Fixing Healthcare Podcast

Our guest today is Dr. Ernest Grant, president of the American Nurses Association (ANA). He is the first male president in the organization’s 125-year history. And his passion for nursing can be traced back to his upbringing in the South as one of seven children in a very poor family. “Even if I had won scholarships, I would not have enough to pay to complete undergrad and then go on to med school,” he explained to Fixing Healthcare cohosts Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl. “So, my high school guidance counselor suggested going to the local community college becoming a nurse. About three months into that program, I forgot all about med school. I found out that nursing was my calling.” In his role as ANA president, Dr. Grant advocates for better working conditions, better mental-health services and better wages for the nation’s 4.3 million registered nurses. Dr. Grant, himself, has more than 30 years of nursing experience and is a globally recognized burn-care and fire-safety expert. He received his PhD from the University of North Carolina and serves as an adjunct faculty member for the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Nursing. In 2002 President Bush honored him with the Nurse of the Year award for the work he did treating burn victims after the World Trade Center tragedy. Ernest Grant Interview Highlights   On advocating for Black patients and nurses “A lot of times what we see and hear is that nurses and/or the patients will say, ‘No one listened to me,’ or ‘I was not heard.’ … So, it’s a matter of nurses advocating to educate all the members of the healthcare team, not just nurses, but we’re (also) talking doctors, advanced practice nurses, PAs, all the way down the line to actively listen to what the person is saying.” On Nurses being primary care providers “I think that (nurses) have proven themselves over and over again that they are capable of doing that. And the thing that we have to realize that it’s a collaboration. It’s not one being better than the other. What skills does the nurse practitioner bring to the table that would be able to help that patient for that particular time? I mean, studies have shown that patients generally, overwhelmingly love the care that they do get from the advanced practice nurses. And I think part of that … is the fact that we tend to spend more time with (patients) and actually listening to them.” On more male nurses and professional diversity “I will say that I may be the first (male president of the ANA), but I hope and pray that I’m not the last. It only took 122 years for the glass ceiling to be broken. I hope that I have blazed a trail for others to follow behind me. One of the things that I did run on my platform when I was running for my first election was to increase the diversity of nursing, because I strongly feel that nursing should be reflective of the people that we serve. And that includes not only increasing the diversity from a color perspective, but also from a gender perspective as well.” On burnout in nursing “I hear from nurses every day about the trials and tribulations that they’re having at the bedside. … They’re truly burned out as a result of having to work 13, 14, 16 hours or so … In an ICU, they don’t have time to even go to the bathroom sometimes during a 12-hour shift. If they’re lucky, they may get 15 minutes for a lunch break. These are working conditions that should not be.” On the nursing shortage “There’s such a severe nursing shortage. It’s estimated that by even just next year alone, we’re going to be down about 1 to 1.5 million nurses … At the university level or the community college level, they’re admitting students every semester in order to try to turn out more nurses to meet the demands of the workforce. The problem, however, is that there’s not enough clinical faculty and not enough clinical spaces.” READ: Full transcript with Ernest Grant  * * * Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of a new book about medicine’s invisible yet highly influential physician culture. Check out “Uncaring: How Physician Culture Is Killing Doctors & Patients.” Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn. The post FHC #38: More male nurses, nurses of color needed says ANA president appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

Data points, alone, never tell the whole story. Numbers are often used and misused to confirm our personal biases rather than to inform or reform our thinking. No matter how you view the pandemic or slice the data, it’s hard to see the latest set of Covid-19 figures as anything other than proof our nation remains embroiled in an avoidable and ongoing tragedy, one that has been unfolding for the better part of two years. More than 675,000 deaths from Covid-19, more than from the Spanish Flu. 1 in every 500 Americans have died from the pandemic. 