Primary care

8,116 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 14

Systemic strain creates the perfect environment for medical gaslighting [PODCAST]

February 13, 2026Feb 13, 2026

Otolaryngologist Alan P. Feren discusses his article "How system strain contributes to medical gaslighting in health care." Alan explores why encounters that patients experience as dismissive or manipulative often stem from communication breakdowns driven by productivity pressures rather than clinician…

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Otolaryngologist Alan P. Feren discusses his article “How system strain contributes to medical gaslighting in health care.” Alan explores why encounters that patients experience as dismissive or manipulative often stem from communication breakdowns driven by productivity pressures rather than clinician malice. He examines the cognitive reality of modern practice where …

Physician voices

My wife wants me to retire

Sandy Brown, MD

February 13, 2026Feb 13, 2026

At our yearly Christmas medical staff dinner this last year, our chief of staff asked all the doctors present who had been working at our hospital for five or more years to stand up. Quite a few of us rose. He then asked those who had been there 10 years or more to remain standing. After half of us sat down, he upped the ante to 15 years, then to …

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My wife wants me to retire

Conditions and diseases

The necessity of getting lost to find yourself

Michele Luckenbaugh

February 11, 2026Feb 11, 2026

We are born into corridors, measured, labeled, painted neutral, walls rising before we learn how wide our thoughts can stretch. Lines are drawn early: This is far enough, this is acceptable, this is where you stop. We are told our…

We are born into corridors,
measured, labeled,
painted neutral,
walls rising before we learn how wide
our thoughts can stretch.

Lines are drawn early:
This is far enough,
this is acceptable,
this is where you stop.

We are told our ideas must sit quietly,
folded into boxes like unused maps,
that imagination is dangerous if it wanders,
that questions should behave
and answers should already be known.

Life, they say, is safest when it stays
inside the margins.

But something restless stirs
beneath the rules.
A pulse.
A whisper …

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Health policy

Employer-sponsored DPC: Why private equity is winning the infrastructure race

Dana Y. Lujan, MBA

February 11, 2026Feb 11, 2026

More than a month after HSA-eligible direct primary care became available, independent practices remain unprepared for the operational complexity employer contracts require. The DPC community celebrated regulatory victory. Private equity prepared infrastructure. That preparation became visible throughout 2025. Frontier Direct…

That preparation became visible throughout 2025. Frontier Direct Care announced a $20 million Series B to expand its employer-sponsored DPC platform. Marathon Health, formed from the 2024 Everside merger, operates …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Simple choices prevent chronic disease [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

February 8, 2026Feb 8, 2026

Internal medicine physician Shirisha Kamidi discusses her article "Small habits, big impact on health." Shirisha explains why prevention is often more powerful than treatment when addressing conditions like diabetes and hypertension. She shares a real-world example of a patient who…

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Internal medicine physician Shirisha Kamidi discusses her article “Small habits, big impact on health.” Shirisha explains why prevention is often more powerful than treatment when addressing conditions like diabetes and hypertension. She shares a real-world example of a patient who normalized high blood pressure through simple lifestyle adjustments rather than …

Physician voices

Physician weight loss strategy: Why willpower isn’t enough in 2026

Archana Reddy Shrestha, MD

February 8, 2026Feb 8, 2026

Shortly after Halloween, I hid my daughter's candy haul. Not because candy is evil nor because I'm trying to ban sugar from our house. But because I kept finding candy wrappers in random trash cans, and I realized that having…

Shortly after Halloween, I hid my daughter’s candy haul.

Not because candy is evil nor because I’m trying to ban sugar from our house. But because I kept finding candy wrappers in random trash cans, and I realized that having a giant bag of candy sitting out was just too tempting for my family.

