hypertension"

"AstraZeneca's $1.3B bet yields 2nd phase 3 blood pressure win, bolstering differentiation case"

Harlan Krumholz: "The Disquieting Plateau"

"Under new guidelines, more Americans meet the criteria for high blood pressure"

"2025 AHA/ACC/AANP/AAPA/ABC/ACCP/ACPM/AGS/AMA/ASPC/NMA/PCNA/SGIM Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines"

"Permethrin-Treated Baby Wraps for the Prevention of Malaria"

AI in Medicine: Doximity, OpenEvidence, and UpToDate

"OpenEvidence raises $210M, unveils AI agents built for advanced medical research"

Health & Veritas, Ep. 183: Seth Berkowitz: The Power Problem

"Doximity buys Pathway Medical for $63 million to help doctors get AI-powered answers"

"A long-trusted physician's reference finally catches the AI wave"

Congenital syphilis

Health & Veritas Ep. 178: Sarah DeSilvey: Creating Space for Healing

"Are STIs truly declining, or is our data just not very good? What the 2024 CDC STI report really shows"

"Why Syphilis Cases in Newborns Are Rising Even as STIs Decline"

MMR Vaccine

"Acting CDC director calls to 'break up' the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three shots"

"Worried about splitting up the MMR vaccine into three separate shots? You should be, this doctor says"

"More measles cases confirmed in South Carolina, Michigan as US total climbs to 1,563"

Nobel Prizes and Science at Yale

"Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded for Work on Immune Systems"

"Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025"

"Yale's Michel H. Devoret wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics"

Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.

Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

In the 100th episode of Health & Veritas, Howie and Harlan are joined by Peter Salovey, the president of Yale University and a pioneering psychology scholar. They discuss Salovey's tenure as president, which ends in 2024; the future of the newly independent Yale School of Public Health; and Salovey's influential research on emotional intelligence. 

Links:

"Statement regarding YSPH transitioning to an independent school at Yale"

Peter Salovey: "Emotional Intelligence"

Yale School of Medicine: "Medical school and health system form a new affiliation"

"President's house will be a home"

For Humanity: the Yale Campaign

Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.

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Howie and Harlan are joined by Marc Auerbach, a professor of pediatric emergency medicine at Yale, to discuss his work using standards and simulation to improve the treatment of children in emergency departments throughout the United States. Harlan reflects on the importance of simple, well-designed clinical trials to make rapid improvements to care; Howie reports on a congressional study asking whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center has succeeded in lowering costs and increasing quality. 

Links:

Timely Clinical Trials

"Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19"

"Now is the time to fix the evidence generation system"

"The Clinical Trials Enterprise in the United States: A Call for Disruptive Innovation"

The Yale Paxlovid for Long COVID (PAX LC) Trial

Pediatric Emergency Medicine

CDC: Emergency Department Visits Among Children Aged 0–17 by Selected Characteristics: United States, 2019–2020

"Emergency Department Pediatric Readiness and Short-term and Long-term Mortality Among Children Receiving Emergency Care"

"The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA): what it is and what it means for physician"

Connecticut Emergency Medical Services for Children: Innovation and Improvement Center

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center

CMS: About the CMS Innovation Center

"Accelerating Care Delivery Transformation—The CMS Innovation Center's Role in the Next Decade"

Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.

Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan discuss the inspiring story behind the Nobel Prize in medicine, the settlement in the Cigna false billing case, and new research providing more evidence for the effectiveness of statins in reducing cardiovascular risk. 

Links:

The Nobel Prize

"Press Release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine" 

The Daily: "The Unlikely Pioneer behind MRNA Vaccines"

"Halting Progress and Happy Accidents: How mRNA Vaccines Were Made"

"How Our Brutal Science System Almost Cost Us A Pioneer Of mRNA Vaccines"

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman: "Suppression of RNA Recognition by Toll-like Receptors: The Impact of Nucleoside Modification and the Evolutionary Origin of RNA"

"The Karikó problem: Lessons for funding basic research"

Cigna and Medicare Advantage

"Cigna Group to Pay $172 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations"

"Overpayments to Medicare Advantage Plans Could Exceed $75 Billion in 2023, USC Schaeffer Center Research Finds"

Health & Veritas: "Helen Burstin: Research with an Impact"

The Cigna Group (CI) Stock Price, News, Quote & History

Humana Inc. (HUM) Stock Price, News, Quote & History

HIV and Cardiovascular Outcomes

"Pitavastatin to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease in HIV Infection"

Health & Veritas: "Dr. Amy Justice: Unlocking the Insights in Healthcare Data"

"Shifting from "Morbid Obesity" to "Class III Obesity""

Healthcare Data

"Officials Struggle to Regulate Pop-Up Covid Testing Sites—and Warn Patients to Beware"

Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.

