The Care Cascade

Who should make the final decision about your death? You, your family, your doctor...or a disease that slowly takes away your mind? 

Your body was built for a world that no longer exists — and that mismatch might be making you sick. 

When the family of a longtime patient invited me to her funeral, I found myself wrestling with a question I never addressed in medical school. 

<p>The United States spends trillions of dollars on healthcare every year, but our outcomes are worse than those of other countries that spend less money. Why? Physician and healthcare executive Vivian Lee explains the psychological and economic incentives embedded in the America ... Show More

A troubling disconnect between medical expertise and insurance mandates is putting patients' health at risk. Policies like step therapy and prior authorization are forcing individuals into treatments not recommended by their doctors—often with devastating consequences. In this ep ... Show More

Much of medicine doesn’t do what it is supposed to do: improve health. That is the view of orthopaedic surgeon, Ian Harris. Ian believes too many drugs are being prescribed, too much surgery is being performed, and there are too many unhelpful tests, scans, and overdiagnosis. The ... Show More

We look at how our culture's massive effort to address pain has paradoxically increased it. And we follow one young girl as she struggles through a bizarre and extreme treatment program. NOTE: The treatment in this episode is administered by trained professionals in a hospital se ... Show More

Electronic health records aren’t just cumbersome and time-consuming, they’re actually damaging the doctor-patient relationship. How can UX designers help? Read the PDF transcript of this episode. 

Dr. Centor discusses the unintended consequences of the U.S. health care delivery and payment system on quality of care, physician wellness, patient satisfaction, and health care costs with Dr. Maria Maldonado. Dr. Maldonado is the author of a recent Annals "On Being a Doctor" es ... Show More