KevinMD.com

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

A surgeon's kids FaceTime him from their iPads while he is in the operating room, and he cannot pick up. Alyssa Kressel, a strategic communications professional, has spent more than fifteen years alongside her husband's surgical training. This episode is…

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A surgeon’s kids FaceTime him from their iPads while he is in the operating room, and he cannot pick up. Alyssa Kressel, a strategic communications professional, has spent more than fifteen years alongside her husband’s surgical training. This episode is based on her article “What the children of physicians …

Physician voices

A national hotline could track bias in physician discipline

Babajide Ogunseinde, MD

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

Becoming a physician is one of the longest professional journeys in America. The path typically requires four years of college, four years of medical school, and three to seven or more years of residency and fellowship training. For surgeons, training…

The investment is financial, professional, and deeply personal. Medical graduates routinely carry substantial educational debt, spend thousands of hours studying, take licensing examinations, …

Physician voices

The 15-minute appointment is not the boundary of care

Alan P. Feren, MD

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

Care does not have to be finished in one encounter. But it must not be allowed to disappear between encounters. When primary care clinicians say they cannot adequately manage their patients' concerns in 15 minutes, I take that seriously. A…

Care does not have to be finished in one encounter. But it must not be allowed to disappear between encounters.

When primary care clinicians say they cannot adequately manage their patients’ concerns in 15 minutes, I take that seriously. A patient may arrive with a new symptom, several chronic conditions, medications prescribed by different clinicians, and questions about what has changed. The clinician faces that complexity alongside chart review, examination, documentation, …

Real physician voices, twice a week

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Conditions and diseases

Workers’ compensation pain management puts function first

Kayvan Haddadan, MD

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

This population, either injured workers under workers' compensation or personal-injury claimants, faces distinct drivers of delayed recovery, including secondary gain concerns, litigation, workplace psychosocial factors, fear-avoidance beliefs, and system-level incentives that can prolong disability. Guidelines from the American College of…

This population, either injured workers under workers’ compensation or personal-injury claimants, faces distinct drivers of delayed recovery, including secondary gain concerns, litigation, workplace psychosocial factors, fear-avoidance beliefs, and system-level incentives that can prolong disability. Guidelines from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), state workers’ compensation medical treatment guidelines (e.g., New York, California), the 2022 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing …

BRCA mutation status in breast cancer: My approach to timing, testing and treatment

AstraZeneca

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

This article is sponsored by AstraZeneca. As a medical professional and oncologist, personalized and compassionate care has been a core pillar of my approach. I learned early in my medical training how important understanding the whole patient can be to…

This article is sponsored by AstraZeneca.

As a medical professional and oncologist, personalized and compassionate care has been a core pillar of my approach. I learned early in my medical training how important understanding the whole patient can be to best support people facing cancer, especially when it comes to potential treatment options and health-related quality of life.

Outside the clinic, I also have first-hand experience of what a cancer diagnosis …

Physician voices

Observation status is a clinical choice, not a billing one

Chinyelu E. Oraedu, MD

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

One night, during cross coverage with residents, I was called to provide clinical oversight for a frail older woman admitted from the emergency department. She had multiple comorbidities and a deteriorating clinical picture, but she had been placed under observation…

When I asked residents why observation was so often selected, the answer was usually some version of this: “It is easier to change the patient to inpatient …

Health policy

Kratom bans confuse the leaf with a semisynthetic opioid

Heidi Sykora, DNP

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

Consider what happened in Walker County, Georgia, in the fall of 2025. Multiple middle schoolers became ill after eating gummies at school, though even the eventual headcount was never fully settled, with local reports ranging from three to five students. Emergency room physicians diagnosed a kratom overdose based on the clinical picture, and within hours the story was national: Kratom gummies had hospitalized children. Investigators collected one of the gummies …

Patient voices

What anxiety feels like while reaching for hope again

Michele Luckenbaugh

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

I look toward the darkening sky As evening begins to gather, Layers of pale blue, soft gray, And rose spilling across the horizon, Colors so gentle They seem to beg me, Set it down. Set aside the fear that has…

I look toward the darkening sky
As evening begins to gather,
Layers of pale blue, soft gray,
And rose spilling across the horizon,
Colors so gentle
They seem to beg me,

Set it down.

Set aside the fear that has wrapped itself
Around me like a python,
Tightening its grip
Until even my heart forgets
How to breathe.

Fear is an evil thing
When it takes up residence
Inside the mind.

It comes in the waking hours
Without invitation,
Turning ordinary thoughts into daggers,
Each one sharpened against …

Patient voices

Stigmatizing language in medical records harms care

Monica McEathron

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

I have never asked medicine to promise me a cure. I have asked it to help me stay alive long enough to come home to my children. My medical record is not subtle. Recurrent pancreatitis led to sepsis and multi-organ…

I have never asked medicine to promise me a cure. I have asked it to help me stay alive long enough to come home to my children.

