Today, the practice of medicine mainly involves treating medical conditions after symptoms of the medical condition become obvious (e.g., setting a fracture or treating pneumonia), or preventing disease for a population of patients using a preventative that has few side effects (e.g., vaccinations, mammograms).
In the future, medicine will be more predictive and proactive. Medicine will be better able to predict that a disease will occur for an individual before there …
I ask this question of every person who steps through the door because they have come to talk about death—the most universal of all human experiences yet the most difficult to discuss.
In modern culture, we have an uneasy relationship …
The doorbell at my father’s house rang, and the dogs went crazy. A physician was at the front door who had requested to come to pay his respects and to check on my father, as he had lost his wife (my mother) of more than six decades just days before.
He sat with us at the kitchen table, and we spoke briefly of other things: dogs he never thought he’d own …
It is no secret that telehealth adoption has skyrocketed as a result of the pandemic, and because of that, many health systems are in the process of shifting to a virtual-first hybrid care model. Unfortunately, video visits, which most will equate with telehealth, have done little to help with the age-old issues of patient access and convenience, provider efficiency, and rising health care costs.
Patients often encounter the same frustrations during …
“All the faceless young men who are brought to his operating table, prepped and draped, broken and bleeding, are finding their experience of war bears little resemblance to their reveries of war. They should have known better. At corner taverns in Chicago, Albuquerque, and Murphysboro, there were tired veterans with …
At the beginning of August 2021, during the early stages of opening my practice, I decided to take an opportunity that I would be forever grateful for. The organization International SOS was looking for physicians and other health care providers to join a massive once-in-a-lifetime operation at Fort Lee military base.
At the time, the country was attempting to end the war in Afghanistan quietly. We were told that there would …
Once hailed as “The Paris of the Caribbean” the city of San Pedro de Macoris (SPM) was established in 1822 and became one of the major producers of sugar, molasses, bovine cattle, rum, and Major League Baseball players.
In the mid-1800s Cuban immigrants threatened by a slave revolt and their own war of independence, settled in SPM and established the country’s first “ingenious” or sugar mills or bateyes. They brought their …
I’m angry. The sound cut out again, for the fifth time in the last hour. “Why can’t I get through one telemedicine visit without some technical problem?” I ask myself. I can feel the chest discomfort, my shoulders tense, I start to flush, tell-tale signs of frustration and anger bubbling up. I did not go to medical school to become tech support. After 12 patients, it’s finally time for lunch. …
Every primary care provider has been there. A patient comes in requesting a pre-operative evaluation or places a phone call or EMR message expressing the need for “clearance” before having a surgical procedure. Sometimes, we even get a request from the surgeon’s office with paperwork for “clearance.” Time is always, seemingly, of the essence regarding these evaluations, and either the patient or the operating surgeon requests this be done expediently …
I’m a small-time doc in a small town, and I work at a small hospital in the Midwest, and I’m proud of it. The huge university hospitals (like Cleveland Clinic) get all the glory (especially in society and in the press), but small hospitals like mine drive this country.
It has been really weird working at a small hospital, where it seems like …
Doctors are reporting an alarming rate of dissatisfaction and burnout, with some leaving the practice of medicine altogether. Administrators and insurance companies are often blamed; however, our own professional organizations impose a significant portion of the problem.
In this article, we’ll dive into specific examples of 2021/2022 CPT coding changes that can help you expand your practice and billables in 2022 and beyond.
The first step: Get familiar with the 2021 coding changes
There were 12 of us at the spacious table, gathered for a tasty, albeit unconventional Christmas meal of soup and salad. My adult son was seated to my immediate left. Meal completed, compliments and gratitude expressed to the preparer, my son turned to the fellow on my right.
Stories of overworked and burned out, front line health care workers have been in the news since early in the pandemic. Job vacancies in health care and social assistance are at a record high, according to Statistics Canada data published in March of 2021.
At the same time, COVID has highlighted the persistent health disparities between white and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) …
“Virtually everyone understands the importance of major medical insurance as it relates to unexpected high-dollar care for severe injuries and significant medical conditions, but the value equation for health insurance is quite different when applied to coverage for primary care services.
The full potential cost for primary care services is neither …
One of my favorite passages from sacred writings is the story of Moses, still tending his father-in-law’s sheep, an ordinary day in an ordinary place, suddenly encountering God, the ground he stood on now consecrated into holy ground, admonished to “Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing is holy ground.” All of the world’s religions speak of holy ground. For Muslims, even the simplest prayer rug in …
I recently had an email exchange with a friend and psychiatric colleague, Dr. Michael Myers, on the topic of professional courtesy. It’s a topic I’ve written about before. However, one of my essays stirred considerable controversy, so much so that readers’ comments turned ugly and unprofessional, and the commenting section on the host website was closed. It seems my op-ed struck a raw nerve primarily among millennials, many of whom …
Virtually everyone understands the importance of major medical insurance as it relates to unexpected high-dollar care for severe injuries and significant medical conditions, but the value equation for health insurance is quite different when applied to coverage for primary care services.
I was two months into my first year of medical school when I experienced it for the first time.
“Room 214 … oh yeah, she’s a real pain. She will probably talk your ear off and come up with a new self-diagnosis that she will want to get a full workup for. She always does.”
Nervously, I laughed it off. I grew up in a household where doctors are held in high …
My energy level was plummeting as Mrs. Jones explained how much her shoulder, her knees, her back, her belly, her head, hurt. She was worn out.
“And I don’t ever think I’ll feel better. I’ve felt like this for so long and I think I’ll always feel like this. I’m so sore. And so tired. And my family doesn’t do anything to help. In the evening after I’ve finished making dinner, …
