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How medical malpractice cases reveal health care system flaws

Physician

May 7, 2026

Again, I must discuss two cases of medical malpractice which I feel best demonstrate the quagmire our health care system finds itself in. One is a medical malpractice case against a hospital. It follows that this case also has a merit of only 33.48 percent. Nevertheless, there is a legal strategy that tips the scale by not permitting testimony discussing conditions occurring in another country, where the first 17 …

Why we must fix our fragmented health care system architecture

Vance Alm, MD

Physician

May 7, 2026

Last year I watched a patient of mine, I will call him Raymond, navigate what should have been a straightforward referral to cardiology. He had insurance. Good insurance. The kind politicians point to when they say the system is working. It took 11 weeks, four phone calls, two prior authorizations, and one emergency department (ED) visit to get him seen. He was not uninsured. He was not poor. He was …

5 questions to ask before you choose a credentialing service

GetPracticeHelp

Finance

May 7, 2026

Credentialing mistakes are expensive before they are visible

Credentialing problems usually look administrative until the revenue gap appears. A new practice may be open, staffed, leased, insured, and ready for patients, but one missing payer panel can cut off a revenue stream for a quarter or more.

The timeline is not small. Payer enrollment commonly takes 90 to 180 days. For a practice carrying rent, software, payroll, malpractice coverage, phones, internet, marketing, …

Prior authorization during surgery is not oversight

Steven E. Warren, MD, DPA

Physician

May 7, 2026

She was forty-eight years old and had already been through enough.

Her uterus had prolapsed. If you have not heard the term, let me be plain. The uterus had descended through the vaginal opening. It was outside her body. This is not a metaphor and it is not a minor complaint. It is a complete structural failure of the pelvic floor that turns walking, sitting, and basic dignity into a daily …

California’s governor race is missing a health care plan

Kayvan Haddadan, MD

Policy

May 7, 2026

As California gears up for its gubernatorial primaries and debates, the familiar issues dominate the conversation: housing affordability, crime, taxes, and economic pressures. Health care surfaces, but rarely as a central priority with concrete, actionable solutions. Candidates offer broad strokes on affordability or protecting programs from federal changes, yet the crushing realities of escalating costs, physician shortages, regulatory burdens, and a system skewed against preventive, relationship-centered care receive little more …

How ambient artificial intelligence can transform team-based care

Matt Sakumoto, MD

Tech

May 7, 2026

For years, the conversation around burnout has centered on physicians, and more recently, ambient artificial intelligence (AI) has been positioned as a solution to reduce after-hours charting and reclaim time from the electronic health record (EHR). But as these tools gain traction, a gap is becoming harder to ignore: Many are designed for a single user, even as care is delivered across teams and workflows that extend well beyond the …

The emotional impact of infertility is grief unspoken

Oluyemisi Famuyiwa, MD

Conditions

May 7, 2026

Long before in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics, fertility apps, hormone testing, or egg freezing, women understood that fertility carried social meaning far beyond biology.

In 19th-century Yorubaland, a woman named Efunsetan Aniwura rose to become one of the most powerful figures in Ibadan history. She was wealthy, influential, politically connected, and held the prestigious title of Iyalode, a leadership position reserved for prominent women in society. Yet historical accounts and Yoruba …

Why individualized menopause care matters today

Kari Waddell, FNP

Conditions

May 7, 2026

In the past, women in menopause were brushed aside and told that their symptoms were “just stress” or a “natural part of aging.” Implicit in this message was the expectation that women were to push through this transition and endure its symptoms on their own without support. Now, the pendulum has swung and this midlife transition is finally getting some attention. The problem now is that this newfound medical attention …

Patients don’t need certainty, they need your reasoning out loud [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 6, 2026

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

What if the biggest driver of unnecessary ER visits, malpractice claims, and patient anxiety isn’t a missed diagnosis but a missed sentence? Alan P. Feren, a retired surgeon, independent physician, health care consultant, …

How vocal biomarkers are revolutionizing early detection

Kang Hsu, Jr., MD

Conditions

May 6, 2026

Early detection has always been one of medicine’s most powerful tools. The sooner we can identify cognitive, behavioral, or neurological conditions, the greater the potential benefit for patients, their caregivers, and their providers. That truth is even more pressing today. Thanks to rapid advances in artificial intelligence and speech analysis, vocal biomarkers have emerged as a fast, accurate, and non-invasive way to screen for a growing range of conditions. The …

Patient autonomy in psychiatry and the ethics of care

Wonyun Lee, MD

Physician

May 6, 2026

One of my patients, K, arrived in the United States in florid psychosis. Back in China, she worked as a housekeeper and lived independently. She took her medications reluctantly but consistently, forced upon her by her parents. After her parents passed away, she stopped her medications. She became convinced her life was being controlled by the Chinese government. In terror, she booked a ticket to the land of freedom, America. …

What hidden constraints shape clinical decisions?

