Health & Veritas
Howard Forman and Harlan Krumholz, two Yale physician-professors, discuss the latest news and ideas in healthcare and seek out the truth amid the noise.
Health & Veritas is produced with the Yale School of Management and the Yale School of Public Health. New episodes are available every Thursday.
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Howard P. Forman
Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Economics, Public Health, and Management; Co-founder, Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership, MD/MBA Program, and MBA for Executives Program
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Professor Forman is a Professor of Diagnostic Radiology (and faculty director for Finance), Public Health (Health Policy), Economics and Management. Professor Forman directs the Health Care management program in the Yale School of Public Health and teaches healthcare economics in the Yale College Economics Department. He is the faculty founder and director of the MD/MBA program as well as the faculty director of the healthcare focus area in the School of Management’s MBA for Executives program. He is the co-founder and special advisor to the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership program. He co-hosts the Health & Veritas podcast with Dr. Harlan Krumholz.
As a practicing emergency/trauma radiologist, he is actively involved in patient care and issues related to financial administration, healthcare compliance, and contracting. His research has been focused on improving imaging services delivery through better access to information. He has worked as a health policy fellow in the U.S. Senate, on Medicare legislation.
During the COVID Pandemic, Professor Forman has actively tracked outbreaks at local, national, and international levels; expounding on mitigation strategies and engaging to dispel misinformation through social and print media. He has been a frequent guest commentator and expert on national video and audio platforms.
Harlan M. Krumholz
Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine and Professor in the Institute of Social Policy Studies, of Investigative Medicine, and of Public Health (Health Policy); and Director of the Yale Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation
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Harlan Krumholz is a cardiologist and scientist at Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital. He is the Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine, and Professor in the Institute of Social Policy Studies, of Investigative Medicine, and of Public Health (Health Policy), and the Director of the Yale Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation. He is a leading expert in the science to improve the quality and efficiency of care, eliminate disparities and promote equity, improve integrity and transparency in medical research, engage patients in their care, and avoid wasteful practices. Recent efforts are focused on harnessing the digital transformation in healthcare to accelerate knowledge generation and facilitate the delivery of care aligned with each patient’s needs and preferences.
Dr. Krumholz is director of the Yale New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE), an organization dedicated to improving health and health care through research, tools, and practices that produce discovery, heighten accountability and promote better public health and clinical care. He co-founded and co-leads the Yale University Open Data Access (YODA) Project, designed to increase access to clinical research data and promote their use to generate new knowledge. He also co-founded and co-leads medRxiv, a non-profit preprint server for the medical and health sciences. He was a founding faculty co-director of the Yale Center for Research Computing.
Dr. Krumholz has been honored by membership in the National Academy of Medicine, the Association of American Physicians, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He was named a Distinguished Scientist of the American Heart Association and received their Award of Meritorious Achievement and their Clinical Research Prize. He served as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Krumholz received the Friendship Award from the People’s Republic of China in recognition of his collaborative efforts to develop a national cardiovascular research network and was named by the Chinese Society of Cardiology as a Top-10 Distinguished International Cardiologist for his contributions to the development of cardiovascular medicine in China. He founded the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Council and co-founded their annual conference. He was the founding editor of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes; founding editor of CardioExchange, a social media site of the publisher of the New England Journal of Medicine; and editor of Journal Watch Cardiology of the New England Journal of Medicine. He was a founding Governor of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
Episodes
Mitesh Rao: Democratizing Healthcare Data
Mitesh Rao, co-founder and CEO of OMNY Health, joins Howie and Harlan to discuss his entrepreneurial journey and how his company is creating a common layer of data connecting healthcare providers and researchers. Harlan reports on a study showing how many lives could be saved by improving quality of care; Howie reflects on the health consequences that have accompanied the legalization of cannabis.
Live at the Yale Innovation Summit
A special episode recorded at the Yale Innovation Summit, which brings together entrepreneurs and investors in the arts, biotech, climate, health, and tech. Howie and Harlan are joined by Josh Geballe, managing director of Yale Ventures, which hosts the summit; Mary Ann Melnick, site head at Biolabs New Haven; and Lee Schwamm, chief digital health officer at Yale New Haven Health System.
Chima Ndumele: Reinventing Medicaid
Howie and Harlan are joined by Chima Ndumele of the Yale School of Public Health to discuss his research on structural changes to Medicaid that could keep vulnerable populations healthier. Harlan reports on the remarkable abilities of Google's latest medicine-focused AI; Howie reflects on a study showing the impact of race-neutral measures of lung function.
Ruth Katz: Crafting Landmark Legislation
Howie and Harlan are joined by Ruth Katz, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Health, Medicine & Society Program and a former Capitol Hill staffer, to discuss her work on the Affordable Care Act and other major healthcare laws. Harlan reflects on a study showing that using different analytical approaches to the same data can lead to a wide range of conclusions; Howie reports on a wave of dangerous infections caused by stem cell treatments at clinics in Mexico.
Greg Licholai: Breaking through the Innovation Bottleneck
Howie and Harlan are joined by Greg Licholai, a Yale SOM lecturer and biotech entrepreneur, to discuss his career and his work at the contract research organization ICON, which performs clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies. Harlan reports on new research illustrating the dangerous consequences of asking patients to share the costs of life-saving drugs; Howie provides the good news and the bad news from the annual Medicare Trustees Report.
The Primary Care Crisis and Other News
Howie and Harlan discuss health and healthcare headlines. From flatlining telehealth to Walmart closing retail clinics to months-long waits for healthcare appointments, they try to untangle the challenges in delivering healthcare. Also considered, H5N1 bird flu increasing the risks of drinking unpasteurized milk, promising research on open-source moderation of misinformation on social media.
Arthur Caplan: Medicine’s Toughest Ethical Questions
Howie and Harlan are joined by Arthur Caplan, Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics and founding head of the division of medical ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, to discuss the ethical failings of the pharmaceutical industry and how a community-focused ethos prioritizing justice and protection of the vulnerable would have reshaped the COVID response. Harlan reports on developments in synthetic proteins. Howie recognizes World Malaria Day.
Scott Berkowitz: Value-Based Care and Population Health
Howie and Harlan are joined by Scott Berkowitz ’03, cardiologist and chief population health officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine, to discuss the necessity of moving from fee-for-service to value-based care delivery to improve outcomes for all. Harlan highlights the dangers of misinformation about Ivermectin. Howie reports on the potential conflicts of interest created by device manufacturers’ payments to cardiologists.
Atheendar Venkataramani: Opportunity, Hope, and Health
Howie and Harlan are joined by Atheendar Venkataramani, a physician, health economist, and director of the Perelman School of Medicine’s Opportunity for Health Lab, to discuss the powerful role of economic opportunity in population health outcomes. Harlan reports on two studies where treatments’ unexpected benefits leapt ahead of understanding why they work. Howie reflects on the business model of the pharma industry and the market reaction to anti-obesity drugs.
Kate McEvoy: How Medicaid Is Driving Healthcare Innovation
Howie and Harlan are joined by Kate McEvoy, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, to discuss the programs’ underappreciated advances in holistically addressing health, housing, and food security. Reflecting on the upcoming election, Harlan notes that facts matter, whether in medicine or politics. Howie reports on the dangers of glyoxylic acid in hair straightening products.