It started with a phone call.
“Doc,” my CEO said, “do you know this doctor?”
I asked why.
“He wrote a prescription for a drug that cost $250,000 for one course.”
“You must mean $25,000,” I said.
“No,” she replied. “The insurer already paid two hundred fifty thousand dollars.”
I assumed it had to be a miracle therapy, some one-in-a-million life-saving treatment. Then she told me the name: Acthar Gel. I nearly fell out of my …
You notice them wherever they go. The new titans of industry dressed like college kids on their way to class. Recently, I saw a picture of Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, in a plain cotton T-shirt and nerdy trousers. With his overgrown beard completing the look, he resembled a man emerging from months deep in the jungle after a survivalist contest. Then there is Mark Zuckerberg, perpetually clad in …
From daycare to college, the back-to-school season almost always correlates to one thing: a rise in respiratory illnesses. In late summer, when children are returning to their classrooms, outbreaks of illnesses like strep throat, influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) become more common, and schools can quickly become amplifiers of community transmission. These infections can spread rapidly through contact with surfaces where the virus or bacteria is present, like …
Paige Bueckers, a 23-year-old WNBA star, was drafted number one this year to the Dallas Wings and has been having a historic rookie season. Against the Los Angeles Sparks on August 20, she scored forty-four points while shooting eighty percent, tying an all-time WNBA rookie record. As a physician, I find that Bueckers’s mindset has a lot to teach me about being a physician. Here are the top five Paige …
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Board-certified nurse practitioner Shabeena Hirani discusses her article “From nurse practitioner to quality improvement leader in sleep medicine,” sharing her journey from clinical care to driving systemic change. Shabeena explains how her …
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Physician executive Carlos Nunez discusses his article “Why sleep is the missing pillar in modern health care,” emphasizing the urgent need to treat sleep as essential to overall wellness alongside diet and …
I became a respiratory therapist at 28, after years of trying to get into nursing school. It wasn’t until a friend, an RT at my city’s only level one trauma center, said, “You don’t want to be a nurse. You want to be an RT,” that something clicked. He let me shadow for a shift in the medical cardiac ICU, and I fell in love with the work instantly.
Watching him …
The phone call from my insurance carrier came in unexpectedly one morning. “We see that you’ve just been discharged from the hospital …”
I blinked. I had neither been admitted nor discharged from any hospital. When I pressed for details, the caller claimed her records showed I’d been hospitalized for more than a month. Why? For which condition? She didn’t have that information, she told me. Only the dates.
My first thought: …
I am a doctor of nursing practice and board-certified nurse practitioner with over a decade of experience in internal medicine, pulmonology, and sleep medicine. My career has taken shape in the diverse and fast-paced outpatient care settings of New York, where I’ve had the opportunity to serve patients from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Many of the individuals I care for face chronic respiratory illnesses, comorbid conditions, and significant …
I love comedy clubs. Always have. My wife calls them my happy place and she’s not wrong. Although I haven’t had the opportunity to attend one recently, I often find myself immersed in stand-up clips from the likes of Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, and a constellation of other comedic virtuosos. Back in the pressure-cooker days of my residency training in New York City, those clubs were my sanctuary. …
Sleep is not a luxury — it’s a fundamental pillar of health on par with diet and exercise. As we enter a new era of sleep, people are more aware than ever before of how rest impacts their overall health. We are at an inflection point where sleep is increasingly recognized as essential to preventative care and wellness. Yet, many still suffer in silence, trapped in a cycle of exhaustion.
The …
As a U.S.-licensed respiratory therapist and former ENT physician, I have seen firsthand how respiratory illnesses can devastate lives when early intervention is out of reach. From hospital wards in Moscow to respiratory units in Florida, the one constant I’ve observed is that underserved communities—whether due to geography or poverty—suffer the most. Across the United States, millions of patients living with chronic respiratory diseases like COPD and asthma lack consistent …
In an interview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addressed whether society should bear the cost of health care for individuals whose health problems are largely self-inflicted, citing smoking as an example. He questioned the fairness of providing the same level of care to people who, in his words, “predictably get sick” from behaviors like smoking as to those born with congenital illnesses.
While emphasizing personal responsibility is important, this …
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In 2025, we will commemorate 77 years since the death of one of America’s most influential presidents, Theodore Roosevelt. He was the 26th and youngest president of the United States, succeeding William McKinley. Roosevelt was a pioneer of peace, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 after successfully mediating the end of the war between Japan and Russia. He accomplished many great things for the people of America and the …
“Almost everyone I know has either quit” – my friend paused, “… or died.” She said the “or died” part with a bit more resignation than horror.
We were having this conversation outside of our busy local pub a few weeks ago. Some of us had stepped outside to get some fresh air, and someone pulled out a package of cigarettes and offered them around.
What was once a common occurrence now …
“Just take a deep breath.”
It’s the first thing we say when we see someone upset or overwhelmed, and generally, it’s good advice. There is a wealth of evidence supporting the benefits of deep breathing, and it is not uncommon for me to pull out a handout during a patient visit to walk someone through a breathing technique. I’m a family physician—anxiety, asthma, COPD, cancer—it’s all relevant; it’s all primary care. …
When Luther Vandross released Dance with My Father in May 2003, he was hospitalized, recovering from a stroke. Despite his condition and minimal promotion, the song quickly became one of the most requested tracks of the time. Its profound emotional impact resonated widely, earning Vandross accolades for Song of the Year and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 2004 Grammy Awards.
Vandross was just eight years old when his father …
I’ve created cartoons using DALL-E, each with its own humorous caption. They’re all original ideas from me, but I used the AI to visualize them. Although they mostly touch on topics related to pulmonary and ICU medicine, I think they could catch the interest of a wide medical audience. Given the pulmonary theme, I decided to call the series Take a Breath.
These days, everybody is coughing. The resurgence of COVID, RSV, and flu has overwhelmed emergency rooms and hospitals this early winter. But not all coughs are viral. If you recently visited a family member for the holidays and noticed a persistent cough after dinner, you may have witnessed not a viral illness but what’s known as an aspiration event.
As primary care providers, we frequently take care of people who are …
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