1 in 4 U.S. hospitals have exceeded 95% capacity, up from 1 in 5 a month ago. 11x higher mortality rate for unvaccinated Americans vs. those who are vaccinated. In this episode of Coronavirus: The Truth, Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl put these numbers in context and discuss the following questions: [01:00] What is happening with Covid-19 data and what does it all mean? [07:37] Why do vaccine hesitancy and resistance remain so high and what can be done? [10:18] What does data from other countries show about vaccine effectiveness against the Delta variant? [11:39] What are the two most compelling arguments in the vaccine debate now? [14:10] What should parents know this week? [16:49] Is the Delta Airlines fine of $200 on unvaccinated workers making a difference? [18:12] What is the vaccine issue doing to friendships in America? [20:00] Why was the FDA’s hearing on the Pfizer booster so contentious? [23:51] What’s good this week? [25:32] What’s this episode’s big non-Covid story? [27:47] History hypothetical for Jeremy Corr: Which U.S. presidents would’ve best led our nation through the Covid-19 pandemic? [33:17] Why so little progress in the fight against Covid-19? This episode is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and other podcast platforms. If you have coronavirus questions for the hosts, please visit the contact page or send us a message on Twitter or LinkedIn. *To ensure the credibility of this program, Coronavirus: The Truth refuses to accept sponsorship, outside funding sources or guests with any financial or personal conflicts of interest. The post CTT #47: How are the Covid-19 numbers still this bad?   appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

A listener wrote in about Ivermectin—a drug used to kill worms and parasitic infections—because her friends had recommended it for treating Covid-19. To date, 14 studies have concluded that Ivermectin is ineffective against Covid-19 and potentially dangerous. One study found the drug could kill the coronavirus in a laboratory setting, however, the dosage used would have been toxic and potentially lethal to humans. Is there a reason people are choosing this unproven drug over a thoroughly tested vaccine? In this episode of Coronavirus: The Truth, Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl tackle this tricky topic and discuss the following questions: [01:00] Each show begins with the most recent and relevant facts concerning the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on American life. What’s happening and what does it mean? [04:04] Are Covid-19 booster shots effective? [07:27] How is Delta Airlines trying to contain the Delta variant? [11:25] How has Covid-19 changed American culture? [13:17] What are the dangers of teenagers developing myocarditis after vaccination? [15:55] What should we know about the Mu variant? [16:58] Last month, schools reopened. What did we learn? [19:27] What’s the story with people using Ivermectin to treat Covid-19? [21:25] What’s good this week? [23:40] What’s this episode’s biggest non-Covid healthcare story? [26:55] What does American history teach us about healthcare today? [29:54] Mutants vs. vaccines: What does the science tell us? This episode is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and other podcast platforms. If you have coronavirus questions for the hosts, please visit the contact page or send us a message on Twitter or LinkedIn. *To ensure the credibility of this program, Coronavirus: The Truth refuses to accept sponsorship, outside funding sources or guests with any financial or personal conflicts of interest. The post CTT #46: Why are people taking Ivermectin to treat Covid-19? appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, envisions a future where the iconic “H” comes to symbolize much more than a building where people go for acute inpatient care. “I hope that in 10 years we have more of a focus on prevention,” he told Fixing Healthcare cohosts Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. “I hope we have more integrated delivery systems that are providing the care to people where they’re not bounced around from one unconnected facility to the next. I would hope that 10 years from now, we’re in a position where there is a real focus on ensuring that people get care in a very convenient way. I hope in 10 years, we will have built on the Affordable Care Act to get to almost universal coverage.” Pollack acknowledges that hospitals aren’t there yet. But as the head of the AHA, he has called on the organization’s nearly 5,000 members to reevaluate, reboot and reimagine care so that, together, they can create a better future for American patients. Rick Pollack Interview Highlights On mandating COVID vaccinations “We support hospitals that mandate vaccines for their employees, and we’ve worked really closely with the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association and encouraging the public to get vaccinated. We’ve been involved in all sorts of public service announcement campaigns, and we’ve been working with the Black Physicians against COVID. We’ve been working with a lot of different coalitions to encourage people to get vaccinated, to make the case of why it’s important and why it’s safe.” On the best healthcare policy for Americans “We worked hard on the Affordable Care Act. We supported it. We defended it in the courts. We still continue to believe that that is a platform on which to build, both in terms of expanding coverage, building on the delivery system reforms that were inherent in it and, certainly, the quality improvements that were a part of it … I think that the Affordable Care Act is still the basis for the future.” On medical bills and $15 Tylenol charges “We probably couldn’t have created a more complicated system if we tried, when it comes to the billing system. And we have been engaged in various, what we call, ‘patient friendly billing initiatives’ … to try to make things more comprehensible. And that is ongoing. But at the end of the day, the real way to get at this problem is through