Michael Bass, M.D.'s Linkedin Analytics

Congressman Greg Murphy, MD just reignited the job vs calling debate in medicine , calling out young physicians for speaking up on issues regarding burnout , unsafe working conditions, and long hours. Does he have a point? #Healthcare #Medicine #PhysicianBurnout #HealthcareonLinkedin

“Why did you go into this field??!” Patients ask me that all the time. Let’s be honest—gastroenterology isn’t exactly the obvious choice. I don’t sugarcoat it. I became a gastroenterologist because my dad was one. He just retired after over 40 years in practice with Digestive Health Associates of Texas, P.A. (now part of GI Alliance ). His career was defined by clinical excellence, endless weekends on call, and more awards than he ever mentioned (including Doctor of the Decade). He practiced medicine like it was a calling. When we traveled as kids, it was usually to GI conferences.When he wasn’t at work, he was still thinking about patients. He never used the word “burnout”—but he knew what it meant to be tired, and still show up. If he saw today’s debates about medicine and work-life balance, I doubt he’d weigh in. But I know what he’d be thinking. That quiet, generational mindset: you just show up and get it done. He practiced his way—with full immersion. It built deep relationships with patients, total clinical ownership, and a sense of identity tied to the work itself. But it came at a cost: long hours, missed milestones, and the constant pressure of always being “on.” Today’s climate looks different. There’s more awareness around boundaries, wellness, and broken systems—but also more red tape, less autonomy, and burnout that feels baked in. Both approaches have their strengths. And both come with a price. So here’s to my dad— Dr.David Bass. The reason I went into GI. And a doctor whose retirement is more than earned—even if I’m sure he tried to round one last time on his way out! #Healthcare #Medicine #Gastroenterology

AI just ran its own multidisciplinary tumor board. And nailed the diagnosis + treatment. This was a full-stack oncology reasoning engine—pulling from imaging, pathology, genomics, guidelines, and literature in real time. A new paper in Nature Cancer describes how researchers built a GPT-4-powered multitool agent that: • Interprets CT & MRI scans with MedSAM • Identifies KRAS, BRAF, MSI status from histology • Calculates tumor growth over time • Searches PubMed + OncoKB • And synthesizes everything into a cited, evidence-based treatment plan In short: it acts like a multidisciplinary team. Results : • Accuracy jumped from 30% (GPT-4 alone) to 87% • Correct treatment plans in 91% of complex cases • Every conclusion backed by a verifiable citation This is bigger than oncology. Any field that relies on multi-modal data and cross-domain reasoning—like my field of GI ( GI + Mental Health+ Nutrition + Excercise ) could benefit from this collaborative AI architecture. Despite the visual, it doesn’t replace the human team—it augments it. Providers still decide. But now, they do it faster, with more context, and less cognitive fatigue. #AI #HealthcareonLinkedin #Healthcare #Cancer

The FDA just approved the first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s. Beyond the headlines, here’s why early detection actually matters: As physicians, we’ve long faced a difficult reality: By the time Alzheimer’s is clinically obvious, irreversible brain damage has already occurred. A blood test that flags early pathology could change everything: • It opens the door to earlier treatment, when interventions are more effective. • It gives families time—to plan, to prepare, to preserve quality of life. • And it helps identify the right patients for clinical trials, accelerating the path to better therapies. We’re entering an age where diagnostics aren’t just confirmatory—they’re proactive. As a gastroenterologist, it reminds me of what we’re trying to do in colorectal cancer: Not wait for symptoms. Not just react. But catch it early. Or better yet—prevent it. This blood test won’t solve Alzheimer’s. But it shifts us toward a new mindset: Find it early. Act early. Support early. #Alzheimers #Healthcare #HealthcareonLinkedin

GLP-1s didn’t just change weight loss—they may have triggered a global business pivot. These medications have become a massive growth engine for digital health platforms. Hims & Hers generated $130 million from GLP-1s in a single quarter. They drove record new patient sign-ups and reshaped how consumers think about obesity and medical aesthetics. Then the FDA banned compounded semaglutide. Just days later, Hims & Hers announced a major expansion into Europe through its acquisition of ZAVA. Europe presents opportunity, but also complexity: nationalized health systems, stricter marketing rules, and very different regulatory dynamics. Can a U.S.-based DTC weight-loss model succeed in countries that aren’t built for it? And if GLP-1s fueled the first wave of digital health hype—what happens when that engine stalls? #DigitalHealth #Business #Healthcare #Weightloss

