Health & Veritas – Details, episodes & analysis

Howie and Harlan are joined by investor and entrepreneur Halle Tecco to discuss her work connecting the worlds of technology and healthcare, and her latest venture, which allows women to freeze their eggs for future use for free if they donate half of them to a couple in need. Harlan checks in from the annual meeting of the American Heart Association; Howie discusses his concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment as secretary of health and human services.

Links:

American Heart Association Meeting

“Tirzepatide Reduces LV Mass and Paracardiac Adipose Tissue in Obesity-Related Heart Failure”  

“Intensive Lifestyle Intervention, Cardiac Biomarkers, and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Diabetes: LookAHEAD Cardiac Biomarker Ancillary Study”

“Accelerometer-Measured Sedentary Behavior and Risk of Future Cardiovascular Disease”

Halle Tecco 

Halle Tecco: Blog

Halle Tecco: Investing in Digital Health Startups Course

“This power couple bought bitcoin in 2013, and just donated all their gains to a cancer hospital”

Rock Health

Natalist

Cofertility

RFK Jr.

“What to know about RFK Jr.’s views on food, vaccines, abortion, and the FDA”

“How a Kennedy built an anti-vaccine juggernaut amid COVID-19”

“With Trump coming into power, the NIH is in the crosshairs”

“RFK Jr.’s Inside Job”

“How RFK Jr.’s MAHA movement could shake up public health”

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Howie and Harlan are joined by Rahul Rajkumar, founder and CEO of Accompany Health, which provides a team of providers for patients who are on both Medicare and Medicaid. Harlan reflects on a visit to China and the healthcare ramifications of proposed legislation that would force U.S. biotech companies to cut ties with some Chinese partners. Howie provides an update on healthcare-related measures on state ballots in last week’s election. 

Links:

China and the Biosecure Act

“Congress takes up a series of bills targeting China, from drones to drugs”

“U.S. Drugmakers Are Breaking Up With Their Chinese Supply-Chain Partners”

Accompany Health

Accompany Health

Medicare: Dual-Eligibles

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans

“Medicaid Enrollees by Enrollment Group”

“Justice Department sues to block UnitedHealth Group’s $3.3 billion purchase of Amedisys”

“10 Reasons Why Medicare Advantage Enrollment is Growing and Why It Matters”

Healthcare on the Ballot

“7 states vote to protect abortion rights, while efforts to expand access in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota fail”

“Marijuana and Drug Policy on the Ballot”

“Massachusetts voters reject proposal to legalize certain psychedelic drugs”

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Howie and Harlan are joined by Margaret McGovern, deputy dean for clinical affairs at the Yale School of Medicine, CEO of Yale Medicine, and chief physician executive of the Yale New Haven Health System. They discuss her path from the lab to healthcare leadership, and her efforts to better align Yale's medical school and its health system. Harlan reflects on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks; Howie provides an update on the bird flu outbreak. 

Links:

September 11

“60 Minutes remembers 9/11: The FDNY”

Margaret McGovern

“McGovern Welcomed as Yale Medicine CEO”

“Margaret McGovern, MD, PhD, Appointed YSM Deputy Dean and CEO of Yale Medicine”

“What is Translational Research?”

“Three SBU Leaders Honored for Outstanding Service During Pandemic”

“What Are Relative Value Units (RVUs)?”

“You’re Invited: Alignment-Focused Town Halls”

“Clinically Integrated Networks”

“Elevating Patient Access and the Consumer Experience”

Bird Flu

“Current H5N1 Bird Flu Situation in Dairy Cows”

“How CDC is monitoring influenza data among people to better understand the current avian influenza A (H5N1) situation”

“5 burning questions about Missouri’s mysterious H5 bird flu case”

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Harlan reports on a new study testing the effectiveness of the OCD drug fluvoxamine in treating COVID; Howie reflects on the potential of continuous glucose monitoring for people with diabetes. And they’re joined by Dr. Utibe Essien of the University of Pittsburgh to discuss the barriers preventing people of color from getting innovative new treatments and medications. 

Links:

“Fluvoxamine for Outpatient Treatment of COVID-19: A Decentralized, Placebo-controlled, Randomized, Platform Clinical Trial”

Utibe Essien: “Association of Neighborhood Disadvantage and Anticoagulation for Patients with Atrial Fibrillation in the Veterans Health Administration: the REACH-AF Study”

“Prevalence and Correlates of Patient Rationing of Insulin in the United States: A National Survey” 

Harlan Krumholz: “Life Expectancy after Myocardial Infarction by Hospital Performance” 

“Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites” 

Antiracism in Medicine podcast  

“Intermittently Scanned Continuous Glucose Monitoring for Type 1 Diabetes”

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Howie and Harlan check in on new research and health issues in the news, including studies on colonoscopies and the timing of hypertension medication, the state of the monkey pox and polio outbreaks, and the wave of legislation restricting treatment of trans youth.

