Clinician's Roundtable

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Guest: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP Host Dr. Matt Birnholz welcomes Dr. Brian McDonough as they discuss the silent pandemic in the growing and alarming rates of childhood obesity. Brian McDonough, MD, FAAFP, is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine and Chairman of The Family Medicine Department at St. Francis Hospital, Wilmington, DE.

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP Guest: Mark Moyad, MD, MPH This discussion focuses on the current state of evidence behind vitamins, herbs, and supplements in popular demand. What does the latest research recommend for use, and what should we be avoiding? Featured is Dr. Mark Moyad, the Jenkins/Pokempner Director of Preventive & Complementary Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Dr, Brian McDonough hosts.

Guest: Gregory Pokrywka MD FACP FNLA NCMP Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Primary care is the mainstay for managing patients with hyperlipidemia or mixed dyslipidemia. But in practice we don't often encounter it in isolation; comorbid conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and coronary artery disease follow dyslipidemia like common catch phrases, so it becomes necessary to understand this problem in the context of complicated patients. What do we need to know to optimize patient outcomes? Host Dr. Matt Birnholz is joined by Dr. Gregory Pokrywka, Director of Baltimore Lipid Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, to discuss this issue.

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Andrew Sama, Dr. The emergency room has long been an entry point for medical care for the seriously injured, young parents with a sick child and increasingly poor uninsured Americans with nowhere to turn. But policymakers increasingly see the emergency room as less like those depicted on shows like Grey's Anatomy as a place for patients to abuse the system and run up costs. Dr. Andrew Sama, vice president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, tells host Bruce Japsen about how he thinks emergency doctors are beneficial to cost-effective medical care and why patients can and should turn to emergency departments.

Guest: Howard Bauchner, MD Host: Bruce Japsen For 127 years, the Journal of the American Medical Association has been one of the nation's best-known medical journals. This summer, its 16th editor, pediatrician Dr. Howard Bauchner, takes over editorial oversight from Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, who has served as the Journal's editor since 2000. Dr. Bauchner talks to host Bruce Japsen about the steps he plans to take in order to lead the publication into a new era of medicine, and a new digital age of medical publications.

Guest: Tom X. Lee, MD Host: Bruce Japsen A new primary care model is making news across the country that offers personalized medicine, like the concierge healthcare that is becoming more common, but at a much more affordable price. Dr. Tom Lee, founder of One Medical Group, with offices in San Francisco and New York, is looking to set a nationwide example for primary medical care by offering personalized consierge services to several thousand patients while taking a variety of insurance plans (including Medicare), tells host Bruce Japsen about this model.

Guest: Rebecca Skloot Host: Bruce Japsen In 1951, cancer killed an impoverished young African American mother named Henrietta Lacks. Cells biopsied from her tumor, without her or her family's knowledge, went on to be critical in establishing an important cell line, known as HeLa, that has been part of a medical revolution. HeLa cells have been used in the discovery of the polio vaccine, cancer treatments, and countless other discoveries. Writer Rebecca Skloot chronicled this saga of medical ethics, money, and family in a bestselling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. She talks with host Bruce Japsen about the novel foundation she established in the Lacks family's name — the Henrietta Lacks Foundation — in order to give back to Henrietta Lacks' family and others who have made contributions to medical research without their consent.

Guest: Jeffrey Kullgren, MD, MPH Host: Bruce Japsen When a patient visits the doctor's office, time is precious. But, given the rising cost of medical care in the United States, making time for direct and open conversation with patients about healthcare prices has never been more important. Dr. Jeffrey Kullgren of Penn Medicine tells host Bruce Japsen about the need for doctors to find a moments in their busy schedules for patient education on comparative costs of care.

Guest: Carolyn Robinowitz, MD Host: Bruce Japsen While much of the nation's attention is focused on new medical benefits under the healthcare overhaul signed into law by President Obama, mental health advocates are stepping up attention to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which began providing benefits to millions of patients with addictions, depression and other mental illness. The act was designed to put mental health services on equal footing with other medical services. Dr. Carolyn Robinowitz, past president of the American Psychiatric Association, tells host Bruce Japsen about this law and its importance for physicians and their patients.

Guest: Timothy Jost Host: Bruce Japsen Consumer groups for decades have criticized and wondered how much money health insurance companies actually spend on medical care. Under the health care reform law, they will actually come closer to knowing thanks to the so-called medical-loss ratio provisions of the legislation. Host Bruce Japsen talks with Washington and Lee University School of Law health reform expert Timothy Jost about the impact medical-loss ratio rules will have on physicians and their patients.