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Federal graduate-loan caps threaten rural health care access

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. …

The economics of medical weight loss

Howard Smith, MD

Meds

December 11, 2025

Most know me for my insights about medical malpractice litigation. However, ever since the 2000s, my practice has focused on medical weight loss management, and I have developed other insights. I developed these insights as a private practitioner, as an employee of a medical weight loss clinic, which may have gone out of business because it no longer has a public persona, and as a general contractor for a weight …

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The economics of medical weight loss

How algorithmic bias created a mental health crisis [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

December 10, 2025

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

Health care executive Ronke Lawal discusses her article, “Digital mental health’s $20 billion blind spot.” Ronke explains how the booming digital mental health industry is systematically failing 40 percent of the U.S. …

Why true leadership in medicine must be learned and earned

Ronald L. Lindsay, MD

Physician

December 10, 2025

I learned about leadership from my father as a child. My father enlisted in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and went through basic training. He was a “slick sleeve,” no rank insignia on his shirt sleeve as an Airman Basic. It took him the bare minimum of time, five years, to be promoted to technical sergeant because of his skills in electronics. The USAF selected him for Officers Training School. …

What is shared truth and why does it matter?

Kayvan Haddadan, MD

Physician

December 10, 2025

In our diverse world, where everyone sees things through their own lens, shaped by life experiences, beliefs, and facts, chasing after one absolute “truth” often sparks arguments instead of solutions. But what if we aimed for something better: a “shared truth”? This is about coming together, respecting each other’s opinions, and teaming up to find common ground that works for everyone. It’s like turning a debate into a friendly conversation, …

Reflecting on the significance of World AIDS Day from the 1980s to now

American College of Physicians

Conditions

December 10, 2025

What is the significance of World AIDS Day?

While pondering this question, many memories came flooding back. As a medical student in 1985, I was given the option to go into the room of a patient with pneumonia who was infected …

Why the cannabis ethics debate is really about human suffering

Gerald Kuo

Meds

December 10, 2025

Most discussions about cannabis stay on the surface: legality, crime, or medical claims. But the core question is this: What suffering does a society allow? After watching a recent documentary with police, lawyers, physicians, and families, I found cannabis is the stage. The real drama is the system behind it. When ethics is pushed far, inconsistencies become impossible to ignore.

1. Legal ethics: When the law punishes pain instead of harm

Some …

Why fee-for-service reform is needed

Sarah Matt, MD, MBA

Physician

December 10, 2025

You just saved a patient an emergency room visit with a three-minute portal message. You reviewed their connected blood pressure cuff data, saw a concerning trend, and tweaked their medication. It was efficient, high-quality, proactive care.

Your reward? Zero dollars.

Worse than that, your contribution was invisible. It didn’t count toward your productivity. It didn’t show up on a dashboard. In the eyes of our current health care system, that high-value interaction …

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Why fee-for-service reform is needed

Experts applaud the FDA hormone therapy decision to remove boxed warnings

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian

Conditions

December 10, 2025

As a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner (MSCP), I strongly support the recent FDA decision to remove the boxed warnings from FDA-approved estrogen therapies. For decades, these warnings created unnecessary fear and confusion for women and clinicians alike. They were based on early interpretations of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) that we now understand were overstated, misapplied, and widely misinterpreted.

The new FDA stance aligns with The Menopause Society guidelines and what …

The commercialization of the medical profession

Edmond Cabbabe, MD

Physician

December 10, 2025

The medical profession has gone through major changes from the days-past to present days. The transition from quackery to science, and from role assuming or inheriting to regulated graduate and postgraduate education.

