Common Sense Family Doctor

11/20/2025

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/dos-are-quietly-becoming-backbone-american-family-medicine-2025a1000w09

Why are MDs avoiding primary care? Dr Kenny Lin details the systemic issues facing family medicine, and why DOs are filling the gap — for now.

11/19/2025

https://commonsensemd.blogspot.com/2025/11/state-and-federal-support-for-primary.html

For a clear-eyed view of the U.S. health system factors that have collectively conspired to cripple primary care, the five-part New England Journal of Medicine series "The Primary Care Puzzle" by cardiologist and medical reporter Dr. Lisa Rosenbaum is a worthwhile read. Although I would usually frow...

11/08/2025

https://commonsensemd.blogspot.com/2025/11/flood-preparation-prevention-and.html

On July 4th, a flash flood in Kerr County, Texas killed 27 young girls and counselors at Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' summer camp whose staff alumni included former first lady Laura Bush. The campers and more than one hundred other local residents who also perished in the flood reacted too late,....

10/26/2025

https://commonsensemd.blogspot.com/2025/10/improving-cardiovascular-health-in.html

Although the Asian American population is the fastest growing racial group in the United States, having more than doubled since 2000, data are limited on the distribution of risk factors for cardiovascular disease among ethnic subgroups. A recent research letter in the Annals of Internal Medicine fo...

10/22/2025

https://commonsensemd.blogspot.com/2025/10/oral-cancer-screening-is-ineffective.html

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) normally meets in person three times per year: in March, July, and November. This year, they did meet in March, but their meetings have since been suspended as they await the federal government's reopening and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretar...

10/20/2025

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/covid-19-vaccines-navigating-chaos-conflicting-guidance-2025a1000s97

Navigating the unnecessarily complex landscape of vaccine legislation is challenging, but Dr Kenny Lin explains why it remains worthwhile.

10/03/2025

https://commonsensemd.blogspot.com/2025/10/recent-and-upcoming-presentations-and.html

In September, I traveled to Oxford University for the international Preventing Overdiagnosis conference, where I presented on behalf of a research team that spent several years working to estimate the annual harms of screening colonoscopy overuse in the United States. We concluded that 2.1 million t...

09/24/2025

https://commonsensemd.blogspot.com/2025/09/correlation-causation-and-presidential.html

The historical track record of major U.S. Presidential pronouncements on health is as abysmal as one might expect given their prior occupations (27 lawyers, zero physicians or medical researchers). In 1971, Richard Nixon famously declared a "war on cancer"; 54 years later, not only is cancer still v...

09/17/2025

https://commonsensemd.blogspot.com/2025/09/are-cash-benefits-for-families.html

In the U.S., state and federal governments employ vast bureaucracies that aim to ensure that only the "deserving" receive public assistance in the form of subsidized health care, food, and housing. 2025 has seen a near-complete reversal of the pandemic policy of keeping people on Medicaid by default...

09/01/2025

https://commonsensemd.blogspot.com/2025/09/courage-and-consequences-at-cdc.html

In a recent presentation to preventive medicine residents at Johns Hopkins, I reflected on the painful circumstances that led to my resignation from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in November 2010. In short, political decision-makers well above my pay grade attempted to prote...

08/26/2025

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/who-should-pcps-look-vaccine-recommendations-2025a1000mas

Now that ACIP has seemingly gone rogue, Dr Kenny Lin asks readers, 'Where will you be seeking trustworthy, evidence-based vaccination guidance?'

08/16/2025

https://commonsensemd.blogspot.com/2025/08/do-pharmaceutical-conflicts-of-interest.html