General Medicine and Primary Care

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

Guest: Signe Whitson

What is passive-aggressive behavior, and what can (or should) people do when confronted with it?

Host Brian McDonough sits down with Signe Whitson, author of the book The Angry Smile: The New Psychological Study of Passive-Aggressive Behavior at Home, at School, in Marriage & Close Relationships, in the Workplace and Online. Ms. Whitson is an educator on bullying, crisis intervention, and child and adolescent emotional and behavioral health. She offers real-world examples and empowering, practical strategies for individuals confronted with passive aggressiveness.

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD

Guest: Danielle Ofri, MD

Despite modern medicine’s infatuation with high-tech gadgetry, the single most powerful diagnostic tool is the doctor-patient conversation, which can uncover the lion’s share of illnesses. However, what patients say and what doctors hear are often two vastly different things.

Host Dr. Maurice Pickard chats with Dr. Danielle Ofri, Associate Professor of Medicine at NYU and author of What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear. The two discuss ways in which refocusing conversations between doctors and their patients can lead to better health outcomes.

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

Cigarette smoking is one of the leading cause of preventable death in North America, an unfortunate statistic that is rapidly replicating across the rest of the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts based on current trends that cigarette smoking will kill a billion people this century.

But what can be done to reverse this trend?

Host Brian McDonough talks with David Sweanor, Adjunct Professor of Law, and Chair of the advisory committee for the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, at the University of Ottawa. Mr. Sweanor has been spearheading efforts to reduce cigarette smoking nationally and globally.

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

The Mediterranean Diet, rich in plant-based foods, is associated with a variety of health benefits, including a lower incidence of dementia. Extra-virgin olive oil, a specific ingredient used abundantly in this diet, is now speculated to help protect people against cognitive decline.

Host Brian McDonough talks with Domenico Pratico, Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Microbiology at the Center for Translational Medicine at the Louis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, about how consumption of olive oil can preserve memory and cognitive ability and potentially reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease.

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

Guest: Allison Willis, MD

More men than women are diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease by almost a 2 to 1 margin. However, women receive supportive surgery less often than men, and their symptoms are more severe on average by the time surgical options are taken.

Host Brian McDonough chats with Dr. Allison Willis, Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, about gender differences in diagnosing and managing Parkinson's Disease.

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD

Guest: Matthew Fiedler

The future of the Affordable Care Act is uncertain. While there has been much talk about repeal and replace, legislative efforts to carry through with this initiative have failed to gain any bipartisan support and have since fallen short of passing.

Host Dr. Matt Birnholz sits down with Matthew Fiedler to discuss the latest issues involved in health care reform. Mr. Fiedler is a Fellow with the Center for Health Policy at the Brookings' Institution’s Economic Studies Program. Prior to joining Brookings, Fiedler served as Chief Economist of the Council of Economic Advisers, where he oversaw the Council's work on health care policy, including the ACA’s health insurance reforms, Medicaid expansion, and provider payment reform efforts.

Host: Andrew Wilner, MD, FACP, FAAN

Guest: Michael Weisberg, MD

What happens when you are admitted to the hospital as a patient, and the physician assigned to be your doctor has never seen you before and knows absolutely nothing about you?

Says Dr. Michael Weisberg, gastroenterologist and author of The Hospitalist, situations like these are increasingly common in modern medicine and can have disastrous consequences for patients.

Dr. Weisberg joins host Dr. Andrew Wilner to talk about his novel, which underscores how doctors are now at heightened risk of being thwarted by the modern health care system.

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

Vegetative state is commonly defined as "wakefulness with awareness." Patients with a vegetative state diagnosis will show only reflex behavior, are not able to follow commands and are unable to communicate. This barrier in the inability for patients to communicate can make it difficult for doctors to measure their level of consciousness. In fact, some patients who are believed to be in a completely vegetative state may be more aware of what's going on than people realize.

Host Brian McDonough joins Dr. Adrian Owen, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging at the Brain and Mind Institute at Western University. They talk about how the use of MRI technology is aiding doctors in measuring the level of consciousness in patients under vegetative states.

Host: John Russell, MD

Guest: Harish Lavu, MD

Pancreatic cancer is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States by 2020. This is due, in large part, to its insidious onset and subtle presentation even at late stages, many symptoms of which are often attributed to common and less serious conditions in aging populations.

Dr. Harish Lavu, Head of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery at Jefferson University, talks with host Dr. John Russell about the diagnostic and therapeutic priorities addressing pancreatic cancer, and why this disease is so hard to detect.

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD

A recent survey of one thousand practicing physicians in the US, conducted by KPMG and the American Medical Association, is shedding new light on knowledge gaps in preparing for MACRA and the Quality Payment Program, and what can be done to address those gaps moving forward.

Dr. Matt Birnholz speaks with Larry Kocot, Principal at KPMG and National Leader of the Center for Healthcare Regulatory Insight. Ross White, Manager for KPMG’s Center for Healthcare Regulatory Insight, and Carol Vargo, Director of Physician Practice Sustainability in the AMA Physician Satisfaction and Practice Sustainability Strategic Initiative Group about the results of this survey.