In recent weeks, the CDC has struggled with policy reversals and communication errors. Yet its leaders continue to project confidence when they should instead acknowledge uncertainty.

The Supreme Court ruled against vaccine mandates for large employers. It was an expected ruling that fell along partisan lines. But the lack of judicial rigor sets a concerning precedent.

Media outlets have become the primary source of healthcare information, replacing traditional clinical journals. But the difference between the two will affect patient care.

It is only a matter of time before we hear of the fourth COVID booster. The timing will correspond with the waning of Omicron sometime in Spring. We reveal the patterns beneath the messaging.

The FDA has authorized multiple COVID treatments, but they remain limited for the foreseeable future due to the belief that more available treatments will reduce vaccinations.

Climate change is a healthcare issue. But it affects healthcare at large more than it does individual patients. Therefore, we must obtain systemic data to understand its full impact.

Public health is a field that thrives on compromise. Yet we have polarized and distorted it into something different. By normalizing this, we made public health about power and control, not healthcare.

The push to decentralize healthcare will be defined by a shift in power from hospitals to payer networks. The shift will be driven by cost control, which will lead to further control of patient behavior.

Healthcare venture capital has enjoyed unprecedented growth. A trend that will continue as healthcare embraces new reimbursement models – because venture capital risk mitigates against reimbursement risks.

Clinical research is the heart of clinical medicine. It defines what we know. More importantly, it defines how we think. If we want to find solutions for problems like healthcare inequity, then we need to think subjectively.

We consider progress in healthcare as a march towards efficiency. But efficiency is limited by patient behavior, which can be irrational. To strive towards healthcare efficiency, we must first understand patient irrationality.

Healthcare is complex. We like simple. So we try to make healthcare simple, which has worked for now, but not for much longer. Soon, complex datasets will give rise to errors in interpreting and applying data to individual patients.

Much has been said about the resistance to vaccine mandates. But beneath the rhetoric is the core issue – the growth of healthcare has come at the cost of patient autonomy, to where now many feel they have lost control of their health.

Healthcare innovators assume patients trust healthcare technology. But trust in technology wanes when patients lose autonomy. So instead of trust, innovators should focus on autonomy when developing new healthcare technologies.

The government can right many wrongs by focusing on harm reduction policies to combat the rising number of deaths by drug overdose. But harm reduction is more than providing access. It is a combination of access and education.

Abortion is defined as a right to privacy in Roe v. Wade. The ruling protects a fundamental right but it also leads to bizarre abortion restrictions. It is time we redefine the right to abortion not as privacy, but of equal protection.

The new variant is upon us and the narrative has been set, repeating many of the familiar reactions we have come to recognize during the pandemic. We should now look at the narrative itself as the source of pandemic fear and misinformation.

As much as we discuss the drugs used to treat COVID-19, few know where to receive them should they develop symptomatic COVID-19 infections. This is a problem of information. It demonstrates a disconnect between broad policy and individual care.

As we enter the second pandemic winter, we look for signs indicating whether COVID-19 will worsen. Europe has typically served as this indicator. But much has changed over the course of the pandemic, including Europe’s role as a leading indicator.

The courts recently ruled vaccine mandates as unconstitutional and against public interests. But by emphasizing economic interests over public health concerns, the courts set a grave precedent that may, ironically, hurt America’s long term economic outlook.

The push for healthcare equity has profoundly changed the way we view healthcare, including how we speak in medical settings. Though the most important benefit in structuring healthcare language comes not in how we speak, but in how we think.

Mr. S did everything he could to beat his cancer. In the end, it was not the cancer but the cost of treating his cancer that determined his fate.

Paul the hospital janitor may appear lowly in the eyes of those who pass him by. However, he keenly observes all that transpires around him.

Sarah and Evan are on a date and decide to go for a walk. But to find true love, they must overcome medical conditions that leave them both self-conscious.

Physician burnout is finally receiving the recognition it deserves. And in our world of quantitative medicine, we seek to measure and monitor it. But by quantifying it, we fail to understand the true nature of physician burnout.

Clinical research and social media have a bizarre relationship, a complex interdependence that we have yet to fully understand. The more the two interact, the more the two influence each other, impacting all of healthcare.

The Supreme Court has agreed to clarify the question of good faith as it pertains to physician prescribing behavior. In responding to this question, the court has an opportunity to address more fundamental issues of medical jurisprudence.

The pandemic has been characterized by poorly conceived policies and their inevitable reversals – with subsequent public outrage. However, these reversals should have been anticipated by policy makers, as they were predicted years ago.

This far into the pandemic, most have become aware of data’s influence in deriving policy. But using data to make decisions is less an exact science and more a value judgment, subject to the inherent biases of those making decisions.

Individualism has been the defining feature of American culture. Yet, as we enter into a post-pandemic world in which healthcare assumes an ever-growing role, we may need to redefine individualism to include healthcare externalities.

The public’s fascination with COVID-19 began with the attention journalists gave to it. But now that public interest in the pandemic is waning, journalists will write fewer articles about it, ending the pandemic by ending media attention.

