Post Author: Robert Pearl, MD

Robert Pearl is a plastic surgeon and author of Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients. He can be reached on Twitter @RobertPearlMD.

Robert Pearl is a plastic surgeon and author of Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients. He can be reached on Twitter @RobertPearlMD.

How the health care system fails to match its hype

Policy
October 2, 2020

No player received as much media-generated attention heading into Super Bowl LIV as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. All eyes were on him and, when it mattered most, the young signal-caller came through, bringing his team back from a 10-point deficit to win it all.

Mahomes, 24, could teach American health care a valuable lesson about living up to the hype against high-level competition. For decades, self-described “breakthrough” medications, …

Read more…

7 dangerous myths about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Conditions
March 20, 2020

The coronavirus (COVID-19) is the single-most important topic on the minds of Americans, and it remains the subject of regular updates from health officials. And yet, despite the abundance of scientific facts and guidance surrounding the disease, misinformation abounds as confusion persists.

Avoiding many of the worst consequences and doomsday predictions will depend, in part, …

Read more…

The primary care solution is obvious, but don’t expect policymakers to jump on board

Policy
January 31, 2020

In a shocking development that could transform the medical profession, the International Journal of Health Services published the findings of a study titled, “Primary care, specialty care, and life chances.”

Using multiple regression analysis, the researchers concluded that “primary care is by far the most significant variable related to better health status,” correlating with lower mortality, fewer deaths from heart disease and cancer, and a host of other beneficial health outcomes. By contrast, …

Read more…

Both physicians and patients need to stop viewing technological tools as threats

Tech
January 7, 2020

A recent study published in Science, one of the world’s leading academic journals, found that a predictive health care algorithm discriminated against black patients.

The tool, created by Optum, was designed to identify high-risk patients with untreated chronic diseases, thereby helping administrators re-distribute medical resources to those who’d benefit the most. But there was a glitch in the algorithm, according to researchers. Rather than ranking the needs …

Read more…

5 improvements needed to modernize the American hospital landscape

Policy
December 16, 2019

Over the past 40 years, the number of U.S. hospitals declined by 12 percent, from more than 7,100 in 1975 to 6,200 in 2017, according to the latest American Hospital Association survey. And, yet, despite shuttering nearly 1,000 facilities, hospitals remain the nation’s largest source of health care spending, accounting for $1.1 trillion annually (or 33% of all national health care expenditures). Much of that money goes …

Read more…

Doctors on TV: today vs. 20 years ago

Physician
November 30, 2019

I’ll admit it. I’m a medical-TV junkie, addicted to 21st-century doctor and hospital dramas (most of which are now streaming on Netflix and other services).

Although some physicians are bothered by sensationalized depictions of their profession, I appreciate these shows for what they deliver: equal parts entertainment and insight. On the one hand, medical dramas are made for our amusement. They’re theatrical escapes from reality, meant to be enjoyed from comforts …

Read more…

What politicians aren’t telling you about health care

Policy
October 27, 2019

Health care remains the nation’s top voting issue ahead of the 2020 elections, just as it was during the 2018 midterms. Surveys show voters remain frustrated with high drug prices, growing out-of-pocket expenses, and skimpy health-insurance benefits.

The leading candidates have publicly promised to fix these problems, but all are omitting certain details about their health care plans. To help voters …

Read more…

What can be done to improve our maternal death rate?

Policy
October 18, 2019

Why does the most expensive health care system on the planet do such a poor job protecting the lives of pregnant women? More important, what can be done about it?

The United States continues to lead the world in health care spending yet it has the highest maternal death rate among wealthy nations. Researchers have found that maternal mortality in the United States increased by 26.6% from …

Read more…

How the changing roles of hospitals are isolating physicians

Policy
October 11, 2019

Physicians nearing the end of their careers often mourn the loss of the hospital as it once was — the undisputed center of the health care universe. They remember a time when every community doctor rounded on patients in the morning, and every surgery was performed in one of the hospital’s main operating rooms.

Times, like hospitals, have changed. This article looks at how the changing role of the American …

Read more…

Will separating obstetrics from gynecology help specialist burnout?

Physician
August 30, 2019

At the end of a long table covered with hors d’oeuvres and a birthday cake, I struck up a conversation with three primary care physicians.

I was hungry for their opinions.

Inside the crowded apartment, we spoke for some 20 minutes about the systemic and cultural causes of burnout in primary care—a conversation that informed the first article in this series.

As I was about to leave, I …

Read more…

Clinical performance data: a physician’s friend or foe?

Physician
August 16, 2019

According to a recent Harvard report, physician burnout is “a public health crisis that urgently demands action.”

Half of all doctors report troubling symptoms: depression, exhaustion, dissatisfaction, and a sense of failure. These physicians are twice as likely to commit a serious medical error, research finds. Experts predict that if left unaddressed, burnout will further erode the mental health of doctors and radically undermine …

Read more…

How technology ruined, and can save, the doctor-patient relationship

Tech
July 16, 2019

Each year, Medical Economics surveys physician readers to find out what irks them most. Topping the latest list: insurance paperwork, followed closely by electronic health records (EHRs).

The reason is the same for both. Insurers and EHRs get between doctors and their patients.

When it comes to medicine’s computer problem, the obstacle is literal. Doctors sit behind a screen, focused on the EHR and not the patient. …

Read more…

Technology is corrupting the culture of medicine

Tech
July 2, 2019

To help then-candidate Bill Clinton remain focused on the No. 1 voter issue ahead of the 1992 presidential elections, political strategist James Carville coined an unforgettable mantra, which he posted inside Clinton campaign headquarters.

It read, “The economy, stupid.”

The quote became famous both for its edginess and wisdom, reminding us to separate the big picture from everything else.

In health care, it can be hard to define the “big picture” issue when …

Read more…

The ethics behind the world’s most expensive medication

Meds
June 14, 2019

With the recent FDA approval, Zolgensma became the world’s most expensive medication. Priced at $2.125 million per patient, the one-dose gene therapy is a potential life-saver for children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Now, the treatment is at the center of an intensifying debate over the rising price of medications.

Industry watchdogs are outraged. They say Zolgensma is merely the …

Read more…

Pay people for their kidneys? It’s time.

Policy
May 31, 2019

These are trying times for health care optimists. Despite all the hype surrounding breakthroughs in clinical practice and technology, American medicine is stuck in in neutral. Though the engine is revving loudly, little progress is being made.

This unfortunate truth came into clearer light last week when I was preparing lesson plans for the health care strategy course I teach at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. During the first class of …

Read more…

7
pages

CME Spotlights