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Medical storytelling and the doctor who forgot his lines

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 17:00:00 +0000

It wasn’t a great performance. It might not even have been good. But I did it. When I stepped down from the stage, I just felt relieved. I had diligently memorized my lines. I started off by telling the audience about the time I nearly tipped over trying to put on my underwear. That drew

Surgery center profit margins were highest at nonprofits

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 16:00:00 +0000

A research letter published in JAMA Health Forum on September 25, 2026, examined the 2024 financial reports of 257 ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) in Pennsylvania. The finding was not what the usual debate over outpatient medicine would lead you to expect. Nonprofit centers represented 20.6 percent of the facilities. They collected 35.8 percent of the

Surgical pipeline visibility starts with the coordinator

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 15:00:38 +0000

Specialty practices are investing in executive dashboards that show surgical pipeline, volume projections, and cases at risk. Most of them are looking at a picture that is days behind. The reason is that the surgical coordinator responsible for keeping those cases moving is still working the case in a spreadsheet, an inbox, and a phone

How serial patent litigation delays cheaper generic drugs

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 14:00:00 +0000

As a physician caring for patients in New Orleans, I see the consequences of America’s prescription drug affordability crisis every day. Many of my patients need essential medications like insulin, blood thinners, and inhalers to manage chronic conditions that impact their day-to-day lives. But far too often, these medicines are unaffordable, even for patients with

Frivolous malpractice lawsuits need a quantitative test

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 13:00:59 +0000

Many books describe medical malpractice. Among them are Medical Malpractice; Medical Malpractice: A Physician’s Sourcebook; The Malpractice Myth; A Measure of Malpractice: Medical Injury, Malpractice Litigation, and Patient Compensation; Medical Malpractice: Theory, Evidence, and Public Policy; To Err Is Human; Medical Law and Ethics; and Medical Liability and Treatment Relationships: A Physician’s Insight Into Medical

What 3 bicycles taught me about physician resilience

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

When I was ten years old in Japan, I got a bicycle. It was a simple machine: one speed, coaster brake, no gears, and no pretensions. Designed for the flat Kanto Plain surrounding Tokyo, it was perfectly suited for its environment. For the next decade, it carried me through childhood, adolescence, and multiple moves as

Why storytelling in health care outlasts the algorithm

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

On Friday, March 13, 2020, Governor Jim Justice held a press conference, one I watched virtually, and, as I ate cheddar cheese and Triscuits and put my feet on my desk, I felt unwell. The previous weekend had been the last “normal” thing my son, Isaac, would do in high school, the West Virginia All-State

Disability claim denied? Your chart notes may be why. [PODCAST]

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 23:00:38 +0000

Listen and followApple PodcastsSpotifyYouTubeMore apps · Browse all episodes The words you put in a patient’s chart can be used to deny their disability claim. A note that says “stable” or “improved” can mean one thing to you and another to the insurer. Jennifer Hess, an ERISA disability attorney and Riemer Hess partner, represents physicians

Nutrition training for doctors needs more than 40 hours

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 19:00:25 +0000

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced an initiative to improve nutrition education across every stage of physician education and training. As part of the effort, dozens of medical schools have pledged to include forty hours of nutrition training (or a competency-based equivalent) in their graduation requirements. Those pledges take aim at

Francisco M. Torres, MD, on back pain and evidence-based wellness: a KevinMD subscriber spotlight

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Francisco M. Torres, MD, is an interventional physiatrist who specializes in spine-related pain syndromes at Florida Spine Institute and Wellness in Clearwater, Florida, and is certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the American Board of Pain Medicine. He has published 60 essays on KevinMD since July 2022 and has been

Teen driver insurance protects your child when others crash

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 16:00:00 +0000

As the father of three active boys, including two teenagers approaching driving age, I know the day I hand over the car keys isn’t far off. Right now, our days are filled with practices, wrestling meets, school activities, and the constant shuffle of getting everyone where they need to be. Before long, they’ll be the

Leaving clinical practice without leaving medicine

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:00:24 +0000

There was a time when my daily work meant sitting across from a patient in an exam room. I listened to symptoms, asked questions, performed physical examinations, ordered laboratory tests, tried to arrive at a diagnosis, and then prescribed medicine. Today, my world looks very different. The person sitting across from me has been replaced

Why cancer metaphors of war and battle fail patients

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 14:00:00 +0000

For decades, we have talked about cancer as a war to be won. Patients are told to fight, to battle, to beat the disease. In oncology, this language is so deeply embedded that we rarely stop to question it. Yet words do more than describe our experiences. Alongside medical therapies, they can shape how patients

Fax in health care costs hospitals more than they realize

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 13:00:04 +0000

Health care delivery organizations face substantial budgetary pressures. U.S. health care organizations face heavy administrative burdens that consume nearly a quarter of all health care spending, amounting to $950 billion in 2021. Adding to the financial strain, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July 2025, will reduce Medicaid spending by at

Predictive AI in health care flags risk. Who acts on it?

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Artificial intelligence is transforming health care’s ability to anticipate disease, identify vulnerable populations, and support clinical decision-making. From predicting hospital readmissions to identifying individuals at increased risk of chronic conditions, AI-powered technologies promise to make health care more proactive, efficient, and responsive. However, while considerable attention has been devoted to improving the accuracy and sophistication

What The Hunger Games reveals about moral injury in medicine

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Shortly after graduating from my emergency medicine training, I reread The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I didn’t expect a dystopian novel to follow me into the emergency department, but it did. Somewhere between ambulance radios, a full waiting room, and those pages, I realized how familiar the logic felt. Not the violence. The structure.

Doctors lose hours to admin work that AI or an assistant could do [PODCAST]

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 23:00:12 +0000

Listen and followApple PodcastsSpotifyYouTubeMore apps · Browse all episodes Many doctors who run their own practices spend hours on work someone else could do. One practice owner who charges $300 an hour was his own receptionist, verifying insurance all night and stepping away from a family dinner to take a patient’s call. Central AI and

Why I wrote a medical thriller about patients’ secrets

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 21:00:00 +0000

The most important moment of a medical appointment usually happens at the very end, with a hand on the doorknob. Every physician knows the moment. The visit is over. The official reason for it (the refill, the checkup, the cough) has been handled. And then, as she reaches for the door, the patient pauses. “Actually,

The exercise pill is back, and history urges caution

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 20:00:00 +0000

I was once the proud owner of a gadget from the early 2000s. A belt you wrapped around your midsection, switched on, and supposedly watched the vibrations melt the fat away. Predictably, it did not work. In fact, it never could have. Still, at the time I wanted it to work so much that, for

Parental instincts caught what normal tests missed

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:00:47 +0000

As a nurse, I understand why medicine depends on objective data. We rely on lab results, imaging studies, vital signs, and physical examinations to help guide decisions. We are trained to avoid unnecessary testing, unnecessary radiation, and unnecessary interventions. I fully understand the risks of overdiagnosis, radiation exposure, and the reality that many childhood illnesses