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Conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies

Policy

May 8, 2025

Why has faith in government health agencies never been lower? Because conflicts of interest (COIs) have never been higher.

At the FDA, concerns about drugmakers “buying” drug approvals go back to passage of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) in 1992. Since then, the many doctors with research and speaker grants, drug stocks, and past employment with drugmakers heighten concerns. Worse, many major drug trials that claim to show …

Why the words doctors use matter more than they think

Erin Paterson

Conditions

May 8, 2025

I recently attended a medical conference for the Huntington’s disease (HD) community. Hundreds of people were gathered to collaborate, share knowledge, and learn how to better address the needs of their patients. During the first session, I found it challenging to listen to the presentation and the conversations taking place around me. The detached manner in which people were speaking was troubling to me, so I stepped out for a …

What my first Match Day as a program director taught me about hope

Ryan McCarthy, MD

Physician

May 8, 2025

Today was my first Match Day as a program director and, while most of my emotions are unprocessed, I already have many thoughts.

I can’t forget the concurrent drop in my stomach, pause in my cardiac systole, and the involuntary intake of breath which occurred when the email arrived—2 minutes early!—from the NRMP. I stacked an extra gasp even before I exhaled the first while I fumbled to open the email. …

Navigating the path from physician burnout to career balance [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 7, 2025

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Internal medicine physician Kara Pepper discusses her article, “From burnout to balance: 5 stages of career transformation.” Drawing from her own journey away from burnout and her experience coaching hundreds of physicians, …

Stop absorbing the chaos: How doctors can reclaim their well-being

Jessie Mahoney, MD

Physician

May 7, 2025

Are you absorbing the system’s dysfunction?

Do you find yourself absorbing the collective frustration of health care dysfunction? Taking on the role of savior? Overextending to compensate for broken processes? Feeling personally responsible for guiding patients, family, or friends through the labyrinth of health care?

You’re not alone.

The power of choice in medicine

It’s rare that a practicing physician …

Bridging the digital divide: Addressing health inequities through home-based AI solutions

Dr. Sreeram Mullankandy

Tech

May 7, 2025

As a physician who transitioned into health technology leadership, my journey over the past few years has revealed a fundamental truth: The future of health care delivery isn’t confined to hospitals or clinics—it’s in patients’ homes as well. I am not just talking about patients who have to be discharged early from our hospitals, but also about patients who don’t have easy access to health care and patients who have …

Survival strategies for marginalized physicians [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 6, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Family physician Atharva Joshi discusses his article, “How the system hunts physicians who refuse to kneel.” He argues that the health care system often targets minority physicians not through overt actions but …

How AI helped me reclaim my creative mind with ADHD

Risa Schulman, MD

Conditions

May 6, 2025

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand and tame my own mind.

I meditate—have for years. I journal. I go to therapy. I’ve devoted years of my life to endurance sports to “get out of my head,” I even lived at a yoga ashram. I’ve done the work, or at least, a lot of it. I don’t think I’m unfamiliar with introspection or emotional hygiene.

Medical students in Korea face expulsion for speaking out

Anonymous

Education

May 6, 2025

For over a year, we, Korea’s medical students, have lived under the weight of institutional threats

What began as a disagreement over health policy escalated into an all-out campaign to silence us. We were told that if we resisted, we would be punished. At first, the punishment was supposed to be academic probation. But on May 2, 2025, something changed.

Despite university rules that previously allowed for probation or suspension, the government …

America, our health care workforce training isn’t evolving alongside our needs

William Wertheim, MD, MBA

Education

May 6, 2025

It was recently match day in the medical school world. Students who have given their lives to their studies to become doctors learned where they’d spend the next three to seven years in their chosen specialty completing their residency. This is one of the highlights each year as newly minted dermatologists, surgeons, psychiatrists, and internal medicine doctors, among many others, begin their next chapters and disperse across the country. It’s …

Why no medical malpractice firm responded to my scientific protocol

Howard Smith, MD

Physician

May 6, 2025

Doctors are plagued by medical malpractice lawsuits. Every year, there are 85,000 lawsuits filed, of which 66.6 percent are frivolous. Each doctor has an 8.5 percent chance per year of being sued.