Trends in healthcare market forces have predicted new startup business models, including the early success of direct to consumer models of care. But sustained success in these models will not come from market forces but from patient trust.

The US Preventive Services Task Force recently changed its guidance on aspirin as a preventative medication, a major policy shift. But for providers, the uncertainty in applying the policy will define actual change in patient care.

The Affordable Care Act has redefined federalism in America by creating new mechanisms for the state and nation to provide healthcare. But those same mechanisms can be weapons of war for future civil strife.

Prosecutors often use patient data to investigate physicians. But patient data is biased, lacking the robustness required of evidence. And by using data as due process, prosecutors deny physicians their rights.

COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for children ages 5-11, a decision most had already anticipated. But lost in the predictability of the policies is critical analysis of data justifying the decisions.

Dr. Zena Crenshaw-Logal has taken what she learned as an advocate for judicial reform to launch America United International.

The rise in healthcare journalism has led to a rise in biased healthcare articles – with many articles written through inherent biases that are reiterated in subsequent articles.

First principles thinking attempts to break down complex concepts into its fundamental parts. When we apply this thinking to healthcare, we find it to be chaotic and dialectic.

Moderna’s decision to restrict the licensing rights of its vaccine came as a surprise to many. But for those who understand the modern healthcare system, the decision was expected.

The DEA recently issued a public health alert, warning of counterfeit pills. A seemingly odd alert given the DEA’s restrictions on prescription opioids, until you understand its purpose.

The public perceives the pandemic through binary thinking, as though playing a zero sum game. But healthcare is not binary. And to overcome this mindset, we should change the rules of the game.

America’s regulation of abortion sets a concerning precedent for all of healthcare. As we expand healthcare coverage, we must caution against excessive regulations of other medical conditions.

A phrase we hear frequently of late, often among prominent personalities with little to no formal scientific training. We decode what they mean.

The CDC might reverse course again, this time on mixing vaccine formularies. We review the science and politics underlying the decision.

A recent report erroneously attributes decreasing fertility rates to personal choice among women, conflating economic trends with personal decisions.

We see many newly minted vaccine campaigns motivating those eligible to get vaccinated. We analyze why these campaigns will fail.

The AAMC launched an initiative encouraging medical schools to study healthcare equity – a laudable goal, but one that can go wrong.

Many highly valued healthcare startups are struggling as public companies, leading many to believe a healthcare bubble is on the horizon.

The FDA approved a booster dose for COVID-19 vaccines. A sensible decision, but we are concerned at how they derived it.

A report by NBER reveals stark disparities in American mortality, which may redefine how we see healthcare.

The perceptions of healthcare entrepreneurship differ from its realities. This is why many healthcare startups fail.

The United States has a long history of restricting abortions, using the pretense of medicine to enact laws that moralize a medical procedure.

Healthcare laws restrict specific aspects of healthcare behavior. But in restricting, they reduce complex behavior into simplified restrictions.

Israel has become an international leader in COVID-19 research. But we should question whether we can apply Israeli data into American policy.

The war on drugs has become an international battle, with foreign policy affecting healthcare domestically. The recent events in Afghanistan show how closely they link.

Fall has yet to arrive, but already we hear warnings of a combined viral outbreak of influenza and COVID, despite the data. We parse through the conjecture to discern the facts.

Originally designed to empower patients, price transparency has transformed into a legal liability, becoming a documentation burden for healthcare institutions.

There is a fine line between a lie and trying to simplify complex scientific topics. A subtle difference that forms a divide between what scientists say and what the public hears.

A COVID-19 vaccine received full FDA approval, prompting calls for vaccine mandates. But when patients act as consumers, regulatory approval hardly affects the decision to get vaccinated.

Healthcare is immersed in data, which now define all aspects of clinical care. But data do not define the individual, just like symptoms of a disease do not define the patient.

We recently approved booster shots for the COVID-19 vaccine, raising many issues across different fronts, all defined by one core premise.

The pandemic lingers on, defined by the viral variants of COVID-19. We explore the mutation patterns to determine whether the end is near.

Physician leaders call for advocacy, galvanizing the medical community to take up public health issues. But these calls appear hollow, more bluster than action.

Political rhetoric on public health policy is now affecting individual patient decisions. Should politicians be held liable for the clinical consequences?

Law enforcement often makes rapid decisions in high pressure situations – not unlike physicians. Perhaps law enforcement should train more like clinicians.

Corporate medicine has changed the once autonomous physician profession into a traditional labor workforce, eliminating the art of medicine.

Individualism has long defined America, but over the country’s history, it has appeared differently – the current version being both cynical and destructive.

America’s healthcare system has yet again underperformed when compared with other nations, revealing systemic shortcomings that can be fixed with a shift in perception.

We define the current mental health crisis through outcomes like mortality. But to truly address and fix this crisis, we must change how we perceive mental health.

Venture capital has made its presence known in healthcare. What remains to be seen is how venture capital will affect traditional research and development in healthcare.

COVID-19 showed that outcomes cannot represent the full scope of patient behavior. More than outcomes, the perceptions patients hold determine the true intent behind their actions.