My medical record is not subtle. Recurrent pancreatitis led to sepsis and multi-organ failure in 2016, a Whipple procedure in 2017, and a total pancreatectomy in 2021. I now have no functioning pancreas, insulin-deficient type 3c diabetes, severely altered gastrointestinal anatomy, and an inability …

Patient voices

Improving patient access starts with board governance

Donna Harvin‑Graham, MBA

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

In most medical practices, daily operations rely on a familiar routine. Information moves between teams as appointments begin, and direct care continues alongside the administrative tasks that support it. These processes were designed years ago, built around historical demands and earlier models of care delivery. As patient needs change and clinical pressures grow more complex, the supporting systems beneath them do not always keep pace. Gaps begin to appear in …

Conditions and diseases

Drought and antibiotic resistance are linked in new study

Benedette Cuffari

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

Droughts may be creating the perfect conditions for antibiotic-resistant bacteria to thrive. As the frequency and severity of droughts intensify in regions like California, scientists worry about the potential impact on human health. Throughout the world, the overuse and misuse…

Throughout the world, the overuse and misuse of antibiotics have led to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a growing global health threat that contributes to millions of deaths every year. Environmental factors like drought may worsen this …

Conditions and diseases

Pain score after surgery should not define recovery

Dr. Girishkumar Modi

September 24, 2026Sep 24, 2026

After surgery, patients are often asked a familiar question: "How bad is your pain on a scale from zero to ten?" Naturally, most people want that number to be zero. As doctors, we want our patients to be comfortable too.…

After surgery, patients are often asked a familiar question: “How bad is your pain on a scale from zero to ten?” Naturally, most people want that number to be zero. As doctors, we want our patients to be comfortable too. But after many operations, completely removing every trace of pain may not be realistic. And sometimes, trying too hard to reach zero can create problems of its own.

A better question …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Why exhaustion can make you see things that aren’t there [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

September 23, 2026Sep 23, 2026

You drive home after a long shift and see someone standing at the roadside. It turns out to be a sign. ≈ had that happen more than once, and her first thought was that something was wrong with her. She…

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Physician voices

3 reforms to counter wellness influencers in practice

Farid Sabet-Sharghi, MD

September 23, 2026Sep 23, 2026

We spend our days in the quiet reality of clinical practice. We chase elusive diagnoses, weigh the fine distinctions of symptom presentation, and measure our clinical instincts against rigorous decades of peer-reviewed science. We sit across from human beings in moments of vulnerability, applying a lifetime of anatomy, neurobiology, and pharmacology to parse real suffering from pathology.

Yet, step outside the exam room door, and we are met with a deafening …

Conditions and diseases

Shift work and circadian rhythms shape the 24/7 workplace

Deepak Gupta, MD

September 23, 2026Sep 23, 2026

Work may provide incomparable inner peace, but the timing of that work still matters. A shift may begin in the morning, evening, or night, and it may end during another part of the day. For workers’ circadian rhythms, the relevant question is not simply how long they work, but how the beginning and end of a shift fit together. That question matters whether the work ultimately serves humans or nonhumans.

Does …

Physician finance

Physicians paid for G2211 twice. Most never bill it.

Michael Duben, MD

September 23, 2026Sep 23, 2026

In 2024, Medicare cut every physician's rates about 2 percent to fund a code that 3 out of 4 of them never billed. The cut was automatic. The code has to be claimed by hand. The code is G2211. CMS…

In 2024, Medicare cut every physician’s rates about 2 percent to fund a code that 3 out of 4 of them never billed. The cut was automatic. The code has to be claimed by hand.

The code is G2211. CMS calls it a visit complexity add-on. In plain words, it pays for office visits where you are the patient’s ongoing doctor, either as the continuing focal point for all their care …

Health policy

Medicaid managed care and the case for mutual stewardship

Steven Merahn, MD

September 23, 2026Sep 23, 2026

Roughly half of American children receive their health care through Medicaid or CHIP. These programs were legislated to cover them, and the choice has been made (repeatedly, across decades and both parties) not to fund them at the level their…

However, that choice, and the confines it creates, defines the real-world conditions …

Physician voices

Choosing a limb lengthening surgeon requires accountability

Hrayr Basmajian, MD

September 23, 2026Sep 23, 2026

Patients considering cosmetic limb lengthening usually begin with one question: How much height can be gained? That question is understandable, but it should not drive the decision. The more important issue is who will remain responsible for the patient's care…

Cosmetic limb lengthening is often presented as a procedure that increases height. Technically, that is the goal, but it …

Health technology

Why AI crisis advice may fail families facing psychosis

Nicole Drapeau Gillen

September 23, 2026Sep 23, 2026

Every caregiver of someone with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder knows this moment: Someone you love is in crisis, and at some point (because it's 2 a.m., because the on-call line is busy, because you don't know what else to do)…

Every caregiver of someone with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder knows this moment: Someone you love is in crisis, and at some point (because it’s 2 a.m., because the on-call line is busy, because you don’t know what else to do) you open a browser or a chat window and type the question directly. What crisis resources are there for psychosis? What crisis resources are there for mania?

Those two questions aren’t …

Health technology

How AI phone systems in health care create barriers

Thuy D. Bui, MD

September 23, 2026Sep 23, 2026

Recently, I cared for a woman at a Pittsburgh shelter clinic whose blood pressure was dangerously elevated. She told me she had insurance through a regional health plan but had not seen a primary care physician in quite some time. I prescribed losartan, a common blood pressure medication, and e-prescribed it to a downtown CVS pharmacy. A week later, she returned. She had not received the medication.

The pharmacy had told …

Real physician voices, twice a week

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