Adapted from Rich & Dying: An Insider Calls Bullsh*t on America’s Healthcare Economy. I’ve stood in front of conferences before and made my case: our health care system is perfect. “A perfect system? Ours?” I’ll hear people in the audience mu…
Category: Policy
Doctors: You can increase voting in the U.S.
A vital sign of U.S. democracy — voter participation — is very low, and health professionals providing holistic care can be part of the solution. Holistic care should be expanded to include civic health. U.S. voter participation ranks 28th among 35 nat…
COVID-19 proved that diverse voices make health care better
I’ve been reflecting on how the scientific world came together over the past 15-months to take on a viral pandemic. Despite unprecedented circumstances, the field achieved one of the most incredible feats of modern medicine, and for once, we achieved i…
The expanding role of specialists in value-based care
Value-based care has become a buzzword over the past decade with early experiments in Massachusetts, followed by creating Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) as part of the Affordable Care Act. As commercial insurers jumped onto this bandwag…
Surgical volumes are still down. A data-first strategy is the key to recovery.
Due to COVID-19, hospitals were forced to reevaluate and rework systems and processes that had been around for decades. From managing the increasing demands for testing and treating patients with the coronavirus to acquiring necessary medical equipment…
Why it is essential to prioritize universal coverage
A patient of mine (who was also a friend) reached out recently to say the cost of one of his essential medications had increased to a $300 monthly out-of-pocket expense. As an independent musician, he did not get his health care through an employer. Th…
The white guys vs. the janitors: How racial microaggressions lead to poor care outcomes
Modern-day discrimination still has elements of slavery, segregation, and inaccurate assumptions about people of color. Just last month, a Texas high school principal sent a letter to parents explaining her dismay about a recent racist act where studen…
High COVID-19 vaccination rates do not equate to equity in communities of color
The 500,000 COVID-19 related deaths reflect our nation’s failure to reduce and prevent public health crises. As COVID-19 rampaged across the globe, several research teams raced to develop a vaccine, a technology that humanity has relied on for decades …
A police shooting in a hospital forces a family to rethink American justice
The beer bottle that cracked over Christian Pean’s head unleashed rivulets of blood that ran down his face and seeped into the soil in which Harold and Paloma Pean were growing their three boys. At the time, Christian was a confident high school studen…
Doctors now must provide patients their health data, online and on demand
Last summer, Anna Ramsey suffered a flare-up of juvenile dermatomyositis, a rare autoimmune condition, posing a terrifying prospect for the Los Angeles resident: She might have to undergo chemotherapy, further compromising her immune system during a pa…
