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3 days ago | 
kevinmd.com | Muhamad Aly Rifai |Dawn Baker |Michele Luckenbaugh |Yoo Jung Kim
Recent headlines confirm what many Americans have sensed for the past few years: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is in crisis. A sweeping wave of layoffs is reshaping federal health agencies at every level—from the NIH to the CDC to the FDA. Some dismiss this as a political maneuver or an act of chaos. Others see it as an attack on career civil servants. I see it differently. This is what rock bottom looks like. And from here, the only direction left is up.
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Jan 29, 2025 | 
kevinmd.com | Muhamad Aly Rifai |Scott Abramson |Brian Jackson |Shetal Shah
Congress passed the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996. This federal regulation was aimed at maintaining the privacy of medical records while ensuring the smooth flow of medical information pertinent to patient care. Penalties assessed for violations of the HIPAA Act mostly involve financial penalties (between $25,000 per violation up to $100,000 per violation).
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Dec 30, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Muhamad Aly Rifai
Suicide is the act of an individual ending their life. It is generally caused by the convergence of multiple factors, the most significant of which is untreated or end-stage psychiatric illness. As a practicing psychiatrist who has been involved in the Pennsylvania Physicians Health Program for more than a decade, I believe we need to do better to stem the increasing numbers of physician suicides.
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Dec 25, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Muhamad Aly Rifai
Telepsychiatry is a private audio (telephony) or video (video with sound) conference connection through which most psychiatric services can be provided to patients. I have been an early adopter and advocate for providing services, through telepsychiatry, to our patients who are experiencing mental health issues and psychiatric illnesses. The road leading to where we are right now in the field of telehealth has been treacherous and filled with regulatory landmines and obstacles.
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Nov 29, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Muhamad Aly Rifai |Neil Anand |Dawn Baker |Wendy Levinson
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs focus, attention, and behavioral control. ADHD hinders and compromises major life activities. Initially considered exclusively a disorder afflicting children and adolescents, it is now widely accepted that ADHD continues into adulthood, impacting the lives of those plagued by this impairment and disability.
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Nov 17, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Neil Anand |L. Joseph Parker |Muhamad Aly Rifai |George Mathew
In 1948, Claude Shannon revolutionized the world of communication with his theory of information, showing that precision and efficiency could emerge from chaos. Roughly 40 years earlier, Max Planck had done something similar in physics by discovering the rules of quantum mechanics, reducing uncertainty in an unpredictable universe. These two minds, though working in entirely different fields, shared a common vision: to bring order out of entropy.
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Oct 28, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | L. Joseph Parker |Neil Anand |Muhamad Aly Rifai |Janet Tamaren
The true definition of criminal behavior has always been problematic. Are we criminals because we break the law or because we have been convicted? Famous and revered people throughout history have clearly broken the law but are almost never defined as criminals. All the founding fathers of the United States self-admittedly committed treason against the crown, a capital offense.
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Oct 19, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Muhamad Aly Rifai |Neil Anand |L. Joseph Parker |Aaron Morgenstein
As health care predictive algorithms, including the Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMP), expand their reach beyond traditional enforcement of health care regulations, the concept of a social credit score has emerged as a powerful but controversial tool.
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Sep 24, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Muhamad Aly Rifai |George Mathew |Steven Siegel |Ronald A. Paulus
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a virtual construct that uses algorithms, data, and computational power to simulate human intelligence in machines. Physicians and health care professionals often imagine AI as a futuristic, benevolent, childlike humanoid with the unique ability to love, as depicted in the 2001 Steven Spielberg movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence. However, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) disagrees.
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Sep 18, 2024 | 
kevinmd.com | Muhamad Aly Rifai |Alpa Shah |Dawn Baker |James Han Mattson
As the crescendo of a seven-year alleged health care fraud investigation, the trial in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania opened in late April 2024. The trial is one of less than two percent of the federal criminal cases filed that ultimately end up in a jury trial. This flawed prosecution targeted an exemplary physician who, like the majority of physicians in the United States, has spent most of their lives in the service of the American people. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury.