prepaid care or capitation or some form of prepayment, which really doesn’t involve focusing on line-items … That’s the ultimate solution for the puzzle that we’ve got going on right now.” On redesigning rural hospitals “We need to think about the rural hospital more as a network of caring there as a building … So much of our healthcare expense and need in the future is going to be managing chronic conditions. Fact of the matter is most people want to have those situations or conditions managed at home. They don’t want to have to leave their community for care. So, for rural hospitals, they also need to be thinking about different pathways for the future. They need to be thinking about how they redefine who they are, what they are and what they do.” On burnout in hospitals “The issue that is on the minds of most hospital CEOs that I talked to, and I talked to a lot of them all the time, you ask them what their priorities are and it’s workforce, workforce, workforce, resiliency, resiliency, resiliency. Right now, it’s not an issue of having enough supplies. It’s not an issue of having enough equipment. It’s not even an issue sometimes of having enough beds. The issue is really having the staff available … And there is no higher priority than ensuring that our workforce is taken care of. Without them, the system breaks down. Simple as that.” READ: Full transcript with Rick Pollack  * * * Hundreds of listeners participated in the 2021 Fixing Healthcare survey. The results offer surprising insights into medicine’s cultural issues. Learn more » Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of a new book about medicine’s invisible yet highly influential physician culture. Check out “Uncaring: How Physician Culture Is Killing Doctors & Patients.” Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn. The post FHC #37: The future of the American hospital appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

A while back, Houston Methodist hospital gave its 26,000 employees an ultimatum: Get vaccinated or get a new job. All but 100 or so workers complied and, now, hospital leaders are reporting a nearly 100% vaccination rate. Clearly, the mandate worked for one hospital, but what about others institutions? Recent weeks have brought on several high-profile vaccine mandates from private employers like United Airlines, Google and Facebook, as well as government institutions like the VA and the U.S. military. But will these vaccine mandates help slow the raging Delta variant in the areas of the country being hit hardest? In this episode of Coronavirus: The Truth, Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl discuss this burning question along with the following hot topics: [01:00] Each show begins with the most recent and relevant facts concerning the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on American life. What’s happening and what does it mean? [04:09] Why did President Biden call for booster shots? [09:36] Listener question: “I had been ill with Covid-19, but am fully recovered now. I am worried about getting vaccinated. What would you recommend?” [11:10] How are parents reacting now that school is back in session? [13:34] What to make of mask mandates in various states? [16:03] How dangerous is the Delta variant compared to other Covid-19 mutations and possible vaccine complications? [21:04] Following Pearl’s Forbes article on mask/vaccine mandates (which has over 300,000 readers) do we have more info on the legality of mandates? [23:14] Why are Covid-19 cases are spiking among kids? [24:26] Are we destined to return to virtual education? [26:05] What’s good this week? [29:33] What’s this episode’s big non-Covid story? [32:47] In places that vote Republican, you might imagine people would encourage vaccination to protect the economy. Why haven’t they? [36:46] Listener questions (from a physician): Are there any statistical models to calculate the continuing risk of novel pathogenic Covid-19 variants? Is there evidence that these variants can arise among the vaccinated part of the population? And can herd immunity be achieved if those who are vaccinated can harbor the virus? This episode is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and other podcast platforms. If you have coronavirus questions for the hosts, please visit the contact page or send us a message on Twitter or LinkedIn. *To ensure the credibility of this program, Coronavirus: The Truth refuses to accept sponsorship, outside funding sources or guests with any financial or personal conflicts of interest. The post CTT #45: Do vaccine mandates actually work? appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

“As you know my son starts kindergarten in a couple of weeks,” Jeremy Corr said to his cohost Dr. Robert Pearl in this episode of Coronavirus: The Truth. “I know this topic is causing anxiety for a lot of parents as they prepare for the school year. How’s the Delta variant affecting kids? Should we be more concerned than we were before? What advice do you have for parents with young children going to school in a couple of weeks?” Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl discuss these questions in detail, dive into the “Delta-Plus” variant, consider a possible ban on booster shots, and tackle the following topics throughout the episode: [01:03] Each show begins with the most recent and relevant facts concerning the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on American life. What’s happening and what does it mean? [06:47] Why is the CDC recommending masks indoors for vaccinated people? [11:07] What is “Delta-Plus”? [12:51] How is the Delta variant affecting foreign travel? [13:48] Why does controversy keep following the FDA and CDC of late? [16:28] Why did the WHO propose a ban on booster shots? [18:09] Does the Delta variant affect kids differently than adults? [21:32] What reasons do people give for refusing vaccination? [23:26] What’s good this week? [25:13] What’s the big non-Covid story this week? [27:20] How has Delta impacted areas like Iowa where cohost Jeremy Corr lives? This episode is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and other podcast platforms. If you have coronavirus questions for the hosts, please visit the contact page or send us a message on Twitter or LinkedIn. *To ensure the credibility of this program, Coronavirus: The Truth refuses to accept sponsorship, outside funding sources or guests with any financial or personal conflicts of interest. The post CTT #44: How does the Delta variant affect kids? appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

Goodbye, Marcus Welby, M.D., that lovable TV doctor from the early ‘70s whose humble private practice dealt with everything from impotence to Alzheimer’s disease. Hello to integrated, team-based, 21st-century medicine that enables doctors to work smarter, together, rather than harder (and less effectively), alone. That’s the vision of Don Crane, president and CEO of America’s Physician Groups (APG). Crane is the second guest on season 6 of the Fixing Healthcare podcast. This season, cohosts Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr go in search of solutions from people like Crane who lead and represent the healthcare system’s various parts—from doctors and nurses to insurers, drug companies, hospitals, entrepreneurs and others. APG is a professional association made up of 340 physician groups that contract with about 170,000 physicians who, in turn, take care of 90 million patients in 44 states. In this interview, Crane weighs in re-educating doctors for the future, holding them accountable for better care at lower costs, and improving America’s “toxic” diet. Donald Crane Interview Highlights On how to pay for healthcare   “We believe that physician groups should be accountable for cost and quality. We’re very much wedded to the (prospective) payment model, where the physician group is paid in advance per member, per month, a defined amount of money to care for the individual patients. This prospective payment creates aligned incentives all through the physician group enterprise where everybody is trying to keep the patients healthy. Let me repeat that, we try and keep the patient healthy.” On accelerating the value movement “I used to go back to Washington, D.C., and talk to congressmen and senators and so forth and say, ‘Fee for service is bad and capitation is good,’ and they were looking at me like I had two heads. Now, when we’re in Washington, D.C., talking about capitation, it’s conventional wisdom; it’s commonly accepted that we need to move there … I think legislation is part of the answer and then I think we need to look to employers clamoring for more value.” On the causes of physician burnout “The volume of cries of despair from physicians has risen year over year, and it’s at a high pitch right now … The single biggest cause is the fee-for-service payment model. Physicians needing or wanting to make more money, whether it’s to put children through college or whatever, need to work more in order to make more. So, they’re on the hamster wheel. They run faster and faster and they work longer hours. This is almost a Sisyphus kind of a model of working more, working harder in order to make more money. That is the nature of fee for service.” “The other part then moves into administrative areas. Indeed, physicians not fortunate enough to be employed by well-staffed and well-resourced groups, they’re having to do a lot of administrative work and they’re trying to keep up with quality measurement programs that vary from payer to payer to payer. There’s a lot of reporting requirements. And so the amount of time they spend in nonpatient care has risen year after year and it’s burning them out. And we need to fix that and fix this payment model.” On compensating physicians “[APG] honor(s) physicians. We do, and we feel they should be honored and well compensated. The talk we hear out of Congress about sequesters and reducing physician compensation and physicians are overpaid, just makes my head spin, frankly. We need the best and the brightest. We need to compensate them accordingly. If we don’t, we won’t have the best physician workforce in the world, which I think we presently do. But we’re going to need to take better care of our physicians.” On restoring the patient-doctor relationship “Patients have relationships with physicians, not with health plans and not even really with hospitals. So the core of our system is the patient-physician relationship. Those physicians do best when they’re operating in an organized group, where they’re supported by others, whether it’s nurses or nurse practitioners or data analysts, etcetera … And my hope and I guess request or prayer would be that we proliferate this capitated, integrated organized group model across the country just as quick as we can and we will be far better off for having done so.” READ: Full transcript with Donald Crane * * * Hundreds of listeners participated in the 2021 Fixing Healthcare survey and the results offer surprising insights into medicine’s cultural issues. Learn more » Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of a new book about medicine’s invisible yet highly influential physician culture. Check out “Uncaring: How Physician Culture Is Killing Doctors & Patients.” Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn. The post FHC #36: How physician teamwork makes the dream work appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

