HealthCare Focus

Guests: Freakonomics, MD host, UChicago-trained economist, and Harvard medical school physician Anupam B. Jena, MD, PhD, and Harvard physician, Mass General critical care doctor, and healthcare policy researcher Christopher Worsham, MD, MPH on their singular work of popular science, RANDOM ACTS OF MEDICINE (published by Random House), on sale July 11, 2023, and available for pre-order on Amazon. Book Summary Why do kids born in the summer get diagnosed more often with ADHD and the flu? How are marathons harmful for your health, even when you're not running? And what do surgeons and salesmen have in common?As a University of Chicago-trained economist, Harvard medical school professor and doctor, and host of the Freakonomics, MD podcast, Anupam B. Jena, MD, PhD is uniquely equipped to answer these questions. And as a critical care doctor at Massachusetts General who researches health care policy, Christopher Worsham, MD, MPH confronts their impact on the hospital's sickest patients.   In RANDOM ACTS OF MEDICINE, Jena and Worsham show us how medicine really works—and its effect on all of us. In the spirit of Freakonomics, Cribsheet, and Noise, this singular work combines popular topics like behavioral science, health, and medicine through the lens of economic principles and big data insights to reveal the unexpected but predictable events that profoundly affect our health. Relying on ingeniously devised natural experiments—random events that unknowingly turn us into experimental subjects—Jena and Worsham do more than offer readers colorful stories. They help us see the way our health is shaped by forces invisible to the untrained eye. Is there ever a good time to have a heart attack? Do you choose the veteran doctor or the rookie? Do you really need the surgery your doctor recommends? These questions are rife with significance and their impact can be life changing. RANDOM ACTS OF MEDICINE will not only help readers gain a better understanding of how medicine is practiced or what motivates human behavior; it will empower them to see past the white coat and find out what really makes medicine work—and how it could work better.

Ophir Ronen is a serial tech entrepreneur, having begun his career as a co-founder of Internap Network Services, one of the first commercial Internet backbones which IPO'd in 1999. He has started six companies and achieved three successful outcomes, the last of which was PagerDuty's acquisition of EEHQ.  His current company, CalmWave, is using AI to remediate clinical alarm fatigue in ICUs and build a first-to-market hospital operations orchestration platform to improve nurse retention and patient outcomes. Ophir excels in guiding teams of creative people to successful outcomes regardless of his role, from engineer to CEO. He holds a number of patents spanning data science and IT Operations and thoroughly enjoys the challenges of bringing vision to reality.

Dan Pelino has worked for IBM for 36 years leading its global Healthcare and Life Sciences Business for 10 years. Most recently he wrote 'Trusted Healers'. The book takes the reader on a journey on the future of healthcare, and how it's all in our grasp. He is the founder of Everyone Matters, Inc. a social impact enterprise dedicated to ensuring that everyone has equal access to citizen-based services, healthcare, and education. He is a regular contributor to the discussion on healthcare, citizen based services on CNN, Bloomberg, the BBC and other media outlets.

More analysis and interviews on the healthcare industry coming up. If you've enjoyed these episodes on citizen journalism, you can find expert interviews on the future of journalism as the first episode on my new podcast, Different by Design (by Corina Paraschiv).

Clarisse Behar Molad (PhD) shares her point of view on COVID in Isreal. This episode was recorded in October 2022.

Maria Canadas, remote worker, shares her point of view on COVID in Mexico and Spain. This episode was recorded in 2022.

Chris Metcalfe, a designer from Capetown, shares his point of view on how COVID affected South Africa. This episode was recorded in October 2022.

Felicitas Steinhoff, clinical psychologist in Germany, shares her view point on the pandemic in her country. This episode was recorded in October 2022.

The episodes were reverted to drafts and shall be published again soon, once edited.

Dan Pelino takes us into a journey exploring equitable health access and leadership in healthcare. Dan is the author of Trusted Healers, the book ranked number one in Healthcare Policy by Amazon, founder of Everyone Matters and past executive of IBM's global Healthcare and Life Sciences Business. He is a regular contributor to the discussion on healthcare, citizen based services on CNN, Bloomberg, the BBC and other media outlets. Links: TRUSTED HEALERS: Dr. Paul Grundy and the Global Healthcare Crusade Everyone Matters, founded by Dan Pelino

Alexis Miller has one of the rarest backgrounds I've met in the industry - in her past life, she worked for UPMC, a large healthcare insurance and healthcare provider, and in her new role, she works at Shell Games, an entertainment company. The crucial link? Gamification. Today, she takes us into the curious world of design, healthcare and motivation, helping us better understand how we can nudge patients towards better, healthier habits.

