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Prioritizing Primary Care

Primary care is comprehensive care, it’s preventive care, and it’s the care that has the potential to save the United States upwards of 65 billion dollars per year. As Louise Cohen states in this podcast episode, for every dollar the United States spends on healthcare, only 5-7 cents are put toward funding primary care. The U.S. healthcare system has long underinvested in primary care and prevention, and has instead prioritized acute care.

Several studies, such as those reviewed in Milbank Quarterly’s “Contribution of Primary Care to Health Systems and Health”, link access to primary care to premature death, with one study showing that the odds of premature death can be as much as 19% higher for adults who rely solely on specialists, rather than taking preventive measures with a primary care provider.

In this podcast, Diana Mason, registered nurse and host of this program, interviews Louise Cohen, CEO of the Primary Care Development Corporation. The Primary Care Development Corporation is the only community development financial institution dedicated to improving primary care capacity in communities and the nation, through low interest loans, technical assistance, and advocacy.

This interview was recorded on March 17th, 2021, as a part of HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:02 — 31.4MB)

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June 29, 2021

author: Kai Volcy

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Image by Abby Anaday via Unsplash Primary care

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Aducanumab for Alzheimer’s Treatment: Is It Good for Business but Bad for Science and Patient Care?

Survey by The Harris Poll, 6/11/21-6/13/21, via Statnews

As the American population continues to live longer by the year, more people are suffering illnesses resulting from age-related changes in the brain; Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common of these age-associated illnesses. On June 7th, 2021, Biogen’s Aducanumab (Aduhelm) was approved by the FDA to treat all stages of Alzheimer’s, nearly eighteen years after the administration approved Namenda for the disease’s severe stages. According to The Wall Street Journal, of the 6 million Americans diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, over 1 million can be eligible to take Aduhelm. So, why are so many healthcare providers, patients, and families steering clear of the Aduhelm infusion?

In this HealthCetera podcast, Barbara Glickstein, MPH, MS, RN, discusses the complexities of the FDA’s decision to approve Aduhelm with health reporter Liz Seegert, the Association for Health Care Journalists topic leader on aging. This interview follows the publication of “Alzheimer’s Drug Approved Monday by FDA Raises Questions for Journalists”, a co-authored two-part series on the Association for Health Care Journalists’ blog, written by Seegert and Tara Haelle, the medical studies core topic leader.

This interview was recorded on June 14, 2021, as a part of HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX radio.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:55 — 12.6MB)

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June 21, 2021

author: Kai Volcy

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Survey by The Harris Poll, 6/11/21-6/13/21, via

HealthCetera, Radio/Podcast

Demystifying Palliative Care

Image via Closing the Gap® Healthcare

How likely are you to consider palliative care for yourself or a loved one if they had a serious illness? That’s what a 2019 study by The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) asked over one thousand randomly selected adults, including family caregivers and patients with serious illnesses. Overall, initial responses were fairly neutral; 40% of adults (excluding family caregivers and patients with serious illnesses) reported that they were unable to respond: they didn’t know enough about palliative care to answer. However, after hearing the CAPC’s definition of palliative care, over 80% of respondents (including family caregivers and patients with serious illnesses) were very likely to consider it for themselves and loved ones–a net increase of approximately +14 percentage points across all groups of those surveyed.

More than anything, the CAPC’s study showed, plainly, that palliative care is a branch of healthcare with which most people are still completely unfamiliar.

People battling chronic, serious illnesses often require a plethora of services to both alleviate their symptoms, and relieve the stress that comes with the management of their conditions. Additionally, families supporting and caregiving for people battling serious illnesses are often charged with playing the roles of healthcare providers while balancing the needs of their own lives. According to CAPC, the utilization of palliative care programs can “improve quality of life for both the patient and the family“, by providing counseling to everyone involved; managing emotional symptoms of the patient’s diagnosis; improving coordination of care plans between all healthcare providers involved; and much more.

On this HealthCetera podcast, Dr. Diana Mason, PhD, RN, host of this program, discusses palliative care and its benefits with Dr. William Rosa, a palliative care nurse practitioner and a postdoctoral research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

This interview was recorded on March 24th, 2021, as a part of HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX radio.

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Prioritizing Primary Care

Aducanumab for Alzheimer’s Treatment: Is It Good for Business but Bad for Science and Patient Care?

Demystifying Palliative Care

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