Once again, the CDC has revised its stance on masks, prompting a barrage of compliments and critiques. But the announcement was prompted not by data, rather by its absence.

The alarm bells have rung, and the alarmists have spoken. COVID-19 is in resurgence. But to predict what this means – an aberration or a real trend – we should study the uncertainty.

Healthcare insurance models forecast behavior by assuming patients are rational and make decisions optimally – two persisting errors, proving the models to be outdated.

Two unique fields, each distinct on its own, yet inextricably linked through a set of words – rights and liberty – such that the interpretation of the words defines the relationship.

Nuance, a word often cited in discussions regarding the CDC opioid prescribing guidelines. But in citing nuance, they really mean complex – revealing an unresolved disconnect between thought and action.

The CDC has defined the process through which it will revise the opioid prescribing guidelines. One that includes public commentary as well as in-depth private conversations, creating different paths of understanding.

The committee working with the committee revising the CDC opioid prescribing guidelines met in a public assembly, highlighting a contrast in transparency among those providing recommendations, and those doing the revisions.

Pfizer recently announced the possibility of a third dose, a booster dose, for the COVID-19 vaccine. An announcement met with uncertainty – from policy experts to the general public – exposing a potential moral hazard for Pfizer.

Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink – a famous line from a famous poem contrasting the abundance of water with its quality. An analogy apt for healthcare in which we find an abundance of data, but little understanding of it.

Rural health is all the rage these days, with opportunities abound for a previously neglected patient population. But as healthcare pivots towards the rural, it will realize a key distinction that defines this population.

Freedom means many things to many people. Above all, the freedom to disagree. But when disagreements occur not just between opinions, but between facts, the freedom of information we so proudly protect dissolves into a freedom of misinformation.

The final days of the pandemic may feel like a prolonged good-bye, but for regions facing local surges in viral incidence, the pandemic is anything but a distant memory. And like all memories, prone to simplifications, like most pandemic narratives.

Patient advocacy permeates all aspects of healthcare, including regulatory processes. But lacking in the newfound emphasis on patient input is the role of physicians in the patient experience, leading to a lack of physicians in regulatory processes.

As Mark Twain said, history does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes. As the current wave of opioid litigation is eerily similar to what we have seen before – but with one critical difference – which may make all the difference.

Healthcare never advances along a simple course, it is always a convoluted mix of what is predicted and unanticipated – a hybrid. And to predict healthcare, we should focus less on what might happen, and more on how such hybrids form.

Population health has never been more in demand, with hospitals unveiling many new care models. But rather than the care offered, the perception of patient decision-making is more important – seeing patients as consumers.

With the CDC’s abrupt decision to lift all mask mandates, businesses were left to decide whether to maintain the mandates. A decision most chose to uphold, a decision made legally in the face of medical uncertainty.

The FDA recently approved a drug touted to treat Alzheimer’s Disease. A decision decried by policy experts as data supporting the drug focused less on symptoms of the disease, and more on imaging studies of patients with the disease.

Vaccine hesitancy is pervasive among patients, even among those who opt to receive it. Yet physicians continue to denounce the hesitancy as unfounded distrust. Instead, we must acknowledge the distrust, to foster trust in the vaccine.

Of all the issues plaguing healthcare, none is more pressing than our inability to see healthcare as a complex system. As a result, we attribute fault to individuals for problems that are fundamentally systemic.

One Medical acquired Iora Health, a surprising integration of two vastly different companies that does not make sense at first glance, until we identify the driver of value creation in healthcare.

If perception is reality, then the changing perception of post-pandemic healthcare has ushered in a new reality for the medical device industry. One in which patient advocacy is as essential as therapeutic efficiency.

There is much talk about healthcare equity, and the importance of access in healthcare. But access means different things to different patients, and what is believed to be equity is often a disparity.

The WHO has introduced nomenclature redefining COVID-19 variants to prevent prejudices formed during the pandemic. But a close examination reveals this prejudice to be systemic throughout healthcare.

The great game is now upon us, with the United States entering the fray of international vaccine diplomacy, doling vaccines to countries in need and to countries of geopolitical importance.

To find meaning in suffering is to transcend it. Something we can do in healthcare now that the pandemic seems mostly behind us. But to find such meaning, we must address foundational issues facing healthcare, issues that may not have caused the pandemic, but were exposed by it.

America is the land of optimism, with an undeniable taste for dystopian futures. One which pits technological advancements in medicine against personal liberties. A belief more pervasive and systemic than we think, extending well beyond the conspiratorial fringes of society.

Today Dr. Deborah Birx is known for many things. But earlier she was known as the country’s leading voice for AIDS, and other stigmatizing infectious diseases. We follow her voice through the pandemic, deciphering how her words affected what we believed then, and what we believe now.

Healthcare is now fully engaged in many of the social justice issues grappling the country. A move generally seen to be positive, essential in addressing many of the existing healthcare inequities. But the increasing politicization of healthcare may be more of a mix bag than we realize.

The CDC issued a recent revision to the mask mandate, lifting many of the preexisting requirements. A move met with a range of different reactions, revealing a growing trend of Federalism in healthcare, in which local and state governments now exercise a distinct level of autonomy.

