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Patients over paperwork: Medicare has delivered lower costs and regulatory relief for health care providers

Policy

October 28, 2020

The COVID-19 public health emergency has highlighted that government rules and regulations should not hinder providers from delivering high-quality care to patients. The Trump Administration exhibited an understanding of this principle long before the pandemic when it announced the Cut the Red Tape initiative in 2017. With a healthcare system marked by $200 billion in annual administrative costs that contributes to higher costs for patients and …

To better take care of patients, we need to take care of ourselves [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 27, 2020

“I wonder what keeps us physicians going? What makes us show up to work every day? Even though it might sound clichéd, for most of us, it’s the love for medicine; it’s the love to be there and still be able to make a difference. And maybe money too. Here I have some self-help tips/tools that could potentially help us through …

5 life lessons COVID-19 has taught me

Christine Lau, MD

Physician

October 27, 2020

During this past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has turned our lives upside down and changed not just the way we live and work but also how we think and behave. Every part of the world has been affected, and every aspect of life has been impacted. Our everyday routines were brought to a stop, and any sense of normalcy was lost. While we stop and look at the world around …

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5 life lessons COVID-19 has taught me

Search engine optimization for physicians [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 26, 2020

“What is SEO? In short, it is the process of optimizing content found online in order to help it be seen by those searching for the information found in that content. It used to be that people would just stuff their poorly written, short, and low-quality blog posts with their keyword, and they would rank for that keyword. Long gone are …

Doctors for truth: Fighting for trust in an era of misinformation

Rob Palmer, Aaron Snyder, MD, and Shantel Hebert-Magee, MD, MPH

Conditions

October 26, 2020

I read on social media that sea moss gel is supposed to cure coronavirus. Do I still need to wear a mask?

It’s hard to imagine physicians being deceptive to patients about matters of life and death. Yet, the politicization of health care coverage, COVID-19, disparities in health outcomes, and women’s health rights has severely fractured the relationship between health officials and the American public. Prior to the pandemic, …

Do police officers get jaded over time, just like a lot of physicians do?

Karen Tran-Harding, MD

Physician

October 26, 2020

For many years and in disturbing frequency over the past few years, police brutality has been a big-ticket issue. The excessive use of force has led to innumerable acts of civil rights violation and, most tragically, the disproportionate death and destruction of innocent Black lives. There have been many debates on what to do to change law enforcement culture. But what has been weighing on my mind is …

How coaching prevents and treats physician burnout [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 25, 2020

“Physicians are advocates of health. This must include our own. Physicians identify threats to health. This must include those that threaten our own – burnout is proven a grave threat. Physicians seek, prescribe, and perform curative treatments. We have the treatment for burnout available – we must prescribe it for each other and seek it for ourselves. Physicians advocate for vaccination …

3 coronavirus facts Americans must know before returning to work and school [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 24, 2020

“We can’t un-bungle our nation’s COVID-19 response. Political leaders acted too slowly; health agencies committed unforced errors with testing kits and, amid the confusion, an information fog settled over the land.

Americans remain afraid, perplexed, and chronically misinformed (despite wall-to-wall coronavirus coverage across the leading cable news programs and print publications).

To counter the uncertainty, any plan to get us out of the coronavirus crisis …

How doctors are losing money every time a patient pays a bill

Jennifer Mogan, MD

Finance

October 24, 2020

A practicing anesthesiologist for the past 14 years, when COVID hit, and the ORs came to an abrupt halt, I needed to occupy my mind. An opportunity to learn about the business behind running a practice came to me via a good friend who is a founding member of an award-winning Fintech on a mission to make a change in the credit card processing industry. I was stunned to learn …

Unconscious bias in the operating room

Edward Riley, MD

Physician

October 24, 2020

Our obstetric anesthesia team sat down to debrief after a particularly harrowing case. We had just replaced our patient’s blood volume twice over after she went into labor with a placenta previa accompanied by a placenta accreta. The operating room had been the usual controlled chaotic scene of multiple teams intensely focused on their responsibilities. It was noisy. Too noisy. I had to remind everyone to restrict themselves to essential …

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Unconscious bias in the operating room

A terminal diagnosis for my baby [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 23, 2020

“Eventually, this thankfully passed. Now, almost three years later, I know that this loss will always be with us. Miriam was beautiful, she was our only girl, she was perfect for our family, and she’s always missing.