Timothy Lesaca, MD

Physician

May 6, 2026

What if the biggest problem in medicine isn’t bad decisions but rather the decisions we cannot even consider?

Clinical decisions unfold through processes shaped by the environment, which determine what clinicians can notice, consider, and act on. What seems like individual reasoning is structured in advance by systemic and environmental forces.

Within this context, this paper introduces a concept that I call “invisible triage,” a preconscious process that restricts which options are …

PRP therapy protocols lack expert consensus

Francisco M. Torres, MD

Meds

May 6, 2026

As a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) physician, I have guided patients through musculoskeletal care. Recently, my focus has shifted toward regenerative medicine, particularly platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy. What began as curiosity is now a strong commitment to understanding these therapies for patients who have exhausted conventional treatments.

This new focus led me to attend an intensive weekend course with experts from orthopedics, sports medicine, PM&R, rheumatology, and pain medicine. …

Patients pay when Medicare care coordination codes go unused

Rachel Yates, RN

Conditions

May 6, 2026

In my years as an ICU nurse, I learned to recognize a pattern. The patients I cared for in trauma surgical intensive care often arrived after a cascade of preventable events. A missed medication. A symptom that went unaddressed. A follow-up appointment that never happened. By the time they reached my unit, the question was no longer how to keep them well at home. It was how to bring them …

Why physician well-being matters at every career stage

Farid Sabet-Sharghi, MD

Physician

May 6, 2026

The life of a physician is often viewed as a linear climb, a constant upward trajectory of achievement, responsibility, and endurance. But after decades in the field, I have come to realize that medicine is not a straight line. It is a series of seasons. If we fail to recognize the changing weather of our own lives, we risk arriving at the final season with broken bodies and weary minds. …

How implicit bias in health care impacts patient safety

Vidya Kollu, MD

Physician

May 6, 2026

Recently, I found myself in a place many physicians know professionally but dread personally: the waiting area outside a procedure room, this time as a mother. My six-year-old underwent what was supposed to be a simple elective procedure under general anesthesia at a day surgery center. He walked in smiling. He was put to sleep by using inhalational anesthesia through a mask. We were debriefed briefly by the ear, nose, …

Finding meaning and purpose in medical residency training

Gus W. Krucke, MD

Physician

May 6, 2026

If you have just matched into residency, the profession is about to begin shaping you in ways that are not always visible at first. You have made the right decision and chosen a life of service, one whose rewards are far greater than a bank account will ever reflect. What follows is not part of a curriculum, and it will not be captured on a slide. It is learned more …

Your waiting room does what social media cannot [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 5, 2026

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

What happens when patients from opposite ends of the political spectrum sit together in your waiting room and start talking like neighbors? Psychiatrist Farid Sabet-Sharghi explores why the medical …

Why tickborne co-infections are changing Lyme disease care

Melvin Sanicas, MD

Conditions

May 5, 2026

Tickborne diseases are the most common vector-borne infections in the U.S., and for decades Lyme disease has dominated the conversation in endemic regions. But ticks are carrying more than Lyme alone and co-infections are becoming harder to ignore. New research suggests ticks are harboring a wider mix of pathogens than previously recognized, and that co-infections are becoming an increasingly important part of the clinical picture.

A recent study published in Ecosphere …

Artificial intelligence in radiology and global health equity

Dr. Amarachi Amanda Dukor

Physician

May 5, 2026

In global conversations about the future of radiology, artificial intelligence (AI) is often positioned as the solution to the field’s most pressing challenges. From improving diagnostic accuracy to reducing physician workload, the possibilities seem extensive. Yet, as a medical student training in Nigeria, I have come to realize that the conversation around sustainability in radiology must begin much earlier, specifically at the point of access. In my training, I have …

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