Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan discuss health and healthcare headlines, including a cheating scandal that has led to the invalidation of hundreds of scores from Nepal on the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination, the problem of research that never sees the light of day, new anti-obesity medications, and Florida's unorthodox approach to measles. Links: Standardized Testing "Cheated out of the American Dream" "MCAT scores and medical school success: Do they correlate?" "Reducing Medical School Admissions Disparities in an Era of Legal Restrictions: Adjusting for Applicant Socioeconomic Disadvantage" "Medical School Admissions — A Movable Barrier to Ending Health Care Disparities?" "Yale Reinstates Standardized Test Score Requirement For Admissions" "New SAT Data Highlights the Deep Inequality at the Heart of American Education" Research at Universities Good Science Project: Stuart Buck "Why Are We Screwing Over Researchers Who Make Innovative Discoveries?" Intellectual Property: Ownership and Protection in a University Setting Measles in Florida "From COVID-19 to Measles, Florida's War on Public Health" CDC: About Measles "Additional measles case reported at Florida elementary school as lawmaker urges public health emergency" Obesity Drugs "Heard on the Street: Viking Therapeutics Invades Eli Lilly's Obesity Territory" Unreleased Research Data "The Ghost Research Haunting Nordic Medical Trials" "Publication of NIH funded trials registered in ClinicalTrials.gov: cross sectional analysis" Harlan Krumholz: "What have we learnt from Vioxx?" A Transformative Gift "$1 Billion Donation Will Provide Free Tuition at a Bronx Medical School" IVF in Alabama The Alabama Supreme Court's Ruling "Florida Suspends Bill to Protect 'Unborn Child' After I.V.F. Ruling" Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: The Alabama Supreme Court's Ruling on Frozen Embryos Faculty for Yale Faculty for Yale "The Need For Institutional Neutrality At Universities" "Yale faculty sign letter addressed to Yale's future president, affirms commitment to social justice" Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Lucila Ohno-Machado, the Yale School of Medicine's deputy dean for biomedical informatics. She explains how expanding use of data science, informatics, AI, and technology could enable doctors to spend more time with patients. Harlan celebrates mentorship while marking the death of Irwin Birnbaum, a mentor to many in his time as COO of the Yale Medical School and long after retiring. Howie discusses the mixed evidence from a study on vaping as a tool for helping cigarette smokers quit. Links: "Lucila Ohno-Machado, MD, PhD, MBA, Will Lead Biomedical Informatics and Data Science" "Lucila Ohno-Machado: Yale Medicine Profile" "Halıcıoğlu Data Science Center" "2024 AI in Medicine Symposium at Yale School of Medicine" "Doctors Vs. ChatGPT: Which Is More Empathetic?" "Irwin M. Birnbaum Obituary" "What is a mentor?" "A Randomized Trial of E-Cigarettes versus Nicotine-Replacement Therapy" "Episode 78, Health and Veritas: Elizabeth Arleo: Advice for Working Mothers from a Women's Health Specialist"

Farzad Mostashari, co-founder and CEO of Aledade and former National Coordinator for Health IT, shares his journey from public health to primary care reform. He argues that current healthcare incentives favor treatment over prevention, leading to costly outcomes. Notably, he outlines Aledade's mission to align patient-provider incentives, promoting preventive care. Farzad also discusses the importance of detecting fraud in healthcare billing and how Aledade supports independent practices amidst industry consolidation.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Christopher O'Connor, CEO of Yale New Haven Health, to discuss his career path and his experience leading hospitals through Hurricane Katrina and COVID-19. Harlan reports on promising AI tools for taking clinical notes; Howie looks at the financial headwinds facing the companies offering Medicare Advantage plans. Links: AI Notetaking "OpenAI-backed healthcare AI startup raises $70 million Series B" "Burnout Related to Electronic Health Record Use in Primary Care" "Ambient Artificial Intelligence Scribes to Alleviate the Burden of Clinical Documentation" "Medical AI scribe startup Nabla rolling out tool to the Permanente Medical Group docs in Northern California" "Ambience Healthcare reels in $70M for generative AI tools to battle clinician burnout" Hospital Leadership "After 20 Years and $16,000, A Hospital Debt Is Canceled" Harlan Krumholz: "Out‐of‐Pocket Annual Health Expenditures and Financial Toxicity From Healthcare Costs in Patients With Heart Failure in the United States" "Connecticut