Are medical journals still needed in the age of the internet and social media?  Our guest is Brahmajee Nallamothu, editor of the journal Circulation Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.  We have a wide ranging conversation, covering everything from the financial incentives of publishing, ideological biases in medical journals, the peer review process, the Twitter effect, and…

US medical schools overwhelmingly support centralization of healthcare and health care decision-making.  That is not a surprise since, over the decades, academic institutions have greatly benefited from healthcare policy. Because centralization of health care is detrimental to the doctor-patient relationship, students who begin their training motivated by a genuine desire to practice medicine in a…

For an increasing number of Americans today, a single payer system seems to be the only conceivable next step in the cataclysmic and ruinous history of our healthcare system.  Our guest today is Adam Gaffney, MD, a longtime supporter of a single-payer system and president-elect of Physicians for a National Health Program.  He has kindly…

Do medical journals apply scientific standards selectively?  On the subject of the effect of pharmaceutical lunch gifts on physician behavior, all that may be required from a paper is that the conclusions drawn be compatible with the expected narrative—even if the data presented suggests the opposite.  Joining us are Rafael Fonseca and John Tucker who…

Many ardent supporters of free markets still believe that healthcare is an exception where government intervention is, for some reason, necessary.  Our guest on this episode is Roman Zamishka, a financial analyst and medical school applicant who authored a witty and carefully constructed article titled “A Libertarian’s Case Against Free Markets in Healthcare.” The piece…

The Swiss healthcare system is frequently proposed as a model for the rest of the world to emulate.  Our guest is Marc Fouradoulas who practices medicine in Zurich, Switzerland. He is a board-certified internist who holds a Master’s degree of advanced studies in managed health care and health economics from the Winterthur Institute of Health Economics,…

Hadiza Bawa-Garba was convicted of involuntary manslaughter by a British court for her role in the care of a patient in a hospital setting fraught with system failures.  Our guest is Dr. Saurabh Jha who returns on the show to share his insights on this case.  Dr. Jha trained in the NHS but practices in…

Public reporting of outcomes aims at improving quality but has also harmed patients and doctors alike.  Can any good come out of it?  Our guest on this episode is Dr. Robert W. Yeh, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology at the Beth Israel…

Our guest on this episode is Dr. Gajendra Singh, a well-respected surgeon who decided to provide affordable ultrasound, CT, and MRI imaging to his community.  A few months into his endeavor, he was confronted by his state’s “certificate of need” laws telling him that providing affordable healthcare was illegal.  His response: to sue the government.…

Our guest this week is Dr. Wes Fisher who is leading the fight against the American Board of Internal Medicine and its self-serving tactics to force thousands of physicians to comply with the onerous Maintenance of Certification Program. We learn of Wes' new initiatives that stand a realistic chance of turning the tide against the quasi regulatory monopoly of the board-certifying agencies.