Stage 4 colon cancer. Told it was terminal. Gone — after one infusion. Emma Dimery, age 35, had exhausted every option. Chemo failed. Doctors gave her months. Then she got into a clinical trial for a new genetic immunotherapy. One dose. That’s all it took. The tumor melted away. She’s cancer-free. Her cancer had a specific DNA flaw — something called dMMR or MSI-H which makes cancer cells look especially abnormal to the immune system. Normally, tumors hide using a “brake” called PD-L1 that turns off immune response. The infusion—an immunotherapy like Keytruda—blocks that brake, letting the immune system recognize and attack the cancer. In MSI-H tumors, which wave a ton of red flags, that response can be fast bye-byeand powerful—even after just one dose. We can test for it. We can treat it. And yet… most patients never hear about it. As a GI doc, this keeps me up at night. Despite healthy lifestyles and age appropriate screenings-some cancer cases are written into your genes. And when we don’t look for those markers early, we miss the chance to actually cure someone. #Cancer #Healthcare #Gastroenterology #HealthcareonLinkedin

She called over 100 therapists. No one called her back. She was 14 and on Medicaid. She did everything right—asked for help, followed instructions, called every number she was given. No one responded. After months of silence, she walked to the top of a building and jumped. She survived, but fractured both legs. Her bones were repaired. Her mental health crisis? Still untreated. Dr. Patrick Conway, CEO of Optum Health—the largest U.S. health platform—believes this should never happen. He recently shared his story on the Heart of Healthcare podcast. This story isn’t rare. It’s a symptom of a system that fails those who need it most—especially kids. Especially in mental health. Especially when you’re poor. Conway is trying to change that. He leads a platform touching 160M+ lives. He’s also a practicing pediatrician, still caring for underserved kids in Boston on weekends. Before this, he: • Helped launch the CMS Innovation Center • Ran value-based care models nationally • Was CEO of Blue Cross NC—moving 50%+ of patients into two-sided risk • Led OptumRx—driving major reforms in affordability and transparency Now, he’s building a system where no 14-year-old ever jumps again. Here’s how: 🔹 Whole-person care Integrating medical, behavioral, pharmacy, and social care—so patients don’t fall through the cracks. 🔹 Value over volume Scaling models that reward outcomes, not just visits. 🔹 Affordability through AI Cutting specialty drug copays by 88%, saving patients $1.3B+ last year by streamlining co-pay assistance. 🔹 Speed through cycle time Slashed prior auth times from 8 hours to 30 seconds. Conway insists health systems must adapt weekly, not yearly. 🔹 Frontline leadership He listens. When a nurse asked for warming blankets for infusion patients, he got them—same day. This isn’t corporate fluff. It’s leadership grounded in urgency, humanity, and accountability. Healthcare needs more of this. He’s candid about failures. At CMS, not every innovation worked. But many did—like ACOs and bundled payments. What mattered was learning fast and scaling what works. He even shared the emotional toll of leadership—including the assassination of a colleague he’d just hosted at dinner. The next day, he had to lead 300,000 people through grief. He did it by focusing on what mattered: people. This is what real healthcare leadership looks like. Conway proves you can lead with empathy and scale. He’s building a system where 14-year-olds get therapists, not trauma wards. That’s a future worth building. One of the best healthcare podcasts I’ve heard—and I listen to a lot. Full episode here 👇 Halle Tecco, MPH, MBA Steve Kraus https://lnkd.in/exqQGu7Z #HealthcareonLinkedin #healthcare #medicine

Everyone wants the secret to longevity. But, It’s not in the supplements pushed by influencers.Not in the shiny, overpriced biohacking gadgets. Not even in most of what’s trending under guthealth. Eric Topol, MD — one of the most respected voices in medicine — just published a powerful longevity manifesto, Super Agers. His overarching theme , which resonated deeply with me, is that we over-medicalize aging and under-valued what actually works. In the book, Topol outlines what really moves the needle: • Consistent movement — especially walking • Deep, restorative sleep • Meaningful relationships and purpose • Cognitive stimulation and lifelong learning • Personalized care rooted in you, not hype • Avoiding overdiagnosis and overtreatment • And perhaps most importantly — resisting the commercialization of wellness As a gastroenterologist, I see the same disconnect daily.Patients are exhausted. Confused.They’re following online gut health gurus, stacking supplements, obsessively tracking metrics, restricting foods— but not getting the results they seek. Pateints are being sold complexity instead of clarity.They’ve been told to obsess over short term fixes instead of foundations. The gut isn’t a magic portal to eternal youth. It’s a resilient system that wants consistency, not chaos. You don’t need a cleanse. You don’t need dopamine fasting. You need better sleep. You don’t need 30 pills a day. You need someone to actually listen to you. Longevity and aging well isn’t about stacking hacks. It’s about unlearning hype, and returning to what’s simple, sustainable, and rooted in science. #healthcare #guthealth #longevity #evidencebasedmedicine

