Primary Care

Navigating infertility as a Black male family physician

Conditions

December 7, 2021

Black men need to be comfortable saying that we can be scared sometimes, and to share our emotions without guilt or shame.

I say this as a Black man who has experienced vulnerability both as a family physician and as a patient. Over the last year, I’ve been challenged in unforeseen ways. In my professional life, I’ve cared for patients with COVID-19 and other chronic medical conditions, engaged as a clinician-educator …

Patient surveys: the quest for positive reviews

Peter Valenzuela, MD, MBA

Physician

December 6, 2021

An excerpt from Doc-Related: A Physician’s Guide to Fixing Our Ailing Health Care System.

Early in my career as a rural physician in Texas, I took care of a couple in their mid-70s named Vernon and Nellie. They drove in from another small town 50 miles away. Nellie usually did all the talking, while her husband, Vernon, sat quietly next to …

Beat the overwhelm this holiday season and set the stage for cheer

Stephanie Wellington, MD

Physician

December 5, 2021

Like anyone else, the holiday season can be the source of great joy. And it can add to the stress and overwhelm that physicians already experience. The practicing physician may find herself torn between responsibilities in the clinical setting and the preparations needed to make a memorable holiday experience for family and friends.

It starts with rushing from work to make it to the store before closing. It’s planning, decorating, baking, …

A physician’s exam room should be educational and inviting

Hayward Zwerling, MD

Physician

December 2, 2021

Today’s health care system has become so standardized that if a person in a medical office were instantly and magically transported to a medical office in another city, the person would instantly recognize that they were still in a medical office. Our offices are now antiseptic, cold, and devoid of educational material and humanity, and this office decor can adversely impact a physician’s ability to provide care to their patients.

When …

Life as an MD online with Kevin Pho, MD

Kevin Pho, MD

KevinMD

December 1, 2021

It was an honor to be interviewed by Jonathan Baktari, MD on his show, the Baktari MD Show. In this hour-long episode, Life as an MD Online, I discuss how I got started, online reputation and social media, the KevinMD …

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Life as an MD online with Kevin Pho, MD

Loneliness and hopelessness are all around us, yet we are missing it

Andy Lamb, MD

Physician

November 27, 2021

It was dark as we entered a crumbling stone building, a one-room 15’ x 15’ structure. No electricity, no running water, no amenities, we assume “we all have.” I was leading a medical team to the poorest country in Europe, Moldova, a country I had come to know and love well. The team had finished a busy day in the clinic. Before going to dinner, I wanted to make a …

It’s a lifestyle: Adopting a behavioral approach to health care is urgent

Elizabeth Simkus, DNP, FNP-C

Conditions

November 19, 2021

If you are a frequent flyer in an airlines program, this is often a benefit. If you are a “frequent flyer” in a health care setting, this is not. It means you may have a chronic illness and are often seen in a health care setting, treated, sent home, and quickly return because the care approach was not to prevent recurrence by implementing lifestyle changes.

This is why lifestyle medicine is …

How can technology innovation save primary care? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

November 18, 2021

“I believe there is a formula that can reduce the risk of burnout and save primary care, rooted in one key objective: Remove work from primary care doctors and nursing staff’s plates immediately.

Easier said than done. And that’s where technology and clinical navigation must be leveraged — to assist, facilitate, …

Direct primary care is an answer to volume-based insurance reimbursement models

Troy A. Burns, MD

Policy

November 10, 2021

An excerpt from Medical Answers Now!: How Direct Primary Care Guarantees Fast Access to Your Doctor.

Health care costs are out of control and volume-based insurance reimbursement models are felt to be contributing to the problem. Medicare and most major private medical insurance carriers have begun testing and transitioning to reimbursement models that pay for health care services based on the …

Don’t let the holidays sabotage your weight loss goals

Angelice Alexander-Martin, MD

Physician

November 8, 2021

The holiday season is rapidly approaching, and it is not uncommon for us to gain up to 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day. But what if we do not want to put on some insulation? What can we do? I specialize in medical weight loss, and my first recommendation would simply be to be aware of the food around us and recognize that seeing food in itself can be …

The toxic doctor-insurer relationship

Gerald P. Corcoran, MD

Physician

November 6, 2021

My introduction to health insurance companies was very abrupt and simple.

