Medical

Primary care is in trouble again. Last summer, as government assistance programs expired or wound down, primary care practices across the country were struggling to stay afloat because of lost business. By October, patient visits had rebounded in most specialties. But by mid-November, as COVID-19 surged everywhere, primary care physicians reported that they faced critical…

If you’re like 95% of American adults, you had chickenpox as a kid. Before the United States started its widespread vaccination program in 1995, there were roughly four million cases of chickenpox every year. So, most people suffered through an infection with this highly contagious virus and its itchy, whole-body rash. But unlike many childhood…

Starting on January 1, 2021, clinicians across the country can expect new Medicare rules on billing, documentation, and payment for evaluation and management (E/M) services — or common office/outpatient visits – to go into effect. These historic changes will give clinicians more flexibility in how they document visits in their patients’ medical record, reduce their…

If a family member or friend asked you to serve as his/her medical power of attorney, what would your answer be? Many people agree to assume this role without a second thought, but you should take some time to understand what your responsibilities as a medical power of attorney would be, why the person has…

“A few months ago, I signed up for a virtual conference for women in medicine. It’s a group of women, over 10,000 of us, who have watched me and supported me through the past two years of my career. Two years of struggle. Two years of personal and professional pain. Two years of opportunity for…

The mammoth task of vaccinating most of the world’s human population against COVID-19 is before us. Several viable, highly effective vaccines have been developed at record speed. The pharmaceutical industry will now be called upon to meet the next challenge of producing the vaccine at scale by manufacturing the billions of required doses. A distribution…

Those of us in health care understand that the pandemic represents just one more example of the disproportionately negative impact of health issues on people of color.  As stated in a 2017 National Institutes of Health report, “For racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, health disparities take on many forms, including higher rates…

The Queen’s Gambit, a seven-part Netflix series, has been the darling of streaming television during the coronavirus pandemic. Seen by more than 60 million people, the story chronicles the life of fictional chess prodigy Beth Harmon, who grows up in a Kentucky orphanage and goes on to win a world championship. With its three-dimensional characters and…

For the past seven months, an epidemic in our country has spiraled out of control, claiming thousands of lives that could have been saved. It has been met by an inadequate, meandering national response that has often lacked urgency. It has disrupted families, and at times has overburdened our health care system grappling with limited…