AI and The EHR as a Hammer: Physicians as Carpenters?
When you build a new house, who gets to decide which hammer type (claw hammer, framing hammer, dead blow hammer, common hammer, sledge hammer, blocking hammer, brick hammer ...) will be used during construction? Is it the home developer? No. Is it the home buyer? No....
Dynamic Digital Platforms: the CDC and The Coronavirus
Take a look at the image above, the Center for Disease Control’s homepage (preferably on your smartphone, since that’s the way we should initially assess at most websites today), as it was on 1/27/2020. Note how the information about the Coronavirus is so dominant?...
The Real Problem with the EPIC – HHS Standoff
Recently, in the Health IT Social Media Galaxy ( granted, a rather small galaxy), there has been much attention paid to EPIC CEO Judy Faulkner’s response to the proposed Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations—regulations which may make it easier for patients to...
The Wuhan Coronavirus—A Test in Science and Diplomacy
The Spanish Flu of 1918-1919 killed between 20-50 million people and the attached image shows what it looked like for various cities. We have known for some time that pandemics can hit at any time. We have known for some time that with air travel (also known as...
Physicians, Creativity, and NaNoWriMo
In November 2019, I completed NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s an online non-profit, in which thousands of people from all over the world endeavor to complete a +50,000 word rough draft of a novel in one month—the month of November. My...
The Physician Shortage: Winter is Coming
Healthcare executives and physicians should start preparing now for the impending physician shortage over the next decade. The estimate varies, ranging from a physician deficit of 47,000 to 122,000 by 2032. Roughly, this could translate into a 1000-2000...
Taking Back the Word “Diet”
Nowadays the word diet has a bad wrap. There are diets for Cavemen, diets for people in Miami Beach, and diets for people that Watch their Weight. There are Ethical Diets, and Restriction Diets, and both High-Carb and Low-Carb Diets. Heck, sometimes I think there are...
The First Western Mind-Body Neuroscientist
It's pretty clear from this quote who the first Western Mind-Body Neuroscientist is: "And men ought to know that from nothing else but thence [from the brain] come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations. And by this,...
What is a Leap Idea?
(What follows is something I wrote years ago I found in my digital trash. It's actually not too bad!) What is a Leap Idea? It's an idea which speaks so powerfully to your inner core you can work on it 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for 3 years. It's a...
When Physicians Retire, Do Their Brains Melt?
Primary Care Physicians retire at the average age of 64.9 years old, and this retirement age has remained stable for the past several years. This stability is important, because even a one year shift would have a dramatic impact on the upcoming physician shortage....