Healthy Communities Online

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Neurosurgeon at Emory Clinic and Chief Medical Correspondent at CNN, on his new series, “Chasing Life” which explores areas around the world with exceptional longevity, happiness and wellbeing. He delves into the secrets to healthier lives in those places, and also examines the epidemic of stress in America and how it is leading to poor health outcomes and reduced life expectancy.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter kick off a series of interviews with presidential candidates. Our first interview was with Governor Bill Weld, who announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination yesterday. They discuss his views on the Affordable Care Act, climate change, and his thoughts on how to bring the divided nation together.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Colleen Kraft, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which has vocally opposed the separation of immigrant families at the border. She talks about the long term impact of toxic stress in childhood, recommended breastfeeding and vaccination protocols, harm from gun violence, and too much screen time for kids.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Anand Parekh, Chief Medical Advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank committed to fostering bi-partisan solutions to America’s biggest challenges. He discusses their recent report, a first-of-its kind analysis, on how states are utilizing Federal dollars in different ways to battle the opioid crisis, examining interventions that are working.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Emily Barson, Co-Founder along with former CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt, of United States of Care, a non-profit, non-partisan organization seeking to advance access to affordable health care for all Americans,”putting health care above politics”. She talks about their focus on state-based innovations that are improving health care access, and about their Medicaid Buy-In effort seeking to assist states in creatively expanding Medicaid to cover more of their residents.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Donald Rucker, National Coordinator for Health IT at the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Rucker discusses recently announced rules requiring health providers and hospitals to make electronic health records available to consumers upon request to their smart phones, at no cost them, to give patients more control of their health information.