Kevin Pho, MD, is a practicing, board-certified internal medicine physician and the founder and editor of KevinMD, which he built from scratch in 2004 to give clinicians and patients a place to be heard. Over two decades, it has become one of the most recognizable physician-led publications in health care, drawing more than 7 million annual page views and over 500,000 followers across social media. He still sees patients in primary care in Nashua, New Hampshire, the practice he says keeps the platform honest.
He is the host of The Podcast by KevinMD, a daily, 15-minute show that has surpassed 2,000 episodes and 2.6 million IAB-certified downloads, featuring physicians, patients, caregivers, founders, and health care leaders in conversation about what they actually see and do. He is also a national media commentator and the coauthor of Establishing, Managing, and Protecting Your Online Reputation: A Social Media Guide for Physicians and Medical Practices.
An acclaimed keynote speaker, Kevin speaks nationwide to clinicians and non-clinicians on health care, digital media, physician leadership, and burnout. His signature keynote, "Connect and be heard: Make a difference in health care with social media," traces his social media journey since 2004 and inspires audiences to strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, make their voices heard in health reform, and turn the tide against clinician burnout. He is the founder of Physician Speaking by KevinMD, a physician-run speakers bureau, and is available for speaking opportunities.
Kevin earned his medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine residency at Boston University Medical Center. The New York Times called KevinMD "a highly-coveted publishing place for doctors and patients," and Forbes called it a "must-read health blog." He is an inductee of the Healthcare Internet Hall of Fame, a recipient of the American Medical Writers Association McGovern Award, and a New Hampshire Magazine Top Doctor.
For the past few Sundays, the New York Times has published provocative op-eds involving physicians.
The first tackled physician bullying. Next was the cost of medical education. And, most recently, the phenomenon of part-time, mostly female, physicians.
This is obviously a live-wire topic, sure to generate passionate commentary.
In the piece, anesthesiologist Karen S. Sibert goes over ramifications of part-time physicians. …
The following column was published on May 28, 2011 in FoxNews.com.
Theresa Brown’s New York Times op-ed, Physician, Heel Thyself, recently introduced hospital bullying into the national health care conversation.
In it, she recounted a hospital vignette while working as an oncology nurse. A patient asked a doctor who should he blame for a late test result. The …
I alluded to this recently in a New York Times’ Room for Debate piece, discussing why Medicare shouldn’t pay for prostate cancer screening in men over the age of 75.
And, when it comes to ovarian cancer screening, a recent study showed that annual CA-125 antigen testing and transvaginal ultrasound did not save lives. In …
Occasionally, I’m given the opportunity to write for the New York Times’ Room for Debate blog.
For those who aren’t familiar with the site, every day Room for Debate addresses one question, with various experts chiming in with 300-word op-ed style pieces. Writers normally have overnight to submit their columns.
The recent question asked, “What items and procedures should Medicare stop paying for now, even if patients and their families object?”
That’s an argument made by physicians Peter B. Bach and Robert Kocher in the New York Times.
This isn’t a new concept. I’ve discussed whether medical school should be free for students who choose primary care. And, for some in the country, it’s already happening. Like at Case Western Reserve University, for instance. The Cleveland Clinic …
According to one of the the guidelines set forth by the AMA about professionalism in social media, “When physicians see content posted by colleagues that appears unprofessional they have a responsibility to bring that content to the attention of the individual, so that he or she can remove it and/or take other appropriate actions.”
There’s an underlying tension between physicians and health policy experts.
Health policy experts take subtle jibes against physicians in their analyses, with many feeling American doctors are overpaid, which exacerbates health costs. They tend to be politically progressive, and generally dismiss the issues that most doctors care deeply about. Medical malpractice, tort reform and the cost of medical education, for instance.
According to a recent study, providing physicians with the cost of lab tests cut costs.
As reported by the WSJ’s Health Blog,
A new study finds that simply making physicians aware of the cost of regular blood tests cut the daily bill for the tests by as much as 27% … At the beginning of the program, the daily cost per …
Little has been written about the impact a malpractice lawsuit has on physicians.
But physicians who’ve been sued have a higher rate of suicide, and emergency physician Edwin Leap wrote about how doctors are emotionally scarred from the grueling ordeal of a trial.
A recent piece from American Medical News puts faces on the toll:
It’s certainly been fascinating monitoring the response to Theresa Brown’s New York Times’ op-ed on physician bullying.
Predictably, most physicians were outraged, while the rest of the population generally supported Brown. As alluded to in a comment, whenever you have an aggrieved party accusing another one in a national forum, controversy is what you’re going to get. The piece was the …
A version of this op-ed was published on April 12, 2011 in USA Today.
“Would you like to discuss your end-of-life plans today?”
It’s a question that I ask my patients, although not as often as I would like. Talking about death may be uncomfortable, but it’s a conversation that needs to happen more often.
… patient gripes soon will affect how much hospitals get paid by Medicare.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is finalizing details for the new reimbursement method, required by last year’s health care law. Consumer advocates say tying patient …
Whenever I get asked about how the Affordable Care Act will impact health care, I always say, “look at Massachusetts first.”
That’s because Massachusetts serves as a model for what’s coming ahead for the rest of the country.
As I wrote in 2009, Massachusetts did not provide the primary care infrastructure for near-universal care, which I predicted would drive up emergency room …
I was quoted recently in the New York Times’ Well blog, in a Danielle Ofri piece on Facebook and doctors.
There’s no question that Facebook has been a minefield of sorts for the medical professions, with infractions ranging from unprofessional conduct by medical students to patient privacy violations by attending physicians.
One solution would be for doctors to simply avoid …
The first tackled physician bullying. Next was the cost of medical education. And, most recently, the phenomenon of part-time, mostly female, physicians.
7 weeks later, I received my results. Thankfully, I passed.
