When leadership turns defensive: the impact of workplace paranoia on professionalism

Conditions
April 15, 2025

Leadership in any industry, especially in health care, demands a delicate balance of trust, ethical judgment, and professionalism. However, when leaders view collaboration through a lens of suspicion, assuming that employees are conspiring against them, it can lead to a culture of distrust and unprofessional behavior. This article delves into the psychological and ethical aspects of such behavior, its impact on workplace dynamics, and practical strategies for navigating these challenging …

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How to build a culture where physicians feel valued [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 14, 2025
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Health care executive Jeffry A. Peters discusses his article “Ending physicians’ addiction to unhappiness,” focusing on the systemic factors fueling widespread dissatisfaction among doctors. Jeffry outlines how declining reimbursement, increased patient volume, …

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AI in health care: the black box of prior authorization

Tech
April 14, 2025

Amidst the recent news about the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO, the issue of prior authorization has come to the forefront again. Insurance companies use prior authorization as an easy tool to control the costs and incorporate it as a genuine step of the health care delivery process. The recent trend is to use AI (artificial intelligence) for prior authorizations. AI offers several advantages over human workers, further saving time and …

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From the other side of the table: a plea for empathy

Conditions
April 14, 2025

Unless you’ve lived it,
you can’t fully understand.

We’ve all cared for patients with cancer. We’ve delivered hard news, sat beside bedsides, explained scan results, and offered hope when we could. We’ve been the calm in the storm. That’s what we were trained to do.

But being on the other side of the table changes everything.

When you become the patient, the world shifts beneath you. Suddenly, you’re the one in the gown, lying …

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From healers to influencers: How fear took over health care advice

Physician
April 14, 2025

How or when did physicians move from being teachers and healers who comfort and ease fear and pain to fear-inducing informational social media establishments?

I am a huge fan of sharing information and using tools and technology to do so with a larger audience. After all, our office or operating room are no longer the only venue where we can impact patients.

However, why have so many turned to fear-inducing videos, posts, …

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Managing social media for better teen mental health [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 13, 2025
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Child psychiatrist Ellen K. Feldman discusses her article “How social media is shaping teen mental health and what we can do about it,” highlighting the growing concerns about social media’s impact on …

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The role of contingency management in addiction treatment

Conditions
April 13, 2025

Before leaving office, the Biden administration increased the annual cap for Medicaid-reimbursed contingency management (an evidence-based psychosocial intervention) as part of an individual’s addiction treatment. This move demonstrates what I have seen in my own practice: Contingency management drives results when it comes to treating substance use disorder.

Despite the evidence and fact that every individual living with substance use disorder (SUD) requires a unique approach to treatment for …

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When saving a child isn’t possible: a heartbreaking day in the ED

Physician
April 13, 2025

Sometimes doing what we do is so hard. We get intimately involved in our patients’ lives, and instead of maintaining a clinical distance, you get sucked into the drama that has unfolded in their lives—the very events that bring them to the ED on this day. Then there’s a great difficulty in not judging, in not letting what you learn about them affect you or distract you from doing the …

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Why more medical students are leaving medicine before residency [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 12, 2025
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Medical student Christopher Nmai discusses his article, “Leaving medicine is not a failure: It might be the change you always needed.” Christopher shares his deeply personal decision to forgo residency and explore …

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4 strategies to boost your medical practice’s profitability

Physician
April 12, 2025

Physicians, practices, and other health care providers seem to face a continual decline in reimbursements. According to an AMA analysis, inflation-adjusted Medicare reimbursement rates for physicians dropped 22 percent from 2001 to 2021, and insurers of Affordable Care Act plans denied 17 percent of in-network claims in 2021.

The gut reaction is often to increase growth, but that brings on problems of its own, like reduced profitability from increased overhead and …

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What Avarie’s death in Rome teaches us about the gaps in food allergy education

Conditions
April 12, 2025

I’ve just returned from the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Conference in Michigan, an inspiring confluence of advocacy, research, and business, all focused on one shared mission: Improving the lives of those living with food allergies. I’ve been attending food allergy research forums around the world for over a decade, and I can honestly say the momentum and possibilities in this field have never been more exciting. We’re …

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Leaving medicine is not a failure: It might be the change you always needed

Education
April 12, 2025

Four rigorous years, filled with countless long days and nights of education, is often just the beginning for most medical trainees. The Match and subsequent residency await on the horizon. It is the norm in health care, and very few stray from that path. But medicine is a long and arduous path, one that can take its toll on trainees and physicians alike.

As I entered my final year …

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How moving abroad eased my allergies

Conditions
April 12, 2025

A personal discovery

“I used to have respiratory allergies back home, but since I moved to Málaga, they didn’t bother me anymore,” a patient answered to the usual question, “Do you have any allergies?” during a checkup in my occupational medicine practice. He was from India, and he had moved to Málaga two years before our talk. He was the fourth patient within a month telling me the same story (before …

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Why health care workers deserve more than a thank you [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 11, 2025
YouTube video

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Anesthesiologist Colleen Naglee discusses her article, “We should tip health care workers too.” Colleen reflects on the rise of tipping culture in everyday services and questions why health care workers—who risk violence, …

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The modern health care professional: How to combine skills from different fields to redefine your career

Physician
April 11, 2025

Gone are the days when careers followed linear paths and job titles neatly fit into predefined boxes. Today’s health care industry celebrates versatility, and hybrid professionals are redefining what it means to succeed. A hybrid health care professional combines skills and expertise from different fields, blending knowledge to create unique value in the health care space. Whether you’re a nurse with coding skills, a doctor with a passion for data …

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C. Everett Koop takes the lead, seeking specialty recognition

Policy
April 11, 2025

An excerpt from Dr. Koop: The Many Lives of the Surgeon General.

“I was the salesman for pediatric surgery. I have the knack of talking to an audience and convincing [them] about what I’m saying is true.”
– CEK

The early 1950s witnessed an extraordinary burst of professional activity on the part of the young surgeon, still in his 30s, as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) …

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We should tip health care workers too

Physician
April 11, 2025

I was checking into a hotel the other day and noticed a QR code to tip the front desk staff. In an era where we book online, check in online, and check out online, I am not exactly sure where that tip request comes from. Tipping culture has crossed a line. We can now thank anyone in the service industry with an easy Venmo payment.

And now I …

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Human trafficking isn’t what you think: Why education is key to stopping it

Policy
April 11, 2025

The recent focus on the Canada-U.S. border has led to frequent confusion between human smuggling and human trafficking. Smuggling involves people moving across international borders. In most cases, irregular migrants who are smuggled into the country consent to assistance. Human trafficking, on the other hand, involves the exploitation of people for sex or labor through coercion, regardless of geographic movement.

Continued conflation of these terms will undoubtedly harm anti-human trafficking efforts …

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Why health care is collapsing under corporate greed [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 10, 2025
YouTube video

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Family nurse practitioner Bettina Reed discusses her article, “The hidden crisis in health care: How corporate greed is destroying patient care.” Drawing from four decades of experience across hospitals, private practices, FQHCs, …

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The shocking silence of top law firms on frivolous medical lawsuits

Physician
April 10, 2025

Every year, there are 85,000 medical malpractice lawsuits, of which 66.6 percent are frivolous. In the course of my endeavor to remedy frivolous medical malpractice claims, I introduce myself to 50 of the nation’s most prestigious medical malpractice law firms, both plaintiff and defense firms. I make it known that I have developed a risk management process. I make contact to explore the possibility of collaborating with them in some …

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