In this episode of Coronavirus: The Truth, Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl dive deep into the ever-thickening plotline around booster shots. Drug companies like Pfizer are pushing for them. Government agencies like the CDC and FDA are pushing back. Some critics say drug companies are acting out of greed and not in the interest of the public. Others are turning to the data for answers, noting that new variants and uncertainty around antibodies should drive the discussion. Tune in for more on this debate and answers to the following questions: [01:02] Each show begins with the most recent and relevant facts concerning the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on American life. What’s happening and what does it mean? [05:20] How dangerous is the Delta variant for vaccinated and unvaccinated people? [16:29] Dr. Pearl asks listeners: If you’re still vaccine-hesitant, what’s standing in your way? Contact the hosts here (your privacy is guaranteed) [18:18] Why would the FDA approve the controversial Alzheimer’s drug but not a Covid-19 vaccine booster that’s proven to be effective? [21:50] Why are so many healthcare workers still unvaccinated and what’s being done? [29:43] A listener asks: “I had Covid-19 and recovered fully. Do I need the vaccine?” [32:03] What do scientists know about vaccine side effects, such as neurologic disorders, nerve problems and blood clotting? [34:22] With Covid-19 infections rising again, how are team sports being affected? [37:08] With schools opening next month, what are public health officials recommending? [38:22] What’s good this week? [39:31] What’s the big non-Covid healthcare story? [41:14] What reasons have people given co-host Jeremy Corr for not being vaccinated? [45:40] Is it safe to travel by plane with unvaccinated children? [46:29] What do we know about Covid-19’s impact on U.S. life expectancy? This episode is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and other podcast platforms. If you have coronavirus questions for the hosts, please visit the contact page or send us a message on Twitter or LinkedIn. *To ensure the credibility of this program, Coronavirus: The Truth refuses to accept sponsorship, outside funding sources or guests with any financial or personal conflicts of interest. The post CTT #43: To booster or not to booster? appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

“How worried should people be about the Delta variant?” asked one listener of Coronavirus: The Truth. The answer: Very. “Data published online this week shows the Delta variant spreads 225% faster than the original coronavirus,” said cohost Dr. Robert Pearl in this episode, adding that there are approximately 1,000 times more copies of this coronavirus strain in the respiratory tracts of infected people. What’s more, those infected with the Delta variant tend to become infectious far earlier in the clinical course. Combined these factors make this mutant coronavirus more dangerous, both for those who come down with the virus and those who remain unvaccinated. This troubling trend, plus a deeper dive into the science and the following questions—all in this episode of Coronavirus: The Truth with Jeremy Corr and Dr. Pearl. [01:00] Each show begins with the most recent and relevant facts concerning the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on American life. What’s happening and what does it mean? [05:21] How worried should people be about the Delta variant of Covid-19? [11:06] Can the Delta infect and sicken vaccinated people? [14:43] How do we explain Israel’s experience with this variant (given high vaccination rates)? [17:23] Listener question: “Our family is fully vaccinated, so why did LA County just recommend that we continue to wear masks inside?” [19:07] Listener question: “Thank you for your global coverage of the pandemic. I want to know what is the current thinking on the vaccine that was developed in China and is being distributed to many countries around the world?” [25:28] U.S. vaccinations have fallen from 4 million per day to about half a million. What do we know about the vaccine holdouts? [28:09] What’s good this week? [30:36] What’s the big story in non-Covid news this week? [33:46] Will patients take advantage of price-shopping elective services after Covid-19? [34:38] What about other the healthcare transparency measures recently introduced? [35:39] Why has American longevity declined and will numbers rebound this year? This episode is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and other podcast platforms. If you have coronavirus questions for the hosts, please visit the contact page or send us a message on Twitter or LinkedIn. *To ensure the credibility of this program, Coronavirus: The Truth refuses to accept sponsorship, outside funding sources or guests with any financial or personal conflicts of interest. The post CTT #42: How dangerous is the Delta variant? appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.

This episode kicks off season 6 of the Fixing Healthcare podcast and, this time around, cohosts Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr are flipping the show’s format on its head. Instead of asking each guest for a comprehensive plan to fix the entire healthcare system (a la ZDoggMD, Eric Topol and Don Berwick in season 1), Pearl and Corr are going vertical and deep—searching for solutions from those who represent the system’s various parts. Season 6 will feature people who lead and represent doctors, nurses, insurers, drug companies, hospitals, entrepreneurs and others. It begins with Dr. James Madara, CEO of the American Medical Association, the nation’s largest physician organization. Madara, now in his tenth year at the helm, shapes the AMA’s long-term strategy and chairs the AMA’s innovation arm, Health2047 Inc. In this interview, he weighs in on the nation’s “tsunami” of chronic disease and the role doctors must play in making medicine more equitable. He talks about educating doctors for the 21st century and how AMA lobbies on behalf of its members.   James Madara Interview Highlights   On the AMA then vs. now   “We began as an organization that was focused on clinical ethics and education, and getting educational standards established for medicine, and there were none at that time. We were encouraged by the states to step into that space. As to the last 10 years, the more recent end of our spectrum, we have a rolling five-year strategic framework that has three components: Dealing with the tsunami of chronic disease, hypertension and pre-diabetes in particular … lifelong education, training physicians for the 21st rather than the 20th century … and then third is removing the many obstacles that interfere with patient-physician interactions, so that we can get better outcomes and a healthier nation.” On the future of telemedicine “In three months in 2020, telemedicine advanced in a way that I would think that it would’ve taken 10 years to advance … Within a period of two months, it wasn’t a 3x increase in telemedicine or a 10x increase, it was a 100x or more increase in telemedicine. I think not everything can be done by telemedicine. It’s hard to palpate the abdomen by telemedicine. But a lot can be done, and it could be upwards of 30, 40% of what needs to be done, particularly in follow-ups. Hopefully, the regulatory relaxation will be kept, and also the appropriate reimbursement so one can have a sustainable practice will also be kept.” On physician burnout “Burned out physicians retire earlier, they work fewer hours, there are risks in terms of quality and adverse events. So, it’s something that we really need to pay attention to and mitigate … [Doctors] are in a cognitively complex field. Their intrinsic motivation is spent time with patients. Their reality is time with the computer and paperwork, and they end up burned out. And so, we have a lot of time that we could harvest from the physician workforce we have if we just made the environment around them function better.” On the AMA’s code of medical ethics “The first document produced by the AMA after its founding in 1847, that same year, was the first code of clinical medical ethics. I think that was the first code of clinical medical ethics in the world. It’s a one-pager, and a copy of it is hanging on the wall in my office. The current code of medical ethics runs over 300 pages and just went through a major update year before last because of all of the issues around transplant, treatment, harassment, these kinds of things. So, it is a living document. It is very complex and many institutions have adopted it for their own code as well.” On the future of medical education “In the future, how you learn may be more important than what you know. Of course, you have to have a base of knowledge, but having that base, you can never take a base of knowledge that is broad enough given today’s literature and numbers of diagnoses, the expansion of the literature that we have. So, that’s going to be very important. One of the ways that we’re thinking about that with our own ed-hub is to create a digital platform where education is much more easily accessed.” On how the AMA lobbies for doctors “At a meta level, we lobby for one thing, and that’s our mission statement. And the mission statement is to promote the art and science of medicine in the betterment of public health. And then, under that mission statement, are the policies of the house [of delegates] that make what we lobby for more granular. And those relate to the principles that I outlined … [which] include greater access, stronger safety net, stronger children’s health program, consistency in the healthcare system, removal of administrative complexity so people can spend time with patients, and patients seem to want that extra time with their physicians as well.” READ: Full transcript with James Madara * * * The 2021 Fixing Healthcare survey is open for voting through July 30, 2021. Inspired by season 5 and its guests, this survey asks listeners to weigh in on medicine’s most problematic cultural issues. Hundreds of listeners have already voted. Add your thoughts. Vote now » Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of a new book about medicine’s invisible yet highly influential physician culture. Check out “Uncaring: How Physician Culture Is Killing Doctors & Patients.” Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn. 8XX13kq4uJwdH7FxDnRB The post FHC #35: The AMA vs. chronic disease, racism & physician burnout appeared first on Fixing Healthcare.