The Podcast by KevinMD with host Kevin Pho, MD

Most physicians using AI on patient data have no idea what the real security risks are. Francisco M. Torres, an interventional physiatrist, and Purab Patel, a medical student with a programming background, argue that cybersecurity has become a patient safety issue in medicine, and that the AI pipelines physicians now rely on are more complex than most clinicians realize. This episode is based on their article "Navigating the cybersecurity challenges of artificial intelligence in medicine," published on KevinMD. You will hear how changing a few pixels in a medical image can flip an AI diagnosis, why AI note-taking can miss clinically significant findings, and what questions to ask any vendor before trusting a black box with patient data. You will also learn why Francisco tells his kids that AI certification may matter more than an MBA. Listen for a grounded take on treating AI as a tool, not a truth machine.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, 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.

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Medicare Advantage covers more than half of seniors, and the debate over what it really costs is stuck in two camps. Timothy Bulat, a senior consulting actuary who spent nearly two decades leading Medicare Advantage analytics inside a major insurer, raises a question the loudest voices keep avoiding: who actually pays for the program, and is the value being shared fairly? This episode is based on his article "The truth about Medicare Advantage funding and costs," published on KevinMD. You will hear how plans simultaneously manage costs well and extract excess taxpayer dollars through coding intensity and favorable selection, why headlines about Medicare Advantage being "in retreat" are overblown, and which specific policy levers (risk adjustment reform, benchmarking, slowing annual payment growth) the Biden and Trump administrations have already started using. Listen for the distinction Timothy draws between a funding cut and a smaller increase, and why that distinction matters for every clinician dealing with prior auth.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, 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

RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD → https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended

Is medicine a calling or just a job? Christie Mulholland thinks that question is the wrong one, and answering it keeps physicians stuck in burnout. Christie, a palliative care physician and certified physician development coach, returns to the show to introduce a four-quadrant matrix that maps how called you feel to medicine against how satisfied you actually are practicing it. This episode is based on her article "Moving beyond the false binary of medicine as a calling," published on KevinMD. She walks through each quadrant (the calling, the craft, the wound, and the wall) and the specific coaching question that unlocks a next step for physicians living in each one. Christie also talks about how profit-driven systems benefit when "calling" stays the only acceptable answer, why work-life balance keeps getting squeezed out of clinical careers, and when a career pause becomes the move that smaller adjustments cannot replace. Listen for the question that names where you actually are.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, 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

RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD → https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended

Medical AI is evolving faster than the legal system can regulate it. Richard E. Anderson, CEO of The Doctors Company, the nation's largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer, argues that the gap between what AI can do clinically and what courts are ready to judge has created a difficult position for physicians, and that it will take a long time for the system to catch up. This episode is based on his article "The future of U.S. medicine: 10 health care trends in 2026," published on KevinMD. You will hear why following an AI recommendation that diverges from the current standard of care can put a physician in legal jeopardy, why Anderson has seen almost no AI-related lawsuits so far despite widespread clinical use, what physicians should document every time they choose not to follow an AI recommendation, and what the 17-year lag between scientific discovery and standard-of-care adoption means for anyone practicing with AI today. Listen for a grounded read on medical AI heading into 2026.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, 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

RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD → https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended

Rural doctors hit a ceiling around 35 patients a day, and hiring more clinicians will not move it. Tod Stillson, a family physician, medical device inventor, and health care entrepreneur, argues that the physician shortage is not a headcount problem but a knowledge-scaling problem, and that AI with a doctor in the loop is the only realistic way to extend a physician's judgment to more patients without replacing the human relationship. This episode is based on his article "How artificial intelligence scales physician extension," published on KevinMD. You will hear why he spent two years codifying his own clinical judgment into software, why his text-based triage system outperformed general-purpose AI in a recent study, and what physicians risk if direct-to-consumer companies keep capturing demand while doctors stay on the sidelines. You will also learn why governance of the medical knowledge base has to come from physicians, not from startups in San Francisco or Boston. Listen for a grounded case for AI as capacity multiplier, not replacement.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, 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

RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD → https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended