Capitol Weekly Podcast: COVID-19 Special Episodes

This week we posted four special editions of the Capitol Weekly Podcast, broadcasting the content from our September 17 conference on health care in the Golden State. We focused this year on the unprecedented public health emergency: COVID-19. Exactly six months and one day after the first Shelter-in-Place order, we examined the response to the crisis and looked at what comes next.

The event, hosted on ZOOM, featured three panel discussions and an interview with California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly. Links to podcasts of each of these presentations is below:

Panel 1: Infrastructure

Moderated by Jocelyn Wiener, CalMatters. Panelists: Carmela Coyle, California Hospital Association; Surani Hayre-Kwan, California Association for Nurse Practitioners; Anthony Wright, Health Access California

As Californians lost their health insurance, Medi-Cal was expected to see a surge in enrollments – in fact Medi-Cal enrollment has hardly budged. Why? Hospitals and clinics are struggling to serve COVID patients, but are experiencing revenue shortfalls – how close are they to the breaking point? How are doctors and other healthcare workers coping with the pandemic? What is the patient experience?

Panel 2: Health Equity

Moderated by Sigrid Bathen, Capitol Weekly. Panelists: Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry; Sonya Young Aadam, California Black Women’s Health Project; Jeffrey Reynoso, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California; Kiran Savage-Sangwan, California Pan-Ethnic Health Network

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored stark disparities in the Health system; the chance of getting – and surviving – the virus is heavily dependent on race, class and income. What can be done to achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups?

Panel 3: Telehealth

Moderated by: Sammy Caiola, Capital Public Radio; Panelists: Dr. Richard Florio, Kaiser Permanente; David Ford, California Medical Association; Todd May, Health Net; Dr. Javeed Siddiqui, TeleMed2U; David Stockwell, Veterans Affairs NorCal Health Care System

Telehealth was rarely used in California before the pandemic: Now patients have virtual visits with health care providers through a phone or video chat, remote patient monitoring and online support for managing chronic conditions such as diabetes. What are the advantages and drawbacks of this new treatment technology?

KEYNOTE: Mark Ghaly, Secretary, California Health and Human Services, interviewed by John Howard of Capitol Weekly

Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, is the point person on California’s response to the coronavirus. He sat down with Capitol Weekly’s John Howard to discuss the status of the pandemic, mitigation efforts, what individuals can do to avoid getting sick and more.

Full video of each panel, along with a digital version of the program for the event, with speakers’ bios and other details, is posted here.

Next week we will be back to our regular episodes of the Capitol Weekly Podcast.

Thanks much to our COVID-19 sponsors!