William Dietz of George Washington University Talks About the Importance of Obesity on COVID-19

Coffee, rich in polyphenolic compounds like chlorogenic acid (CGA), caffeic acid (CAA), cafestol, melanoidins and trigonelline, has been recognized as a dominant source of CGA in various studies. Previous studies suggest that CGA in coffee can positively impact blood pressure, lipid profile, glycemia and insulin resistance.

In this episode, Peter Wehrwein, managing editor of Managed Healthcare Executive, speaks with Dr. Rodrigo Cerda. Dr. Cerda has been recently promoted to the position of senior vice president of health services and chief medical officer of Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia. He is also a member of Managed Healthcare Executive’s editorial advisory board. Peter and Dr. Cerda discuss his new role at the Independence Blue Cross, what it means to be a chief medical officer at an insurer these days, valued-based care, social determinants of health, and, of course, the pandemic.

A recent study revealed that virtual urgent care (VUC) had minimal impact on emergency department visits or hospital admissions in Ontario, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a significant number of study participants who initially sought virtual urgent care eventually attended an emergency department in person.

Briana Contreras, associate editor of MHE, spoke with Dr. Maria Hernandez, founder and CEO of Impact4Health. Maria shared not only how healthcare inequities remain to be an issue and what needs to be addressed, but also the progress that has been made over time through awareness, conversations and laws, especially due to the heightened awareness of inequities caused from the COVID-19 pandemic and the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many more - which have now occurred over a year ago.

Authors of a recent JAMA Network Open study expressed there have been few reported COVID surveillance studies of childcare centers and none in the U.S. Authors stress that it's essential for policymakers to understand the real risk of COVID spread in CCCs and households so they can apply suitable mitigation measures if there were to be another surge or new variants to come about.

At this year’s ID Week conference in Boston, Igho Ofotokun, MD, MSc, FIDSA, Grady Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine, shared the latest data that COVID-19 research team, RECOVER, has gathered on Long COVID and its symptoms.