Tradeoffs

Every year, 100,000 Americans — mostly teens and young adults — experience their first psychotic episode. Research shows getting specialized, holistic treatment early can help, but most people don’t get that care. KQED’s April Dembosky shares her reporting on why early treatment for psychosis can be so hard to get.GuestApril Dembosky, Health Correspondent, KQED NewsLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Medicare could soon pay hospitals much less for common outpatient services like x-rays and checkups.This week, we explain an old policy gathering new steam in Washington, how it could save Medicare and patients billions of dollars a year, and why it has hospitals worried.Guests: Loren Adler, MS, Fellow and Associate Director, USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health PolicyJoe Antos, PhD, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise InstituteAmol Navathe, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Medicine, University of PennsylvaniaHannah Neprash, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota School of Public Health Ashley Thompson, MHA, Senior Vice President, American Hospital AssociationLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just like the rest of us, when clinicians are short on time and overwhelmed by complex decisions, their brains look for corners to cut, numbers to round, patterns to repeat. This week, Dan talks with Harvard physician and economist Bapu Jena about the surprising impact these mental shortcuts can have on our health care.Guest:Bapu Jena, MD, PhD, Professor of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General HospitalLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new class of drugs can help people lose up to one-fifth of their body weight and manage serious health conditions associated with obesity. But they’re also raising difficult questions. This week, we talk with STAT reporter Elaine Chen about how these breakthrough treatments are changing how we view and treat obesity. Guest:Elaine Chen, Cardiovascular Disease Reporter, STAT Learn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About half of people on Medicare use hospice care before they die, but as the popular benefit turns 40 this year, it is struggling with waste, access and inequity issues. This week, we look at a federal experiment revamping Medicare's hospice policy, and how it could ultimately change the way millions of people die.Guests:Vince Mor, PhD, Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice, Brown UniversityBethany Snider, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Hosparus HealthDavid Stevenson, PhD, Professor of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University School of MedicineLeslie Walker, Senior Producer, TradeoffsLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for Research Corner, our free weekly newsletter, featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Affordable Care Act faces yet another in a long string of legal challenges. Last Thursday's ruling, by a conservative federal judge who has targeted the ACA before, jeopardizes a provision in the law that gives 150 million Americans access to free preventive care for conditions like HIV and cancer.Guest:Nicholas Bagley, JD, Professor of Law, University of MichiganLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We dig into three research papers to make sense of what will happen to 15 million people set to lose their Medicaid over the next year.Guests:Sayeh Nikpay, PhD, Tradeoffs Senior Research Advisor; Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, University of MinnesotaLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The pandemic pushed Medicare to start paying for “hospital-at-home” care for the first time, launching the largest test ever of home-based hospital care. This week, we look at what we’ve learned from the hospital-at-home explosion and questions about home-based care remain unanswered.Guests: Bruce Leff, MD, Director, The Center for Transformative Geriatric Research, Johns HopkinsDavid and Melanie MercurioConstantinos “Taki” Michaelidis, MD, Medical Director, Hospital at Home Program, UMass Memorial HealthMichelle Mahon, RN, Assistant Director of Nursing Practice, National Nurses UnitedNathan Starr, DO, Medical Director for Home Services, Castell; Director of Telehospitalist Program, Intermountain HealthcareLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Even though more Americans than ever have health insurance, medical debt is a pervasive problem in the United States.Guests: Noam Levey, Senior Correspondent, Kaiser Health NewsWesley Yin, PhD, Associate Professor of Economics, UCLALearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Less than a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, some states are rethinking their abortion bans.This week, reporter Alice Miranda Ollstein introduces us to a Republican lawmaker pushing to add exceptions to the ban he helped pass, and we consider how well exceptions work - or don't - in practice. Guests:Alice Miranda Ollstein, Health Care Reporter, PoliticoState Sen. Richard Briggs, MD, Tennessee General AssemblyYarnell Beatty, JD, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Tennessee Medical AssociationWill Brewer, JD, Director of Government Relations, Tennessee Right to LifeKatrina Kimport, PhD, Associate Professor, ANSIRH, University of California San FranciscoKatie MayLearn more and read a full transcript on our website.Want more Tradeoffs? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter featuring the latest health policy research and news.Support this type of journalism today, with a gift.Follow us on Twitter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.