Category: Policy

Lessons from VA hospitals: Meeting basic needs improves wellbeing

I started my career at a state hospital but transitioned to a VA hospital in 2007. I had been a resident at the hospital and was familiar with the unit and population. The unit had 19 beds, and typically these were filled. Often, admissions were for cr…

Transparency Is The Cure For What Ails American Health Care

When Americans have access to relevant pricing information, they can shop for health care and prescription drugs with the same eye for value and quality that they currently do in every other sector of the economy.

How Vivek Ramaswamy Became A Billionaire

The whip-smart Republican made a pile of money in finance and biotech, enough to turn himself into one of the richest thirty-somethings in America. Unlike Donald Trump, he’s entirely self-made.

Biden Is “Guilty Of An Act Of Medicare Malpractice” That Could Cost Lives

President Biden is guilty of an act of Medicare malpractice that will ultimately hurt everyone, some mortally.

Pediatricians grapple with guns in America, from Band-Aids to bullets

“My best friend was murdered while we were walking home from school.” The once lively thirteen-year-old boy now slumped in the chair across from me, his words spilling out with newfound heaviness. As I looked at him during what was supposed…

Health care wins, losses, and lessons

Albert Einstein determined that time is relative. And when it comes to health care, five years can be both a long and a short amount of time. In August 2018, I launched the Fixing Healthcare podcast. At the time, the medium felt like the perfect audito…

Maximizing care amidst provider shortages: the power of measurement-based care

Since the pandemic, the shortage of behavioral health professionals has become more dire as the need for more comprehensive mental health care has increased. As of March 2023, 160 million Americans lived in areas with mental health professional shortag…

Here’s How American Employers Are Seeking Affordable Alternatives To Obamacare

Self-funded health plans are not subject to most of Obamacare’s rules and requirements. So employers who self-insure can opt out of the high-cost fully insured market—and create plans that are more affordable.

Unveiling excessive medical billing and greed

Recent op-eds have questioned medical billing and doctors’ pay, as both seemed high. Medical “greed” has become more apparent in the past two decades and has been well highlighted by two of my Dartmouth MPH Professors, Elliot Fisher, …

Chronic health issues and homelessness

In 2022, over 500,000 people in the United States found themselves homeless, without a permanent shelter to offer a sense of stability in their lives. This poses a far-reaching problem for the individuals who find themselves in this situation, but also…