Episodes

  • Introducing The Impact

    Introducing The Impact
    Oct 9 2017
    The Impact is a show about how policy affects people. In Washington, the story often ends when Congress passes a law. For us, that’s where the story begins. We follow the choices that legislators, leaders, and researchers make out into the real world where they have human consequences — both positive and negative, expected and unexpected. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 min
  • The curious case of the $629 Band-Aid

    The curious case of the $629 Band-Aid
    Oct 16 2017
    How does a Band-Aid wind up costing so much money? Why are American health care prices so incredibly high? Vox’s new podcast, the Impact, explores how policy affects real lives. This season, we’re focusing on healthcare, and we wanted to begin with one of thorniest questions in the American healthcare system: prices. In this episode, we look at how the American decision not to regulate health care prices leads to $629 Band Aids and $3,170 fees just for visiting the emergency room. We talk to doctors who think these prices are totally justified – and a health economist who doesn’t buy it. And we take a trip to the drug store to find out how much a Band-Aid should really cost. Email us your feedback to impact@vox.com.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    25 mins
  • Car crash hospitals vs. plane crash hospitals

    Car crash hospitals vs. plane crash hospitals
    Oct 23 2017
    Central line infections can be deadly. And they used to be extremely common: just a decade ago, hundreds of thousands of patients got them every year. Now, that number is closer to 9,000 annually. That's still high, but it's a dramatic drop in just ten years. So how did that happen? On this episode of the Impact, we talk to the doctor who discovered that central line infections are, in nearly all cases, completely preventable. Physicians just need to follow a checklist to make sure the line stays safe and sterile. And we’ll explore why, if this infection is preventable, some hospitals still have several cases of them each year. This episode includes content that might be upsetting for listeners, so please be aware. Many thanks to Vox's Johnny Harris, who originally recorded footage for this story. For more on this topic, read Sarah’s story on central line infections from 2015. Please subscribe, leave us a rating and a review, and email us your feedback at impact@vox.com.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    30 mins
  • It’s time to face the fax

    It’s time to face the fax
    Oct 30 2017
    Why are fax machines still such a staple of American health care? We talk to a pair of policy makers who hatched a plan to replace paper files and fax machines with electronic medical records. We explain why that plan backfired. And we go into clinics to understand why the fax's continued use isn't just annoying, but also sometimes harmful for patients' health. For even more fax facts, check out Sarah's text version of this story. You can send us feedback at impact@vox.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    27 mins
  • The policies that created the opioid epidemic

    The policies that created the opioid epidemic
    Nov 6 2017
    There's a well-known narrative about the opioid epidemic: pharmaceutical companies and dirty doctors pushed misinformation and addictive drugs on patients. But there's also a policy story here, about well-meaning doctors who tried to find the best solution for their patients in pain. These doctors developed and spread new policies that urged their peers to treat pain as a vital sign and measure it at every visit. That policy change helped create the nationwide opioid epidemic we’re dealing with today.  Please, subscribe and leave us a review! You can email us at impact@vox.com, or send an ER bill at erbills.vox.com Music in this episode by Podington Bear and Chris Zabriskie, with sound effects from Berlin Atmospheres.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    28 mins
  • The controversial way doctors fight pain without opioids

    The controversial way doctors fight pain without opioids
    Nov 13 2017
    On this episode of The Impact, we’re looking at a possible future for pain treatment. It’s an idea known as “pain acceptance,” and in the wake of the opioid epidemic, it is gaining traction among American doctors. Music from Podington Bear, Kevin MacLeod and Chris Zabriskie.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    30 mins
  • This robotic pelvis reduces teen pregnancy

    This robotic pelvis reduces teen pregnancy
    Nov 20 2017
    American women are changing up their birth control. The use of IUDs and implants has increased 6000% in the United States since 2002.  That's the result of specific policy choices made in Washington and in state houses. These policies have reduced the teen pregnancy rate. They have cut the abortion rate. But they’re also at risk right now.  In this episode, we’re going to tell you how those policies came to be, how they're helping women access birth control -- and why, at this very moment, they are facing serious threats. Music in this episode by Podington Bear and Kevin MacLeod.  Email us feedback! We're at impact@vox.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    29 mins
  • The black robe effect

    The black robe effect
    Nov 27 2017
    What is the best way to care for patients with severe mental illness? The United States has struggled with this question for decades. In 1963, President Kennedy signed a law that was supposed to transfer patients with severe mental illness out of hospitals and back into their communities -- into outpatient treatment. That effort hasn't really worked. A lot these patients end up homeless. Many are in prison or jail. One recent study found that more than half of all inmates have some kind of mental illness. Summit County, Ohio, thinks it has a solution: court-ordered outpatient treatment. It’s often called Assisted Outpatient Treatment, or AOT for short. That’s sort of what President Kennedy hoped for: treatment outside of the hospital, in the community. But the treatment is enforced by the courts -- and that’s what makes it so controversial. We had music on this episode from Blue Dot Sessions, Chris Zabriske, Kevin MacLeod, and Poddington Bear. Please email us your feedback to impact@vox.com.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    42 mins