Health Affairs This Week

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Trump's Deregulation Era & The Big Budget Reconciliation's Health Care Impact w/ Katie Keith May 16, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Katie Keith of Georgetown Law backto the pod to discuss President Trump's potential changes to the rulemaking process, how that may impact rulemaking at HHS, and break down the house Republican budget reconciliation bill and the impacts it could have on Medicaid and more.

Become an Insider today to get access to our May 29 event on the FDA under the second Trump Administration as well as our upcoming premiere trend report on AI in health care.

Also, join us on May 27 for a free virtual event featuring a conversation between Clifford Ko and Katherine Ornstein on how the new Age-Friendly Hospital Measure aims to improve the quality and experience of inpatient care for older Americans.

Related Articles:

The House Republican Budget Reconciliation Legislation: Unpacking The Coverage Provisions (Health Affairs Forefront)
New Trump Directive To Further Erode Notice And Comment Rulemaking (Health Affairs Forefront)
Tracking The Trump Administration’s Early Deregulation Agenda (Health Affairs Forefront)
The House Republican Budget Reconciliation Legislation
RFK Jr. kills policy on public comment for health regulations (Axios)

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A Health Podyssey: Caitlin Carroll on Hospital Closures Ultimately Causing Higher Prices May 14, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Senior Deputy Editor Rob Lott interviews Caitlin Carroll of the University of Minnesota to discuss her recent paper that explores how rural hospital closures led to an increase in prices for nearby remaining hospitals.

Order the May 2025 issue of Health Affairs.

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast

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What's On Farzad Mostashari's Mind for Health Policy May 09, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Farzad Mostashari, founder & CEO of Aledadeand the former National Coordinator for Health IT, to the pod to break down insights in the latest MedPAC report, quality measurement reform, and areas of opportunity for value-based care.

Health Affairs is hosting an Insider exclusive event on May 29 focusing on the FDA's first 100 days under the second Trump administration featuring moderator Rachel Sachs alongside panelists Richard Hughes IV and Arti Rai.

Related Links:

Crossing the Chasm: How to Expand Adoption of Value-Based Care (The New England Journal of Medicine)
2025 MedPAC Report

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A Health Podyssey: Eric Topol on the Science of Super-Aging and Longevity May 07, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Senior Deputy Editor Rob Lott interviews Eric Topol, Executive Vice President of Scripps Research,on his new book, Super Agers, which provides an evidence-based approach on extending healthy lifespans.

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available - and we'd like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcast

Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

How Federal Restructuring Affects Data That Affects Health Policy May 02, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

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.

Related Links:

CDC's Population Health Office Is Gone (MedPage Today)
Adult Physical Inactivity Outside of Work (CDC)
Adult Activity: An Overview (CDC)
How Exercise Helps You Age Well (NCOA)
Establishing The President's Make America Healthy Again Commission (The White House)

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2020 Vs. 2025: What's Different and the Same in Health Policy - Our 200th Episode! Apr 25, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

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 such as retinal detachment.

Yasahswini Singh also appeared as a guest on a live episode of A Health Podyssey discussing private equity's effect on health care staff turnover.

Related Links:

The Many Ways Kennedy Is Already Undermining Vaccines (The New York Times)
Health secretary RFK Jr. endorses the MMR vaccine — stoking fury among his supporters (NPR)
Measles tracker: Follow cases, outbreaks and vaccination rates across the U.S. (NBC News)
Fact Sheet: Telehealth (American Hospital Association)

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Whether Health Care M&A is Cooked Or Not w/ Bob Herman Apr 18, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Bob Herman of STAT Newsto 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 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 featuring moderator Rachel Sachs alongside panelists Richard Hughes IV and Arti Rai.

Food, Nutrition, & Health: A Different Type of Hunger w/ Heather Thomas Apr 16, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

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.

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."

The essay 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.

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Elizabeth Popp-Berman on How the U.S. Can Build a Just Political Economy for Health Apr 14, 2025

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In a special podcast episode, Health Affairs Scholar Associate Editor Loren Adler interviews Elizabeth Popp-Berman about the Health and Political Economy 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 (HPEP), a field catalyst initiative advancing a just and inclusive economy for health, and supported by the Commonwealth Fund.

Read the Collection:

Where Tariffs and Health Care Meet w/ David Simon Apr 11, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes David Simon from The University of Connecticut to the program to discuss the recent news that the Trump administration implemented reciprocal tariffs on imported goods and what this could mean for the health care industry.

Become an Insider today to never miss out on David Simon's exclusive newsletter, Economic Intersections.

Insiders can join us April 23 for an exclusive virtual event exploring site-neutral payments with health economist and health services researcher Brady Post of Northeastern University and Health Affairs' Meg Winchester.

Order the April 2025 theme issue of Health Affairs focusing on food, nutrition, and health.

And, join Health Affairs April 29 for a free and open for all virtual event featuring a conversation between consumer advocate, nutritionist, and award-winning author Marion Nestle of New York University and Angela Odoms-Young of Cornell University.

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