Dr. David Blumenthal of the Commonwealth Fund on the HITECH Act, ACA and High Cost of American Health Care

Dr. David Blumenthal of the Commonwealth Fund on the HITECH Act, ACA and High Cost of American Health Care

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. David Blumenthal, President of the Commonwealth Fund, a philanthropy dedicated to research supporting a high-functioning  health care system.  He discusses expanded coverage under the Affordable Care Act, the vital role of the HITECH Act in adoption of electronic health records in the US, and the Fund’s ongoing research comparing US health costs to other countries.  

Aetna President Karen Lynch on CVS Merger and Goals to Improve Population Health

Aetna President Karen Lynch on CVS Merger and Goals to Improve Population Health

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Karen Lynch, President of Aetna, who discusses the proposed merger between the nation’s third largest insurer and CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the country. Ms. Lynch discusses the potential for transforming the health care system by providing preventive care interventions at the neighborhood pharmacy, fostering more active consumer engagement for better health outcomes.

Biology’s New Frontier: The Human Cell Atlas Seeks To Create “Google Maps” for All Cells in the Body

Biology’s New Frontier: The Human Cell Atlas Seeks To Create “Google Maps” for All Cells in the Body

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Aviv Regev of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard,  and Dr. Sarah Teichmann of the Wellcome Sanger Institute at Cambridge, Co-Chairs of the Human Cell Atlas project which is seeking to create a “Google Maps” for the body’s 37 trillion cells. It’s a global collaboration of multiple scientific disciplines,  tasked with creating a comprehensive and open-source cell map, to yield a deeper understanding of the foundational elements of…

Read More Read More

Nurses Week: School Nurses Appreciation Day

Nurses Week: School Nurses Appreciation Day

Happy School Nurse Appreciation Day! The School Based Health Centers at CHC could not do their jobs without the support of their School Nurses. We are so grateful for everything that they do for the students they serve together! We often get asked by parents (and even by teachers): what’s the difference between the school nurse & SBHC staff? Why do students need both? Isn’t one enough? We spoke to the team at New Britain High School to get some…

Read More Read More

Protecting the Health of Our Nation’s Active Duty Military and Families: Defense Health Agency Director Vice Admiral Raquel Bono

Protecting the Health of Our Nation’s Active Duty Military and Families: Defense Health Agency Director Vice Admiral Raquel Bono

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Vice Admiral Dr. Raquel Bono, Director of the Defense Health Agency, tasked with providing health services for some 9.4 million members and their families. She talks about the complex, integrated health system providing care from the home base to the battlefield, the implementation of an integrated electronic health records system, and the partnerships required to support the DHA’s mission to deliver quality care to all members stationed around the globe.

America’s Costly Health Care: Harvard’s Ashish Jha Shares His Insights on Causes and Solutions

America’s Costly Health Care: Harvard’s Ashish Jha Shares His Insights on Causes and Solutions

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Ashish Jha, Associate Dean for Research Translation and Global Strategy at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. They discuss his recent report analyzing American health care costs compared to 10 other industrialized nations pointing to lack a of data and price transparency as drivers, suggesting that a combination of public policy and private innovations will lead to an “American solution” to the cost problem.