Data drives healthcare, whether it is individual decisions or broader health policies. But data only tells us what we know, or presume to know. Studying the uncertainty around data, in much the same way we study data, would reveal gaps in our knowledge, helping to better understand the data itself.

We can now see how post-pandemic healthcare will look. Data platforms will grow in sophistication alongside a growing distrust in data, perpetuating a disparity – a dichotomy of data – forming a new type of healthcare inequity.

We pen a letter requesting a civil rights investigation into violations of private liberties among those disenfranchised by a healthcare system in which the fear of prosecution defines the quality of patient care.

We present a story about two federal agents analyzing prescription data and trying to make sense of what they see – to determine if what they see is criminal. But differing perceptions lead to different interpretations of the data.

The country has united in support of India. A unity nowhere to be found during our own COVID-19 crisis, revealing a critical contradiction in America that defines our society, and our ability to address healthcare inequity.

Any upgrade can be justified through the pretense of healing. It is a matter of perspective. Just like medical errors can be reinterpreted to be infringing upon one’s personal liberties. It is a matter of legal interpretation.

Most healthcare laws claim to be logical, but healthcare is more experience than logic. Healthcare laws should then be defined by the patient experience – as it is experienced – not through implicitly assumed patient behavior.

We request a pattern-or-practice investigation studying how law enforcement differentiates patients with dependencies from suspects with criminal intent.

We call upon civil rights organizations and champions of civil liberties to codify healthcare natural rights for the modern era of complex healthcare.

We ask the federal courts to update and expand upon the definition of substantive due process as it pertains to healthcare rights.

Recently the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was placed on hold. We studied data to compare the risk of blood clots with the risk of vaccine availability. But instead of data, we should study our perceptions, particularly our perception of low probability events.

We have healthcare laws that we do not follow. We have healthcare policies that we actively flout. The disparity between healthcare law & policy, and patient behavior warrants an examination of our common law origins to understand how to fix these disparities.

Patient behavior follows the path of least resistance, as patients are more compliant when they face fewer hurdles in their care. Something codified recently into formal policy when the American Diabetes Association emphasized the ability to pay in the treatment of diabetes.

Derek Chauvin is on trial for the death of George Floyd, and the whole world is watching. In the midst of the legal proceedings, a physician took the stand and epitomized the principles of medical jurisprudence for the world to see.

Expert and novice. Physician and patient. The presumed dichotomy between those deemed experts or knowledgeable, compared to those deemed novices or lacking in knowledge is more perception than reality – as what truly separates the two are patterns of association.

In honor of National Poetry Month, we share a prose-poem dedicated to a region of America that has been decimated first by the opioid epidemic and now by the COVID-19 pandemic, reminding ourselves that what makes us great is the ability to be good to one another.

The World Health Organization released its initial report on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic – and in the process, released a Pandora’s box of speculation. While we may never know the true origins of the virus, we speculate on the most likely cause, which may stem from the most probable type of mutation.

While most project an optimistic outlook for economic recovery post-pandemic, we find it to be fundamentally disjointed, revealing structural economic changes. These changes are defined by a new trend of healthcare consumerism, in which public health risk dominates basic economic decision-making.

The pandemic may have put an end to many things, but it only accelerated early stage funding into healthcare startups. While the exorbitant increase in funding may appear promising, it does not define success. Rather than the funding, adapting to changes in the regulatory landscape defines success for startups.

A Houston physician finds himself facing the ire of the law after he administered vaccines to acquaintances not scheduled to receive it. But do his actions truly constitute a crime? We explore the common law origins of the modern concept of crime, and determine whether it is possible to prove criminal intent in this case.

Rule of law demands equal treatment under the law. Yet when physicians are accused of crimes, rule of law often descends into mob rule. As both prosecutors and defendants fight in the court of public opinion to influence the outcome in the court of law, prioritizing the tyranny of majority over the morality of law.

Under the new COVID-19 relief package, the federal government provides long overdue support for those suffering in the midst of a pandemic, while expanding healthcare to unprecedented levels. Though beneficial in the short term, the long term effects of expansion may prove counterintuitive and worsen patient care.

In recent weeks COVID-19 testing has reduced significantly, which many attribute to the rise in vaccinations. But positivity rates are measured by testing for COVID-19, and if we decrease the number of tests performed, then we diminish our ability to trace positivity rates, delaying a response against a fourth wave.

Healthcare will become more decentralized and populist post-pandemic. With patients relying upon digital and internet-based tools to seek medical care and to learn about their medical conditions. As patients experience healthcare differently, the basic patient narrative will change as well, becoming more internet-driven.

If we have learned anything from the pandemic, it is that healthcare is linked to all aspects of society, and that our individual actions have overarching, collective consequences. Should we then impose a tax upon those who behave in medically harmful ways, given that those individual actions affect us all?

With the pandemic ending, we are beginning to predict the future of healthcare and society. But the future never follows a rational, predictable trajectory. It advances in unique, unpredictable ways – often at the cost of society’s most vulnerable.

