Health Affairs This Week

Let us know what you think about Health Affairs podcasts at communications@healthaffairs.org. If you have 30 minutes to spare, let us know and we'll set up a 30-minute chat for the first 20 listeners that reach out. Coffee will be on us. Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Akilah Wise to the program to discuss the impacts of preserving the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the effects of physical exercise on health, and how this type of data helps inform policy making. We are hosting another live podcast recording of A Health Podyssey featuring host Rob Lott and guest Andrew Ryan where they will discuss his paper in the May 2025 edition of Health Affairs and take questions from a live audience. Sign up today [https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FaCk-5iaTriJDqEboGJOPw#/registration]. Health Affairs is hosting an Insider exclusive event on May 29 focusing on the FDA's first 100 days under the second Trump administration [https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/he20250411.118361/full/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=this+week&utm_campaign=insidermarketing&utm_content=eventspecific] featuring moderator Rachel Sachs alongside panelists Richard Hughes IV and Arti Rai. Related Links: * CDC's Population Health Office Is Gone [https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/115021] (MedPage Today) * Adult Physical Inactivity Outside of Work [https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity/php/data/inactivity-maps.html] (CDC) * Adult Activity: An Overview [https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/guidelines/adults.html#:~:text=Physical%20activity%20is%20one%20of,muscle-strengthening%20activity%20each%20week.] (CDC) * How Exercise Helps You Age Well [https://www.ncoa.org/article/how-exercise-helps-you-age-well/] (NCOA) * Establishing The President's Make America Healthy Again Commission [https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/establishing-the-presidents-make-america-healthy-again-commission/] (The White House)

Let us know what you think about Health Affairs podcasts at communications@healthaffairs.org. If you have 30 minutes to spare, let us know and we'll set up a 30-minute chat for the first 20 listeners that reach out. Coffee will be on us. Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Deputy Editor Jessica Bylander to the program to celebrate the 200th episode of Health Affairs This Week and take a look back at the health care world of 2020 and see what has changed in terms of COVID-19, vaccinations, telehealth, and more.   Health Affairs published an ahead-of-print article this week from Yashaswini Singh and coauthors exploring explore how the expansion of private equity-owned physician practices has led to a decrease in access for certain eye conditions [http://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01204?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=this+week&utm_campaign=may+2025+issue&utm_content=ahead+of+print] such as retinal detachment.   Yasahswini Singh also appeared as a guest on a live episode of A Health Podyssey [https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hp20250206.869695/full/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=this+week&utm_campaign=podcast&utm_content=ahp] discussing private equity's effect on health care staff turnover. Health Affairs is hosting an Insider exclusive event on May 29 focusing on the FDA's first 100 days under the second Trump administration [https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/he20250411.118361/full/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=this+week&utm_campaign=insidermarketing&utm_content=eventspecific] featuring moderator Rachel Sachs alongside panelists Richard Hughes IV and Arti Rai. Related Links: * The Many Ways Kennedy Is Already Undermining Vaccines [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/health/kennedy-vaccines-confidence-access.html] (The New York Times) * Health secretary RFK Jr. endorses the MMR vaccine — stoking fury among his supporters [https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/04/07/nx-s1-5354900/hhs-rfk-endorses-mmr-measles-vaccine-stoking-supporters-fury] (NPR) * Measles tracker: Follow cases, outbreaks and vaccination rates across the U.S. [https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/track-measles-outbreak-cases-us-map-rcna198932] (NBC News) * Fact Sheet: Telehealth [https://www.aha.org/fact-sheets/2025-02-07-fact-sheet-telehealth] (American Hospital Association)

