Topic: Healthcare Policy

David Mitchell, president and founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs, discusses the importance of reducing out-of-pocket costs and premiums for patients, the need for an entity to recommend costs for novel therapies to payers, pieces of legislation that address drug patent “abuse” on the part of manufacturers, and more.

Rafael Fonseca, MD, and Saurabh Jha, MD, debate the benefits and disadvantages of a third-party vs single-payer system, whether Medicare has been a successful program for qualifying patients. and the fairness of judging the health care system based on life expectancy.

Sayeh Nikpay, PhD, MPH, explains the origins of 340B, how safety net clinics as well as large hospitals became participants in the program, and the possibility of getting rid of the program altogether.

Daniel Goldstein, MD, discusses the ability of interventional pharmacoeconomics to lower drug costs and increase access around the world, as well as the dilemma physicians face for treating patients with a person-centered vs a population health approach.

No one, and I mean no one, understands drug pricing and the policies around regulating them like Stacie Dusetzina, PhD, from the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, does. So, I was fortunate to have her as my guest on the podcast to discuss the “desensitization” of society to cancer prescription … Read more

Andrew Renda, MD, associate vice president of population health at Humana, discusses ways in which Humana designs supplemental benefits for social needs as well as addresses social determinants of health to close clinical gaps in care. I was so curious what payers are trying to do to improve compliance for patients especially as drug prices … Read more

Carla Tardif, CEO of Family Reach, sits down with me to discuss the personal expenses that patients with cancer and their families are burdened with aside from medical care as well as the ways in which Family Reach is offering financial support for these families. What can be done to help patients navigating the expenses … Read more

Anita Gruninger, RN and certified case manager, provides the often-forgotten perspective of a caregiver, including the emotional and financial toll a cancer diagnosis has on patients and their caregivers as well as the struggles of navigating the health care system. Caregivers of cancer patients go through much emotional and physical turmoil, but they are rarely … Read more