Doctors Don't Know How Healthcare Works. Here's Why.

What if doctors understood how the healthcare system actually works?

In the first episode of Season 2 of Cut & Tell, Dr. Liz Malphrus kicks off a new series designed to give doctors and residents the health policy knowledge they were never taught in medical school or residency.

Liz has a master's degree in public policy and spent five years working in health policy before becoming a physician. Now, after experiencing healthcare from both sides of the system, she's breaking down the forces that shape how medicine works, and why doctors are often left without the knowledge or power to change it.

From Medicare and Medicaid to RVUs, CPT codes, claims-based payment, healthcare policy, and the people who make the rules, this season is about understanding the "rules of the game" so physicians can become better advocates for their patients and themselves.

Liz also explores the disconnect between health policy and what actually happens at the bedside, why healthcare metrics and reporting requirements don't always improve patient care, and how physicians have gradually lost control over their own profession.

And yes, she's here to radicalize you.

If you're a medical student, resident, physician, or healthcare professional who has ever wondered Who actually makes these rules? Why does healthcare work this way? And why do doctors have so little control?—this season is for you.

In this episode:

Why doctors aren't taught healthcare policyHow Liz went from health policy to medicineWhat she learned working at the National Academy of MedicineThe disconnect between healthcare policy and clinical practiceWhy doctors need to understand how healthcare gets paidRVUs, CPT codes, Medicare, Medicaid and claims-based paymentWhy physicians need to advocate for themselvesHow healthcare policy affects the doctor-patient relationshipWhy understanding the system can give doctors more agency

Cut & Tell is a Hippocratic Collective podcast about medicine, surgery, residency, and what it really means to be a doctor.

Host: Liz Malphrus, MD

Connect with Liz: https://www.hippocratic-collective.com/members/liz-malphrus-md