I received my medical training in the U.S. Navy and served three years after that. Then, I was finally discharged. I had treated thousands of patients as a Navy doctor, but I had never charged one, nor did I even know how to charge for services.

My partner in the civilian practice I joined made the transition easy: “Sign this contract …

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The toxic doctor-insurer relationship

The art of asking where it hurts

Hans Duvefelt, MD

Physician

November 5, 2021

Norman Grant was a new patient. He had chronic back pain, not helped by surgery or a dozen injections after that. It all started with an industrial accident in 2001. He had settled his case and was on chronic OxyContin, which far from kept him functional. But as of January 1, his insurance was no longer covering that drug. He only had two weeks left of it.

He told me he …

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The art of asking where it hurts

The troubling similarities between primary care physicians and MLB relief pitchers

Robert Pearl, MD

Physician

November 5, 2021

When I was young, my father told me that baseball is a metaphor for life. As a lifelong fan, I’ve found professional inspiration and valuable lessons in this game, time after time after time.

This year was no different. Throughout the 2021 MLB playoffs, and amid an exciting World Series between the Houston …

The unique agony of being a Black female doctor

Tomi Mitchell, MD

Physician

November 3, 2021

It was as if my four-day-old daughter’s condition was not critical. It was as if I was not a clinician who could confidently assess and identify seizure episodes. It was as if there were no monitors blatantly showing critically low oxygen levels.

Nine long hours and still no response. I felt like I was begging for eternity. I had repeatedly approached the nurses’ station to get their attention and assess my …

Grieving our collective loss with compassion

Diana Londoño, MD

Physician

November 3, 2021

What can we learn as we experience turmoil, change, or as we grieve a loss? Is there something we can focus on to help us go through difficult times in our lives? This can be a minor occurrence in our life, or it can be what we have all lived through collectively during a global pandemic.

What can help us see what is beyond what we are experiencing now and let …

Are collagen supplements good for you? A physician’s deep dive answer.

Ryan McCormick, MD

Physician

November 2, 2021

I was asked this question at least three times this week, so I think there must be something going around. It doesn’t help that a Kardashian with 140 million Instagram followers recently signed a deal to become an equity partner and global spokeswoman for a company selling collagen supplements. The global market for collagen-containing products was estimated at $300 million last year, and is projected …

America is failing primary care doctors

Jen Baker-Porazinski, MD

Physician

November 1, 2021

While the pandemic sparked a renewed (if only temporary) appreciation of the medical profession, this alone wasn’t enough to induce change in the system overwhelming them – a fact blatantly revealed to me this year at the annual conference of the American Academy of Family Physicians. I admit I was a little disappointed when the pandemic forced the location to be changed from sunny California to virtual. But, since I’d …

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America is failing primary care doctors

Physician struggle with feelings of betrayal

Maire Daugharty, MD

Physician

October 28, 2021

We went into medicine to help people, and now we struggle with feelings of betrayal. We sacrificed so much. While our cohort in college went on to graduate and earn an income and start families, we continued with medical school, an all-in venture financially and personally, demanding all of our time, efforts, and attention. Then we trained. And trained some more. And then, finally, we went to work. We took …

I’m your primary care doctor. May I take your order?

Anonymous

Physician

October 23, 2021

My Tuesday out of clinic started off like any other Tuesday. I got up (sluggish, still chronically sleep-deprived), scrubbed my face and brushed my teeth, slipped into workout clothes then set to getting my two girls ready for school. After packing lunches, brushing hair, and waiving to the bus, I sat down to do what most of us do on our days out of clinic: check the dreaded inbox. Who …

Expanding health care access and equity through telehealth

Gjanje L. Smith, MD, MPH, Wanneh A. Dixon, and Maria Phillips, JD

Policy

October 22, 2021

The COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) has been an amplifier and catalyst for numerous issues. The pandemic has impacted health care delivery significantly, and inequities for the Black community are more apparent. Federal and state rules for telehealth compliance/reimbursement were relaxed to preserve health care access during the PHE. While we are still in the data collection and observation phase, some concepts are clear: Telehealth positively impacts health care access, …

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