
A Health Podyssey
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.
Latest episodes

Sep 3, 2024 • 21min
Jiani Yu on the Current Telehealth Landscape & Opportunities
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Jiani Yu of Cornell University about her recent paper that explores how telehealth use and delivery differs significantly by physician and practice characteristics.Order the September 2024 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.
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Aug 27, 2024 • 23min
Dongzhe Hong on Biosimilar Uptake in the US
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Dongzhe Hong of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University on his recent paper that explores how patient and prescriber factors play into biosimilar uptake in the US.Order the August 2024 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.
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Aug 20, 2024 • 21min
Kamyar Nasseh on the Growing Role of Private Equity in Dentistry
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Kamyar Nasseh of the American Dental Association on his recent study that identifies the growing role of private equity in dental practices.Order the August 2024 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.
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Aug 13, 2024 • 25min
Sanjay Basu on How Cost-Effectiveness Analyses Can Perpetuate Health Disparities
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Sanjay Basu of Waymark on his recent study that considers a potential risk of perpetuating health disparities with the continued utilization of cost-effectiveness analyses to inform health care and public health policy decisions.Order the August 2024 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.
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Aug 6, 2024 • 24min
Brandy Lipton on the Medicaid Coverage Gaps of Eye Care
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Brandy Lipton of the University of California, Irvine on her recent paper exploring how most state Medicaid programs offer coverage for routine eye exams for adults, but noticeable coverage discrepancies of other routine vision care services remain.Order the August 2024 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.
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Jul 30, 2024 • 23min
Jennifer Kao on How an FDA Program Reduced Clinical Development Times for Some Drugs
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Jennifer Kao of the University of California Los Angeles on her recent paper that explores the impact of the Food and Drug Administration's breakthrough therapy designation program on the reduction of late-stage drug development time.Order the July 2024 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.
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Jul 23, 2024 • 29min
Christina Andrews on States' Role in Substance Use Disorder Treatment via Medicaid
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Christina Andrews of the University of South Carolina on her recent paper that explores how substance use disorder benefits vary across Medicaid managed care plans (MCP) and better understand the role states play in coverage activities.Order the July 2024 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.
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

4 snips
Jul 16, 2024 • 31min
Liz Fowler on the Future of Specialty and Primary Care Integration
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil welcomes Liz Fowler, Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to A Health Podyssey to discuss the future of health care payments, CMMI's specialty care strategy, mandatory models versus voluntary alternative payment models, CMS' newly-proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2025, and more!Related Articles from Liz Fowler on Health Affairs:The CMS Innovation Center’s Strategy To Support Person-Centered, Value-Based Specialty Care: 2024 UpdateAdvancing Health Equity Through Value-Based Care: CMS Innovation Center UpdateUpdate On The Medicare Value-Based Care Strategy: Alignment, Growth, EquityOrder the July 2024 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.
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Jul 9, 2024 • 26min
LIVE from Aspen Ideas: Debra Whitman on Aging and "The Second Fifty"
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Live from Aspen Ideas: Health!Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Debra Whitman, chief public policy officer of AARP, to discuss her upcoming book "The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond" and how she was driven to research questions like "Will I lose my memory?" and "Will I have enough money?" for her new book on healthy aging. 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.
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.

Jul 2, 2024 • 27min
Renee Hsia on Inequities in Cardiac Intervention Availability
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Renee Hsia of the University of California San Francisco on her recent paper that explores the structural inequities in the adoption of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) services by US hospitals.Order the July 2024 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.
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.
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