The pandemic ushered in clinical studies that have changed healthcare policy. But the pace of publications also led to studies with questionable evidence and notable retractions, warranting a review of how we apply broad data to individual decision-making.

The original battle tanks of antiquity, war elephants were famed for the terror they inflicted on the battlefield. And equally famed for falling apart once faced with uncertainty. Not unlike many of the perceived truths we take for granted in healthcare.

As the opioid epidemic rages on, DEA agents and local law enforcement intensify their efforts to curtail the diversion of prescription medications. But how are they going about their investigations of healthcare providers?

Most new medical devices are designed and developed by startups, only to be acquired by larger medical device corporations when the new device is ready for sales. A tried and true approach to innovation that is ripe for disruption.

For most businesses, the relationship between revenue and cost is defined in a straightforward unit economic model. In healthcare, this model is anything but straightforward, as the more accurately we define healthcare, the more complicated it becomes.

We all know the impact Reddit has on the financial world. But how will Reddit’s impact appear in the medical world? There are many factors that predict how a similar movement across Reddit’s healthcare platforms would look.

The COVIDization of healthcare will usher in new trends in healthcare, the most promising of which is the widespread use of vaccines to treat a range of medical conditions, advancing the trend towards customized treatment.

Mostly used to oversee licensing and disciplinary issues, each state’s board holds a unique relationship with the state’s attorney general’s office, and can provide medical context for healthcare legal policies.

The opioid epidemic is defined through statistics, which has influenced our approach to resolving it – with little success. We should now change our approach and look at the epidemic as a sequence of decisions.

Healthcare data has proven to be of little value to both policy makers and to the public. Instead of data, we should monitor subjective metrics like fear and resiliency to predict the course of the pandemic.

An obvious statement that most would agree with. Yet few understand systemic thinking in healthcare, which requires an understanding of the complex patterns of behavior that define interactions in healthcare.

Another day, another miracle drug. Or so it seems. As seemingly every day we hear about new drugs touted as the next miracle, only to be shelved after a few weeks. We explore this trend, and examine the popularity of the drugs used to treat COVID-19 patients.

The latest pandemic narrative pits the newly discovered, highly infectious COVID-19 variants against the efforts to vaccinate as many people as possible. But this conflates two largely disparate aspects of the pandemic, and skews our perceptions of future successes.

Healthcare is irrational and patients behave irrationally. Yet we continue to develop healthcare models assuming that patients are rational. Behavioral economists have already devised models to adjust for irrationality, which healthcare needs to incorporate.

Our senses are our world. So what we perceive is what we believe. With the perceptions gleaned during a patient encounter determining the healthcare beliefs we hold. We analyze how perceptions form to see how they diverge in healthcare.

History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. And the tendency to seek the familiar out of the new creates a familiarity bias. That when applied to healthcare leaves us flat-footed when addressing new problems, diseases, and trends.

Obesity is a complex medical condition treated through both behavioral changes and medical intervention. But to truly help patients cope with the disease, we have to understand how patients perceive their relationship with food.

The vaccine roll-out has been predictably unpredictable, with chaos now the norm. With all the uncertainty around when many will receive the vaccine, the system has largely come to depend upon people responding honestly about their eligibility.

Market entry may be a sprint, but market dominance is a marathon. And those who end up winning the market are those who best understand the market. J&J may not have the best vaccine, but they have the best understanding of the market.

The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves. In the subtle, implicit biases we continue to carry across many healthcare interactions. What may initially appear as a slight shift in perception, once repeated, soon magnifies into significant disparities.

If perception is reality, then does the perception that the pandemic will improve under Biden create the reality that the pandemic is now under control? We examine what changed with the new administration to determine what is real and what is perception.

The pandemic has shown that public health and individual rights have an uneasy relationship. But this does not have to be so. We evaluate the concept of rights to determine the optimal relationship between the two.

Financial traders will tell you that market trends are more powerful than any one trading strategy. Similarly in healthcare, we find broad healthcare trends to be more impactful than any one clinical behavior for a patient’s overall health.

COVID-19 has changed much about healthcare. Its greatest change may come in how we structure and interpret healthcare law. We study the history of healthcare law to better understand the future of healthcare laws that balance individual rights with public health.

Liberty is the foundation of American culture. But liberty in healthcare often handicaps patients who are less educated about their health. Creating a paradox in which added liberties produce intellectual burdens among those most vulnerable.

The Department of Health and Human Services has eliminated the X-waiver requirement for physicians who prescribe opioid addiction medicine. We study the Government’s role during the vaping epidemic to understand the likely consequences of this decision.

Healthcare is a balance, weighing different causes and effects, like an internal opportunity cost. But when the law simplifies the complexity of medicine, a disparity forms between healthcare and law creating extreme legal interpretations devoid of clinical context. A pattern we may see in the upcoming pandemic litigation.

The vaccine has arrived and the roll-out has begun, with many of the high-risk already vaccinated. But we should remain cautious, for what will bring an end to the pandemic is not the vaccine, but consistently maintaining the social distancing parameters, despite the perception that the worst is over.

Within days India will begin one of the largest vaccine roll-outs in the world. Despite the enormous challenges that lie ahead, there are many reasons to believe India can pull it off. And if successful, India may prove to be an ideal case study for other nations to emulate.

