Fixing Healthcare Podcast

American writer Joseph Campbell famously studied and diagramed the hero’s journey in folklore and literature. That journey begins with a call to adventure, prompting the hero’s reluctance—often due to a fear of failure. Along the way, mentors lends guidance and help, but it is ultimately the hero, alone, who must summon the courage to win the day. In this episode of Fixing Healthcare , hosts Jerem...

Dr. Tom Lee founded Epocrates , one of the earliest tech-enabled healthcare applications for doctors, and One Medical , the primary care-first organization recently acquired by Amazon for $3.9 billion. He is now the CEO of Galileo , a virtual care-first healthcare startup he hopes will make medical care affordable for all Americans. Though Lee is no longer with One Medical, and he was not involved...

New data from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that 4 in 10 Americans have returned to their normal, pre-pandemic lives. Over half of respondents say they rarely or never wear masks indoors while in public. This, despite 54% of Americans indicating they personally know someone who has died from Covid-19. A third say they know someone with “Long Covid.” How will these perceptions – alongsid...

This Fixing Healthcare podcast series, “Diving Deep,” probes into some of healthcare’s most complex topics and deep-seated problems. On today’s episode, hosts Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr discuss the three biggest threats facing U.S. healthcare: Untamed inflation The nurse shortage A burnout / moral injury crisis These threats will require urgent and radical action. In addition, the hosts disc...

Did you catch the episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History about triplicates—those state-issued prescription pads that produced three copies of every painkiller script written? Many in medicine remember triplicates as a classic example of government overreach. But in 1990s New York, a city beset by a major drug problem, these triplicate pads had an amazing effect: opioid overdoses plummet...

Returning to the podcast this week is a household name in medicine, Dr. Don Berwick , who made his first appearance on the show in season one . Back then, Don said something that would turn out to be highly relevant to this: the seventh season of Fixing Healthcare . “We have made so many stupid rules [in healthcare],” Don said, “and those stupid rules have to be stopped. They have to be taken down...

Dr. Anthony Fauci recently credited the antiviral drug Paxlovid with keeping him out of the hospital. That was after he tested positive a second time for Covid-19. Following a course of Paxlovid pills, Fauci appeared to experience a “rebound” case of Covid-19, stoking fears about the drug. In this episode of Coronavirus: The Truth , Jeremy Corr and Dr. Robert Pearl examine whether Paxlovid treatme...

This Fixing Healthcare podcast series, “Diving Deep,” probes into some of healthcare’s most complex topics and deep-seated problems. On today’s episode, hosts Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr dive deep into a pair of controversial Supreme Court rulings with serious medical implications. Then they dive into the rules drug companies play by to keep prices and profits sky high. For more information o...

“I wish I was more authentic, more transparent, more myself from the very beginning (rather) than trying to create a character or a persona,” said Dr. Zubin Damania (aka ZDoggMD) when asked about his social media regrets. On this week’s show, Dr. Z joins cohosts Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr to discuss the false personas that physicians assume as part of their medical training. They are taught,...

Dr. Rod Rohrich has broken the unwritten rules of medicine across his career. He turned a traditional paper-only, medical journal into a digitized force, full of videos and evidence-based rankings that has become one of the best in the nation. And he revolutionized rhinoplasty surgery and plastic surgical education and training.   Today, Dr. Rod Rohrich is one of the most influential plastic surge...

The New York Times surveyed 362 school counselors on the effects of the pandemic on children . The results were both predictable and troubling. Not only have kids fallen behind in the basics like reading and math, but counselors also described students as “frozen, socially and emotionally, at the age they were when the pandemic started.” Nearly all counselors (94%) said students were showing more...

This Fixing Healthcare podcast series, “Diving Deep,” features a robust and probing discussion into some of healthcare’s most complex subjects and deep-seated problems. On today’s episode, Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr dive deep into the unwritten rules of healthcare and American society. Together, they’ll ask the question, “What is it about Omicron that is making Americans act immorally and in...

Said ZDoggMD: “Oh, man, OK. You said, hey, let’s do a podcast together, Z. It’ll be fun, you said. It’ll be easy. It’ll be flow. Then you ask a question like this?”   Replied Robert Pearl, MD: “It’s easy for me to ask the questions, Zubin. That’s what I meant.” Welcome to Unfiltered , a show that brings together two iconic voices in healthcare for an unscripted, hard-...

