Category: Public Health & Policy

Treating mental illness will not stop mass shootings

Since the mass shooting in Uvalde, TX, rapidly after that in Buffalo, NY, I have read and heard several simplistic public media pieces suggesting easy means of preventing these acts. They unanimously indicated that mass shooters (MS), especially those …

As cancer patients wait, states play favorites

Cancer patients soon will have new treatment options in Connecticut. Health care providers recently received regulatory approval for a joint venture that will allow them to open the state’s first proton therapy center. The lifesaving technology, …

Why the baby formula shortage happened

By the end of April 2022, nearly 40 percent of the country’s baby formula ran out of stock, leading to a major baby formula shortage in the United States. The plummeting availability of baby formula has left parents and caregivers anxious as they…

Is being a victim a part of being a doctor?

On June 1, two doctors, a medical receptionist, and a patient were gunned down in the doctors’ outpatient office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. An investigation revealed that one of the doctors was the intended target — a patient, angry because his pain was…

Gun control vs. violent criminal control

KevinMD contributors, virtually without exception, have asserted the solution to events like the horrific tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, is “gun control.” Allow me to present an alternative viewpoint in the interest of diversity of opinion. Firs…

The “wonder years” of health care

In the wake of medical home certification, meaningful use, the Cures Act, and the pandemic, it’s clear that virtually all health care is now built on a digital foundation. EHRs are pervasive in the delivery system and are increasingly connected to prac…

America trains enough doctors: Redefining medical supply and demand

If the U.S. medical system is a chessboard, and providers are the game pieces, America is playing those pieces with one column, row, and role instead of using the whole space. Several journals, economists, and medical professionals forecast physician s…

Medicaid expansion for postpartum support

As an emergency medicine physician, I see firsthand the consequences of being a patient in America without health insurance. While the Biden administration previously addressed a key gap in insurance coverage known as the family glitch, other gaps rema…

Utilization management is medicine’s great conspiracy theory

So-called “evidence-based guidelines” are slowly destroying the practice of medicine, and companies that develop these proprietary guidelines are guilty of conspiring with payers to deny individuals necessary medical treatment. Guideline de…

How to tackle the physician shortage

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) predicts that at least 139,000 doctors will be needed by 2033, particularly in rural and low-income areas. In an attempt to address this need, states have been replacing physicians with non-physician …