Let us know what you think about Health Affairs podcasts at communications@healthaffairs.org. If you have 30 minutes to spare, let us know and we'll set up a 30-minute chat for the first 20 listeners that reach out. Coffee will be on us. Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Bob Herman of STAT News [https://www.statnews.com/] to the program to discuss the state of deals in the health care space, how vertical integration and consolidation have played a role in mergers & acquisitions as it relates to hospitals, and what might fly under the radar from even the most savvy of health policy wonks. Health Affairs Insiders can join us April 23 for an exclusive virtual event exploring site-neutral payments [https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/he20250318.588983/full/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=this+week&utm_campaign=events&utm_content=insider+event] with health economist and health services researcher Brady Post of Northeastern University and Health Affairs' Meg Winchester. Also, we are hosting another Insider exclusive event on May 29 focusing on the FDA's first 100 days under the second Trump administration [https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/he20250411.118361/full/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=this+week&utm_campaign=insidermarketing&utm_content=eventspecific] featuring moderator Rachel Sachs alongside panelists Richard Hughes IV and Arti Rai. Related Links: * Sign up for STAT+ [https://www.statnews.com/stat-plus/] * Sign up for STAT newsletters including Bob Herman's Health Care Inc. [https://www.statnews.com/signup/]

Let us know what you think about Health Affairs podcasts at communications@healthaffairs.org. If you have 30 minutes to spare, let us know and we'll set up a 30-minute chat for the first 20 listeners that reach out. Coffee will be on us. Welcome to the final episode in a special four-part series from Health Affairs on the intersection of food, nutrition, and health. This special series compliments the release of a theme issue on food, nutrition, and health, which is currently available to read [https://www.healthaffairs.org/food-and-health?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=food+and+health+special+series&utm_campaign=april+2025+issue]. In this episode, Health Affairs' Jessica Bylander and Ellen Bayer speak with Heather Thomas from the nonprofit A Place to Stand about her Narrative Matters essay from the issue, "A Different Type of Hunger [https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01427?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=food+and+health+special+series&utm_campaign=april+2025+issue]." The essay [https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01427?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=food+and+health+special+series&utm_campaign=april+2025+issue] explores Thomas' experience fighting to access and maintain food benefits in the US as a mother of six whose family is food insecure. Order the Food, Nutrition, and Health Issue [https://projecthope.dragonforms.com/loading.do?omedasite=ha_scs&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=food+and+health+special+series&utm_campaign=april+2025+issue&utm_content=schanzenbach].

In a special podcast episode, Health Affairs Scholar Associate Editor Loren Adler interviews Elizabeth Popp-Berman about the Health and Political Economy [https://academic.oup.com/healthaffairsscholar/pages/hpacollection] series of papers recently published in Health Affairs Scholar.   The series asks how might the U.S. build a more just and inclusive political economy for health rather than take the status quo for granted.   This paper collection was developed in partnership with the The New School’s Health and Political Economy Project [https://racepowerpolicy.org/hpep/] (HPEP), a field catalyst initiative advancing a just and inclusive economy for health, and supported by the Commonwealth Fund [https://www.commonwealthfund.org/?utm_adgroup=Brand_-_Broad&device=c&creative=703814015949&matchtype=b&placement=&adposition=&network=g&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand_%7C_New&utm_term=commonwealth%20fund&hsa_acc=1924159231&hsa_cam=21417626620&hsa_grp=167507126281&hsa_ad=703814015949&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=kwd-110978631&hsa_kw=commonwealth%20fund&hsa_mt=b&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA74G9BhAEEiwA8kNfpSSU-L0cpCqiTcvZhIkah5ktF3nm7AZ9GQsV9YxZPDPbOnR1jzuQihoCU5YQAvD_BwE]. Read the Collection: * Health and political economy: building a new common sense in the United States [https://academic.oup.com/healthaffairsscholar/article/2/5/qxae041/7665166] * Advancing a political economy approach to health using lessons from US antitrust and climate policy [https://academic.oup.com/healthaffairsscholar/article/3/3/qxaf008/8078916] * Reviving public provisioning in US health care [https://academic.oup.com/healthaffairsscholar/article/3/3/qxaf013/8078943] * The fundamental importance of social insurance for health equity [https://academic.oup.com/healthaffairsscholar/article/3/3/qxae170/8078917] * Centering marginalized care: Home care cooperatives and system change [https://academic.oup.com/healthaffairsscholar/article/3/3/qxae184/8078918]