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Howie and Harlan are joined by Mallika Mendu to discuss how innovations in operations can lead to improved inpatient care and her work as both a practicing nephrologist and associate chief medical officer at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Harlan highlights the Lasker Award in medicine; Howie reports on a promising $650 million pilot in North Carolina to comprehensively address the social determinants of health.

Links:

US Bureau of Labor Statistics | Skilled Nursing Facilities Employment

"What Went Right? A Mixed-Methods Study of Positive Feedback Data in a Hospital-Wide Mortality Review Survey"

"The Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative: The Challenge of Overcoming the Status Quo"

Haven Free Clinic | Home Page

"A Holy Grail — The Prediction of Protein Structure"

Wikipedia on AlphaFold

"Lasker Award for Revolutionizing Protein Structure Predictions"

"A.I. Predicts the Shape of Nearly Every Protein Known to Science"

NC Medicaid Managed Care Healthy Opportunities Pilot Fee Schedule and Service Definitions

Meanings and Misunderstandings: A Social Determinants of Health Lexicon for Health Care Systems

NCDHHS | Healthy Opportunities Pilots

"In North Carolina, a radical experiment targets social determinants of health with fresh produce and safe housing"

Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.

Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Nita Ahuja, a Yale surgeon and researcher, to discuss new methods in for detecting and treating cancers and the barriers faced by women surgeons. Harlan answers questions about an FDA panel's finding that the decongestant phenylephrine is ineffective; Howie looks at the trends making hospital finances unsustainable. 

Links:

"FDA clarifies results of recent advisory committee meeting on oral phenylephrine"

"Phenylephrine vs. Pseudoephedrine: What's the Difference?"

"Why Has a Useless Cold Medication Been Allowed on Shelves for Years?"

"Surgeon Sex and Long-Term Postoperative Outcomes Among Patients Undergoing Common Surgeries"

"Differences in Cholecystectomy Outcomes and Operating Time Between Male and Female Surgeons in Sweden"

"Age, Gender And Ability To Listen: Who Listens Best?"

"Women surgeons are punished more than men for the exact same mistakes, study finds"

"Sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape by colleagues in the surgical workforce, and how women and men are living different realities: observational study using NHS population-derived weights"

"Board of Supervisors denies Greenwood Leflore Hospital's $1 million request"

"Money and ambition split up Dana-Farber and Brigham"

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc. and Subsidiaries: Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Information

Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.

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In a special episode, Howie and Harlan are joined by the virologist and advocate Peter Hotez to discuss his new book, The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist's Warning. This interview was recorded in late August.

Links: 

Peter Hotez: The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist's Warning

Peter Hotez: Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism

"Red Covid, an Update"

"The Red/Blue Divide in COVID-19 Vaccination Rates Continues: An Update"

"Swiss study finds connection between watching Fox News and vaccination rates going down"

"The Paranoid Style in American Plutocrats"

"Wakefield's article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent"

"Peter Hotez is not alone: Online harassment of doctors is a public health issue"

Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.

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Howie and Harlan are joined by Ted Long, senior vice president of ambulatory care and population health at New York City Health + Hospitals, to discuss New York City's remarkable success in providing care to its most vulnerable citizens. Harlan discusses the state of research into long COVID, including his own studies; Howie reports on the first round of drug-price negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Links:

"Scientists look at the progress made toward understanding—and treating—long COVID"

National Institutes of Health "NIH launches new initiative to study 'Long COVID'"

The Yale Paxlovid for Long COVID (PAX LC) Trial

Internal tremors and vibrations in long COVID: a cross-sectional study

"Burnout threatens primary care workforce and doctors' mental health"

NYC Health and Hospitals: Housing for Health

"NYC Health + Hospitals Wins Superbowl Of Reducing Blood Pressure Awards"

"Over 5,000 Patients Have Worked With NYC Health + Hospital Community Health Workers, Who Address Patients' Pressing Social Needs To Improve Their Health"

The White House: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces First Ten Drugs Selected for Medicare Price Negotiation

"Drugmakers Are 'Throwing the Kitchen Sink' to Halt Medicare Price Negotiations"

"The 4 Arguments You Will Hear Against Drug Price Negotiation"

Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.

Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.