“Practicing culturally relevant care means we can account for the social determinants of health, barriers to access, and the emotional disconnect that results from the status quo, one-size-fits-all approach many patients have come to expect. It h…
Category: Public Health & Policy
Almost half of health care workers are not doctors and nurses Health policies must address their burnout too.
Vaccination rates are climbing, and COVID-19 cases are decreasing. While this is surely a relief to most of us, many health care workers are bracing themselves for a significant post-pandemic fallout. Far from getting a much-needed reprieve from an emo…
Why the Build Back Better Act is an investment, not a cost
The original Build Back Better Act proposed various provisions to improve Americans’ lives, including two years of free community college, child care assistance, and investments in clean energy. The steep price tag has led many to question whethe…
What medicine can learn from the antiwork movement
A record number of Americans are choosing to quit their jobs. This phenomenon has been termed The Great Resignation by economists. The reasons for the Great Resignation are multifactorial and a subject of great debate, but some insight can be gleaned f…
How advanced analytics can help social determinants of health
Health care costs in the U.S. have increased dramatically over the past five decades, from $74 billion in 1970 to $3.8 trillion in 2019. This trend has been fueled in large part by an increase in the number of people who struggle with chronic condition…
Health care has crossed into a realm of moral injury and systemic collapse
Recently I have been more quiet than usual. Less writing. Less fire and brimstone. Quiet, at least for me. But anyone who is paying attention knows that when the most passionate and the most invested get quiet, something is truly amiss. Whether it be a…
“Take it or leave it” is not negotiation but coercion
“Take it or leave it” is not negotiation but coercion. Physicians have been subject to this tactic for much too long. As an ophthalmologist in clinical practice for nearly four decades, I experienced too often what a recent author on KevinMD described …
How to address the mental health fallout of climate change
An existential crisis On August 9, the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report made public what many had feared. Global temperature warming to 1.5 C is all but inevitable by 2040 — even by the most optimistic scena…
Open enrollment: It’s time to leave your insurance plan behind
Research shows inadequate health insurance accounts for nearly 67 percent of all bankruptcies. This statistic is staggering, and illustrates a difficult reality for the many American families navigating today’s insurance market. Not only can medi…
How did we let insurers run health care?
How did we Americans allow health insurers to dictate how physicians practice good medicine? The hypocritic oath says, “Do no harm.” We should not allow insurance company profits to prevent proper care for patients. Our insurer is now telli…
