JAMA Health Forum Conversations

In this interview, JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, explore with Erin K. McCreary, PharmD, and Atheendar S. Venkataramani, MD, PhD, how a large regional health system used a weighted lottery and intensive outreach to provide high-risk individuals in disadvantaged communities more equitable access to scarce monoclonal antibodies for preventing COVID-19. Related Content: Weighted Lottery to Equitably Allocate Scarce Supply of COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibody Moving Beyond Intent and Realizing Health Equity

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, discuss with Sandra B. Nelson, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston), her JAMA Health Forum study of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Massachusetts during 2 different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. She found transmission rates were very low but varied by district and the availability of vaccines. Related Content: Prevalence and Risk Factors for School-Associated Transmission of SARS-CoV-2

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Associate Editor Julie Donohue, PhD, speak with Aaron S. Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH, and Genevieve P. Kanter, PhD, about the role of advisory committees convened by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to guide its decisions on whether to approve new prescription drugs. They also consider how the FDA has responded to recommendations from these advisory committees over the past decade. Related Content: Association of Advisory Committee Votes With US Food and Drug Administration Decision-Making on Prescription Drugs, 2010-2021 The Real Question the FDA Is Asking Its Advisory Committees

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, talk with Anne N. Thorndike, MD, MPH, about the challenge of connecting Medicaid Accountable Care Organization (ACO) members with flexible benefits to address food and housing insecurity issues. Dr Thorndike and colleagues used a mixed-methods approach to conduct this evaluation of the implementation of a novel program in an ACO in Massachusetts. Related Content: Assessment of the Massachusetts Flexible Services Program to Address Food and Housing Insecurity in a Medicaid Accountable Care Organization

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, discuss with Brystana G. Kaufman, PhD, Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy, how health care use and spending differ for individuals residing in the community or nursing homes who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. They also explore the potential value of more tailored approaches to integrating benefits covered by these 2 public insurance programs. Related Content: Health Care Use and Spending Among Need-Based Subgroups of Medicare Beneficiaries With Full Medicaid Benefits

In this interview, JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, speak with Megan B. Cole, PhD, MPH, about changes in performance measures and use of ambulatory services provided by federally qualified health centers in the US during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Related Content: Changes in Performance Measures and Service Volume at US Federally Qualified Health Centers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Adjusting quality measurements and payments for health care services to reflect the social as well as clinical risk factors of patients is controversial. JAMA Health Forum Editor John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda B. Buntin, PhD, discuss a structured approach that can be used to make decisions about social risk factor adjustment in Medicare with Yale's Kasia J. Lipska, MD. Related Content: Adjustment for Social Risk Factors in a Measure of Clinician Quality Assessing Acute Admissions for Patients With Multiple Chronic Conditions

In this interview, JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, speak with David A. Hyman, JD, MD, about the role of paid malpractice claims in the past as a predictor of future paid malpractice claims, including how this link applies to lower-risk and higher-risk medical specialties. Related Content: Association of Past and Future Paid Medical Malpractice Claims

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health care in many domains, including mental health services. JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, discuss with Ryan K. McBain, PhD, MPH, of RAND Corporation how the use of mental health care—both in-person and telehealth visits—changed for commercially insured adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Related Content: Mental Health Service Utilization Rates Among Commercially Insured Adults in the US During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Medicare spending growth per beneficiary has been historically low since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. JAMA Health Forum Deputy Editor Melinda B. Buntin, PhD, of Vanderbilt University, speaks with JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Associate Editor Zirui Song, MD, PhD, about the factors that explain this slowdown in Medicare spending and the implications for policy makers, physicians, and Medicare beneficiaries. Related Content: Trends in and Factors Contributing to the Slowdown in Medicare Spending Growth, 2007-2018