The Podcast by KevinMD

A hormone doctors use to estimate how many eggs remain may also be acting on the brain. Oluyemisi Famuyiwa is a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist. This episode is based on her article "The brain signal that drives polycystic ovary syndrome," published on KevinMD. You will hear why anti-Müllerian hormone, or AMH, runs high in polycystic ovary syndrome, now renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, and why new guidance lets doctors use age-adjusted AMH in the diagnosis. She explains the 2016 discovery of AMH receptors in the hypothalamus, and how a revved-up GnRH rhythm tips the pituitary toward LH and the ovaries toward androgens. She describes mouse studies in which blocking the AMH signal reversed the pathology, and early work on fezolinetant, a menopause drug with liver toxicity. Press play to hear why she hopes this condition may one day be treated at the level of the brain, and tailored to each patient. This episode is brought to you by Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. As a physician, you give everything to your patients. At Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network, our focus is on giving that same care back to you. When you join, you practice at the top of your license, backed by a care team built to handle the routine so you can be fully present with your patients. Experience the best of both worlds: access to academic medicine with the Medical College of Wisconsin and a health system that empowers you to thrive: both grounded in deep community roots. So whether you're exploring a role in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, or Med-Peds, you'll have the team and the technology behind you. Reinvent health care in Wisconsin. Be here. Visit FroedtertCareers.com to learn more. VISIT SPONSOR → https://froedtertcareers.com EXPLORE PHYSICIAN ROLES → https://kevinmd.com/froedtert SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast A note from Dr. Famuyiwa: When discussing AMH, I said it "doesn't tell us anything about the quantity." I meant quality. AMH is, of course, used as a marker of ovarian reserve/follicle quantity.

Snap judgments happen all the time in medicine. Sometimes they are funny, and sometimes they put patients at risk. Christine King, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, has seen it from inside the operating room and from her sister's first oncology appointment. This episode is based on her article "The assumptions in medicine that put patients at risk," published on KevinMD. You will hear why she mistook a hospitalist for a nurse, and why asking "Who did you bring with you today?" beats guessing at family ties. She describes how a new hospital team of skilled clinicians took time to gel because they came from different systems. She walks you through the many people a patient meets before surgery, including a patient whose sedation erased the memory of the surgeon's visit. She also explains why you should feel free to ask each person's role and whether they washed their hands. Press play to hear the questions clinicians and patients can ask, and why she says relationships still matter in the age of AI. This episode is brought to you by Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. As a physician, you give everything to your patients. At Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network, our focus is on giving that same care back to you. When you join, you practice at the top of your license, backed by a care team built to handle the routine so you can be fully present with your patients. Experience the best of both worlds: access to academic medicine with the Medical College of Wisconsin and a health system that empowers you to thrive: both grounded in deep community roots. So whether you're exploring a role in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, or Med-Peds, you'll have the team and the technology behind you. Reinvent health care in Wisconsin. Be here. Visit FroedtertCareers.com to learn more. VISIT SPONSOR → https://froedtertcareers.com EXPLORE PHYSICIAN ROLES → https://kevinmd.com/froedtert SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast

Deciding on a career change can turn into polling everyone you know until someone says what you want to hear. Lauren Fine, an allergist-immunologist and founder of Permission to Change, felt that pull when she moved from mostly clinical work into medical education and later into coaching. This episode is based on her article "How to stop asking for permission and decide for yourself," published on KevinMD. You will hear why you, not your family or colleagues, decide the "shoulds" about what a doctor should be, and why she believes you are never truly ready until you do it. She explains how coaching differs from mentoring, and why "what" questions work better than "why" questions, which stir up emotion. She also describes burnout as not getting back what you put in, which sometimes calls for changing how you work rather than what you do. Press play to hear why she starts with a small, reversible change, and why it helps to find someone who asks the right questions instead of granting permission. This episode is brought to you by Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. As a physician, you give everything to your patients. At Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network, our focus is on giving that same care back to you. When you join, you practice at the top of your license, backed by a care team built to handle the routine so you can be fully present with your patients. Experience the best of both worlds: access to academic medicine with the Medical College of Wisconsin and a health system that empowers you to thrive: both grounded in deep community roots. So whether you're exploring a role in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, or Med-Peds, you'll have the team and the technology behind you. Reinvent health care in Wisconsin. Be here. Visit FroedtertCareers.com to learn more. VISIT SPONSOR → https://froedtertcareers.com EXPLORE PHYSICIAN ROLES → https://kevinmd.com/froedtert SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast

When a hospital replaces an established physician team, the beds can stay open while the care behind them quietly erodes. Shelly Haug Monti is a neonatologist, palliative care physician, and bioethicist, and a cofounder of Babies First Southern Oregon. This episode is based on her KevinMD article "Why physician outsourcing is a warning sign for hospitals." You will hear how her entire group of neonatologists at a community NICU was terminated and replaced by locum tenens physicians and nurse practitioners, why she compares a NICU team to a philharmonic orchestra, and why she rejects the idea that financial survival and clinical excellence are competing interests. She describes how her group built an advocacy movement with families, nurses, community members, and state legislators, and why advocacy is a skill set few physicians learn. She also explains how to recognize a deteriorating health care system, from clinical infrastructure to hospital governance and staff bylaws. Press play to hear how physicians can spot the warning signs before their own team disappears. This episode is brought to you by Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. As a physician, you give everything to your patients. At Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network, our focus is on giving that same care back to you. When you join, you practice at the top of your license, backed by a care team built to handle the routine so you can be fully present with your patients. Experience the best of both worlds: access to academic medicine with the Medical College of Wisconsin and a health system that empowers you to thrive: both grounded in deep community roots. So whether you're exploring a role in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, or Med-Peds, you'll have the team and the technology behind you. Reinvent health care in Wisconsin. Be here. Visit FroedtertCareers.com to learn more. VISIT SPONSOR → https://froedtertcareers.com EXPLORE PHYSICIAN ROLES → https://kevinmd.com/froedtert SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast

Two Alzheimer's drugs now slow the disease, and they work best when symptoms are still mild. Emer MacSweeney is a neuroradiologist and the cofounder and CEO of Re:Cognition Health. This episode is based on her article "Early Alzheimer's detection is now a treatment decision," published on KevinMD. She explains why she calls this a new era, how a simple blood test can start the workup, and why clearing amyloid early matters for the tau protein that tracks symptoms. You will hear what the trials showed: The mildest patients had no decline over the first year, and treatment slows the move from one stage to the next by about half. She makes the case that staying in the mild stage keeps patients eligible for the next medications in the pipeline. She also takes on the cost question, since these drugs slow decline rather than cure it, drawing on patients she treats who are fit, active, and often still working. Press play to hear why she says the biggest risk is not getting treated. If this episode helped, follow The Podcast by KevinMD on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a rating. Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With more than 100 million impressions a year and nearly 750,000 followers, subscribers and email recipients across my channels, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story. PARTNER WITH KEVINMD → https://kevinmd.com/influencer SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast

No one ever ran a blinded trial on handwashing. It became standard practice around the world anyway. Narinder Singh Parhar, an internal medicine, hospital medicine, and critical care physician, calls evidence-based medicine one of the field's great achievements and credits it with saving millions of lives. This episode is based on his article "Evidence-based medicine needs a broader view of evidence," published on KevinMD. He also believes medicine has begun to confuse one research method with science itself, and names the questions a blinded drug trial was never built to answer. You will hear why elderly patients carrying several diagnoses and several medications so often fall outside the study group. He makes the case for pragmatic trials, prospective cohorts, pilot programs, and functional outcomes when the question is not a single drug. You will also hear why he wants physicians running their own research and what to ask when a new guideline arrives attached to a product. Press play to hear why he says evidence-based medicine must be protected and should never become methodology-based medicine. If this episode helped, follow The Podcast by KevinMD on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a rating. Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With more than 100 million impressions a year and nearly 750,000 followers, subscribers and email recipients across my channels, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story. PARTNER WITH KEVINMD → https://kevinmd.com/influencer SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast

Doctors are adopting tools that answer clinical questions, and some give inconsistent answers or invented patient data. Neil Panchal, an emergency physician and cofounder and chief medical officer of Longevitix, a clinical AI decision support company, wrote a quick screen for colleagues asking which tools to trust. This episode is based on his article "4 questions to ask before you trust clinical AI tools," published on KevinMD. You will hear whether a tool shows its sources, gives the same output for the same input, admits what it does not know, and reaches the right person without alarm fatigue. He explains how a lab panel from overseas shows the danger of a tool that quietly converts units. You will also hear why benchmarks can mislead, why he treats these tools like a first-year resident, and why they need monitoring after deployment. Press play to hear why he says physicians should help shape clinical AI instead of waiting for technology companies, and why an impressive demo is not a safe clinical system. If this episode helped, follow The Podcast by KevinMD on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a rating. Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With more than 100 million impressions a year and nearly 750,000 followers, subscribers and email recipients across my channels, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story. PARTNER WITH KEVINMD → https://kevinmd.com/influencer SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast

Many companies pay for their workers' health care directly, and the fees buried in those plans have been hard to see. Paul Pender, an ophthalmologist, explains why new transparency and fiduciary rules taking hold in January 2027 will force these self-insured employers to ask for that data. This episode is based on his article "Self-insured employer health plans face a new reckoning," published on KevinMD. You will hear why the executives who sign off on these plans can be held personally liable, and how class action lawsuits argue that hidden fees cost employees money. He describes how brokers may shift from retention bonuses paid by insurers to fees paid by the employers they serve, and why employees could see better benefits and fewer surprise bills. He also outlines Our Town Healthcare, a physician-centered plan model set to be tested in two Georgia cities by a company he advises and invests in. Press play to hear why he expects the big players to resist, and why he says employers should have a compliance plan ready. If this episode helped, follow The Podcast by KevinMD on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a rating. Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With more than 100 million impressions a year and nearly 750,000 followers, subscribers and email recipients across my channels, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story. PARTNER WITH KEVINMD → https://kevinmd.com/influencer SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast

Hospitals send new families home with a medically stable baby and instructions for feeding, sleeping, and car seats. What many parents do not get is guidance on newborn brain development and how babies take in the world through their senses. Cynthia Parente, an early childhood educator, spent more than 30 years running music, play, and art programs for young children and their families. This episode is based on her article "Newborn brain development starts at discharge," published on KevinMD. You will hear how rocking, singing, eye contact, and talking support your baby's development, and how tummy time can begin with your newborn on your chest. She explains why she wants every family, whether at a rural hospital or a major medical center, to leave with the same information, ideally through a QR code at discharge. She also urges stressed new parents to build a village, assign clear roles, trust their instincts, and make time. Press play to hear how she translates the science into guidance families can use from the first day home. If this episode helped, follow The Podcast by KevinMD on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a rating. Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With more than 100 million impressions a year and nearly 750,000 followers, subscribers and email recipients across my channels, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story. PARTNER WITH KEVINMD → https://kevinmd.com/influencer SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast

Many physicians are told their pay follows a standard plan that cannot change for one person. Jon Appino, a physician contract and compensation consultant at Contract Diagnostics, says administrators are often telling the truth. His firm is a central resource for physicians and their families, offering consulting and coaching on employment contracts, compensation, schedules, and benefits. This episode is based on his article "Negotiating physician compensation works better in groups," published on KevinMD. You will hear why hospital systems revisit pay plans every two or three years, and why waiting for the new addendum often means it has already cleared finance. He explains how your group can get involved twelve months ahead, bring its own data, and raise staffing, equipment, and call, not just salary. He shares how three and a half general surgeons gained about $140,000 per physician per year after their plan went five years without review. For new physicians handed a non-negotiable contract, he lays out the clarifying questions to ask, and why asking for more after hearing "standard" can sound bad. Press play to hear when a group voice works best and how to be proactive before your next pay plan arrives. If this episode helped, follow The Podcast by KevinMD on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a rating. Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With more than 100 million impressions a year and nearly 750,000 followers, subscribers and email recipients across my channels, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story. PARTNER WITH KEVINMD → https://kevinmd.com/influencer SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast