5,177. That’s the current number of “cc’ed charts” as of this morning in my electronic health record in-basket. While it might sound like a lot, this is not at all an unusual accumulation, partly due to the fact that I receive a…
Category: primary care
The rewards of being a designated airman medical examiner
For the last 25 years, I have had the privilege of being a designated airman medical examiner by the Federal Aviation Administration. To earn that privilege, it required flying to FAA headquarters and taking a one-week training course followed by refre…
We can empower patients by validating their perceptions
I am a mother. A wife. A daughter. A sister. A friend. I am a doctor. I am a runner. Just like everyone, there are many pieces to my core identity. These are the traits that encompass the fixed view I hold of myself. These ring true for me, even when…
Why we need more physician entrepreneurs
Three years ago, I had a massive, life-changing event. It passed with little notice; it was beyond banal and happened while eating sushi with a colleague in a landlocked state. Here I am with a young patient at the direct primary care practice I opened…
A minor obsession with the word, “pipeline”
In family medicine, there’s a minor obsession with the word “pipeline.” The term makes me want to scream. Just think about a pipeline. The “line” part is superfluous. A pipeline is actually just a pipe. Our goal is to stuff prospective mission-driven f…
How doctors can distinguish themselves in a data-driven world
When I was in medical school, I didn’t realize the potential data would have in health care. Back then I learned from 1000+ page hardcover textbooks and handwrote notes in paper medical records. Fast forward twenty years — data and analytics are …
Genuine empathy goes a long way
Not including residency, I have been caring for patients for five years. But was I really caring about them? We all took the oath to do no harm. We all began our journey into medicine with intentions to make a difference in patient’s lives. But sometim…
The troubling questions surrounding telemedicine
What I’m about to tell you is based on good insider information. But I also disclose that this is an amalgamation of a few reports of teledoc companies to me and their crony insurance companies, not a thorough analysis of the entire industry. I just as…
A physician moving back and forth along the Teflon spectrum
I guess I should take it as a compliment when patients come to see me after visiting a specialist and ask me a bunch of difficult specialty-related questions. “Did you ask the specialist that?” I typically ask, and the answer will be a plain “no.” I’ve…
Primary care today: There are several concerning trends
In 2006 Dr. Tom Bodenheimer wrote an article that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled, “Primary Care – Will It Survive?” Dr. Bodenheimer spoke with great concern about patients’ growing unhappiness with their primary care phys…
