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

Adam Schechter is the Chairman, President, and CEO of Labcorp, a leading global life sciences company, with a presence in over 100 countries and annual revenue of $14 billion.  LabCorp has become a household name during the global pandemic, and Adam was only a few months into his role as CEO when Covid-19 hit.  He has a fascinating story of pivoting to scale the company to respond to this unforeseen challenge, and how he did it all while expanding LabCorp’s reach beyond its core of diagnostics, into life sciences and health. In getting to know Adam, I found we both share a passion for water – and by that I mean we both care deeply about improving access to clean water globally.  Nearly 1 million people die each year from diseases that could be prevented if families have access to safe water and sanitation. Adam is helping to close that gap as Chairman of the Board of Water.org. I also loved hearing his thoughts, as a diagnostic leader integral to our Covid response, on the top three things we need to do to be better prepared for future health crises. 

Dr. Marty Makary is a New York Times bestselling author, Johns Hopkins gastrointestinal surgeon and Professor of Health Policy.  His newest book, The Price We Pay, is just out now in paperback with new Covid-19 updates, and has been called the “The Big Short” of American Medicine.  Marty’s research has led to actionable solutions that reduce waste and overtreatment, improving quality of care to the patient AND saving our health care system millions of dollars. You’ll want to stay tuned to hear his thoughts on, “what broke American health care – and how to fix it.”

Today’s episode is one of the most fun, insightful, thought-provoking discussions I’ve had on the show.  Our guest is the only physician executive I know who started as a disc jockey, and went on to become one of the most transformational thought leaders in the healthcare space today.  Dr. Stephen Klasko is the President & CEO of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health.  He’s constantly challenging the status quo, writing in his new book UnHealthcare that, “The not-so-dirty secret of the old healthcare system is that almost everybody makes more money when more people are sick.” You’ll want to hear our discussion on how he’s trying to change that – marrying 21st-century technology with person-centered care to reimagine our industry. 

I’m really excited to have my friend and colleague, former Congressman Patrick Kennedy joining me today. Patrick has used his own personal experience with mental health and addiction to become one of the nation’s most influential advocates to reduce the stigma around mental illness, and to make real change to increase affordable access to care. He’s the co-author of the landmark Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equality Act, the founder of The Kennedy Forum, and co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Behavioral Health Integration Task Force. The Task Force just released a terrific report on integrating behavioral health treatment into primary care, and we’ve included a link to it in our show notes. Definitely check it out. You’ll want to stay tuned to hear the powerful turning point that changed how Patrick thought about mental health, and we’ll also talk about an exciting company, Psych Hub, that we’re collaborating on today. Links and more information on issues discussed in our podcast with Rep. Kennedy: • Read the Bipartisan Policy Center’s new report, “Tackling America’s Mental Health and Addiction Crisis Through Primary Care Integration,” here: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/behavioral-health-2021/  Report is authored by the Task Force Co-Chaired by Rep. Kennedy. • Find Patrick Kennedy’s book, A Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction, here: https://www.amazon.com/Common-Struggle-Personal-Journey-Addiction/dp/0399185712 • Learn more about The Kennedy Forum’s events here: https://www.thekennedyforum.org/events/ • Rep. Kennedy’s latest op-ed is here: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/mental-health-care-must-be-treated-health-care-my-friend-ncna1266861  

On May 11th, A Second Opinion joined with Vim, a technology company building digital infrastructure for improved healthcare performance, for a live virtual discussion on “Assessing a New Era of Payer-Provider Partnerships.” For our conversation, I’m joined by: • Oron Afek, Co-Founder & CEO of Vim; he’s a serial entrepreneur who was previously part of the Israeli Special Forces, and • Tim Kaja, Senior Vice President of OptumCare, who is a 36-year veteran of United Health Group. We cover evolving payment models, advancing information technology, and the shifting marketplace dynamics that are fueling accelerated collaboration between payers and providers.