Author and historian Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris is fascinated with medicine’s grisly past and the extraordinary physicians who changed the profession by breaking the rules . One of those rule-breaking doctors of yore is the protagonist of her newest book, The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon’s Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I (available June 7). In it, Dr. Fitzharris tells the rivet...

About a month ago, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the United States is “out of the pandemic phase,” but he later clarified that the country is, “out of the full-blown explosive pandemic phase.” Americans are decreasingly concerned about the distinction, as only 9% believe Covid-19 still represents “a serious crisis.” What’s the official status of the Covid-19 pandemic now? Meanwhile, several listener...

Welcome back to the Fixing Healthcare series, “Diving Deep,” which features a robust and probing discussion into some of healthcare’s most complex subjects and deep-seated problems. In this episode, Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr dive deep into the unwritten rules of healthcare, which have long dictated for doctors and patients “the right way to act.” This installment focuses on the hidden cause...

Welcome back to Unfiltered , a show that features two iconic voices in healthcare for a half hour of unscripted, hard-hitting talk. Dr. Robert Pearl has twice appeared on The ZDoggMD Show (see: here and here ) opposite Dr. Zubin Damania , who had twice appeared on the Fixing Healthcare podcast with Pearl, alongside cohost Jeremy Corr (see: here and here ). This episode (the third in this series so...

One hard part about interviewing Dr. Eric Topol is knowing where to begin. Topol wears a seemingly infinite array of hats: He is the director of Scripps Research Translational Institute. He’s a professor of molecular medicine. He’s an expert on artificial intelligence, Covid-19, genome editing and precision medicine. He’s a bestselling author, the editor of the popular healthcare publication MedSc...

The biggest Covid-19 news of the last month came out of Florida, where a federal judge struck down the CDC’s mask mandate on planes, trains and in transportation hubs. As Americans jubilantly removed their masks, the Justice Department quickly filed an appeal. Importantly, however, the DOJ did not immediately request a stay on the ruling in Florida. Thus, Americans will be flying mask-free for mon...

Welcome back to the Fixing Healthcare series, “Diving Deep,” which features a robust and probing discussion about some of healthcare’s most deep-seated problems. In this episode, Dr. Robert Pearl Jeremy Corr dive deep into the unwritten rules of healthcare, which have long dictated for doctors “the right way to act.” Two examples featured in this show include the doctor’s use of intuition when mak...

Welcome to Unfiltered , a new show that brings together two iconic voices in healthcare for an unscripted, hard-hitting half hour of talk. Dr. Robert Pearl has twice appeared on The ZDoggMD Show (see: here  and here ) opposite Dr. Zubin Damania , who has twice appeared on the Fixing Healthcare podcast with Pearl, alongside cohost Jeremy Corr (see: here and here ). This episode ventures into uncomf...

Season seven of the Fixing Healthcare podcast focuses on the unwritten and outdated rules of American healthcare—many of which Dr. Marty Makary would badly like to see broken. In this episode, the nationally renowned surgeon, author and educator sets his sights on the outrageous rules of medical education, healthcare spending, the “appropriateness of care” and much more. With cohosts Dr. Robert Pe...

A group of researchers in the UK examined hundreds of brain scans that were taken both before and after people became infected with the coronavirus. The study, published in Nature , concluded that “there is strong evidence for brain-related abnormalities in Covid-19.” Some of the recorded disease effects included tissue damage, along with reductions in both grey matter and overall brain size, post...

Welcome back to the Fixing Healthcare series, “Diving Deep,” which features a robust and probing discussion about some of healthcare’s most deep-seated problems. In this episode, Dr. Robert Pearl Jeremy Corr talk about two areas of medicine where the existing “rules” seem out of date. The hosts begin with a bizarre norm in healthcare: that technologies must, above anything else, boost the status o...

Welcome to Unfiltered , a new show that brings together two iconic voices in healthcare for an unscripted, hard-hitting half hour of talk. Twice, Dr. Robert Pearl has appeared on The ZDoggMD Show (see: here and here ) opposite Dr. Zubin Damania , who hosts of the internet’s No. 1 medical news and entertainment show. And twice before, Damania had appeared the Fixing Healthcare podcast with Pearl an...