CareTalk with Quick and Quack

The new US Dietary Guidelines have been released. While some things have remained the same, there are recommendations that were controversial. We interview Harvard Nutritional Epidemiologist Associate profressor DeeDee Tobias, ScD who sat on the guidelines advisory committee. DeeDee talks us through the process of how the guidelines are created and what are the recommendations in the new set.

After one year of service we discuss the job RFK jr has done leading the department of Health and Human Services. His ambitious and controversial tenure has created mixed reviews. We give RFK jr a "grade" and talk about his success and challenges. We also take on a recent conspiracy theory that claims Doctors make lots of money to promote vaccines.

The Medicare system represent a universal health system for people over 65, yet sometimes there are barriers to getting the benefits one needs. We interview attorney Alice Bers, the director of the Massachusetts Medicare Advocacy Project whose organization supports medicare beneficiaries as well as polcy to allow for equitable universal health care. We discuss the role of advocacy and the latest issues affecting Medicare.

We interview Joe McDonough, MSN, MHCDS, CEO and founder of the home care agency, Innovive. Joe and his team have innovated to build a unique care model to care for complex behavioral health patients in their home. He has worked with state Medicaid programs to improve outcomes and save millions of dollars.

Evan and Bill interview local musician Tracy Grammer whose personal experience with health and death make for very interesting listening. Along the way, we hear some of Tracy's music and discuss topics about death, dying, terminal lucidity and the brain's response to pain.

We interview Dr Adam Gaffney, a physician, writer, public health researcher and former President of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). Dr Gaffney writes about the challenges of and improvements to the US Healthcare System. He has a real interest in building a Medicare-for All program for the US. His book, To Heal Humankind, makes the case for healthcare to be a human right.

How has healthcare delivery changed? What are the tenets and values that a physician in practice should have? In this interview with Dr Charles Wohl, retired internal medicine physician from western Massachusetts, we discuss what life was like practicing in the 1970's and 80's. From starting a community clinic to teaching, Dr Wohl has great insight into how has healthcare changed.

How can one reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline? In this show we review what we know about risk factors for dementia and cognitive decline with Dr Mikaela Bloomber, an epidemiologist researcher University College London. Dr Bloomberg has been using a large longitudinal database to tease out risks and associations between behaviors and cognitive decline. this fascinating discussion sheds light on a confusing area of health.

The secretary of HHS has finally achieved his vaccine goals of changing the vaccine schedule for children in the US. The new schedule was just released, and after a controversial process, the new schedule has reduced the number of diseases to prevent from 17 to 11. we discuss the process and the implications for health.

We talk with Dr Bruce Finke, former senior advisor to the Primary Care Program at the Medicare Innovation Center about how to improve primary care in the US. From changing the goals to the practice model to the payment model, Dr Finke shares ideas and possibilities to have more patients benefit from a primary care experience.

We discuss two things: 1. New Changes to the way Physicians will be paid that rewards primary care and 2. The nomination of Dr Casey Means for US Surgeon General. We are joined by Dr Mike Miller, health policy expert and we share our initial thoughts about Dr Casey Means as a candidate for surgeon general.

We have a great time taking about the latest updates in cardiology and we add some original music. Our guest is cardiologist Dr John Joelson from Massachusetts. Dr J is a seasoned cardiologist and a musician, singer songwriter who graced us with great cardiac conversation and music!

In this episode we take on three meaty topics: 1. The ACA's role in the current government shutdown, 2. The Medicare Advantage changes now being seen and three the Causes of Autism. Each of these are confusing in their own right, and Evan and Bill do their best to break it down and make some sense out of it all.

We meet the Cancer Connection of Western Massachusetts where Chelsea Kline and Laura Carboni explain the history and model of supportive care services for people with a cancer diagnosis. This unique approach to support patients is a national model that could be expanded or replicated.

We interview Dr Andrew Lam who is a retina surgeon, historian and author about his latest book, "The Masters of Medicine: Our Greatest Triumphs in the Race to Cure Humanity's Deadliest Diseases." The book is a fascinating look into the innovators, mavericks and researchers who- through parts genius, parts courageous , and parts dumb luck - gave us the medical breakthroughs that help so many people.

We lost a real leader in healthcare this year. Dr Lucian Leape - the father of patient safety - helped us be aware of the problem and made us appreciate a different path to improve patient safety. He was an inspiration to us, and we still have a long way to go. How safe is healthcare?

We discuss why health insurance is so expensive and what is the history of insurance in the US. We talk about why health insurance is being linked to employment as we think about medicaid as well as universal coverage. PLUS we discuss the fate of the US Preventive Services Task Force, the committee that has had the respect of so many to help guide our health coverage for preventive care. Will it still exist or suffer political fallout? Who and what will repace it? Where will doctors go for trusted advice?

In this episode we take on 3 topics plus we have our "misinformation nation" segment. We discuss 1. A proposed bill in Massachusetts to create a Medicare For All single payer system, 2. Who decides how much physicians get paid by specialty and a new proposed rule to change it and 3. What will the medicaid cuts impact be on rural hospitals. Plus we discuss PEPFAR as a new topic as part of our "misinformation nation" segment.

Bill and Evan discuss the administrative changes and the trends in the country that have affect the functioning and reputation of public health.

We have a very special show with guest Naturopathic physician, Dr Amy Rothenberg. We discuss naturopathy, its integration with western medicine and her book, "You Finished Treatment, Now What: A Field Guide for Cancer Survivors", an Amazon Best Seller and recipient of a Nautilus Book Award. 

Physician and Musician Dr Peter Weitzman joines to discuss the role music plays in medicine and vice versa. Peter shares some original songs inspired by his practice of medicine. A slightly different episode for CareTalk but very rich in thought and music

Dr Shahin Tabatabaei is a distinguished urological surgeon and healthcare leader who was inspired to look at creating a new appraoch to healthcare that he calls TABA Health. His model surrounds a patient with layers of care, support and treatments not seen in our "sick" care system. Listen to this inspiring interview!

We invited health policy expert and friend of CareTalk, Dr Mike Miller, back on the show to discuss the new MAHA report and the recent budget bill. We talk about the emerging issues coming from Washington DC that will affect health and healthcare

This week there was an open letter signed by thousands of health professionals sounding the alarm on the potential impact of the new administration's health and healthcare policies. We discuss the letter and share the content. In addition we discuss how AI generated documentation of physician notes can impact the doctor-patient relationship and care in general.

S4E6: Supporting the VA health system. We discuss the proposed cuts to the VA Health System with Guests and Veteran Advocates Steve Conner and John Paredis from Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The Veterans administration has played an important role for our nation’s veterans and the proposed cuts may hit it hard.

We have a fascinating conversation with pediatrician Dr David Gottsegen regarding his new book, "Mending the Body with the mind: Harnessing Children's Superpowers to heal and stay healthy". We also discuss his views as a practicing pediatrician on autism and vaccines.

We interview Dr Geeta Nayyar "Dr G" regarding misinformation in healthcare. Her book "Dead Wrong" is the focus of our conversation on the problem and a path forward to manage mis and dis-information.

We discuss the role of and training of Nurse Practitioners in Healthcare with Jon Liebman, MPH, NP, former medical director and primary care NP at a federally qualified health center in Massachusetts

We interview three Williams College pre-med students on their ideas of a career in medicine. They recently took a class on healthcare and are we discuss the future of medicine with them.

We had a great discussion with Dr Greg Adaka, an Emergency Physician who has practiced in Nigeria, the UK, and the US. He is currently medical director for Miami-Dade County Corrections where he spends time thinking about health systems. We compare the three health systems and have fun along the way. What can we learn to improve the US health system?

We interview Dr Neil Kudler, a primary care physician who has practiced HIV care, Palliative Care and is medical marijuana certifier in Massachusetts. We talk about caring for patients with complex needs and the role of Cannabis in healthcare.

We talk about Food, Nutrition, Food insecurity and the impact on health with Lorraine Cordereio PhD Professor of Nutrition and Anna Maria Siega-Riz, PhD, MS, Dean School of Public Health both at UMass-Amherst. Access to healthy food is one of the most important Social Drivers of Health and we also discuss a unique project in Springfield MA working to end food insecurity through a health clinic partnership and food prescriptions.

Drs Benjamin and Cutler discuss the promise and politics of vaccines as well as do a deep dive into health insurance after the murder of the United Healthcare CEO.

In this episode we talk with Dr Barry Sarvet, chair of Psychiatry at UMass Chan School of Medicine-Baystate, regarding the current state of mental health and the emerging new therapies with psychedelics.

After the murder of CEO of United Healthcare Brian Thompson, we discuss the potential motivation of the shooter and the torrent of criticism against the health insurance industry that emerged. A Murder and for-profit motives in healthcare?

We interview Dr Angela Chien, an obstetrician and perinatal expert from Washington state, to discuss the issue of high maternal mortality in the US and try to understand the reasons for it. We hear about an improvement strategy called "Team-birth" that has potential to improve obstetrical care.

We discuss the new report from the Commonwealth Fund that compares the performance of the US Health system to other countries. Who is the fairest of them all?

We interview Dr Jeff Zesiger of Massachusetts to discuss hospice care- what is it? who qualifies? how does it differ from palliative and medical aid in dying? what do people need to know about death?

We interview Dr Lew Cohen about medical aid in dying and his new book, "Winter's End: Dementia and Dying Well."

In this episode we take on two separate but related topics: 1. The shortage of physicians -particularly primary care physicians and 2. The high rate of maternal mortality in the US.

What medicine got wrong. AI in healthcare. In this episode Evan and Bill discuss a few examples of what we got "wrong" in healthcare - recommendations on estrogen replacement and alcohol use for instance. Then we interview Dr Eric Alper from UMass Med School on the application in of AI in healthcare.

"Faces of medicine" is a new documentary film series by Dr Khama Ennis who is exploring the paths of Black female physicians in the United States. We interview Dr Ennis about her experience in becoming a physician and about the need for more equity in our healthcare system.

We interview Dr Erik Fromme from Harvard Medical School and Ariadne Labs' Serious Illness Care Program to talk about how the care of patients with serious illness could be more patient-centered and more meaningful. Dr Fromme tells us how we can train providers and create a better health care system for patients with serious illness.

We interview Dr Mike Miller who is writing a book about vaccine misinformation and its implications on politics and public health

In this interview with Dr Tom Gallagher from the University of Washington, we discuss medical injury and harm in healthcare. When harm occurs as a result of healthcare, how doctors and health systems respond is so important to support patients and learn to prevent harm from recurring.

In this episode Bill and Evan have a fascinating conversation with our friend and colleague Dr Bruce Finke, advisor for primary care. We discuss the importance of primary care and what good primary care looks like

In S2E2, we interview Dr David Nash, founding dean at the Jefferson College of Population Health in Philadelphia, on the challenges of the US Healthcare system. We discuss David's new book "How Covid Crashed the System", a fascinating read on the challenges and recommendations to improve the healthcare system.

S2E1: A new season kicks off with a fascinating discussion about the Perils of Medicare Advantage with Dr Don Berwick and Elaine Fronhofer

In this episode Evan and Bill have 4 rapid fire conversations on the impact of private equity in healthcare; how concepts of alternative medicine be used in western medicine; drivers of physician burnout and we discuss a fascinating email on the business of medicine.

We discuss how the system fails patients everyday and the need for patient advocacy. We interview professional patient advocate Dr Gerda Maissel.