KevinMD.com

Why smoking is the top cause of bladder cancer

Conditions

December 13, 2025

Bladder cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide, yet it often receives far less attention than other smoking-related cancers. According to the GLOBOCAN global cancer fact sheet, bladder cancer is among the top 10 most frequently diagnosed cancers globally, with more than half a million new cases diagnosed each year worldwide. It occurs significantly more often in men than in women, and the risk rises steadily with …

Why AI in medicine elevates humanity instead of replacing it

Tod Stillson, MD

Tech

December 13, 2025

When I trained in medicine, the learning path was predictable. Long nights of memorizing anatomy. Standing beside seasoned physicians in hospital hallways. Slowly absorbing the craft of diagnosis through repetition and proximity. It was an apprenticeship built on pattern recognition, intuition, and accumulated wisdom.

What I did not learn was how to practice medicine in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. That education came much later. It arrived quietly at …

Accountable care cooperatives: a community-owned health care fix

David K. Cundiff, MD

Policy

December 13, 2025

After the longest government shutdown in U.S. history (one triggered by battles over health care funding) the core issue remains unresolved. Neither political party has produced a durable solution. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) projects U.S. health care spending will reach nearly $9 trillion by 2035, consuming 20 percent to 22 percent of GDP. The Congressional Budget Office projects that without significant changes in policy, …

Why physician business literacy matters

Kelly Bain, MD

Physician

December 13, 2025

Most physicians practicing medicine today were trained to diagnose and treat patients, not to navigate one of the most complex industries in the world, an industry characterized by ever-changing payer contracts, evolving reimbursement structures, complex and sometimes mystifying coding, and challenging operational realities. Despite the lack of training, these same physicians and providers are leading multimillion-dollar businesses and are expected by their health systems to reduce costs, improve outcomes, and …

Read more…

Why physician business literacy matters

New data reveals the massive pay gap for women ER doctors [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

December 12, 2025

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

Emergency physician Resa E. Lewiss and health care executive Jake Horowitz discuss their article, “Why women ER doctors earn $21,000 less than men.” They reveal staggering new data that shatters the myth …

How regulations restrict long-term care workers in Taiwan

Gerald Kuo

Conditions

December 12, 2025

Last month, a daughter called our care center in panic. Her mother, who lives with early dementia and mobility problems, needed support immediately. She had already contacted five agencies. All of them gave the same answer: “We have caregivers, but they are not allowed to work here.”

Not because the workers lacked skills. Not because the families were difficult. But because recent regulations now restrict long-term care workers to a single …

A physician’s tribute to his medical technologist wife

Ronald L. Lindsay, MD

Physician

December 12, 2025

At a northern U.S. Air Force base, it did not take long for the hospital administration to realize that the Red Cross volunteer in pediatrics (my late wife Kathy) was no ordinary civilian. With her two-year degree in medical technology and a bachelor’s in biology, plus board certification through the American Society for Clinical Pathology, Kathy quickly caught the attention of Capt. Humphries, the chief of the hospital laboratory.

Unlike most …

Does medical training change your personality?

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

December 12, 2025

Something very distinctive happens once students complete medical school and residency: some of them start acting like excrement. Not all, but enough that most of us have witnessed the transformation. Maybe you’ve noticed it in your mentees, or in the children of friends and colleagues who went into medicine. Maybe, uncomfortably, you’ve wondered if it happened to your own children. And, if you’re like me, reflecting at the tail end …

Why U.S. health care costs so much

Ruhi Saldanha

Policy

December 12, 2025

The U.S. has the lowest health care quality ranking compared to other high-income countries. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the U.S. spent approximately $4.9 trillion on health care in 2023. This means that almost one out of every five dollars spent in the U.S. goes towards health services. Despite this high spending, the U.S. consistently has a lower life expectancy compared …

Read more…

Why U.S. health care costs so much

Why the expiration of ACA enhanced subsidies threatens health care access

Sandya Venugopal, MD and Tina Bharani, MD

Policy

December 12, 2025

Just over 40 days into the longest government shutdown in American history, the rope snapped. The enhanced premium tax credits that kept 22 million Americans insured will expire on December 31, 2025. Premiums are soaring, protections are vanishing, and the safety net is unraveling. Americans are already reeling from gutted SNAP benefits. Now they’re losing health care coverage too. The Congress has made it clear that the most vulnerable are …

The crisis of doctor suicide in Australia

Dr. Sonia Henry

Physician

December 12, 2025

This morning, I woke up to a message from a friend that he had seen on social media a colleague he went to university with had, a few days ago, died by suicide. Last week, I had an email in my inbox from a young doctor in a training program informing me four of their trainee colleagues in the last 24 months have died by suicide. The week before, my …

Why malpractice insurance isn’t enough

Clint Coons, Esq

Finance

December 12, 2025

A few months ago, I received a call from a frustrated surgeon.