Still, my memories of being in the hospital are incredibly sad but also peaceful. In part, this is due to the incredible support and love …

Will reading Tolstoy make you a better doctor?

Charlotte Botz

Education

October 23, 2020

In an increasingly technology-oriented world, genuine human connection is becoming rarer. Physicians are taught to emotionally disassociate from their patients for mental self-protection. This detachment can result in a loss of human connection between a doctor and patient, which may interfere with patient health outcomes. Studying great literature, such as Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, allows health care professionals to adopt the patient perspective and gain insight into how …

A DO’s take on the FIGS faux pas

Kristina Scanlan, DO

Physician

October 23, 2020

Most health care providers are aware of the FIGS scrubs advertisement that depicted a female physician with a DO badge holding a Medical Terminology for Dummies book upside down. In one fell swoop, FIGS enraged the entire medical community causing backlash towards their company. This ad mocking female osteopathic physicians sparked outrage. Many in health care have vowed not to purchase FIGS, prompting the #boycottFIGS response posted as a result …

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A DO’s take on the FIGS faux pas

A physician experiences unprofessional behavior. What happened next? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 22, 2020

“Setting: An impersonal, windowless conference room within a hospital

Characters: A nurse in charge (NIC), a department chair (DC) and me (ME)

NIC: Thank you for joining us to discuss the report you made of unprofessional behavior in the operating room. We’d like to start by letting you know that in this institution, we have a culture of informality. When I first got here, …

Telehealth is the future but it is obscured by a dismal present [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 21, 2020

“Will the unfavorable regulatory environment permit telehealth to flourish? Perforce we’re beginning to see a relaxation of restrictions that have hitherto obstructed progress. Recently, federal officials approved interstate licensing, thereby prompting greater telehealth conversion, utilization, and expansion. Medicare’s 1135 Waiver is also encouraging, and, in as much as it serves the same ends, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s leave to prescribe via …

Why we’ll never eradicate malignancy in medical training

Anonymous

Physician

October 21, 2020

For a bunch of folks striving to stomp out malignant processes in our patients, we sure tolerate a fair amount of destructive behavior among training programs.

I’ll be the first to say I’m not the most delicate flower in the garden. Before pursuing medicine, I was a college athlete. I’m no stranger to long hours, harsh coaches, or repeated failures.

Medical students get their first bitter taste of malignant …

The issue of tie-downs in the emergency department

Elizabeth L. Mitchell, MD

Physician

October 21, 2020

During a typically busy Saturday evening shift in the emergency department (ED), I am summoned to the trauma room for a “tie-down,” an agitated patient needing restraints. I find the entrance choked with police officers and push my way through to see the patient. Once there, I see a large, young appearing Black man lying on his back, his hands cuffed tightly together on his stomach, a netted hood over …

Can what you eat worsen your ADHD? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 20, 2020

“Suzy was a bright and hardworking student. However, even though she was conscientious and generally cheery, her grades began to fall during her senior year, and she started to feel depressed. She also constantly had an upset stomach, which she had just accepted as a way of life. She’d had an ADHD diagnosis since she was younger, but while Ritalin had …

“You’re fired”: 2 words this doctor never expected to hear

Brian Rifkin, MD

Physician

October 20, 2020

It took me 47 years to hear those two devastating words, “You’re fired.”

It’s not like I didn’t have a slew of jobs before becoming a physician. I cut lawns and raked leaves as an early teen; I worked in a fast-food restaurant when I was 14 using my older brother’s ID, I worked in a carwash one summer, I even worked for a national department store. I was always polite, …

Sexual offender treatment during COVID-19 [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

October 19, 2020

“Let’s not suffer more hardship then already incurred by COVID-19. Recognizing that both the psychosocial stressors arising from COVID-19 and the withdrawal of effective sexual offender treatment increase the risk of sexual violence, public safety demands that offenders have access to treatment. Without sexual offender treatment during COVID-19, we exchange one public health crisis for another.”

Renée Sorrentino is …

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