Kevin Pho is a practicing, board-certified internal medicine physician, a national media commentator, co-author of the book, Establishing, Managing, and Protecting Your Online Reputation: A Social Media Guide for Physicians and Medical Practices, and an acclaimed keynote speaker. He is founder and editor, KevinMD.com, and founder, Physician Speaking by KevinMD.
These perspectives define his unique social media journey, and his story has brought audiences to their feet.
Kevin shares his story nationwide with both clinicians and non-clinicians, and regularly keynotes major conferences.
Kevin built the KevinMD platform from scratch in 2004. It now receives over 3 million monthly page views, and exceeds 250,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter. Kevin was named the web’s top social media influencer in health care and medicine. The New York Times called KevinMD “a highly-coveted publishing place for doctors and patients.” Forbes called KevinMD a “must-read health blog.” And CNN named @KevinMD one of its five recommended Twitter health feeds.
Kevin’s signature keynote, “Connect and be heard: Make a difference in heath care with social media,” takes your audience through Kevin’s social media journey since 2004. With video, audio, and an emphasis on storytelling, he inspires audiences to use social media and be health care influencers in the following ways:
- Strengthen the doctor-patient relationship
- Make your voice heard in the health reform conversation
- Turn the tide against clinician burnout
- Define an online reputation
- Share your health care story
- Connect with mainstream media
- Respond to clinician rating sites
Kevin is the founder of Physician Speaking by KevinMD and is available for speaking opportunities. Please contact us for inquiries.
The following column was published on April 11, 2012 in CNN.
When you visit the doctor, chances are you are given a prescription for a drug or an order for an X-ray or lab test. Before you leave, it’s important to ask whether your doctor’s recommendations are truly necessary.
Even though much of what physicians do is meant to help patients, sometimes it’s not always the case. Drugs may have harmful side …
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Discussing whether tests actually help patients or cause more harm
My home state of New Hampshire is considering a medical malpractice bill which provides an “early offer” to patients injured by medical mistakes. My column supporting the measure was published in this morning’s Nashua Telegraph: NH patients deserve ‘early offer’ in malpractice cases.
Under the proposal, injured patients have the option of an early settlement with providers, which …
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Patient centered medical malpractice reform in New Hampshire
And progressives should want health reform to fail.
No, you read that right.
Counter-intuitive? Let me explain. As the fate of the Affordable Care Act hangs in the balance in the Supreme Court, both progressive and conservative pundits have been working overtime to discern the future of health reform.
The traditional thinking is that progressives direly want health reform to move forward, and …
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Conservatives should love the Affordable Care Act
The following column was published on March 26, 2012 in CNN.
With the Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments about the constitutionality of the President Obama’s health care law, more patients than ever have been asking for my thoughts about health reform.
I practice primary care in southern New Hampshire near the Massachusetts border, which gives me a firsthand look at how health reform has impacted my neighboring state. Despite flaws …
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The Affordable Care Act needs primary care to be effective
In a bid to save money, health insurers are coming out with what’s known as “focused networks,” which typically exclude the highest cost hospitals.
In the Boston area, one such plan comes from health insurer Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, whose plan excludes Partner’s Health Care institutions. That’s significant, since Partners includes the famed Massachusetts General Hospital as well as Brigham and …
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Will patients accept focused networks in today’s economy?
The Patient Centered Medical Home is supposed to be the solution to our primary care woes.
Endorsed by both the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Physicians, this new model of primary care creates a team-based approach to patient care, with a cadre of care managers and nurses assisting physicians to manage patients with chronic disease. If …
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Should doctors be forbidden to complain about money?
A recent study from Health Affairs has been generating some buzz, as well as passionate rebuttals.
According to the study, doctors who used electronic medical records actually ordered more tests, compared to those who used paper records.
There was a 40% increase in ordering imaging tests, a number that increased to a whopping 70% when it came to advanced tests, like …
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Why electronic medical records may not save money
A version of this op-ed was published on January 17, 2012 in USA Today.
Ask doctors about what concerns them the most, and chances are they’ll say, “medical malpractice.” Indeed, most physicians will be sued sometime during their careers. A recent New England Journal of Medicine study found that 75% of doctors who practice psychiatry, pediatrics or family medicine will be …
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Reducing the emotional impact of medical malpractice
Patient satisfaction is all the rage.
Medicare is beginning to tie patient satisfaction scores with hospital reimbursement, and doctors across the country are under pressure from administrative executives to raise patient satisfaction scores.
High scores are even used by hospitals as a powerful marketing tool.
But, in the end, are patient satisfaction scores hurting patients?
I wrote about the issue previously, saying that patient …
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How patient satisfaction can kill
Ovarian cancer screening clearly touches a nerve.
No one doubts that ovarian cancer is a devastating diagnosis, often found when the disease is at an advanced stage. Tests to look for the disease, such as the transvaginal ultrasound or the CA-125 blood test, are not specific enough. That leads to false positive tests that necessitate more studies that may not be …
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How I approach ovarian cancer screening with patients
One of the reasons there is such a movement against vaccines is the democratization of information, perpetuated by search engines like Google.
Do a search for “autism” and “vaccines,” for instance, and you’ll be greeted with a wealth of information linking the two, despite the fact that any connection has been scientifically disproven.
A fascinating piece in Slate asks whether search engines …
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Should Google censor anti-vaccine claims?
Are doctors really going broke?
According to this piece from CNN Money, some are: “Doctors list shrinking insurance reimbursements, changing regulations, rising business and drug costs among the factors preventing them from keeping their practices afloat. But some experts counter that doctors’ lack of business acumen is also to blame.”
That’s all entirely true.
Pressure on reimbursement, combined with a lack of …
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Doctors: Don’t be ashamed about going bankrupt
As we enter 2012, many patients will be changing to new insurance plans.
And for a few, deductibles will be rising.
One thing that’s emphasized in the Affordable Care Act, however, is that preventive services would remain “free.”
However, consider this story of a man, who thought he wouldn’t have to pay for his screening colonoscopy, instead was charged over $1,000 for the …
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Place the frustration of cost uncertainty on health insurers
The following column was published on November 10, 2011 in Medical Economics.
I recently saw two patients in my primary care clinic, each with new-onset hypertension.
The first, a middle-aged executive, brought printouts from the Internet and already had researched the various treatment options for high blood pressure. During the visit, we discussed this information, and I gave my thoughts on what …
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How much guidance do patients want with their medical decisions?
Times are tough for pharmaceutical reps, with many hospitals and physician offices banning their sales visits.
But, there’s hope for those out of a job. Consider the physician liaison.
Faced with budget cutbacks, hospitals are becoming more aggressive growing their market share. They are not only buying physician practices, they want more doctors to admit, refer to and use their facilities.
Physician liaisons …
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Why a physician liaison is a short-term career choice
