A Second Opinion with Senator Bill Frist, M.D.

The heart has been a central part of my life – growing up with a cardiologist father and a heart surgeon brother – and later becoming as a heart transplant surgeon myself.  That’s why I’m excited about today’s conversation.   I’m joined by Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association – an organization that has been on the forefront of advancing heart health and cardiac research for nearly a century. Serving as CEO since 2008, Nancy has elevated the AHA as a global leader in heart disease and stroke science innovation, including launching the AHA’s Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine and One Brave Idea, an $85 million research collaboration to end coronary heart disease.   This global organization also makes a local impact – partnering with our community collaborative organization NashvilleHealth on Target: BP, an evidence-based, blood pressure control project with a with 1 million+ patient reach.   In today’s discussion, Nancy and I dive into the latest research, talk about promising partnerships, and consider how the incoming Biden Administration can act to improve heart health.

Judy Faulkner is the founder and CEO of Epic Systems. Judy started Epic in 1979 in a basement in Madison, Wisconsin, and 41 years later more than 250 million patients have a current electronic record in Epic. Her company’s enormous success led Forbes to name Judy the most successful female technology company founder. One of the few self-made women billionaires, Judy has signed the Giving Pledge started by Bill & Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, pledging 99% of her assets to philanthropy to help others. In our discussion, Judy takes us back to the start of Epic, when she was a student lured into the new field of computer science, and the journey that brought her to where she is today.

Today our topic is healthcare service innovation and disruption.  Sean Slovenski is an exceptional healthcare industry innovator with a 30-year history of success after success.  Sean started his career by helping to build and then lead one of the nation’s first large-scale wellness efforts for Fortune 500 clientele.  Most recently Sean served as president of Walmart Health and Wellness, launching the now-familiar multi-disciplinary healthcare clinics known as the “Supercenters for Healthcare.”  As you will hear, Sean and I worked together 11 years ago with South African-based Discovery Health and Humana.   In today’s interview, Sean shares why he’s made the jump to a new, little-known but cutting-edge company, BioIQ that’s set to disrupt the testing and diagnostics industry.

Dr. James Hildreth is the 12th President and CEO of Meharry Medical College, the nation's largest private, historically black academic health sciences center.  Dr. Hildreth is an accomplished scientist and researcher with extensive experience in virology, immunology, pharmacology, and internal medicine, and is an expert in health disparities. He was selected as the first African-American Rhodes Scholar from Arkansas in 1978, was the first African American in the 125-year history of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to earn full professorship with tenure in the basic sciences in 2002, and was the first African American dean at the University of California, Davis – where he led their College of Biological Sciences. In today’s interview, Dr. Hildreth reflects on his unique, amazing life experiences – including his many “firsts.”  And as a physician on the tip of the spear of the Covid-19 response, he gives us the latest on the pandemic.

Rich Whitney is Chairman and CEO of Radiology Partners, a nationwide company he co-founded in 2012 to transform the fragmented area of radiology. Today, RadPartners is the leading on-site radiology practice in the U.S., headquartered in Southern California partnering with approximately 1500 radiologists providing services to more than 1200 hospitals, clinics and imaging centers across 26 states. Rich has a long track record of leading, founding and investing in healthcare organizations that have led meaningful change in their sectors. In today’s episode, we cover the landscape of leadership principles, the future of artificial intelligence in imaging, and what a Biden presidency means for healthcare.

On November 13th, A Second Opinion joined with the Princeton University Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies and Princeton’s Center for Health and Wellbeing for Part 3 in a series, on the fiscal, monetary and health policy response implications of Covid-19.  You can hear Part 1 and Part 2 of this series in our podcast episodes numbers 48 and 69.   For our discussion, I’m joined by Princeton’s leading economic and health policy experts: Jessica Metcalf, Assistant Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary Biology & Public Affairs, Alan Blinder, the Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, and a former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, And Dr. Bill Dudley, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and now Senior Research Scholar at the Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies. In this wide-ranging discussion, we cover the latest vaccine science, the implications of a Biden Presidency for fiscal and monetary policy, and Covid-19 relief, and the impact of the rapidly growing federal debt.

Pat Geraghty is President and CEO of GuideWell, a $19 billion mutual insurance holding company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.  GuideWell is the parent to a family of forward-thinking companies focused on transforming health care, including Florida Blue, the leading health insurance company in Florida.    Geraghty was the architect of the restructuring that created GuideWell, considered a model of strategic reinvention that is featured as a capstone business case in the curriculum of Harvard Business School. GuideWell serves 27 million people across 35 states, including more than 5 million individuals in Florida.   Our conversation today – which focuses on leadership in crisis and adapting a major organization to address a pandemic and issues of social justice -- originally aired at the 2020 Emids Healthcare Summit.  Thank you to the team at Emids for their work in facilitating this insightful discussion.

I’m excited to be joined today by two friends who are both physicians and effective policymakers, Dr. Kavita Patel and Dr. Scott Gottlieb. Kavita is a Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a practicing primary care physician in Washington, DC.  She previously served in the Obama Administration where she played a critical role in health reform and economic recovery policies. Scott served as the 23rd Commissioner of the FDA, where he received bipartisan praise for his visionary, collaborative leadership of the agency from 2017 – April 2019.  Dr. Gottlieb previously practiced internal medicine at New York University's Tisch Hospital, and is now a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Both of our guests have been outspoken, trusted voices throughout the pandemic. They share the latest with us on the Covid-19 response and where we will be a year from now.

Andy Slavitt is founder and chairman of the United States of Care – a non-partisan non-profit focused on mobilizing a movement to achieve long-lasting healthcare solutions for everyone.  Over his career, Andy has led many significant and successful initiatives in health care impacting millions of Americans and the shape of the health care system.  Most notably, he served as Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2015 – 2017, where he led a significant shift to pay-for-value payment models, the implementation of the bipartisan MACRA legislation, and the Affordable Care Act.   Today, Andy is an outspoken voice on the pandemic response, and one of the most influential leaders in public health today.   

Lisa Clarke is the Executive Director of the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency.  It’s is a $5.6 billion, public-private partnership designed to leverage the growth of Mayo Clinic and create “America’s City for Health” in Rochester, Minnesota.    Lisa previously spent 20 years with Mayo Clinic where she served as Division Chair in Mayo Clinic’s Department of Public Affairs.  She has been routinely recognized as one of the most effective and successful women in business in Minnesota.  Our conversation today will explore the importance of fostering a healthy community setting to spur health system innovation.