Michael Bass, M.D.'s Linkedin Analytics

TikTok broke WeightWatchers. Not intentionally. But virally. GLP-1s like Ozempic and Wegovy went from clinical tools to cultural phenomena — driven by creators, not clinicians. Fitness influencers spread the word through their own personal stories of weight loss. By the time WeightWatchers tried to pivot (acquiring a telehealth GLP-1 platform), the market had already shifted. The algorithm moved faster than their boardroom. Now they’ve filed for Chapter 11, aiming to shed $1.15 billion in debt. As a gastroenterologist , I’ve had a front-row seat to the power of Tik Tok influencers on gut-health. Whether we like it or not, Tik Tok plays a major role in our healthcare ecosystem. We need to figure out how to leverage social media channels to spread evidence- based medicine. #HealthcareonLinkedin #Healthcare

Imagine curing chronic pain by healing your gut. New findings reveal the gut microbiome’s role in fibromyalgia, turning treatment on its head! In a recent study published in Cell, scientists took microbiota from women with fibromyalgia and transplanted them into germ-free mice. The mice developed fibromyalgia-like pain. Researchers found: • Disrupted microbial metabolism of bile acids and amino acids • Specific bacteria linked to pain severity • Shared symptom patterns between human donors and colonized mice. Is the gut microbiome a driver of chronic pain syndromes? If so, we may be overprescribing pain meds, over-utilizing procedures, and underestimating the role of: • Diet • Behavioral health • Immune and gut-brain interactions A siloed approach won’t solve this. What’s needed is whole-person, multidisciplinary care that looks beyond the pain and into its root causes. This study opens the door for clinical trials involving the gut microbiome as the focus of diagnostics and treatment. It validates patients who have chronic pain without a structural cause,by establishing a biological mechanism for why they suffer. Hopefully this reduces the stigma many of these patients face. #Microbiome #Fibromyalgia #ChronicPain #GutBrainAxis #DigitalHealth #Healthcare

Trump pledges to cut drug prices by 59% through “most favored nation” pricing. It’s a bold move aimed at fixing one of healthcare’s most painful realities: Americans pay nearly 3x more for the same medications than patients in other developed countries. The idea is to Peg U.S. prices to what other nations pay — bringing immediate relief to patients and payers alike. Of course, this raises real questions: • How will pharma respond? • What happens to R&D pipelines? • Can implementation survive the legal and logistical gauntlet? Curious to hear your thoughts below 👇👇 #Healthcare #Pharma #HealthcareonLinkedin

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

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

75% of nurses experienced violence, harassment, or verbal abuse in the past year. One in three were physically assaulted or sexually harassed. This isn’t just a workplace issue — it’s a public health crisis. Appreciation starts with action. The best way to celebrate nurses week is by supporting legislation like the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act. Push hospitals and health systems to implement zero-tolerance policies and real protections — not just posters in break rooms. If we want to keep nurses at the bedside, we have to start by keeping them safe. #HealthcareonLinkedin #Nursesweek25 #Healthcare

An American woman paid just $18,807 for full cancer treatment—including surgery and radiation. Not in the U.S.—but across four different countries. She was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer while traveling. Instead of returning home to face insurance red tape and Medicare Advantage delays, she and her husband mapped out a global treatment plan: • Diagnostics in Thailand • Follow-ups in Vietnam • Surgery and radiation in Mexico • Recovery in the West Indies They paid out of pocket—and still spent a fraction of what U.S. care would have cost. Total? $18,807 Estimated U.S. cost? $100,000+ And that’s with insurance. She said she saved not just money—but stress. More retirees are quietly becoming medical tourists—because the U.S. system is pricing them out. If patients are leaving the country for care they can afford and understand… What does that say about the system we’ve built? Why can’t we offer that same level of care, at that price point here in the U.S. ?? #HealthcareInnovation #MedicalTourism #ValueBasedCare #Healthcare

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

OpenAI AI just changed the medical AI game 👇 Most medical AI tools have been trained to pass tests—not to help real patients. AI in medicine isn’t about passing tests anymore. It’s about lightening the real load. As a gastroenterologist, my day isn’t just scopes and treatment plans. It’s: • Explaining a colonoscopy report to a scared 42-year-old who just got diagnosed with colitis • Writing a letter to help a patient with IBS get remote work accommodations • Appealing an insurance denial for a fecal calprotectin test • Translating a surgeon’s note on a complicated IBD case for the PCP • Creating discharge instructions that actually make sense to someone who’s still groggy from anesthesia This is the invisible labor that burns clinicians out—and leaves patients confused. A new study from OpenAI finally tested AI on these kinds of real-life clinical tasks—not just board questions. And here’s what happened: • GPT-4 matched or beat doctors on clarity, completeness, and usefulness across 13 of 20 tasks • It excelled at patient communication: writing in plain language, staying on-point, and offering emotional reassurance • It wasn’t perfect—but for the first time, AI was tested on things that actually move the needle in care This isn’t about replacing docs It’s about offloading the tasks that drain us, so we can do what no model ever will: build trust, notice subtleties, and treat people—not just pathology. The more we can focus on the actual patient, the better the outcomes will be. As a patient or provider, what part of healthcare would you outsource to AI right now?? #HealthcareonLinkedin #AI #Healthcare