Amy is author, academic and professional - making her a wealth of knowledge when it comes to healthcare changes! Her work has taken her to various organizations and countries, including Mad*Pow (current work), CVS Health, Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions and Big Communications. She also writes a delightful blog which is both informative and entertaining, and which we share with great enthusiasm with you! Amy Bucher's Book, Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change : https://www.amazon.com/Engaged-Designing-Behavior-Amy-Bucher-ebook/dp/B084WPQNRR Amy Bucher's Blog Posts: https://www.amybucherphd.com/

How does innovation happen in a system with multiple payers - and the government as active stakeholder?  Chief Strategist Jay Srini takes us behind the scenes with important debates regarding healthcare.  This episode was recorded prior to COVID. Host: Corina Paraschiv https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinamihaelaparaschiv/ https://atdesignresearch.com/ Guest Biography: Jay Srini former Chief Innovation for UPMC Health Plan/VP emerging technologies at UPMC can help with understanding value chain in health care and help with product evolution, business strategy and partnership development.  Currently Chief Strategist at SCS Ventures.

What do these three topics have in common? In this episode, we invite you on an exploratory tour, as we dip our toes into healthcare innovation. Host: Corina Paraschiv https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinamihaelaparaschiv/ https://atdesignresearch.com/ Guest Bio: I am currently the Executive Director of the Center for Machine Learning and Health at CMU. I have been involved with invention and innovation in applied computing for over 30 years in multiple contexts (academic, corporate, entrepreneurial) and multiple industries (defense, computers, electrical equipment, media & entertainment, marketing, healthcare). I did my undergraduate and graduate work at Harvard University. My areas of expertise include AI, human-computer interaction, and computer graphics.

In this episode, we explore how our healthcare system prepares itself for an ageing population, with guest Dr. Steven Albert. Host: Corina Paraschiv https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinamihaelaparaschiv/ https://atdesignresearch.com/ Guest Bio: Steven Albert is Chair of the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health. He holds the Hallen Chair of Community Health and Social Justice. He has nearly 30 years of research experience in public health, aging, neurologic disease, and health behavior. He served as principal investigator on three NIH R01 efforts (AG18234, Cognitive and Physical Basis of Disablement, 2001-06; MH62200, Depression and End of Life Care in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, 2000-07; and NR012459, End of Life in the Very Old, 2010-15). he currently directs or co-directs the Clinical and Population Outcomes Core of the University of Pittsburgh NIA Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (P30 AG024827) and the U Pitt CDC Prevention Research Center (PRC U48 DP001918). He recently co-directed the HRSA Public Health Social Work Leadership training program (6G05HP7841) and U Pitt NIMH Advanced Center for Intervention Services Research for Late Life Depression Prevention (MH090333). He has also completed an extensive array of CDC-funded research, including an evaluation of the Pennsylvania Department of Aging’s statewide falls prevention program (SM Albert, PI, “Comparative Effectiveness of Community-Based Falls Prevention in Pennsylvania,” CDC ARRA U48 DP002657, 2010-13) that established the evidence base for the program. Our efforts led to important changes in these programs to support effectiveness and dissemination, as well as certification as an evidence-based program for Title-IIID ACL/AoA funding. He has also led the community health needs assessment (CHNA) for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s 40-hospital network. He has mentored doctoral (15+), postdoctoral (10+), visiting fellows (4), and junior faculty (6) across a number of academic fields. Diving Further: Prohaska TR, Anderson L, Binstock RH. Public Health for an Aging Society, Johns Hopkins Press, 2012. Albert, SM & Freedman VA. Public Health and Aging, Springer Publishing Company, 2nd Edition, 2010.

SDOH have been front and center for America's healthcare for some time now, often highlighting the needs.  But what are ways which can help us find the funds necessary to run the community programs that make a difference?  In this episode, guest John Gorman, Founder and Chairman of Nightingale Partners, shows us a new financing model to tackle SDOH. Host: Corina Paraschiv LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinamihaelaparaschiv/ Portfolio: https://www.meetcorina.com/  Guest: John Gorman John is the Founder and former Executive Chairman of Gorman Health Group, at the time the industry’s leading consulting practice which spawned almost a dozen entrepreneurial ventures in government health programs. John’s work focuses on Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act strategy, governance, and turnaround of distressed health plans. Prior to founding the firm, John served as Assistant to the Director of Health Care Financing Administration’s (HCFA, now CMS) Office of Managed Care, where he provided day-to-day management and served as the external liaison for the Medicare and Medicaid managed care programs. During the 1993 debate on national health care reform, John was chief lobbyist on health care financing issues for the National Association of Community Health Centers, an organization of federally-funded primary care clinics for the medically underserved. John’s career in Washington began as Press Secretary and Staff Director for U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), then Chairman of the Government Operations Committee. John serves on the Board of Directors of Henry Ford Health System’s Health Alliance Plan in his birthplace of Detroit, MI, and serves as a Senior Advisor to Premier, Inc., the hospital purchasing cooperative, on Medicare Advantage and Medicaid matters.

Dr. Bob Uslander talks about the human experience behind terminal diagnosis and how care is slowly evolving to make endings more humane and gentle.

Special Guest Dr. Gillian Bartlett-Esquilant shares her work with research on children, families and end of life decisions. As we soon find out, research in this field is anything requires a lot of ingenuity!