hospitals face record financial losses" "Update on Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Ochsner Clinic Foundation, LA" "YNHH and Hospital of Saint Raphael become one" Medicare Advantage "Humana slashes profit predictions amid soaring Medicare Advantage costs" HHS: "Biden-Harris Administration is Strengthening Medicare; Protecting and Serving America's Seniors" "Cano Health's downfall offers a warning for Medicare Advantage" CMS: Risk Adjustment Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Manisha Juthani, a Yale infectious disease specialist and commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health. They discuss her research, including a study casting doubt on the use of cranberries to prevent urinary tract infection, and her priorities for Connecticut. Harlan reports on a wave of study retractions from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Howie reflects on the progress made toward eradicating Guinea worm and malaria. Links: Retractions from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute "Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Researchers Accused of Manipulating Data" "Top Cancer Center Seeks to Retract or Correct Dozens of Studies" Pubpeer: The Online Journal Club "'A lot of it is sloppiness': the biologist who finds flaws in scientific papers" Manisha Juthani "An Outbreak of Domestically Acquired Typhoid Fever in Queens, NY" Manisha Juthani: "Effect of Cranberry Capsules on Bacteriuria Plus Pyuria Among Older Women in Nursing Homes—A Randomized Clinical Trial" "Reduction of Bacteriuria and Pyuria After Ingestion of Cranberry Juice" Yale School of Medicine Medical Grand Rounds: "Debunking a myth: cranberry products for UTI prevention" Connecticut Department of Public Health Connecticut Department of Public Health: About the Commissioner Connecticut Department of Public Health: Statistics and Research "Court: CT can keep law that ends religious exemptions for vaccines" "Congenital syphilis cases in the U.S. have skyrocketed, CDC says" Eradicating Parasites "Jimmy Carter took on the awful Guinea worm when no one else would—and he triumphed" "Cape Verde reaches malaria-free milestone" Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Claudine Litman, a Yale SOM alum and executive director at Yale New Haven Hospital's CORE, discusses her journey from design to healthcare innovation. She emphasizes the need for human-centered design to address systemic gaps in healthcare. Claudine shares insights on overcoming resistance to design thinking, illustrates the challenges of prototyping healthcare spaces, and highlights the importance of integrating design principles to enhance patient experiences. The conversation also covers pressing healthcare trends and the FDA's recent reprimands regarding misleading drug advertisements.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Reshma Ramachandran, a Yale family physician and co-director of Yale Collaboration for Regulatory Rigor, Integrity, and Transparency. They discuss the potential ramifications for healthcare regulation if the Supreme Court overturns the Chevron decision requiring judges to defer to federal agencies. Harlan looks at surveys suggesting an erosion of trust in medicine; Howie reports on the growing measles outbreak. LInks: Trust in Healthcare "Nurses First, Doctors Distant Second in Healthcare Provider Ratings" "KFF Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Issues Emerge as Important Topics on 2024 Campaign Trail, Plus Concerns Loom Large Around Medicaid Unwinding" Reshma Ramachandran "What is Ayurveda?" "On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit: BRIEF OF DR. RESHMA RAMACHANDRAN AND DR. JOSEPH S. ROSS AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS" "Agencies' Power Under Scrutiny in Supreme Court Arguments" "Supreme Court could reel in power of federal agencies with dual fights over fishing rule" "Case brought to Supreme Court by herring fishermen may gut federal rulemaking power" Reshma Ramachandran: "Medical Product Industry Ties to Patient Advocacy Organizations' Executive Leadership" Reshma Ramachandran: "Do Advocacy Groups Always Put Patient Interests First?" "Citizens United Explained" The Measles Outbreak "Another person infected with measles at a Northeast daycare as Philadelphia outbreaks grows to nine cases" "DC Cautions Residents of a Potential Measles Exposure" CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan discuss the winter wave of COVID-19 and Howie's experience with the Novovax vaccine, report on potential side effects of the next-generation weight-loss drugs, and unpack the economics of Florida's plan to import drugs from Canada. Links: Sid Wolfe "Sidney M. Wolfe, Scourge