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Why I stopped accepting pharmaceutical-sponsored lunches

Physician

March 2, 2026

A pharmaceutical representative recently brought lunch to my office to present a new drug. The drug may help some patients. The food was abundant. The room was full, with excess all around, including leftovers that were eventually thrown away. None of that is unusual in American medicine.

What has become unusual, at least for me, is how hard it now is to separate the plate in front of me from the …

Why buprenorphine prescribing still lags after the X-waiver repeal

S. Hillary Kim-Vences, MD, MPH

Conditions

March 2, 2026

The repeal of the “X-waiver” in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 was widely celebrated as a long-overdue step toward expanding access to buprenorphine for opioid use disorder (OUD). By removing the requirement for supplemental training and a special DEA designation, policymakers hoped to normalize treatment and reduce barriers for clinicians.

Yet nearly two years after, buprenorphine prescribing remains inconsistent across the country. Only one in four Americans …

Philosophy in medicine: Why doctors need to ask “why”

Lauryl Cardoza

Conditions

March 2, 2026

“Why are you studying that? Philosophy won’t help you save lives.” If I had a dime for every time someone said this to me, I could single-handedly fund an entire class’s medical school tuition. Being a pre-medical student who majored in philosophy feels like being the only person asking “why” in a room full of people asking “how.” I have thought to myself many times that there is no balance …

Unpaid on-call shifts are driving doctors into early retirement [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

March 1, 2026

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Internal medicine physician Corinne Sundar Rao discusses her article “Physician on-call compensation: the unpaid labor driving burnout.” Corinne argues that the term “call” is a euphemism used to extract free labor from …

What chess taught me about clinical reasoning and humanism

Jay Pendyala and Jonathan Berg

Education

March 1, 2026

I first learned to respect silence over a chessboard. Two players sit across from one another, the clock ticking audibly, 64 squares holding more possibility than certainty. You arrive, survey the position, and wait. You gather information, recall principles, recognize patterns, and only then commit, knowing that every decision constrains the future in ways you cannot fully predict.

Now, as a third-year medical student on clinical rotations, I find myself standing …

Physician free speech rights under fire: the DOJ vs. patient education

Crystal Beal, MD

Physician

March 1, 2026

I never imagined that providing standard, evidence-based medical care, and explaining that care clearly to patients, could put me at risk of federal prosecution.

Yet that is the position I find myself in today.

I am a board-certified family medicine physician and the founder of a small queer- and trans-owned clinic providing gender affirming care. Our clinic is now at the center of a Department of Justice appeal after we Read more…

Physician free speech rights under fire: the DOJ vs. patient education

Treating methamphetamine-associated dental disease in safety-net clinics

Charan Teja Bobba, DDS

Conditions

March 1, 2026

He came in wanting to get his smile back. I did not know he was also asking for his life.

He sat down in my chair and did not say much at first.

That happens a lot in a MassHealth practice in Massachusetts. People come in with more than just one problem. They carry shame, years of avoiding problems, and a lifetime of being told by systems, situations, and sometimes even their …

Reproductive care for rare diseases: the missing playbook

Lyndsay Hoy, MD

Conditions

March 1, 2026

In my first week of anesthesiology residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, I learned two things at once: how to keep other people breathing and how it feels to lose your own air. My chest filled with liters of lymphatic fluid. A scan showed lungs that looked like lace. The diagnosis was LAM, lymphangioleiomyomatosis, a rare, estrogen-sensitive lung disease that overwhelmingly strikes women in their reproductive years.

At …

The myth of cancer overdiagnosis: Why screening saves lives

Frederic W. Grannis, Jr., MD

Conditions

March 1, 2026

“Overdiagnosis is a myth that has been created by a handful of individuals who provide no care for women with breast cancer.”

This quote by Dr. Daniel Kopans encapsulates a long-standing and intense debate in the medical community regarding cancer screening.

In the Dec. 9, 2025, issue of the New York Times, Gina Kolata quoted H. Gilbert Welch, MD, on his perspective that “treatments need to be balanced with the consequences …

Early-stage medical device innovation: How to discuss untested ideas

Jarelis Cabrera

Tech

March 1, 2026

Medical innovation is often framed as something that begins once a product is built, tested, funded, and approved. But anyone who has spent time in medicine or biomedical research knows that is the farthest thing from the truth. Innovation usually starts much earlier with a moment of frustration, a recurring inefficiency, or a quiet realization that something in patient care could work better.

