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1 week ago | 
kevinmd.com | Patrick Hudson |Stephen Foley |Casey P. Schukow |Jonathan Peters
“Some people learn. Some don’t. For the former, growing old is a joy. For the latter, it is hell.”I’ve seen both. In exam rooms, break rooms, ORs, and coaching sessions. One physician ages into something lighter—less defended, more present. Another hardens. Becomes brittle. And often angry. The difference isn’t intelligence or training. It’s not even temperament. It’s whether they’re willing to learn—not just from textbooks or trials, but from life itself.
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1 month ago | 
kevinmd.com | Alexandre Bourcier |Jonathan Peters |Timothy J. Keyes |Jeff Cooper
“We are under-exercised as a nation; we look instead of play; we ride instead of walk.”—John F. Kennedy, Sports Illustrated, 1960In 1960, then-President-elect John F. Kennedy issued a striking warning: Americans were becoming physically unfit, and this trend threatened not just individual health, but the vitality of the nation itself. He saw physical activity as foundational to our strength—not just as a people, but as a country. Over sixty years later, his words feel more urgent than ever.
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1 month ago | 
kevinmd.com | Erin Paterson |Anna Delamerced |Jonathan Peters |Cindy Thompson
I recently attended a medical conference for the Huntington’s disease (HD) community. Hundreds of people were gathered to collaborate, share knowledge, and learn how to better address the needs of their patients. During the first session, I found it challenging to listen to the presentation and the conversations taking place around me. The detached manner in which people were speaking was troubling to me, so I stepped out for a break. When I returned, it was no better.
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2 months ago | 
kevinmd.com | Neil H. Baum |Stephen Foley |Casey P. Schukow |Jonathan Peters
In the previous article, I offered four ways (other than growth) a practice can compensate for declining reimbursements: improve efficiency, boost collection ratio, increase productivity, and consider a practice merger. As promised, here are four more. Stay focusedFocused strategies lead to better outcomes and lower costs. It is no accident that the best outcomes and lowest price for open-heart surgery are achieved where the highest volume of these is performed.
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Jan 20, 2025 | 
kevinmd.com | Humeira Badsha |Jonathan Peters |Cindy Thompson |Richard Liebowitz
Doctors are worried, and rightly so. Recent rapid strides in artificial intelligence threaten to remove the need for doctors to a significant extent. There is an oft-discussed scenario that in the next two to three years, well-trained nurses or other mid-level providers, assisted by artificial intelligence, will be adequate to provide most medical care. So, are we going to see widespread unemployment among medical professionals? The answer is complex.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
kevinmd.com | Damane Zehra |Mark Walshauser |Jonathan Peters |Cindy Thompson
I have worked in clinical oncology in Pakistan. As an oncology physician, I was not supposed to interact with patients in the ER. Recently, I had the opportunity to work with recent medical graduates in an emergency medicine setting. This experience was new for me, as I have been focused on oncology for a long time. However, that’s the beauty of life—it pushes us to do things we never thought we would.
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Dec 4, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Humeira Badsha |Stephen Foley |Casey Paul Schukow |Jonathan Peters
Last week my nurse called me, weeping. A patient had called and abused her, threatened her, and said he would complain to authorities about her. This, because his insurance company had delayed his medication refill request by a week. My nurse was hurt; she answers patient queries and emails even on her days off. He is not the only one shouting at and threatening medical staff. In my 30-year career in medicine, I am seeing the trajectory of rude, combative, and aggressive patients rise rapidly.
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Nov 24, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Hilary Hatch |Jonathan Peters |Cindy Thompson |Richard Liebowitz
In previous flu seasons, only about half of all Americans got the flu shot. Now we face pan-respiratory season, when we must worry about RSV, COVID, and the flu. The good news is these vaccines are lifesaving. The bad news is that if people don’t get them, they aren’t very effective and we might see fewer people get them at all. As a clinical psychologist, I’ve spent my career thinking about what motivates people to take an active role in their health.
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Nov 17, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Jennifer Lycette |Jonathan Peters |Brittany Ladson |Erin Paterson
For over twenty years, I’ve had a recurring nightmare: I’m back in medical training, and my patient is crashing. To save them, I must enter my medical orders into the electronic health record (EHR). The only problem is, there are no open computers. I could give a verbal order in a real-life emergency, but those aren’t the rules in this nightmare world. I go from computer to computer, begging for someone to let me use theirs, but all I receive are cold shoulders—and colder stares.
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Oct 25, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Sheila Nazarian |Jonathan Peters |Cindy Thompson |Tiffany R. Archambault
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!We sit down with Dennis Hursh, a health law attorney with decades of experience representing physicians in their interactions with hospitals. Dennis shares eye-opening stories of how hospitals use restrictive contracts and aggressive tactics to retain physicians—sometimes even against their will.