Healthcare litigation surrounding the opioid epidemic has led to a slew of high-profile legal cases – with implications extending throughout healthcare. Yet regulatory policies arising from these cases run contrary to principles of good patient care – creating more harm than good. Out of concern for patients unduly affected, we wrote an amicus curiae brief for the latest civil action taken against Walmart by the Department of Justice.

While most of the world was relaxing over the holidays, we at Daily Remedy were struggling with COVID-19. And we soon learned that reporting on COVID-19 is far different than experiencing the disease firsthand.

Living through a pandemic has undoubtedly made us more aware of our health and healthcare policy. But as we struggle to find meaning through it all, we must ask – has the experience made us more intelligent as patients?

The vaccine is here – and everything seems to be going wrong. We discuss some of the obstacles encountered and identify the root cause underlying the mistakes that transpired and the inevitable mistakes to come in the future.

The pandemic has proven how complex the relationship between healthcare policy and economics can be. However, the mental constraints may be more impactful than the economic constraints. And to study the full impact of COVID-19, we should develop new ways to study COVID-19’s mental constraints.

Healthcare is a series of decisions, one after another. But most decisions are made reflexively, reiterating familiar patterns of thought. Being mindful of each decision optimizes overall decision-making, knowing when to rely on reflex judgments and when to deliberate further.

The editors write a heartfelt note thanking the readers for their support of the healthcare content and for their participation in the monthly surveys.

The vaccine roll-out is well on its way, and already the early rifts are starting to form. But the ensuing ethical debates have yet to manifest. Among them is the question of whether those previously infected need to take the vaccine. A question many remain silent on for now – which will change once the vaccines become available.

Telemedicine may be the future of healthcare. Exactly how that future will manifest varies widely. But predicting the future based upon the present will lead to incorrect predictions. So rather than follow the technology, we follow the patterns of trust among patients and the public to predict the future of telemedicine.

Microfinance has changed the world for good, helping millions support their healthcare costs. But the future of modern healthcare depends less on the financial aspects of microfinance, and more on the sense of commitment and community – the non-financial aspects – to improve patient outcomes.

The year 2020 is finally coming to an end, but the end of the pandemic seems nowhere in sight. While COVID-19 may never be truly eliminated, we might be able to control the virus well enough to return to normalcy at some point in 2021 – assuming certain variables fall in our favor.

Most assume law to be a reflection of the ethics within a society. But in healthcare, law and ethics are often conflicting, putting healthcare providers in difficult situations, compromising patient care to follow the law. But is a law really a law if it violates the ethics of patient care?

All things move at their own pace. A statement more likely to be made by a philosopher than by a healthcare policy expert. But healthcare works best when it works at a specific pace, with the optimal cadence maximizing progress while minimizing risk, both real and perceived, expected and unforeseen.

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of consumerism principles throughout healthcare. But not everybody is adopting these principles uniformly. And the differences may affect vaccine distribution and adoption, prolonging the pandemic. But a start-up based approach of introducing the vaccine may help discover these differences earlier and improve long term adoption.

The recent lockdowns and ongoing restrictions have brought about an increased interest in health and science news online. But a closer analysis underlying the increased readership reveals unique behaviors and trust preferences among those reading such articles – behaviors and preferences that may go on to predict the future of news consumption online.

Quantum mechanics has been applied to many fields of science, including biology, leading to recent breakthroughs among longstanding problems within the field. Applying these principles in healthcare can similarly lead to profound shifts in how we approach healthcare and improve upon many problems seen in clinical practice – including our inability to handle conflicting patient information.

A hospital executive struggles to balance the accurate reporting of viral incidence rates with the business needs of his hospital – and soon finds himself balancing the ethics of medicine with the ethics of healthcare marketing.

Bob the pharmacist prides himself on his dedication to his patients, and his commitment to his job. But when he feels corporate pressure to measure and document every task done, he begins to lose his sense of pride.

For many physicians, their patients come to symbolize many things. For this particular physician, the patients appear as different symbols – with each symbol representing a special relationship with each patient.

A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. And a vaccine mandate by any other name would be just as resisted. As we come closer to a publicly available vaccine, we come closer to the inevitable collision between the public perception of the vaccine, and the government efforts to increase participation in taking the vaccine. While the government has promised not to impose mandates in the traditional sense, there are signs that the government will try to influence public participation by offering financial incentives. We caution against this, and hope the government works to increase participation by building confidence instead – starting by surveying the public and quantifying confidence across different communities through a vaccine confidence index.

Healthcare is set to change in novel, unprecedented ways in the years to come. But how we envision these changes is as important as what we seek to change – particularly when it comes to socializing healthcare under a one-payer model. Whether competition is good or bad for patients is not the issue. Rather, we should frame the debate around aspects of competition that are good for patients, by studying the substitution costs patients incur in their local healthcare markets. Optimizing the substitution costs per patient will define competitive behaviors that are beneficial for patients, and define the optimal mix of payers and providers within each local healthcare market.