What’s less clear is how we’re supposed to …

Primary care receives only five cents of every health care dollar [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

February 28, 2026

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

Family physician and health benefits advisor Jonathan Bushman discusses his article “The 5 percent problem: the low value of primary care.” Jonathan contrasts the grueling decade of training and massive debt required …

Rural maternity care in crisis: 5 solutions to save local OB units

Jesus Ruiz, MD

Physician

February 28, 2026

Across the United States, rural maternity care is in crisis. Hospitals continue to close labor and delivery units, entire counties are left without obstetric services, and pregnant patients are forced to travel hours for routine care or delivery. These closures are often framed as inevitable, driven by low volume, unsustainable costs, and staffing shortages, but this narrative ignores both the root causes of the problem and the solutions already within …

Bipolar I and the illusion of insight: a firsthand account

Tommy Saborido, MD

Physician

February 28, 2026

I’m Tommy. Bipolar type one, I’m told. I actually have something to say, something to share.

The thing no one talks about in mental health, bipolar type one specifically, is how seductive and sweet the upswing feels. It’s deeply more than just “good” to me. It feels like the limits of the brain have been cut loose, severed, done away with. Suddenly all those moments and ideas and thoughts and connections …

AI in health care data management: Curing the EHR overload

Hamad Husainy, DO

Tech

February 28, 2026

Once upon a time, clinicians didn’t have enough data about their patients.

To put it mildly, things have changed. Today we’re drowning in data. As a practicing emergency physician, it is a reality I see every day.

In an emergency department (ED) environment characterized by constant time pressure, staffing constraints, and high patient acuity, clinicians sometimes must wade through reams of electronic health records (EHR) data to find critical patient information that …

The hidden toll of physician regulatory investigations

Jean Paul Brutus, MD

Physician

February 28, 2026

I have spent my career believing in systems. As physicians, we are trained to trust oversight. We are taught that regulatory bodies exist to protect patients, maintain standards, and intervene when care falls below acceptable levels. We are taught that if we act ethically, document carefully, and prioritize patients, the system will ultimately be fair. What we are not trained for is what happens when that power becomes opaque.

Over the …

Physician father wrestles with daughter’s post-Dobbs future [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

February 27, 2026

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

Family physician Travis Walker discusses his article “A physician father on the Dobbs decision and reproductive rights.” Travis reflects on the glaring double standard facing his daughter compared to his sons in …

Physician tax strategies: Why your tax bill is so high and how to fix it

Logan Foltz, MD

Finance

February 27, 2026

If you are frustrated by your high tax bill, you are not alone. I have spoken with many doctors who experience sticker shock when they see their total annual tax liability after completing residency. Stories in the media, such as The Atlantic’s recent study on billionaire taxes, about how rich people avoid taxes only fan the flames. It is no surprise, then, that one of the most common financial …

AI in clinical documentation: Who is liable for medical errors?

Harvey Castro, MD, MBA

Tech

February 27, 2026

The attending scrolls through the chart before morning rounds. The progress note is polished. The assessment is structured. The differential is surprisingly thorough. A predictive model flags the patient as high risk for deterioration within 24 hours. He did not write most of it.

An AI assistant drafted the note. A risk algorithm generated the alert. A decision-support tool suggested broadening the workup. He reviewed it. He agreed with most of …

Physician burnout and gaming: Why doctors turn to video games

Gerald Kuo

Tech

February 27, 2026

“The problem is not that physicians play games. The problem is that we are embarrassed to admit we need ways to feel alive again.”

At 3:17 a.m., we called the code. Thirty minutes of compressions. Three rounds of epinephrine. A room filled with controlled urgency. When it ended, the monitors fell silent before the hallway did. I finished my documentation. I washed my hands. I walked to my car. And I …

Beyond BMI: Why weight management must look inside the body

Maureen McBeth, PT

Conditions

February 27, 2026

After more than 25 years in oncology rehabilitation, clinical education, and survivorship care, I’ve learned to be cautious about “good” numbers from common tools like BMI and bathroom scales that don’t match what is actually happening in the body. A recent study confirms it: When used alone, BMI has been found to misclassify up to 34 percent of the general population as obese.

This year, it became more personal when …

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