Physician hiring bias in one of America’s most progressive cities

Physician
August 5, 2025

I have been fortunate to practice in several areas of medicine in my career. This has led me to triple board certification in family medicine, palliative medicine, and addiction medicine. I speak Spanish fluently, have a spotless record, and have dedicated my career to caring for underserved patients.

Despite this, after years of applying to prestigious health systems in a major city, I’ve never once been contacted for an interview in …

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Physician hiring bias in one of America’s most progressive cities

Fatty liver disease in young adults [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 4, 2025
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Gastroenterologist Anuj Vikrant Sharma discusses his article, “Fatty liver disease is no longer reserved for older adults.” He warns of a quiet epidemic of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a serious liver condition …

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Fatty liver disease in young adults [PODCAST]

Why GenAI pilots fail in health care—and how to fix it

Health Technology
August 4, 2025

Building health care AI pilots is easy; getting them to succeed at scale is a challenge.

According to a recent report from Bessemer Venture Partners, AWS, and Bain & Company, only 30 percent of GenAI health care pilots reach production, where an even smaller number will go on to be successful.

This is partly because many health care organizations are in “throw it at the wall and see what sticks” mode …

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Why GenAI pilots fail in health care—and how to fix it

Confessions of a lipidologist in recovery: the infection we’ve ignored for 40 years

Conditions and Diseases
August 4, 2025

The end of my belief came on a fall night in 2011. I was driving to a suburban restaurant to give a paid dinner talk on Niaspan for Abbott Labs. It was a typical night for a physician speaker—slide deck polished, HDL-cholesterol optimism intact. Then the results of the AIM-HIGH trial came over public radio. Niacin, when added to a statin, had no cardiovascular benefit. My world cracked. I never …

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Confessions of a lipidologist in recovery: the infection we’ve ignored for 40 years

How hospitals use salary caps to suppress physician wages [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 3, 2025
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Health law attorney Dennis Hursh discusses his article, “Why hospitals are quietly capping top doctors’ pay.” For nearly 40 years, he has reviewed physician employment agreements and reveals a shocking recent trend: …

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How hospitals use salary caps to suppress physician wages [PODCAST]

How a heart transplant turned one woman into a national transplant advocate

Conditions and Diseases
August 3, 2025

My name is Ava Kaufman, and my doctors didn’t think I would be alive today. I defied the odds after being listed for – and receiving – an experimental heart transplant.

Before my transplant, I was a healthy mother and businesswoman who loved to dance. I randomly noticed a rash appearing on my hands and shins, so I went to the dermatologist. They told me that I had psoriasis, but it …

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How a heart transplant turned one woman into a national transplant advocate

Innovation is moving too fast for health care workers to catch up

Health Policy
August 3, 2025

I recently spoke with close friends—both physicians—who admitted something quietly alarming: They’re not resisting change in health care. They’re just tired of constantly adapting while losing the essence of what brought them into medicine in the first place.

“I spend more time documenting than actually caring for my patients.”

“Every time I adjust to one system, a new one replaces it.”

These comments stayed with me—not as complaints, but as confessions. As a …

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Innovation is moving too fast for health care workers to catch up

Physician burnout: a crisis of conscience, calling, and collective responsibility

Physician
August 3, 2025

Introduction

The medical profession is grappling with a crisis of profound proportions. Burnout now affects nearly half of all practicing physicians. This is not merely dissatisfaction—it is emotional and moral exhaustion that undermines both physician wellbeing and patient safety. At its core, burnout signals a loss of connection to purpose, to colleagues, and to the healing relationship that defines medical practice.

Burnout manifests as emotional depletion, depersonalization of patients, and a diminished …

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Physician burnout: a crisis of conscience, calling, and collective responsibility

How inspiration shapes the stories of our lives [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 2, 2025
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Adjunct professor of psychiatry Arthur Lazarus discusses his article, “How inspiration and family stories shape our most meaningful moments,” which presents a moving fictional story excerpted from his book. The narrative centers …

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How inspiration shapes the stories of our lives [PODCAST]

When the pediatrician is the parent: a personal reckoning with childhood obesity

Conditions and Diseases
August 2, 2025

I would never have thought I would be the one writing this piece.

I am a board-certified pediatrician and internist with a background in nutrition, well-versed in integrative medicine. Our family eats its fair share of kale, blueberries, and salmon. We hardly ever have a significant supply of junk food in the house. Fast food is a rarity, and she never even tasted juice in toddlerhood. And still, my child’s BMI …

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When the pediatrician is the parent: a personal reckoning with childhood obesity

How listening makes you a better doctor before your first prescription

Medical Education
August 2, 2025

Before I ever introduced myself as a future doctor, I was a listener.