A mesmerizing short story about a family reminiscing over a loved one as they wait patiently, and at times impatiently, in the surgical waiting room. We follow three family members – Betty, Leroy, and Melody – as they each cope with the angst of waiting while their beloved Jonathan undergoes a life altering surgery.

To stave off a pending criminal investigation, Walmart has filed civil action against the Department of Justice requesting clarification on the interpretation of the Controlled Substance Act. A law notorious for its lax interpretations that seems to change in every legal proceeding. But in seeking clarification, this case has the potential to establish a consistent framework for jurisprudence that – if developed properly – can find a balance between individual patient rights and the common good.

Legal settlements are known for quantifying medical burdens through static economic models, a problem the federal government acknowledges underrepresents the full scope of medical harm to individual patients. We propose a unique model that disseminates funds to patients based upon the relative burdens the epidemic has inflicted in each community. A model that represents the full, but disproportional extent of harm among communities across the country.

State medical licensing boards have become more proactive than ever in overseeing physician behavior and enforcing punishments. But the legal tactics often used are based upon antiquated, misapplied statutes that have been overused to the point of being superfluous. This is most apparent in the ‘clear and present’ phrase used in nearly every punitive measure against physicians. But where did this phrase come from? And what are the consequences of its overuse – and certain abuse – on physicians?

Nudges have recently grown in popularity within healthcare as the field continues to integrate principles of behavioral economics. But nudges have proven to be inconsistently effective, and at times even a nuisance, limiting the overall effectiveness of nudges to date – even leading some to discredit the value of nudges in healthcare altogether. But nudges do indeed hold value, though the value of the nudges resides in how the nudges are constructed – as effectively designed nudges target implicit behaviors instead of the explicit prompts that we have traditionally seen.

Beneath all the headline grabbing criminal cases, lawsuits, and settlements that epitomize healthcare litigation lies a more fundamental legal battle – the legal fluency arising from aggregated, templated legal arguments versus the disenfranchised patient with unique, individualized medical needs. A battle that will define the lasting implications of healthcare litigation – determining whether the legal strategies used to win court cases truly reflect the patients represented in the cases.

A term often used, but poorly defined – yet subject readily to manipulative, self-serving interpretations. Generally assumed to be behavior consistent with accepted standards of medical practice, medically appropriate is the reference standard that we all agree to – in principle – yet when we apply it in practice we find widely disparate meanings. We attempt to understand the term from the evolving history of government responses to observe how changing dynamics over time can predict changing interpretations of the term in the future.

The elections may be over, and the current administration is likely on its way out, but the core ideals of Trumpism will live on, influencing the events of 2021 – particularly the healthcare policies of 2021. But now that Trumpism is no longer the political belief holding power, how will those beliefs impact a cohesive COVID-19 response? French historian Alexis de Tocqueville warned Americans about the ‘tyranny of the majority’, providing eerily prescient insights that can help to understand the evolution of Trumpism, and accordingly, help to prepare a unified approach to COVID-19.

Hope springs eternal as we transition into a new administration with a new, and hopefully more scientific approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. With promises of new interventions, mandates, and vaccines, we have every reason to feel confident in the upcoming administration’s success. But what is success in the age of COVID-19? What constitutes objective success when the parameters are fundamentally subjective? We believe success is a ratio of subjective metrics referenced against one another, providing an objective frame of reference across different populations.

DEA Agents Martin and Jennings find themselves in the middle of another physician investigation, analyzing data to determine what they can charge this latest physician with. But Jennings soon comes to realize that healthcare has particular attributes that make it more complicated, and quite different, from the traditional drug deals he was trained to analyze. Attributes that define cooperation and non-cooperation through the decision-making between patient and physician. Attributes, that when studied closely, redefine criminality in the clinical setting.

Underlying all the political rancor of late is a pending matter that will have monumental implications on healthcare. The Supreme Court is set to rule on the Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. But what determines Constitutionality for a field of legal interpretation, medical jurisprudence, that has been neglected for decades? How will the Justices analyze healthcare law when no recently developed frameworks exist through which we can analyze such laws?

The study of medical decision-making is woefully underdeveloped relative to other fields of decision-making, such as quantitative finance and criminal sociology. But to better study trends in healthcare behavior, we must extrapolate behaviors seen in other disciplines to glean potential similarities – and improve our understanding of healthcare behavior. How do day trading skills relate to vaping mortality? How do the false attributions along the crime curve relate to prescribing patterns?

Trust is an essential aspect of healthcare – and without trust, healthcare breaks down into a series of facts, data points, and guidelines. But as legislators and policy makers weigh the future of healthcare, they should keenly note that healthcare cannot be adjudicated without trust – and to separate trust from healthcare would be to violate the natural rights of those practicing the art of medicine.

To celebrate Election Day, Daily Remedy unveils a short story about a physician entering the world of politics. Dr. Kapoor, a bright, young physician, decides to leave a promising career as a physician to enter politics in his native Iowa. While campaigning, he encounters a senior political journalist who seems baffled and then incredulous that a young physician would turn away a career of clinical medicine for a life of politics.