What makes a good medical simulation? And what does the range of technology look like when we think of simulation centers? Special guest Thomas Dongilli takes us behind the scenes of the WISER Simulation Center.

To kick off our special on simulations, we had a chat with guest John Cordier, from the FRED Epidemic Simulator. John eloquently shares with us the underlying principles and use cases for epidemic simulators - touching on epidemiology, technology and policy.

We take informed consent as a given in today's healthcare system, but it was not always so. Sarah Morgan, host of the "Bad Medicine" podcast, walks us through a brief history of medical ethics.

In a recent JAMA Review, Dr. Davidson and his colleague Thomas McGinn, MD, MPH, raised this issue: while we know the social determinants of health have an impact on health, the field is still unclear on whose job it is to solve it. This week, a Jama Poll over twitter asked physicians (presumably) to cast their votes : "Medical school should produce physician scientists, not physician social justice activists". 69% of respondents disagreed. It is under this backdrop that we welcome Kyla Christensen. With a background in Social Work, Kyla helps us get a glimpse in the world of social determinants of health, from a discipline that has a long-standing tradition tackling it! JAMA Tweet: https://twitter.com/HC_Focus/status/1173760675639939072 Article: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-08/nh-jpd082819.php Kyla Recommends.... Genogram https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/practice/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words-genograms-social-work-practice/ Ecomap https://www.google.com/amp/s/mswcareers.com/the-ecomap-a-social-work-assessment-tool/amp/ Genogram + Ecomap Combined (alternative ecomap) https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.socialworkhelper.com/2013/05/21/ecological-systems-theory-and-practice-systems-and-the-sociocybernetic-map/%3famp More on Social Work: https://www.socialworkers.org/ More Healthcare Focus Stuff: Social Determinants of Health And ICD-10 Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPRsGK3LP2Q&list=PLxR_OzlgUKBB7wbT7kGWB5dLxsZNv-EBZ&index=3 Hospitals & Social Innovation Blog Article: https://www.healthcarefocus.org/blog/hospitals-social-innovation

From early intervention for first episode psychosis to the opioid abuse crisis, Elizabeth gives us a unique perspective on behavioral health - also called mental health. In this episode: resource allocation across multi-disciplinary teams, replicability of care models across other conditions, and the importance of first medical encounters. This is the first of three episodes in our Students Special! Want to explore more? Program Chill in Pittsburgh Early intervention for first episode psychosis

Health consumerism brings healthcare design outside of hospitals, and into the community. Special guest Peter Weeks, healthcare designer at Philips Design, shares his perspective on the Internet of Things, Data and what it means to design for human beings. Interesting links for further exploration: https://designinghealth.care/ https://medium.com/hsxd-healthcare-systems-by-design

Designing for clinicians and patients brings challenges that are surprisingly universal across healthcare designers and design researchers. Special guests : Bob Groeneveld, Tessa Dekkers and Patrizia D’Olivo, design researchers and PhD candidates at Delft University of Technology guide us through these common design challenges. Learn more about their research : http://studiolab.ide.tudelft.nl/studiolab/firstaidtoolkit/

Our third episode in the genomic medicine series explores the ethical and policy implications of big data and genomic research. Accompanied by special guest James Hugh, Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and associate provost of the University of Mass., Boston, we explore the ramifications of genomic research for our society.

Bio-Banking is the starting point of genomic research. As part of our three-part series, special guest Stella Somiari gives us a behind the scenes tour of genomic research.

How mature is genomic medicine? What are the factors for its adoption? Special guest Nick Jacobs, former hospital administrator and founder of two research institutes helps us navigate precision medicine.

Innovation from the entrepreneur and researcher’s point of view often lacks an important perspective : the problem-owner. Problem-owners, AI data access and data biases are our focus on today’s episode. Thrival Festival : https://thrivalfestival.com/ Machine Learning - Fairness (Google Training) : https://goo.gl/ijT6Ua AI Commons : https://www.aicommons.com/

Artificial Intelligence represents a potential $ 300 Billion in savings for Healthcare. The future of AI in HC and how it will affect insurers, policies and public health : this week, on HealthCare Focus. Show Notes: https://bit.ly/2CW9DM9 Thrival Festival : https://thrivalfestival.com/

The 2018 edition of the Thrival Festival explored the interesting question of ethics in healthcare. Part of that discussion centers around the shift from paternalistic to participative, patient-centered care. It turns out these two dichotomies may best coexist. Show Notes: https://bit.ly/2R5hwSj Thrival Festival: https://thrivalfestival.com/

From physicians to pharma and governments, we take a deep dive into one of the most promising medical technologies.

The roots of discontent around the Affordable Care Act be traced back to 1942. We follow the story of President Roosevelt to better seize the debate on Obamacare.

Kaiser Permanente’s strategic investment in low-income housing and Grand Junction’s surprising success story in inclusive healthcare. Show Notes: https://bit.ly/2x2p3Kj.