Paul Diaz is President & CEO of Myriad Genetics. Thirty years ago, Myriad Genetics played a pivotal role in one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of healthcare: discovering the precise location and sequence of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which increase the risk of breast cancer. This led to the emergence of genetic testing as a tool that has saved millions of lives. Now, with Paul at the helm, Myriad Genetics aims to play as pivotal a role in the next 30 years of genetics and precision medicine as they did in the first 30, applying the power of data-driven genetic insights. You’ll want to hear how Paul and Myriad are empowering patients and physicians to better detect, treat, and prevent disease. To learn more about the work Paul and Myriad Genetics are doing to lead the way on genetic testing and precision medicine, read Paul’s latest blog post: https://myriad.com/health-illuminated/

Paul Kusserow is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Amedisys, a publicly traded, leading provider of home health, hospice, palliative and personal care services with over 22,000 employees in 39 states and Washington, DC, making over 12.3 million patient visits per year. Under his leadership, the company has grown its value 9-times itself and has been established as a clinical leader in the fast-growing home health and hospice industry. You’ll want to hear how Paul completely revamped his board to mirror his employees and the patients he’s serving, and why the biggest career risk he’s ever taken changed his life.

Dr. Mark Hyman is the Head of Strategy and Innovation of the Cleveland Clinic for Functional Medicine, a fourteen-time New York Times bestselling author, founder and director of the Ultra Wellness Center, and Board President for Clinical Affairs for the Institute for Functional Medicine. Dr. Hyman's latest book—if you pick it up you will read it cover to cover -- is The Pegan Diet: 21 Practical Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World. It's packed with super practical information about food, -- and your health, the role it plays in our environment and the world around us.  You will look at what you eat in a whole different context. Dr. Hyman is the host of, the top, most listened to health and wellness podcast, The Doctor’s Farmacy. Dr. Hyman Is leading a health revolution —one revolving around using food as medicine, to support longevity, energy, mental clarity, happiness, and to improve the health of the planet. Did you realize that wheat bread is worse for you than sugar. You will learn why – and more.

Jennifer Morris is Chief Executive Officer of The Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organization working with partners around the world to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Jennifer leads nearly 4,000 global staff who are dedicated to creating a world where people and nature thrive together.  Better than anyone, Jennifer understands that the health of each individual and each family is inextricably linked to the health of the environment.  Earth Day was just last week, and I want to challenge our listeners to think about conservation as not only a good thing to do for the natural world, but as something that is vital to our health and long-term well-being. The pandemic we’ve all been living through is just one example of how nature affects us all.  How we choose to interact with nature can dramatically shape our nation’s and our world’s trajectory.  Below are some resources to learn more about the topics Jennifer discusses in the podcast: • Investing in Nature for a Resilient Future By Jennifer Morris, Chief Executive Officer | April 23, 2021 https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/jennifer-morris-investing-in-nature-resilient-future/ • Flush it and Forget it? Three Things to Know About Sewage Pollution By Stephanie Wear, Senior Scientist and Strategy Advisor | March 12, 2021 https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/flush-and-forget-three-things-about-sewage-pollution/ • Nature: Our Best Prescription for a Healthy World | April 06, 2021
https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/nature-prescription-healthy-world/ • The Global Food System Is Ripe for Change By Jennifer Morris, CEO, The Nature Conservancy, United States | October 28, 2020
https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/grow-positive-regenerative-global-food-system/ • A Silver Lining Amid Northwest India’s Thick Smog | November 27, 2019
https://www.tncindia.in/what-we-do/stories-in-india/silver-lining-northwest-india-smog/

On April 16th, A Second Opinion joined with the Princeton University Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies and Princeton’s Center for Health and Wellbeing for Part 4 in a series, on the fiscal, monetary and health policy response implications of Covid-19. You can hear Parts 1, 2 & 3 of this series in our podcast episodes numbers 48, 69 and 96. For our discussion, I’m joined by Princeton’s leading economic and health policy experts: • Dr. Jessica Metcalf, Assistant Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary Biology & Public Affairs, • Dr. 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. Before we dive in – I just want to reflect back for a moment. The four of us first got together a year ago this April for our very first virtual event on Covid and the economy – and I don’t think any of us predicted at that time all the challenges our nation would face in the year that followed. In this wide-ranging discussion, we cover what the latest economic indicators mean, what we can learn from the events of the past year, and how the pandemic will influence policy going forward.