Davis Liu, MD | KevinMD.com

Davis Liu is a family physician. He is the author of The Thrifty Patient – Vital Insider Tips for Saving Money and Staying Healthy and Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely. He can be reached at his self-titled site, Davis Liu, MD, and on Twitter @DavisLiuMD.

Belichick, Brady and what healthcare can learn from the Patriots

Davis Liu, MD

Physician

January 9, 2013

It is always a treat, particularly when living on the West Coast, to watch the New England Patriots football team play on national television in their home stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts. On Monday Night Football, the match-up was between the Patriots and the Houston Texans, which had the best record in the AFC and undefeated in all away road games. As previously …

Are you a thrifty patient? How to get the care you need and save money

Davis Liu, MD

Physician

January 2, 2013

It is increasingly becoming the year of the Thrifty Patient. People are paying for more medical care and are more responsible for the costs of getting that care via higher deductibles and co-pays. Patients don’t have a choice but to be involved in their care. Though the recent 2008 recession saw a decrease in overall medical and health care utilization as …

Mental illness and gun violence are a doctor’s responsibility

Davis Liu, MD

Physician

December 19, 2012

I haven’t give much thought about gun control, but since the horrific unspeakable tragedy which occurred in Sandy Hook, Connecticut where 20 children and 6 adults were killed, I like many others are. Increasingly, crime scenes are now including movie theaters, malls, and schools, places where people escape reality, find gifts, goods or services for themselves, loved ones, or friends, and …

Healthy patients always make the same error

Davis Liu, MD

Physician

December 5, 2012

Healthy patients think that they are not at risk for serious medical problems. Though maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, not smoking, and eating plenty of vegetables and fruits while limiting meat, fat, and fast foods does decrease the risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and cancer, it doesn’t completely eliminate it. The chance is there, just a …

The obstacles patients face in making the right decisions

Davis Liu, MD

Policy

November 16, 2012

New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof wrote a heartfelt piece “A Possibly Fatal Mistake” about his college roommate Scott Androes, who recently was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. His story illustrates the problem with the current health care system. It isn’t about the lack of health insurance. It’s about the obstacles all patients face in making the right decisions and the right treatment.

Something that will increasingly be …

The iron triangle of health care is not law, but an observation

Davis Liu, MD

Policy

October 26, 2012

A recent commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association titled, “The Iron Triangle of Health Care: Access, Cost, and Quality” reflected that any health care system can only optimize two of the three elements – quality, access, cost. A health care system which provides the finest quality and best access cannot do so without raising costs to unaffordable levels. An inexpensive health care system available to …

How can technology entrepreneurs disrupt health care?

Davis Liu, MD

Tech

September 17, 2012

I recently viewed health care through the lenses of a technology entrepreneur by attending the Health Innovation Summit hosted by Rock Health in San Francisco. As a practicing primary care doctor, I was inspired to hear from Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, listen to Thomas Goetz, executive editor of Wired magazine, and Dr. Tom Lee, founder of One Medical Group as well as ePocrates.

Not surprising, the most fascinating person, …

For health care to be better, doctors must lead the change

Davis Liu, MD

Physician

August 13, 2012

Recently New Yorker staff writers and best-selling authors Malcolm Gladwell and Atul Gawande addressed the question of whether the problem in health care is that patients are too reliant on doctors and don’t have the ability to make decisions. In reading between the lines, is that the reason health care is not affordable and care not commoditized or consumer driven like other industries?

At a conference for America’s Health Insurance Plans, …

Teams are key to solving the American health care crisis

Davis Liu, MD

Physician

May 10, 2012

Solving the American health care system crisis is among the most complex and important challenges facing this generation. Is it possible to provide high quality care with better access at a more affordable cost? Is this problem solvable or simply to complicated? Though that answer is not yet clear, what is increasingly apparent is that a new type leadership is needed if there is any hope in achieving this goal.

Professor …

Who’s responsible for bending the health care cost curve?