It wasn’t about a malpractice claim; he was covered there. The problem was that his teenage son had totaled the family car. Nobody was seriously hurt, thankfully, but the other driver’s attorney was already sniffing around his assets. He told me, “Clint, this can’t touch my house or savings, right? I have medical malpractice insurance.”

That’s when I had to …

Read more…

Why malpractice insurance isn’t enough

Alzheimer’s link with insulin resistance [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

December 11, 2025

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

Psychiatrist, internist, and addiction medicine specialist Muhamad Aly Rifai discusses his article, “How insulin resistance may cause Alzheimer’s disease.” Muhamad introduces the paradigm-shifting concept of Alzheimer’s as “Type 3 diabetes,” arguing that …

Why good medicine still requires strong safeguards

MagMutual

The obesity care gap for U.S. women

Eliza Chin, MD, MPH, Kathryn Schubert, MPP, Millicent Gorham, PhD, MBA, Elizabeth Battaglino, RN-C, and Ramsey Alwin

Conditions

December 11, 2025

More than 40 percent of U.S. women live with obesity, yet about 3 percent of individuals eligible for treatment actually receive evidence-based medical care. The reasons for this gap are numerous: limited insurance coverage, lack of diagnosis, sociodemographic barriers, and deep-seated stigma. As a result, a condition that is both preventable and treatable continues to fuel a growing public health crisis for women.

Once viewed as only a lifestyle issue, we …

Read more…

The obesity care gap for U.S. women

Why extending ACA subsidies is crucial for health care access

Curt Dill, MD

Policy

December 11, 2025

When Americans decide something is right, political inertia does not prevent us from acting, and now is the time for health care. Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 60 percent of Americans had employer-sponsored coverage, 20 percent relied on public programs, and the remaining 20 percent had to obtain insurance on their own, a difficult task because the individual market was unsustainable. But the ACA stabilized these issues by expanding …

What heals is the mercy of being heard

Michele Luckenbaugh

Conditions

December 11, 2025

There are pauses in life
that stretch like thin threads
between two cliffs
fragile, invisible,
yet holding everything that matters.

In those long silences
when the air thickens
and the mind becomes
a loud companion,
I wonder
are these pauses gifts of grace,
spaces to gather courage,
a chance to map the next step forward?

Or are they doorways through which
fear seeps in
and takes its seat inside my chest?

The world rushes on, demanding answers
before the question
has even settled in my heart,
results before thinking,
certainties …

Read more…

What heals is the mercy of being heard

Physician night shifts: Analyzing the financial and personal trade-offs

Rob Anderson, MD

Finance

December 11, 2025

I once promised myself confidently, and with the full arrogance of a seasoned attending, that I would never sleep another night in a hospital. I’d done my time. I’d earned my daylight. But life has a way of calling your bluff. A few years later, everything had shifted. I was divorced. My kids were older and more independent. My clinical career had settled into something comfortable, but predictable. I found …

Why police need Parkinson’s disease training

George Ackerman, PhD, JD, MBA

Conditions

December 11, 2025

As innovations and changes develop in the police field, new areas and populations, including PwP, must be included. More than 1 million cases of Parkinson’s disease are predicted in the U.S. by 2030. PD is the fastest-growing neurological disorder in the world. According to the World Health Organization, “globally, disability due to PD is rapidly increasing,” which can precipitate more encounters between law enforcement and PwP worldwide. The current article …

Federal graduate-loan caps threaten rural health care access

Kenneth Botelho, DMSc, PA-C

Education

December 11, 2025

I work with many aspiring clinicians from rural communities, and their stories tend to follow the same pattern: deep commitment, strong community roots, and a determination to return home and practice primary care. These are the students who keep rural towns alive.

Lately, many are telling me something I have never heard at this scale: “I don’t think I’ll be able to afford to become a clinician.”

This isn’t about unrealistic expectations. …