-
3 weeks ago | 
kevinmd.com | Robert Pearl |Michael Poku |Chris Apfel
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!Hematology-oncology physician Yousuf Zafar discusses his article, “The personalization of cancer care in 2025.” He traces the evolution of cancer treatment over the past two decades, moving through waves of cytotoxic chemotherapy, biologic therapies, immunotherapies including groundbreaking CAR-T therapy, and now precision oncology, which targets treatments to the specific molecular profile of a patient’s cancer.
-
2 months ago | 
kevinmd.com | Robert Pearl |Michael Poku |Cesar Padilla |Sara Pastoor
Cancer is a disease that demands long-term, resource-intensive treatment, posing an especially heavy burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In nations like India, where a significant portion of the population comprises daily wage earners, farmers, and small shop owners living in villages, the challenges are even more pronounced.
-
Mar 8, 2025 | 
kevinmd.com | Yousuf Zafar |Robert Pearl |Michael Poku |Susan Bornstein
In the past 50 years, cancer in many cases has morphed from a certain death sentence into a chronic illness. However, cancer is unlike other chronic conditions. There are hundreds of different cancers, classified by where they start in the body and how their cells behave. To turn cancer from an acute, life-ending illness into a chronic one, we now understand that cancer must be treated with a targeted, personalized approach.
-
Mar 2, 2025 | 
kevinmd.com | Martin Lustick |Robert Pearl |Michael Poku
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!Physician executive Shamar Young discusses his article, “Geographic disparities in advanced cancer care: a call for innovation,” highlighting the uneven access to emerging cancer treatments across different health care systems.
-
Jan 17, 2025 | 
managedhealthcareexecutive.com | Michael Poku
Payers are increasingly recognizing the transformative potential of value-based care enablers. In 2025, payers will actively collaborate with these specialized organizations like never before to strengthen connections with providers, particularly independent primary care practices, and streamline activities critical to value-based care success. This will involve a strong focus on promoting member-centered care and services.
-
Jan 12, 2025 | 
kevinmd.com | Shamar Young |Robert Pearl |Martin Lustick |Michael Poku
Imagine two patients are diagnosed with liver cancer on the same day. Both have similar tumors and overall health. The only difference? Their zip codes. While we’d like to believe that all patients in the United States receive standardized care regardless of location, the reality is far more complex. Where a patient lives—and more specifically, which health care system they can access—may fundamentally alter their treatment options and outcomes.
-
Dec 20, 2024 | 
medcitynews.com | Michael Poku
Primary care is effective. It helps patients live longer, healthier lives. It is instrumental in disease prevention, chronic condition management, and educating individuals on self-management. It lowers healthcare costs by decreasing the reliance on higher-cost specialists and other healthcare resources, especially emergency departments and hospitals. And yet, despite the proven benefits, many people do not engage with primary care.
-
Nov 6, 2024 | 
physicianspractice.com | Michael Poku
Value-based care has been heralded as the future of healthcare for more than a decade, but it has yet to fully arrive. This gap is particularly evident in primary care, which must be on board if the promise of value-based care (VBC) is to be achieved. The Commonwealth Fund, a private U.S. foundation dedicated to improving healthcare, recently issued a report exploring why primary care has been so slow to adopt VBC.
-
Oct 30, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Stacy Wentworth |Michael Poku |Susan Levenstein |Matthew Brackman
It is rare that an ABC movie of the week endures. Buzz Kulick’s 1971 Brian’s Song is the notable exception. IMDB describes the movie as a “beloved tearjerker,” which portrays the friendship between Chicago Bears teammates Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo in the mid-1960s. Central to the plot is not only the race-based prejudice that existed in professional football at the time but also the public depiction of cancer in early 1970s America.
-
May 26, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Shakeel Ahmed |Michael Poku |George Mathew |Steven Siegel
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.”– Thomas EdisonMr. Edison, if he is watching over us, must be sadly disappointed. The provocative idea of making cancer centers obsolete might sound extreme, but it underscores a critical vision for health care—shifting from reactive to preventive treatment.