Links:

“Effect of Colonoscopy Screening on Risks of Colorectal Cancer and Related Death”

 “Monkeypox Cases Are Declining in New York City and Globally”

 “WHO declares monkeypox a global health emergency as infections soar”

 “Evening dosing of blood pressure medication not better than morning dosing”

 “Arkansas cannot enforce ban on gender-affirming care for trans kids, court rules”

 “Watch Jon Stewart Calmly Excoriate the Arkansas Attorney General on Anti-Trans Legislation”

 “Yale’s Emily Wang and two alumni win MacArthur ‘genius’ awards”

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Howie and Harlan look at the plunging cost of sequencing an individual genome, and the problem of concussions among athletes at all levels. And they’re joined by Dr. Ania Jastreboff, a Yale obesity specialist, to discuss the dramatic results from a new class of drugs that target the brain’s system for regulating body fat.

Links:

“llumina Unveils Revolutionary NovaSeq X Series to Rapidly Accelerate Genomic Discoveries and Improve Human Health”

“The race to a $100 genome” (2013)

Ania Jastreboff: “Tirzepatide Once Weekly for the Treatment of Obesity”

“FDA Approves New Drug Treatment for Chronic Weight Management, First Since 2014”

“NFL under fire over its concussion protocol following Tua Tagovailoa's back-to-back game hits”

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Harlan discusses the problem of “financial toxicity”—how medical bills can wreak havoc in vulnerable patients’ lives. Howie reflects on the protests in Iran and the precariousness of the freedoms we enjoy in the United States. And they are joined by Ingrid Nembhard of the University of Pennsylvania to discuss her work on the organizational factors that shape patient care.

Links:

Cancer.gov: Financial Toxicity

“They Were Entitled to Free Care. Hospitals Hounded Them to Pay.”

Harlan Krumholz: “Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, and Financial Toxicity Among Adults in the United States”

Harlan Krumholz: “Out-of-Pocket Annual Health Expenditures and Financial Toxicity From Healthcare Costs in Patients With Heart Failure in the United States”

Ingrid Nembhard: “Responding to Covid-19: Lessons from Management Research”

Ingrid Nembhard: “COVID-19 Inspired Creativity In Health Care: Lessons For Management And Policy”

“Can the CDC Repair Its Reputation?”

Ingrid Nembhard: “A systematic review of research on empathy in health care”

Ingrid Nembhard: “Making it safe: the effects of leader inclusiveness and professional status on psychological safety and improvement efforts in health care teams”

Ingrid Nembhard: “Perceived Usefulness of Patient Narrative Feedback in Primary Care Settings”

“Why Iranian women are burning their hijabs after the death of Mahsa Amini”

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Howie and Harlan react to President Joe Biden’s declaration that the pandemic is over. Then they’re joined by Jonathan Rothberg, a Yale-trained scientist who has created new methods for sequencing DNA and founded a series of successful biotech companies.

Disclosure: Harlan Krumholz is a consultant to Tesseract, a portfolio company of 4 Catalyzer, which was founded by Jonathan Rothberg.

Links:

“Biden: ‘The pandemic is over’”

Eric Topol: “To boost or not to boost”

“An integrated semiconductor device enabling non-optical genome sequencing”

”Butterfly Network Distributes 500 Butterfly iQ+ Devices to Healthcare Workers in Kenya to Transform Maternal and Fetal Health”

”AI Estimation of Gestational Age from Blind Ultrasound Sweeps in Low-Resource Settings”

Butterfly Network

Protein Evolution

Hyperfine

”Uncovered Medical Bills after Sexual Assault”

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Howie and Harlan discuss the confusion over COVID therapeutics, even among professionals. Then they're joined by Dr. Jeremy Faust, a researcher, emergency physician, and public voice on COVID and other issues—as well as an active choral conductor. They discuss his unusual path, the state of the pandemic, and the importance of understanding “excess mortality.”

Links:

“Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes New Monoclonal Antibody for Treatment of COVID-19 that Retains Activity Against Omicron Variant”

Overview of Bebtelovimab

COVID-19 Therapeutics Locator

Jeremy Faust: Inside Medicine

Robert T. Sataloff: “The Human Voice”

Jeremy Faust: “Excess Mortality in Massachusetts During the Delta and Omicron Waves of COVID-19: All-Cause Excess Mortality and COVID-19–Related Mortality Among US Adults Aged 25-44 Years, March-July 2020

Longwood Symphony and World Doctors Orchestra at Symphony Hall

“Out-of-pocket spending on insulin among people with private insurance”

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Harlan outlines his new study tracking excess mortality over the course of the pandemic in the highly vaccinated state of Massachusetts; Howie discusses how the Inflation Reduction Act will tackle drug prices. They're joined by Dr. Esther Choo to talk about life as a doctor on social media and the crisis facing emergency departments.

Links:

Esther Choo: “Covid-19 is pushing doctors to the brink. Medicine needs to recognize they’re human and need help.”

“Uncoupling of all-cause excess mortality from COVID-19 cases in a highly vaccinated state”

“New York Governor Lifts Mask Mandate for NYC Subways”

White House Fact Sheet: The Inflation Reduction Act Supports Workers and Families

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Learn more about the MD-MBA program at Yale.

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