November 23rd, 2021
“Take it or leave it” is not negotiation but coercion. Physicians have been subject to this tactic for much too long. As an ophthalmologist in clinical practice for nearly four decades, I experienced too often what a recent author on KevinMD…
October 17th, 2021
https://www.startengine.com/vxtra-health My threefold reasons are what drive me. Help Rebuild Trust
I want to help rebuild trust in healthcare, starting with the patient-physician relationship. I believe that any model for healthcare reform…
August 23rd, 2021
“We can’t sit in the stands – we have to get messy and play on the field.” The casual observer, the season ticket holder, the player, and the coach have very different levels of knowledge, skill, and passion for a professional sport. The…
June 1st, 2021
By Paul Pender, MD The surgeon becomes the surgical patient. That was my summary thought after discussing my vision problem with my former partner, an ophthalmologist well versed in treating cataracts. Despite having performed eye surgery on…
April 26th, 2021
Paul Pender, MD, Vxtra Health Director of Digital Health Communications Recently I heard my primary care physician compare the stress and frustration of her hospital-based electronic medical record (EMR) to that of COVID, and she said that her…
March 23rd, 2021
Changing direction once established is not easy, but it can be rewarding. I recently read the essay on KevinMD from a physician who shifted gears to her own business after some discouraging experiences in “the system.” During her residency, her…
December 23rd, 2020
(The following Letter to the Editor was submitted on December 21, 2020.) The December 15, 2020 edition of the JAMA Network has seven articles on the subject of trust. The challenge for physicians post-pandemic is to focus on what we can…
December 11th, 2020
I wrote Rebuilding Trust in Healthcare: A Doctor’s Prescription for a Post-Pandemic America without expecting to develop it further into an audiobook. But as the book’s popularity has grown in such a short time, I hired a professional actor as a…