Not because someone told me that listening was important in medicine, but because, as a first-year student, I quickly realized I had no answers—but I did have ears. And heart. And a quiet seat at the edge of patient stories and preceptor reflections.

In the early days of medical school, everything felt unfamiliar. The terms, the pace, the sense …

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How listening makes you a better doctor before your first prescription

I knew choosing DPC would exacerbate primary care physician shortages, and I chose it anyway. Here’s why.

Physician
August 2, 2025

When I made the decision to leave the traditional, insurance-based system and start a direct primary care (DPC) practice, I didn’t do so under any illusions. I knew what the critics would say. In fact, I’d already heard it.

  • You’re making it harder for patients to find a primary care doctor.
  • You’re reducing access for the underserved.
  • You’re selling out.

I’ve read the blog posts, like the one recently published on …

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I knew choosing DPC would exacerbate primary care physician shortages, and I chose it anyway. Here’s why.

It’s OK to want a different life in medicine [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 1, 2025
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Pediatrician and certified coach Jessie Mahoney discusses her article, “From burnout to balance: a neurosurgeon’s bold career redesign.” She shares the powerful story of a female neurosurgeon who, on the verge of …

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It’s OK to want a different life in medicine [PODCAST]

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Why treating obesity like a medical condition saves lives

Conditions and Diseases
August 1, 2025

Cardiovascular disease continues to be the #1 killer of Americans, both men and women.

Obesity and being overweight increase the risk of cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, but beyond these are independent risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease.

Unlike hypertension, which has been called the “silent killer” as its presence is too often unknown to people who have high blood pressure, Americans are rarely unaware …

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Why treating obesity like a medical condition saves lives

From errors to resilience: a smarter approach to patient safety

Physician
August 1, 2025

Historically, health care has approached safety with a Safety-I lens, emphasizing the prevention of errors and investigating failures. While this method remains significant, contemporary health care’s complex, dynamic, and interdependent nature necessitates proactive and adaptive safety strategies. The emerging Safety-II and Safety-III frameworks provide novel perspectives on safety by prioritizing resilience, real-time adaptation, and learning from success, rather than from failure.

Safety-II shifts the focus from what goes wrong …

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From errors to resilience: a smarter approach to patient safety

The unseen emotional toll of being a physician

Conditions and Diseases
August 1, 2025

Many of the physicians who come to my therapy practice share a quiet, painful fear. They’re already excellent clinicians. They know the medicine, stay up to date on the literature, and often find deep meaning in their work. But they’re worn down by the emotional toll of sitting with suffering day after day. They start to wonder: Why is this hitting me so hard when everyone else seems fine? Am …

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The unseen emotional toll of being a physician

The most overlooked revenue strategy in primary care: trust

Physician
August 1, 2025

We’re often told that the key to financial success in medicine is volume—more patients, more visits, more hustle. But after two decades in primary care, I’ve learned something different:
The most powerful asset in your practice isn’t speed. It’s trust.

And trust starts with one of the most human (and most overlooked) elements of medicine: the doctor-patient relationship.

Why relationships matter more than ever

Primary care isn’t just about diagnoses or prescriptions. It’s about …

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The most overlooked revenue strategy in primary care: trust

Why medical boards are facing growing backlash for abusing power

Physician
August 1, 2025

In principle, the judicial system is founded on fairness, requiring that guilt or innocence be established based on evidence.

All parties including judges, defendants, and plaintiffs should be engaged in a rigorous process of fact presentation and scrutiny.

However, in stark contrast, political systems often prioritize rule manipulation and fact distortion, seeking validation over truth. This critical distinction between politics and jurisprudence becomes dangerously blurred when examining the conduct of medical boards …

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Why medical boards are facing growing backlash for abusing power

35 years in the ER and the search for an honest life [PODCAST]

Podcast
July 31, 2025
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Independent emergency physician Kenneth Ro discusses his article, “From survival to sovereignty: What 35 years in the ER taught me about identity, mortality, and redemption.” He shares his deeply personal journey, from …

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35 years in the ER and the search for an honest life [PODCAST]

The hidden battle of weight loss: Why dieting alone isn’t enough

Conditions and Diseases
July 31, 2025

Among Americans and Europeans, overweight and obesity are endemic. Excess weight is also a primary or contributing cause and a significant risk factor for many chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, several cancers, liver and kidney diseases, respiratory and musculoskeletal disorders, and mental health problems.

That being said, one can read any amount of advice we can make time for, concerning dieting or exercise. But a harsh reality persists: Fat …

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The hidden battle of weight loss: Why dieting alone isn’t enough

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