of the Pharmaceutical Industry, Dies at 86" COVID-19 "Florida surgeon general calls for halt on mRNA covid vaccines, citing debunked claim" "Safety and Adverse Events Related to Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccines and Novavax;a Systematic Review" "Paul Offit Debunks Florida Surgeon General's Anti-Vax Warning" "Does Novavax's Covid vaccine cause fewer side effects?" "SOTP: State-of-the-Pandemic: The pandemic's 2nd biggest wave of infections and what the JN.1 variant is telling us" "Deaths induced by compassionate use of hydroxychloroquine during the first COVID-19 wave: an estimate" Weight-Loss Drugs "FDA looking into reports of hair loss, suicidal thoughts in people using popular drugs for diabetes and weight loss" "Semaglutide and risk of suicidal ideations" "January - March 2023 | Potential Signals of Serious Risks/New Safety Information Identified by the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS)" Elevance and Medicare "Elevance sues HHS over Medicare Advantage star ratings" "How the Tukey Method Could Impact Star Ratings" TriNetX: Explore. Discover. Connect Large Language Models "Diagnostic Accuracy of a Large Language Model in Pediatric Case Studies" "Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Clinical Medicine, 2023" Drug Imports "US FDA to allow Florida to import cheaper drugs from Canada" "FDA approves Florida's request to import cheaper drugs from Canada" "Price-Fixing Case Reveals Vulnerability of Generic Drug Policies" June Jackson Christmas "June Jackson Christmas, Pioneering Psychiatrist, Dies at 99" Read an unedited transcript of this episode. Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Julie Ann Sosa, chair of the University of California San Francisco department of surgery. She reports on new approaches to treating thyroid nodules, addressing sexual harassment within the medical profession, and supporting personal and professional success for doctors caring for elderly parents. Harlan and Howie discuss the upswing in COVID-19 cases and research on whether the benefits of exercise could be delivered by a pill. Links: Prospects for Faculty in the Arts and Sciences: A Study of Factors Affecting Demand and Supply, 1987 to 2012 Trends in Thyroid Cancer Incidence and Mortality in the United States, 1974-2013 Active Surveillance Versus Thyroid Surgery for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: A Systematic Review The importance of surgeon experience for clinical and economic outcomes from thyroidectomy. Addressing Eldercare to Promote Gender Equity in Academic Medicine 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 CDC | COVID Data Tracker CDC | Stay Up to Date with COVID-19 Vaccines "Could exercise pills help create a healthier society?" Safety and Efficacy of Plasma Transfusion From Exercise-trained Donors in Patients With Early Alzheimer's Disease (ExPlas) "Latest data shows millions of eligible Americans have been disenrolled from Medicaid" KFF | Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker National Bureau of Economic Research | Oregon Health Insurance Experiment "More than 13 million people lost Medicaid coverage this year, with Texas an epicenter of the 'unwinding'" Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Learn more about the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Eric Winer, director of the Yale Cancer Center and president of Yale's Smilow Cancer Hospital. They discuss his career, his personal experiences with hemophilia and HIV, and the state of breast cancer treatment. Harlan reports on the retraction of a high-profile study on the effect of hearing aids on dementia; Howie provides some good news from an annual report on health expenditures in the U.S. Links: A Retracted Study "Retraction—Association between hearing aid use and all-cause and cause-specific dementia: an analysis of the UK Biobank cohort" The original study: "RETRACTED: Association between hearing aid use and all-cause and cause-specific dementia: an analysis of the UK Biobank cohort" Eric Winer Dana Farber Cancer Institute Wikipedia: Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia Wikipedia: Nicholas and Alexandra CDC: What is Hemophilia? "Bayer division 'knowingly sold' HIV-infected protein" Eric Winer: 2023 ASCO Presidential Address, "Partnering With Patients: The Cornerstone of Clinical Care and Research" Eric Winer: "Breast Cancer Treatment: A Review" "'I'm Scared to Death.' Behind the Shortage Keeping Cancer Patients From Chemo" National Health Expenditures CDC: National Health Expenditure Data Read an unedited transcript of this episode. Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Learn more about the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.