The changes took place over centuries, but the most notable evolution in medical knowledge and training took place in the last couple of centuries and continues to evolve. Evolves may be used to describe positive as well as negative …

Daily chemical exposure timing and your fertility [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

December 9, 2025

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

Fertility specialist Oluyemisi (Yemi) Famuyiwa discusses her article, “How timing affects chemical exposure risks.” Yemi introduces her fascinating concept of “chrono-exposomics,” explaining how the time of day you are exposed to environmental …

Why feeling unlike yourself is a sign of physician emotional overload

Stephanie Wellington, MD

Physician

December 9, 2025

Busy physicians are moving so quickly we almost never stop long enough to acknowledge the subtle ways medicine reshapes us. But every physician I’ve ever coached, including myself, can name a moment when they didn’t quite feel like themselves. Maybe it was:

An answer that came out sharper than intended.
A conversation where you noticed your patience had run thin.
A heaviness that you replay over and over on your …
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Why feeling unlike yourself is a sign of physician emotional overload

A doctor on high-functioning alcoholism

Jeff Herten, MD

Physician

December 9, 2025

For decades, I practiced medicine as a dermatologist and dermatopathologist, serving patients and teaching medical students at UC Irvine. I believed I could recognize addiction when I saw it. I was always alert for signs, such as the patient whose story didn’t quite match the evidence, or whose habits hinted at something deeper.

When alcohol came up in conversation, I learned early to quietly double whatever amount the patient reported; experience …

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A doctor on high-functioning alcoholism

How medical students can handle vaccine hesitancy in pediatrics

Adam Zbib

Education

December 9, 2025

“Explain a time you faced vaccine hesitancy and how you handled it.” As a fourth-year medical student applying for pediatric residency, this question came up often in interviews. It is an experience that almost every medical professional has encountered, even early in training. The first story that came to mind was from my newborn nursery rotation during my third year of medical school.

I met a first-time mother who had just …

How to manage intraoperative pain during C-section deliveries

Megan Rosenstein, MD, MBA & The Doctors Company

Conditions

December 9, 2025

A cesarean section, or C-section, is one of the most common surgeries in the United States. In 2023, 32.3 percent of live births were cesarean deliveries, while 67.7 percent were vaginal deliveries, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Pain during cesarean delivery under neuraxial anesthesia (regional anesthesia including spinal and epidural anesthesia) is a recognized clinical …

Why polio eradication needs sanitation

Shirley Sarah Dadson

Conditions

December 9, 2025

Before a doctor ever diagnoses a child with acute flaccid paralysis, the culprit leaves definitive clues in the sewer. At the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, we spin bottles of wastewater in the centrifuge, pH-balance, and look for these clues. Their presence signals the return of an enemy we once thought we had defeated.

For decades, the world has rallied around the dream of eradication, the triumphant declaration that humanity …

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Why polio eradication needs sanitation

An allegory for the broken U.S. health care system

Bhargav Raman, MD, MBA

Physician

December 9, 2025

A Guide and a Seeker walk into a bar.

The Seeker says, “I’m so glad I’m here, I’ve been searching far and wide for good beer to slake my thirst, and you, my Guide, have finally brought me here!”

The Guide says, “Ah, I know just the thing. I’ll get you some Dos Equis. A merchant’s representative told me it’s the most interesting beer in the world!”

The Guide tries to order a …

Why lifestyle change advice from doctors fails

Monzur Morshed, MD and Kaysan Morshed

Conditions

December 9, 2025

At the end of a clinic visit, the conversation often turns to lifestyle: eat healthier, exercise more, cut back on alcohol, sleep better. Patients nod, agree, and walk out the door.

And too often, little changes.

Why does advice that seems so straightforward rarely stick? The answer lies in the gap between medical instruction and human behavior.

The limits of good intentions

Research has shown that simply giving advice is rarely enough. A 2019 …

Understanding the cracked pot theory of a medical legacy [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

December 8, 2025

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

Psychiatrist and author Arthur Lazarus discusses his article, “Finding integrity at the end of a career.” Arthur shares the poignant narrative of Dr. Raul Morales, a community internist facing retirement with a …

Blackballing in medicine: a physician’s story

Ronald L. Lindsay, MD

Physician

December 8, 2025

Medicine remembers data but forgets voices. I learned this between 1999 and 2003, when I was quietly fired and branded as someone who had “burned too many bridges.” That label was projection, not a critique of my science. My work within the national research network remains foundational to current clinical guidelines, and my training-grant application ranked near the top of all those submitted. Yet the whisper of “bridge-burning” became the …

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