We have a similar rule with ice cream. We don’t buy it at the grocery store. If we …

The Podcast by KevinMD

AI censorship threatens the lifeline of caregiver support [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

February 6, 2026Feb 6, 2026

Certified coach and medical educator Kathleen Muldoon discusses her article "AI moderation of online health communities." Kathleen shares the harrowing personal story of having her social media account disabled when an algorithm mistook compassion for abuse. She explores how online…

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Certified coach and medical educator Kathleen Muldoon discusses her article “AI moderation of online health communities.” Kathleen shares the harrowing personal story of having her social media account disabled when an algorithm mistook compassion for abuse. She explores how online support groups act as critical public health infrastructure for families …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Primary care offers unexpected financial and emotional wealth [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

February 5, 2026Feb 5, 2026

Primary care physician Jerina Gani discusses their article "The hidden rewards of a primary care career." Jerina challenges the common narrative that general practice is merely a stepping stone filled with paperwork and low wages. She explains how physicians can…

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Primary care physician Jerina Gani discusses their article “The hidden rewards of a primary care career.” Jerina challenges the common narrative that general practice is merely a stepping stone filled with paperwork and low wages. She explains how physicians can unlock scalable income and schedule flexibility to build a prosperous …

Physician voices

When diagnosis becomes closure: the harm of stopping too soon

Ann Lebeck, MD

February 5, 2026Feb 5, 2026

Medicine prides itself on early diagnosis and decisive treatment. We are trained to recognize patterns, apply categories, and follow pathways designed to reduce uncertainty. This approach saves lives. But there is a quiet point at which it can also cause…

That moment occurs when diagnosis becomes closure.

I recently spoke with a young woman in her 20s with endometriosis. She had done everything medicine asked of her: sought care, underwent surgery, …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Smart design choices improve patient care outcomes [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

February 3, 2026Feb 3, 2026

Physical therapists Ziya Altug and Shirish Sachdeva discuss their article "Why your clinic waiting room may affect patient outcomes." Ziya and Shirish explore how the ambiance of a medical office significantly impacts patient anxiety and emotional well-being before treatment even…

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Physical therapists Ziya Altug and Shirish Sachdeva discuss their article “Why your clinic waiting room may affect patient outcomes.” Ziya and Shirish explore how the ambiance of a medical office significantly impacts patient anxiety and emotional well-being before treatment even begins. They examine evidence-based strategies to transform functional spaces into …

Physician voices

Physician wellness is not yoga: Why resilience training fails

Tomi Mitchell, MD

February 3, 2026Feb 3, 2026

Let’s talk about physician wellness. Not the version that looks good in press releases or PowerPoint slides. I am talking about the lived, messy, heart-and-body version of wellness, the one that actually matters. Because somewhere between the lavender oil diffusers…

Let’s talk about physician wellness.

Not the version that looks good in press releases or PowerPoint slides. I am talking about the lived, messy, heart-and-body version of wellness, the one that actually matters.

Because somewhere between the lavender oil diffusers and the “wellness committees,” the real meaning of physician well-being got lost. It has become a buzzword, something hospitals display proudly on banners and conference agendas, as if saying the word “wellness” …

Conditions and diseases

Visual language in health care: Why words aren’t enough

Hamid Moghimi, RPN

February 3, 2026Feb 3, 2026

Picture a "No Entry" sign or a speed limit. A simple red circle needs no translation for a driver in Tokyo, Tehran, or Toronto. That's more than just convenience; it's a global safety net. But in health care, where a…

Picture a “No Entry” sign or a speed limit. A simple red circle needs no translation for a driver in Tokyo, Tehran, or Toronto. That’s more than just convenience; it’s a global safety net.

But in health care, where a misunderstanding can be deadly, our communication hasn’t kept up. We still rely overwhelmingly on words, pages of dense text handed to patients who are stressed, exhausted, older, or struggling with a …

Conditions and diseases

The milkweed and the wind: a poem on aging as renewal

Michele Luckenbaugh

February 1, 2026Feb 1, 2026

The years pass without ceremony. They do not always announce themselves. Sometimes they slip by like quiet weather, like afternoons we cannot later recall except by the way the light once rested against a wall. Time moves like autumn wind,…

The years pass without ceremony.

They do not always announce themselves.
Sometimes they slip by like quiet weather,
like afternoons we cannot later recall
except by the way the light
once rested against a wall.

Time moves like autumn wind,
unannounced,
persistent,
tender in its own indifferent way.

A milkweed stands in a field,
having grown tall without noticing
the exact moment it became mature.
Its green has deepened,
its stem stiffened with understanding.

Now the wind arrives,
and the pods open
not in grief,
but in readiness.

Each …

Conditions and diseases

Women in health care leadership: Navigating competition and mentorship

Sarah White, APRN

January 31, 2026Jan 31, 2026

In recent years, medicine has become more open about burnout, workforce shortages, and the challenges facing women in health care leadership. We write about mentorship programs, leadership pipelines, and the need to bring more women into ownership and executive roles.…

What we talk about far less is what happens when women actually meet each other in …

Medical education

Moral courage in medical training: the power of the powerless

Kathleen Muldoon, PhD

January 31, 2026Jan 31, 2026

I have the great honor and privilege of coaching medical students throughout their training. In the past week, several students have shared experiences that have stayed with me: On clinical rotations, some shared stories of being referred to only as “student one” or “student two,” their humanity quietly erased. Others described managing food and housing insecurity while carrying the financial burden of medical education. Still others, particularly students with darker …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Waking up at 4 a.m. is not required for success [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

January 30, 2026Jan 30, 2026

Physician, former health care executive, certified coach, speaker, and organizational consultant Laura Suttin discusses her article "Why the 4 a.m. wake-up call isn’t for everyone." Laura shares her personal struggle with the popular productivity advice that claims early rising is…

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Physician, former health care executive, certified coach, speaker, and organizational consultant Laura Suttin discusses her article “Why the 4 a.m. wake-up call isn’t for everyone.” Laura shares her personal struggle with the popular productivity advice that claims early rising is the only path to high performance. She describes the fog …

Physician voices

Medicine changed me by subtraction: a physician’s evolution

Justin Sterett, MD

January 30, 2026Jan 30, 2026

I used to think medicine would change me by adding things. Knowledge. Confidence. Authority. Certainty. I assumed growth would look like accumulation, more skills, more answers, more control. What actually happened was the opposite. Medicine changed me by subtraction. When…

When I started writing as a medical student, everything felt sharp and exposed. The hospital was loud, inefficient, and often cruel in ways no one named out loud. I wrote about scut …

Health policy

Why private equity is betting on employer DPC over retail

Dana Y. Lujan, MBA

January 29, 2026Jan 29, 2026

Elevance Health recently reported that it expects to lose more than 180,000 fully insured group plan enrollees in 2026, with its CFO describing the strategy as "prioritizing disciplined pricing and margin integrity over volume." UnitedHealth has made similar statements. Both…

Elevance Health recently reported that it expects to lose more than 180,000 fully insured group plan enrollees in 2026, with its CFO describing the strategy as “prioritizing disciplined pricing and margin integrity over volume.” UnitedHealth has made similar statements. Both are effectively walking away from the fully insured employer market, where administrative complexity no longer justifies the economics.

At the same time, private equity is pouring capital into …

Conditions and diseases

Scientific literacy in nutrition: How to read food labels

M. Bennet Broner, PhD

January 29, 2026Jan 29, 2026

Dr. Andrea Love wrote about the lack of basic scientific knowledge among the public, noting that only about 28 percent of people possess it. She highlighted the consequences of this, emphasizing how it can negatively affect people's decisions and lives.…

Many of the articles I have written have dealt with scientific knowledge in one form or another. My comments on the FDA and drug approvals, Alzheimer’s and cancer screening blood tests, …

Physician voices

The poet who changed my DNA

Ryan McCarthy, MD

January 29, 2026Jan 29, 2026

In 1983, The Outsiders featured Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay" and, augmented by Francis Ford Coppola's cinematic genius, it planted a seed, one I was unaware of at the time. Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to…

In 1983, The Outsiders featured Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” and, augmented by Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic genius, it planted a seed, one I was unaware of at the time.

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can …

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The poet who changed my DNA

Primary care

Articles, page 14

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