President-elect Biden unveils his coronavirus relief proposal which includes injecting billions into the coronavirus vaccination effort. Democrats want to revive legislation to let Medicare negotiate drug prices. And payers and startups are seizing on the popularity of telehealth.

Healthcare companies are joining the wave of corporations pausing political donations. Scientists say the coronavirus is likely here to stay. And billionaire Mark Cuban enters the generic drug market.

The federal government announces sweeping changes to speed up vaccinations amid the deadly covid surge. West Virginia is one of the few states with the smoothest vaccine rollout to date. And the pace of provider mergers and acquisitions is likely to pick up in 2021 after health systems and physician groups took big financial last year. 

Some within the transition are concerned about meeting Biden’s 100 million vaccines in Biden’s first 100 days goal. CMS approves the first block grant for Tennesee’s Medicaid program. And the doctor leading the health equity task force says we need to address not only access to testing and vaccines, but also social and financial challenges.

In the first conversation of the year Gist Healthcare co-founders Chas Roades and Lisa Bielamowicz discuss the healthcare trends they’re watching in 2021, including the coronavirus vaccine rollout, the healthcare policy agenda, and whether patient volumes will return to pre-pandemic levels.

Dr. Fauci says the already bad COVID situation is going to get worse this month. A contract dispute leaves thousands of doctors out of network and surprise billing protections don’t start till next year. And healthcare jobs are returning slower for women than men.

Hospitals now have to publish previously secret prices negotiated with insurers. A study finds COVID cases and deaths are much higher than reported. Emergency departments have seen big drops in patients since the start of the pandemic, some of which may be due to positive lifestyle changes.

The COVID vaccine rollout is slow, plagued with confusion, and way behind schedule. After three years the Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase joint venture, Haven, shutters. And control of the Senate and Biden’s healthcare agenda rests with Georgia’s runoff races.

The pandemic is causing women to leave the workforce at higher rates than men, leading some to call this economic downturn the ‘shecession’.  Dr. Neelum Aggarwal, a cognitive neurologist at Rush University Medical Center and the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the American Medical Women’s Association discusses how this pullback is impacting female physicians.

Walmart Health Centers are springing up outside of Atlanta, GA, and providing “everyday low prices” for comprehensive primary care. In Georgia, some local providers are surprisingly welcoming of the new offering.  

This episode is a rerun and was initially published in October.