Watch for those fake SMILES. Psychologists report (Science 262:336) that they have separated the smiles that evoke positive emotions from those that don’t. If the smile, even if forced, involves certain muscles around the eye (instead of just those around the mouth) it activates an area in the left hemisphere of the brain associated with […]

Overheard in the staff room: After making flight reservations for a medical meeting in Miami, the agent allegedly asked, “Could I reserve a bullet proof automobile for you or would you prefer a tank?” Hats off to Dr. Gordon Hunt, Chief of Staff at Sutter, for one of the finest staff presentations in memory on […]

The old adage “a doctor who treats himself or his family has a fool for a doctor” and its variation, “the doctor who treats himself from medical books could die of a misprint,” has now been extended to “the doctor who treats himself with medical software could die of a computer virus.” The Business Journal […]

Jerry Pogue, a Los Angeles managed care consultant quoted in the July issue of Northern California Medicine, may have the answer as to why physicians let themselves be completely deprofessionalized by accepting capitation. He calls capitation the “cocaine of managed care,” noting three levels of capitation addiction: a capitation revenue of 10-15 percent gives physicians […]

Some decades ago, there was a series titled “Eutychus and His Kin” which used anecdotal information and opinions to bring issues into sharper focus or give them a different perspective. With Hippocrates & his kin,” Sacramento Medicine initiates a monthly column that could, with your help, achieve a similar goal. There is intense competition for […]