PCPs could counter virtual plans by increasing telehealth visits

Policy
March 17, 2021

Primary care physicians already have a lot of competition from retail clinics, urgent care clinics and telehealth services that cater to consumers. Now they’re facing a new threat from the “virtual primary care plans” that insurance companies have launched recently. These are health plans that prioritize virtual visits with doctors hired by telehealth services over in-person visits to primary care doctors.

For years, some insurance companies have been offering online urgent …

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An ode to the differential diagnosis

Physician
March 17, 2021

The differential diagnosis is a cornerstone of the profession of medicine which epitomizes physicians’ critical thinking skills. It is not an antiquated tradition of by-gone eras. The practice of medicine has been positively impacted in the past century by revolutionary scientific advancements, standardization of medical education, and transformative societal changes. Its overlap has provoked some unfavorable changes in the practice of medicine with the business of health care. The differential …

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Weight stigma in children and teens [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 16, 2021
YouTube video

“Let’s meet in the middle and listen to what’s happening in communities. All across U.S. communities, there are pockets of promise and programs focused on family interventions, behavior change, and health disparities, but there are many obstacles to true change. Currently, the work relies on visionary champions within a community, but …

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Reflections on a year of COVID

Conditions
March 16, 2021

One year ago, on March 14, I worked my first of many COVID shifts as a hospitalist at a large academic teaching institution in Chicago.  In the beginning, I think most of us on the front lines felt a strange combination of duty, fear, and exhilaration. There was this novel virus, the world was shutting down because of it, and while the rest of society was stocking up on toilet …

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Medical school interview secrets [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 15, 2021
YouTube video

“When you’re applying to medical school, it’s remarkable how much four years or more of intense work can come down to one single day. The medical school interview is high stakes: studies have found that interview performance is the most important factor in admissions decisions.

While your MCAT score and your GPA …

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One year into the COVID-19 pandemic

Conditions
March 15, 2021

“Come to triage right now, and wear your N95. A patient going straight to OR and she’s having fever and chills.”

I was summoned to the triage area of labor and delivery for a patient brought in from the ultrasound clinic and found to have absent fetal heart tones. One of my colleagues started an IV, and I ran to the OR to set up for emergency general anesthesia. The patient …

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Reimagining diet: Why cheating brings the win

Conditions
March 15, 2021

Keto, Mediterranean, Paleo, intermittent fasting. How many times have you or your patients been sucked into the latest diet trend only to crash and burn just a few weeks later? I have tried every diet in the books and every single time, draw the same conclusion: extreme dietary restrictions are not sustainable. So many of us lose weight with the newest trending diet only to gain it back months later …

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A physician deals with uncertainty during the pandemic [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 14, 2021
YouTube video

“Despite forces not within our control, namely the thoughts and actions of others, headway has been made in my local practice area:  the decline in mortality, the advances in clinical knowledge about the pathophysiology, more efficient testing, more PPE, an uprooting and great revealing of the need for prioritization of health …

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Debunking the myth of the doctor car

Finance
March 14, 2021

Everyone knows about the doctor car. Doctors know about it. Non-doctors know about it. Other than the doctor house, it is the symbol of medicinal consumerism.

But today, my friends, I am going to completely debunk the doctor car myth!

What is the doctor car myth?

This car myth states that a doctor must have a fancy car to legitimize herself or himself as a physician.

To drive a fancy car is to show that …

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End the draconian hospital visitation policies during COVID-19 [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 13, 2021
YouTube video

“At the start of the pandemic when hospitals were overrun, testing and PPE were scarce, and unknowns about COVID-19 transmission abound, such restrictions were reasonable, perhaps even essential. But we have made progress since then; most hospitals test most if not all admitted patients for COVID-19; most Americans own a mask, …

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My Shot! A COVID vaccine adaptation

Video
March 13, 2021

Vax’n 8, a group of physicians from Northern California working in a variety of specialties in medicine, are proud to present “My Shot!”, a song adapted from the hit Broadway show Hamilton.

“My Shot” addresses the social, scientific, and political issues currently affecting the decision to receive the vaccine against the virus SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19.

While we completely respect everyone’s freedom of choice, we as a group of physicians support …

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What this physician says to vaccine-doubters [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 12, 2021
YouTube video

“A scientific achievement can never have success on its own unless if it has acceptance in the social context by the masses. I think that the concerns brought forward by the vaccine-doubters cannot be dismissed as ignorance, and it is hard to convince people. As a physician, it is not uncommon that I see a patient become indecisive and anxious about various treatment decisions facing them. I don’t …

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Could a glass of wine diagnose long COVID?

Conditions
March 12, 2021

Acute COVID-19 infection ranges from no symptoms (asymptomatic) to life-threatening.  What about long COVID (the symptoms occurring more than three weeks after infection, also known as post-acute COVID syndrome)?  Could there be thousands of people with “mild” long COVID who don’t know it? Could there be legions of people with new low-energy levels being misdiagnosed as depressed, stressed, having a sleep disorder, or being labeled “lazy”?  The inability to tolerate …

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Addiction medicine during COVID-19 [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 11, 2021
YouTube video

“The rapid change-over to telemedicine in March of 2020 brought predictable challenges to health care at large and substance use disorder treatment in particular: patients without the skill set to navigate HIPAA-compliant apps, phones with too little smarts to handle video conferencing, lack of connectivity in rural and economically depressed …

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Congratulations, you matched! Now what?

Physician
March 11, 2021

One of the best feelings medical students must have is the day they match into a residency training program. This day will end an era and starts another. During those few months before July 1st, all medical students go through this phase of mental transitioning from the medical student to the resident. This transitioning process varies in its depth and complexity depending on each student and their environment. Some take …

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Did TIME’S UP Healthcare give false hope to health care workers?

Physician
March 11, 2021

I do not usually write on this subject. I avoid talking about it also. Not because I do not have what to say but rather because of numerous disturbing memories and experiences since childhood that I intentionally avoid remembering. Events of the last week involving TIME’S UP Healthcare pushed me to write this text.

I come from a society that normalized all forms of female abuse. From …

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Using technology for behavioral health integration [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 10, 2021
YouTube video

“While behavioral health integration (BHI) has been a long-standing conversation in collaborative care or health’s team-based approach, it hasn’t always been clearly defined and rarely means more than referring a patient in need to a specialist. The biggest shift over the past twenty years has simply been recognizing just how vital behavioral …

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