This might be the most underprescribed therapy in colorectal cancer. And it’s not a drug. A new NEJM phase 3 trial followed nearly 900 patients with resected colon cancer. All had completed chemo. Half were coached to walk briskly for 150 minutes per week. 8 years later, when compared to the non-excercise group : ✅ 37% lower risk of death ✅ +7% overall survival ✅ Better energy, mobility, and strength Meanwhile, many CRC drugs approved over the past 10 years have 2–3 month survival gains, cost $100 k plus, and have side serious side effects Incredible study that has major implications on how we view cancer care!! #Healthcare #Cancer #ASCO25 #Pharma

He skipped his PCP visit to save money. I met him 6 months later… with stage IV colon cancer. A 43-year-old man came into the ED with rectal bleeding and anemia. No prior colonoscopy. No primary care visit in over 5 years. “I was trying to stay under my deductible,” he said. “I figured it was just hemorrhoids.” Primary cares are the intial triage step in healthcare. They spot abnormalities and refer to specialists early, when needed In an thought provoking article, Dr. Ge Bai and colleagues argue for removing primary care from insurance entirely—replacing it with cash-based care and expanded Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). On paper, it sounds efficient. • HSAs are expanding in 2025—more people, more flexibility, more tax benefits. • The argument: primary care is “too cheap” to insure, and direct pay will cut waste. But here’s the problem I see: • Over half of Americans don’t fund their HSA at all. • Most can’t afford to contribute enough to cover even basic chronic care. • And concierge PCPs are now charging $2,000–$5,000/year just for access—HSA or not. In GI, we see the downstream effect of skipped primary care every day: • Undiagnosed IBD flares → inpatient admissions. • Fatty liver → irreversible cirrhosis. • Missed FIT tests → advanced colorectal cancer. The Wall Street Journal shows congress agrees with the authors conclusions and is about to bet big on HSAs. The 2025 HSA expansion creates a powerful tax shelter for high-income workers.They can afford to contribute, invest, and use HSAs for concierge primary care. Low-income patients often can’t fund HSAs at all, so they gain little to no benefit. The result: a tax-advantaged system that could widen the gap in access to basic care. Dr. Bei and colleagues offer a bold case for removing primary care from insurance, with compelling points about reducing administrative waste and restoring autonomy. Expanded HSAs could support this shift—but mainly for those with the means to fund them. Without safeguards, this model risks deepening health inequities and pushing basic care further out of reach for low-income patients. How do we balance innovation in care delivery with the need to protect access for those most at risk of being left behind?? Thanks to Benjamin Schwartz, MD, MBA for bringing this topic to my feed, the link to his post below in comments. #Healthcare #Medicine #HealthEquity #HealthcareonLinkedin

President Biden wasn’t screened for prostate cancer — likely because guidelines said he was too old. Now he has metastatic disease. Biden was 78 when he was elected President. In his February 2024 physical, no PSA test was documented. It’s unclear when screening stopped, But this practice is consistent with national guidelines, which recommend ending routine prostate cancer screening between ages 70–75, especially if life expectancy is considered limited. The reasoning: • Many prostate cancers progress slowly • Some never cause symptoms or harm • And treatment can lead to incontinence, sexual dysfunction, and other complications But, age based rules don’t account for health span, function, or context. Biden was still governing — and now facing metastatic cancer that might have been detected earlier. As a GI doc, I see the same issue in colorectal cancer screening: • Healthy 76-year-olds are often turned away because they’ve “aged out” • Others, with far less reserve, are still being screened automatically It’s not about screening everyone. It’s about recognizing that some people in their late 70s still stand to benefit — and want the choice. It’s surprising, but many of my patients who’ve aged out of colorectal cancer screening based on guidelines are upset when I tell them they might not need another colonoscopy. It often triggers something deeper—a feeling that their health doesn’t matter anymore. Even when the data supports stepping back, the emotional response reminds me: screening isn’t just about detecting disease. It’s also about feeling cared for. If your parent were 76 — active, independent, and otherwise well — would you want them screened for cancer? #HealthcareonLinkedin #AgingWell #healthcare #PatientCenteredCare