In the course of my efforts to make a difference, I personally contact 50 of the nation’s most prestigious medical malpractice law firms, both plaintiff and defense firms. I make it known that I developed a risk management process …

Avoiding leadership pitfalls: strategies for success in health care [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 5, 2025

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Management consultant and author Roger A. Gerard discusses his article, “10 ways health care leaders sabotage their own success—and how to stop.” He identifies common, often unintentional, ways health care leaders undermine …

Doctors speak out: Why we’re saying no to burnout

Aisha Quarles, MD

Physician

May 5, 2025

For years, physicians have given their time and mental space freely. But medicine has changed dramatically. It’s not the same field it was 40 years ago. Even 20 years ago.

Today, the pressures are higher than ever. Corporations now own many hospitals and outpatient practices. Insurance companies keep slashing reimbursements while demanding more documentation, more prior authorizations, and denying care more frequently. The administrative burden has exploded.

Meanwhile, inflation soars. Student loan …

When doctors die in silence: Confronting the epidemic of violence against physicians

Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD

Physician

May 5, 2025

When the CEO of United Health Care was assassinated in broad daylight on the streets of New York City, the media lit up. News outlets scrambled for interviews. Security protocols were analyzed. His death was treated with the gravity such a high-profile loss warrants.

But I wonder: Where is that outrage when physicians die?

Every year in America, doctors are killed — not by administrative burnout, malpractice lawsuits, or government prosecutions, but …

When asking one more question can change everything

Zain Abidin

Conditions

May 5, 2025

She looked relatively healthy. Middle-aged, calm, composed. She had tried everything—until she hadn’t. That’s how she found herself on the OR schedule for a hysterectomy.

Years of irregular, heavy bleeding had led her here. She didn’t want surgery, but she was tired. Tired of bleeding, tired of not being heard, tired of grasping for answers. This was the final option, or so it seemed.

But then, just before the surgery, a resident …

The geriatrician who prescribes matzah and meaning in Miami Beach

Amiel Levin, MD

Physician

May 5, 2025

“Take two and call me in the morning,” I say as I hand two handmade matzahs to my longtime patients, Isaac and Joelle Zimbalist. They laugh, understanding the deeper message.

For me, being a doctor isn’t just about treating symptoms — it’s about nurturing the whole person, body and soul.

For over twenty years, I’ve been blessed to serve the Miami Beach community …

Understanding the ADHD brain: support, empowerment, and managing challenges [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 4, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Pediatric neurologist Paige Kalika discusses her article, “Why ADHD kids struggle and how we can truly help,” sharing insights from her perspective as a pediatric neurologist and parent of a child with …

Why it’s time for doctors to become performance coaches

Michael Day, MD

Physician

May 4, 2025

The American public has lost its faith in the traditional U.S. health care system. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White’s statement is representative: “Do not talk to a doctor about your general health.”

This is not a fringe sentiment.

A 2022 survey of 4,208 adults in the U.S. revealed that only 54 percent of respondents placed “a great deal” of trust in doctors as sources of information.

I have patients who tell …

You have nothing to prove: a bold message for every overwhelmed doctor

Shanice Spence-Miller, MD

Physician

May 4, 2025

She hadn’t realized how long she’d been running—until the moment she couldn’t.

The day had unfolded like any other. The pager buzzed. The notes piled up. Her voice moved on autopilot, delivering information, comfort, instructions. Beneath the rhythm of her routine was a quiet discomfort she’d been ignoring for weeks—maybe longer. She told herself it was nothing. There was always something more urgent, someone else to care for. That’s the thing …

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