How many times each week do we hear the phrase, “If you’re not completely satisfied, we’ll refund the purchase price – no questions asked.” This is more often a marketing ploy than a true money-back guarantee. I have a sense that trying to obtain a promised refund on an item that dissatisfied us is about […]
Though I have been accused by various commenters as protecting my own specialty when I point out excesses, flaws and conflicts of interest in the medical profession, this accusation would be handily dismantled after a fair reading of prior posts. Indeed, my own specialty of gastroenterology and my own medical practice has felt the effects […]
One thing doctors like to do is to use fancy language. Patients, however, want physicians to use simple terms. Perhaps, using highfalutin language makes physicians feel more scholarly and important. Of course, this bombast only confuses patients who may be too timid to respond that they don’t have a clue what we’re saying. If your […]
Am I an apologist for the pharmaceutical companies? I don’t think so, but others may disagree based on some sympathetic Whistleblower posts that have appeared in this blog. It is without question that the drug companies have been demonized and portrayed as rapacious gangs of greed who seek profit over all. Haven’t you come across the […]
Your call is important to us. Please listen carefully because our options have changed. Reader query: During your current or any prior lifetime, has any phone menu option ever changed? I have more than once experienced an option not offered on the robotic phone menu option choices – a dead phone line after a 30 […]
One would think that a physician who earns his living billing patients would be conversant with the prices of his services. Not this doctor. I am queried periodically by patients asking how much I charge for a colonoscopy. Of course, every physician recognizes that this question is not phrased properly. It doesn’t matter what we […]
Healthcare payments are no longer about transactions. It’s about controlling the revenue cycle. And increasingly, that control is not sitting with ISOs.
Why does Pay for Performance (P4P) make most physicians reach for Maalox? I have devoted a good portion of this blog’s real estate to dismantling the fallacy that pay for performance improves medical quality. It’s easier to argue that this clumsy and robotic approach diminishes medical quality by incentivizing physicians and hospitals to game the […]
I’m a gastroenterologist and I should be against obesity. I should counsel patients who have reached a designated rung on the body mass index (BMI) ladder on the risks of carrying excessive poundage and the benefits of achieving a more streamlined silhouette. I should encourage them to pursue a regular pattern of exercise and to […]
There are some patients we doctors never forget. They linger in our memories for various reasons. Often, it is their serious or unusual medical condition that stays with us. On other occasions, it is a zany or unique personality that we recall, even years later. Rarely, when the doctor-patient relationship becomes injured, then the patient […]
Okay, readers, how many of you desire to have a feeding tube inserted into your belly one day? Some of you? A few of you? All of you? Not me, that’s for sure. So, if there comes a time when I cannot speak for myself, let this blog post serve as a statement of my […]
Discover the top AI-powered EAP providers for 2026. Compare platforms like Kyan Health and Spring Health on triage speed, global reach, and clinical quality to transform workforce wellbeing.
I see many patients with hepatitis C (HCV). None of them are under treatment and they all feel quite well. Why don’t I treat them? After all, potential consequences of HCV include: Cirrhosis Hepatocellular carcinoma. or liver cancer End stage liver disease with all the trimmings Liver transplantation Death One would think that a portentous list […]
“…resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer.” No need to identify the authorship of the above quotation, which should be known by all discerning readers, such as those who feast on the weekly Whistleblower offering. […]
Rarely, I have fired patients from my practice. Why do I do this? You might think that we send out termination letters to patients who haven’t paid their medical bills. We don’t. We try to work with these folks and will keep seeing them as long as they are making the barest effort to address […]
A hundred bucks doesn’t buy much these days. A crisp Ben Franklin can be exchanged for: 50 Big Macs A Broadway show ticket A night in a New York City hotel (just joking) A college textbook (paperback) Your life Your life? Yes, 5 crumpled Andy Jacksons can save your life, as was reported earlier this […]
This blog has tried to support the virtue of personal responsibility. If you smoke, don’t blame Joe Camel. If you surrender to Big Mac attacks, don’t go after Ronald McDonald. If you love donuts, and your girth is steadily expanding, is it really Krispy Kreme’s fault? And, if you suffer an adverse medical outcome, then… Medicare […]