Davis Liu, MD

Policy

April 12, 2012

The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and nine other professional medical societies announced that doctors should perform 45 tests and procedures less often than currently done because there is no good medical evidence that they add any value. Specifically, a xray or other imaging for low back pain in an otherwise healthy individual or an EKG as part of a routine physical, just add a lot of unnecessary cost …

What health care can learn from a Super Bowl loss

Davis Liu, MD

Physician

March 20, 2012

Although my team, the New England Patriots lost Super Bowl XLVI to the New York Giants in one of the most exciting and tense games in recent memory, reviewing both the pre and post game coverage provided even more learning for doctors and healthcare than my prior post. One can demand excellence and still fall short. When one fails to achieve the intended goals, the learnings can be as …

What health care can learn from the New England Patriots

Davis Liu, MD

Policy

January 13, 2012

As the new year starts, I’m eager for a fresh start and working on improving myself both physically and emotionally. I’m also eager for the NFL playoffs and seeing how my favorite team, the New England Patriots, fares under the leadership of Coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Doctors and health care can learn much from their examples.

Over the past decade, the New England Patriots have been dominant …

How Steve Jobs mentored a physician and changed health care

Davis Liu, MD

Tech

October 6, 2011

I’ve been reading A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring written by famed UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. Wooden spends half of his book thanking the people who had a powerful influence on his life, coaching, philosophy, and outlook on life. Important people included his father, coaches, President Abraham Lincoln, and Mother Theresa.

Yes, President Abraham Lincoln and Mother Theresa.

Though …

Doctors with great bedside manner can also provide great clinical care

Davis Liu, MD

Physician

September 28, 2011

The New York Times recently published an article titled, Finding a Quality Doctor, Dr. Danielle Ofri an internist at NYU, laments how she was unable to perform as well as expected in the areas of patient care as it related to diabetes. From a New England Journal of Medicine article, Dr. Ofri notes that her report card showed the following – 33% of patients with diabetes have glycated hemoglobin …

Doctors can help patients make informed decisions and prevent overtreatment

Davis Liu, MD

Patient

September 26, 2011

There are many tips to saving money on medical costs like asking your doctor only for generic medications, choosing an insurance plan with a high deductible and lower monthly premiums, going to an urgent care or retail clinic rather than the emergency room, and getting prescriptions mailed rather than go to a pharmacy.

How about getting your old medical records and having them reviewed by a primary care doctor? It …

Consumer driven health care will only shift costs if implemented poorly

Davis Liu, MD

Policy

July 6, 2011

The creation of consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs), health insurance policies with high deductibles linked to a savings option and with more financial responsibility shouldered by patients and employees and less by employers, was completely inevitable.

The American public likes to have everything, whether consumer electronics or other services, as cheap as possible. With escalating health care expenses rising far more rapidly than wages or inflation, it’s not surprising employers …

The future of primary care in Accountable Care Organizations

Davis Liu, MD

Policy

April 23, 2011

A recent blog post in Health Affairs proclaimed The End of Internal Medicine As We Know It. What the article is really asking is the future of primary care in the world of health care reform and the creation of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).

While doctors should be naturally concerned about change, I don’t completely agree with this …

Why this doctor loves electronic medical records

Davis Liu, MD

Tech

February 15, 2011

A recent post in the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog noted that a study found electronic medical records don’t improve outpatient quality. The authors of the Archives of Internal Medicine article, Electronic Health Records and Clinical Decision Support Systems, correctly points out that we should be skeptical and “doubt [the] argument that the use of EHRs is a “magic bullet” for health care quality improvement, as some advocates imply.”

This …

Is The Empowered Patient too adversarial?

Davis Liu, MD

Patient

November 1, 2010

I understand the frustration and anger in CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen’s new book, The Empowered Patient. I agree that all of the horrible patient stories should have never occurred. As a practicing primary care doctor who has witnessed near misses and bad medical outcomes affect family members, I too wrote a book encouraging patients to be informed and engaged about their care.

The problem is that The Empowered …

Read more…

Is The Empowered Patient too adversarial?

Americans will need doctors but physicians are leaving primary care

Davis Liu, MD

Policy

August 20, 2010

Everyone understands the need for a robust primary care workforce in making healthcare more affordable and accessible while keeping those in our care healthy. With the aging of America and healthcare reform, even more Americans will need primary care doctors at precisely the same time doctors are leaving the specialty in droves and medical students shun the career choice. So as a practicing primary care doctor, I’ve watched with …

Read more…

Americans will need doctors but physicians are leaving primary care

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