

A Health Podyssey
Health Affairs
Each week, Health Affairs' Rob Lott brings you in-depth conversations with leading researchers and influencers shaping the big ideas in health policy and the health care industry.
A Health Podyssey goes beyond the pages of the health policy journal Health Affairs to tell stories behind the research and share policy implications. Learn how academics and economists frame their research questions and journey to the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Health policy nerds rejoice! This podcast is for you.
A Health Podyssey goes beyond the pages of the health policy journal Health Affairs to tell stories behind the research and share policy implications. Learn how academics and economists frame their research questions and journey to the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Health policy nerds rejoice! This podcast is for you.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 7, 2025 • 31min
Can Challenge Prizes Transform Drug Discovery? w/ Tris Dyson
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Rob Lott interviews Tris Dyson, Founder of Challenge Works on his efforts in cultivating challenge prizes as an opportunity to nurture innovation in science and health care, the newly launched Longitude Prize on ALS, the transformation of drug discovery, and more.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Sep 30, 2025 • 30min
Medicaid’s Role in Rising Buprenorphine Use w/ Stephen Crystal
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Rob Lott interviews Stephen Crystal of Rutgers University about his recent paper exploring how states with substantial increases in buprenorphine uptake as an opioid use disorder treatment response grew alongside increased Medicaid prescribing from 2018–24.Order the September 2025 issue of Health Affairs.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Sep 23, 2025 • 21min
Treatment Courts and Health Outcomes w/ Elizabeth Van Nostrand
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Rob Lott interviews Elizabeth Van Nostrand of Temple University about her recent paper exploring how Indiana adults participating in treatment court program tended to have better health outcomes than individuals who applied and were accepted but chose not to participate.Order the September 2025 issue of Health Affairs.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Sep 16, 2025 • 25min
Aimee Moulin on Expanding Opioid Treatment in Emergency Departments
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Rob Lott interviews Aimee Moulin of the University of California Davis about her recent paper exploring a model for low-barrier treatment of opioid use disorder that could increase emergency department patient navigation and Buprenorphine use.Order the September 2025 issue of Health Affairs.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Sep 9, 2025 • 31min
Nora Volkow on the Science, Stigma, and Future of Addiction Research
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Rob Lott interviews Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health, to discuss addiction as a brain disorder, treatments for opioid use disorder, and what’s next in addiction research. Order the September 2025 issue of Health Affairs, which focuses on insights on the opioid crisis.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Sep 2, 2025 • 27min
Brendan Saloner Explains the Opioid Crisis & What Can Be Done
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Rob Lott interviews Brendan Saloner of Brown University about his recent paper exploring how scaling up opioid treatment and harm reduction programs could reach more people. Order the September 2025 issue of Health Affairs.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Aug 26, 2025 • 45min
Kenton Johnston on Value-Based Payment Clinician Participation Trends
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.On August 12, A Health Podyssey's Rob Lott chatted with Kenton Johnston of Washington University about his paper in the August 2025 edition of Health Affairs that explores changes in clinician's participation across Medicare value-based payment models.Order the August 2025 issue of Health Affairs. Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.
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Aug 19, 2025 • 19min
Cal Fang on Wage Gaps Between Nonprofit Hospital CEOs & Employees
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Rob Lott interviews Cal Chengqi Fang of the University of Chicago about his recent paper that explores how pay gaps grew between nonprofit hospital CEOs and employees from 2009–23. Order the August 2025 issue of Health Affairs.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Aug 12, 2025 • 29min
Steven Lieberman on The Meteoric Rise Of Medicare Advantage
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Rob Lott interviews Steven M. Lieberman of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles on his recent paper that explores how Medicare Advantage has seen significant enrollment growth and what reform efforts can be attempted to rebalance traditional Medicare and MA.Order the August 2025 issue of Health Affairs.Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Aug 5, 2025 • 38min
Jonathan Perlin on Today's Fight to Improve Health Care Quality & Standards
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Rob Lott interviews Jonathan Perlin of The Joint Commission about the origins of this commission, the impacts made on health care through quality improvement and patient safety, the role of accreditation, the public policy levers that drive change, and more. Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.