In today’s healthcare, technology and data reign supreme. But as we move forward, first through and then beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, we will realize that the future of healthcare is defined by patient narratives. Narratives built upon implicit patient biases that determine everyday decisions. And over the course of time, the narrative the patient tells navigates the course of behavior – and when taken in aggregate, navigates the future of healthcare.

The election is only days away and the uncertainty has never been greater. Politics has never been as polarizing and a major COVID-19 upsurge has never seemed as imminent. Pundits across the political spectrum have postulated how all these factors will influence the overall election. But we predict the election will hinge less on the political dynamics, and more on individual heuristics, or thought patterns that influence behavior. We believe COVID-19 will influence Democratic voter behavior disproportionately more than Republican voter behavior – making a Trump victory far more likely than the polls would indicate.

NOTE: Daily Remedy takes pride in its journalistic integrity and political objectivity. We do not endorse any candidate nor any political party, and all perspectives are derived from internal research and data analysis.

Healthcare is founded on the principles of virtue. In the Oath of Hippocrates, healthcare is defined as an art to be practiced with dedication and love – attributes all physicians aspire to attain. More modern interpretations of healthcare attempt to define the role of virtue in patient care through straightforward guidelines and statutes. But we should see virtue as a complex characteristic rather than a simple metric.

One of the hallmarks of modern healthcare is the emphasis on documentation. But anything that is emphasized is inevitably over-emphasized – and the accentuated importance placed upon documentation has distorted healthcare to the point that it has become defined by documentation. No where is this more evident than in federal prisons across the country – where healthcare is less about health and more about careful documentation.

The COVID-19 vaccine is now only weeks away from being available. But having a vaccine ready and having access are two different things, as the administration and distribution of the vaccine will be overseen by the military – through a program called Operation Warp Speed, a collaboration between the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services. But is the American public ready for the impending militarization of COVID-19 in the coming months?

Healthcare laws attempt to adjudicate complex patient behaviors into standardized statutes. But in simplifying fundamentally complex concepts into standards, we inevitably find errors of approximation – that manifest as undue burdens upon select patient populations.

We live in an increasingly complex world – defined by the principles of complexity which emphasize interactions and feedback loops within a constantly changing system. Principles that have revolutionized most industries across the world, but curiously has not entered into the world of healthcare. But those who can master complexity in healthcare will determine its future.

Time is never time alone, it always has an accompanying perception. And the changing perception of COVID-19, as we trudge our way through, has created a growing disconnect between what we know we need to do, and what we want to do. A disconnect that will define the timeline of COVID-19 for months to come.

Predictions, projections, and misleading conclusions seem to define COVID-19 policies. But as we continue to pursue solutions that can hopefully temper the pandemic, we need be aware of the law of unintended consequences – which may end up defining the lasting legacy of the government’s response to the pandemic.

In the quantified world of healthcare, we continue to rely upon numbers and data to diagnose and treat patients. And we have applied a similar approach to our study of pain. But pain is fundamentally subjective, both logical and illogical, both rational and irrational. And to truly understand pain, we must study how pain has been perceived throughout history – and follow along the story of pain.

Today healthcare is seen as more a science than an art, but the progenitors of healthcare saw it as both a science and an art, in equal terms. The science of healthcare refines what we know, but the art of healthcare elucidates what we do not know. And what we do not know, what is uncertain, is far more impactful in healthcare than what we do know.

When science speaks, who is the speaker? Can science maintain the objectivity and credibility needed to impact patient behavior if it finds itself mired in the middle of political rhetoric?

In healthcare, we often conflate the validity of a process with the success of its outcome. And in today’s world of quality driven healthcare, conflating quality as an outcome instead of a process leads to a fundamental degradation of quality in healthcare. That is because quality is a relationship, not an individual behavior.

A satirical tale inspired by the novella, Candide by the French philosopher Voltaire, reimagines Candide as a patient in today’s healthcare system.

Uncertainty and complexity have been the two most prominent features of COVID-19, confounding those who seek to understand and predict its behavior. But fractals, geometric patterns built upon infinitely complex mathematical models, can improve our current understanding of the dissemination patterns that define the behavior of COVID-19.

As the opioid epidemic continues to affect lives across the country, law enforcement steps up their efforts to curtail the devastation. But they may have stepped too far and encroached upon the civil liberties of healthcare providers prompting a Constitutional crisis.

Healthcare should be studied within the framework of the economic discipline, Game Theory, in which different perspectives or decisions have differing benefits to patients, but with no one perspective or decision being the absolute best.

Healthcare is defined by strongly held views that quickly develop and come into conflict with opposing views that form just as quickly. Recognizing how such interpretations form, and the underlying pattern of thought, may help to develop potential solutions.

A gritty tale of life inside a federal prison as inmates face and attempt to understand COVID-19 risks.

Observer bias defines the reality we create and the narratives we tell, which may impact how we see the future.

Perception can be greater than reality, but can the perception of COVID-19 impact the reality of the election results this coming November?

Abortion laws should be restructured to be less restrictive in nature and more affirmative – as per our founding father, James Madison.

Is imagination in healthcare important to you?

A medical short story inspired by the late, great WEB DuBois.