Journal
Insights on modern medicine, health technology, and the philosophy of care.
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Executive Health in San Francisco: UCSF, Stanford, Sutter, and Mayo
A San Francisco physician compares executive health options at UCSF, Stanford, Sutter, and Mayo, including pricing, follow-up, and independent care.
Direct Primary Care vs. Concierge Medicine: What the Difference Actually Buys
A San Francisco concierge physician compares direct primary care and concierge medicine honestly. What each fee buys, how panel sizes differ, where DPC is the better fit, and the questions that reveal what a membership practice really offers.
Do You Have to Quit Drinking Entirely?
A San Francisco addiction medicine physician on the abstinence versus harm reduction divide, what the evidence actually says about medications for alcohol use disorder, and why we frame treatment as a six-month experiment rather than a life sentence.
Is an Executive Physical Worth It? What the Evidence Actually Says
A longer list of tests is not a better physical. Here is what the evidence actually says about executive health exams, why more screening can leave a healthy person worse off, and what separates a rigorous evaluation from an expensive one.
Full-Body MRI Screening: What a Clean Scan Really Tells You
A full-body MRI is a structural map, not a validated cancer test. Here is what the evidence on whole-body MRI screening actually shows, why a clean scan tells you less than it seems, and where the real value sits.
Beyond the Calcium Score: What a Modern Heart Scan Can Actually See
A calcium score is cheap, useful, and genuinely decision-changing, and also blunter than it looks. What modern coronary imaging adds, and where the evidence still runs out.
The Heart-Brain Connection: What the Longevity Science Actually Says
Sorting solid evidence from oversold science in the fast-moving field where cardiology meets neurology.
Benzodiazepine Tapering: From the Ashton Manual to Modern, Personalized Care
A San Francisco physician on careful benzodiazepine tapering. What the Ashton Manual got right, what the new ASAM guideline adds, and how a taper built around the person differs from a printed schedule.
Buprenorphine Treatment from Your Own Doctor: Private, Office-Based, and Individualized
A San Francisco addiction medicine physician on how office-based buprenorphine treatment works today, what changed when the x-waiver ended, and why individualized care matters more than any protocol.
What Is Concierge Medicine? A Physician's Perspective
San Francisco concierge physician explains how concierge medicine works, how it differs from direct primary care, what the doctor-patient relationship actually looks like, and what to ask when evaluating a practice.
The Problem with One-Day Executive Physicals
Hospital-affiliated executive physical programs compress everything into a single morning. Here’s why that structural limitation means they miss more than they find.
Advanced Cardiac Markers Most Doctors Don’t Order
Standard cholesterol panels miss real cardiovascular risk. Here’s what NMR particle analysis, Lp(a), ApoB, and other advanced markers actually reveal, and why they matter for asymptomatic patients.
What to Expect During an Executive Health Exam in San Francisco
A step-by-step walkthrough of how our multi-visit executive health evaluation works, from the initial physician intake through your comprehensive health strategy report.
Plague in Madagascar
World Health Organization Advisory: Plague in Madagascar: October 2017
KQED Science: Dr. Abramson Interviewed on NPR About Health Technology
Dr. Abramson was interviewed on NPR Morning Edition by Amy Standen yesterday about the role of wearable technology and health apps in the doctor's office.
Giardia: Not a Traveler's Best Friend
Giardiasis is a fairly common infection of the small intestines caused by the organism Giardia intestinalis (also known as Giardia lamblia). Giardia is a protozoan parasite that thrives in the intesti...
Paul Abramson MD Interviewed On Doctors Who Accept Bitcoin
Health IT News ran a piece this week about physicians who accept payment in the virtual currency Bitcoin. Dr. Paul Abramson was interviewed on his experiences taking Bitcoin at My Doctor Medical Group...
SF Chronicle Interview: Paul Abramson MD on Medically-Supervised Self Tracking
My Doctor Medical Group founder Paul Abramson MD was interviewed this week in the San Francisco Chronicle about his use of self tracking technologies, in collaboration with 'Quant Coach' Lauren DeDeck...
Can eating processed carbs thwart attempts to treat other addictions?
A recent article in the New York Times: 'How Carbs Can Trigger Food Cravings' discussed the mechanisms by which high-glycemic index foods based on processed carbs trigger similar brain reward response...
Key Questions to Ask Before Getting a Dog For Yourself or a Loved One
You might have been thinking about it for a while now. Perhaps you're motivated by the recently published statement from the American Heart Association linking dog ownership to reduced cardiovascular ...
Owning a Dog May Reduce the Risk of Heart Disease
The American Heart Association released a surprising statement: Owning a dog is associated with a lower risk in heart disease, and maybe blood pressure, cholesterol levels, obesity and the response to...
New Avian Influenza A H7N9 Virus in China: The Next Pandemic?
It's not time to panic. The latest April 14, 2013 update on the H7N9 Avian Influenza A outbreak from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports 11 additional cases of human infectio...
A Medically-Supervised Self-Tracking Program Might Work Better for Migraines
There's a growing body of research supporting the methodologies we use in our medically supervised Quant Coach Program here at My Doctor Medical Group.
Intermittent Fasting Shows Promise for Treating Diabetes and Heart Disease
Right up there with the very well-marketed Paleo diet, intermittent fasting (IF) has achieved popular attention in the past year for its potential role in achieving rapid weight loss. But now there is...
How much will a sprained ankle cost me in the ER?
You sprain your ankle badly, and aren't sure if it's broken. It's Friday evening, so you head to the ER to have it x-rayed. At triage you ask 'how much might this cost me?' Typically, nobody working i...
Novel respiratory coronavirus identified in travelers to Middle Eastern countries
Update (March 2013): A total of 14 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection have been identified, with 8 deaths. There seems to be an association with recent travel to the Arabian Peninsula (Sau...
Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills are Crushing Us
Required reading for everyone who lives in the United States, or who is thinking about doing so: Steven Brill delivered an amazing piece of investigative journalism in February 2013 on the U.S. health...
Sodium Butyrate: An Overlooked Supplement for Crohn's Disease
Sodium butyrate is a short chain fatty acid made by gut microbes and the main energy source for the cells lining the colon. Whether it helps in Crohn's disease is genuinely unsettled, and the best designed trial so far did not find a benefit.
Do you or a loved one have the Female Athlete Triad?
How often does a doctor say 'you need to gain weight?' We're all used to medical professionals focusing on weight loss and other ways to prevent diabetes and cardiovascular disease. What's often overl...
Oh no, I've gotten into poison oak, poison ivy, or poison sumac. What do I do?
If you have brushed against poison oak, ivy, or sumac, wash the exposed skin with ordinary soap right away. What to do next, what actually helps the rash, and when to see a doctor.
A natural remedy for varicose veins
Varicose veins affect millions of Americans, causing not just cosmetic concerns but also leg pain, heaviness, and swelling. While compression stockings and surgical interventions are common treatments...
Did you get a pustule at your blood draw site? Consider Behcet's Syndrome.
You had a routine blood draw, and 24-48 hours later you notice an unusual reaction: a sterile pustule with a red margin at the needle site. While most people might dismiss this as a minor irritation, ...
Bone Broth: Paleo Goodness or Lead Toxicity Risk?
The consumption of bone marrow and bone broths have become more commonplace, and even hip, with the rise in popularity of the Paleo Diet, Perfect Health Diet and GAPS Diet. Bone broths are meant to be...
Review: 'Be Fruitful' book on fertility by Victoria Maizes MD
Book Review: 'Be Fruitful: The Essential Guide to Maximizing Fertility and Giving Birth to a Healthy Child,' by Victoria Maizes MD of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.
How can I find out if I have celiac disease?
I often see patients who are concerned about gluten sensitivity or celiac disease. Indeed, that is a common problem and many people do feel better if they removed processed foods, and gluten in partic...
Are you taking vitamin D supplements? Some suggestions.
Many patients come to me on vitamin D supplements, and there have been a lot of opinion pieces for and against vitamin D supplementation lately. Without getting into the data too deeply, it seems like...
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), When the Mind-Body Connection Short Circuits
So many diseases and conditions in America are automatically treated with a prescription pad. But what if pills won't help?
Why the Quantified Self Movement Will Continue to Make Inroads in Medicine
Excerpt from an article on The Medtech Pulse blog: 'Many of the people who come to my office…have come because modern medicine has failed them in some way, or they have used up its power to help them ...
Dr. Abramson's Talk at Medicine X 2012 on Self Tracking in Medical Care
I gave a talk on implementing self tracking in my medical practice at the Medicine X 2012 Conference at Stanford on September 28, 2012. A bit of perspective on the health care system and its shortcomi...
Study Shows Shocking Disparities in Hospital Bills for Appendicitis Treatment
'Mommy, my tummy hurts.' It's 4am. Your 8-year-old son is shaking you awake. After you confirm that in fact, he is having abdominal pain and not just a bad dream, you head down to the local hospital e...
Study: Statin use leads to fatigue
What has long been observed by physicians, statin-induced fatigue, is now being demonstrated in proper randomized controlled studies. Researchers took 1016 adults with elevated LDL cholesterol, and ga...
How Psychedelic Drugs Can Help Patients Face Death
Can psychedelics ease the suffering of those with terminal illness? A growing number of medical studies, and a recent article in the New York Times, say 'yes.'
Integrative approaches to sclerosing cholangitis and ulcerative colitis
Andrew Weil, M.D. interviewed Dr. Abramson for an article on drweil.com: 'My husband has been diagnosed with sclerosing cholangitis and ulcerative colitis. What supplements or nutritional approaches c...
Why You Should Still Be Thinking About Bisphenol A (BPA)
The concerning news about ongoing Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure in the US population continues to come from a variety of sources. BPA is an organic compound used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy r...
The Quant Doctor's Nightstand
The latest post from my self-tracking blog: The Quantified Doctor, describing some of the devices we're testing to see how they can empower patients take control of their own health.
Remote Medical Care for International Travel? Can I have a physician on call?
I was interviewed for an article on Dr. Andrew Weil's drweil.com: 'Yes, it is possible to arrange remote medical consultation while you're traveling abroad.'
Why I book flights with Dr. in front of my name: NYT interview
Excerpt from 'When Doctors are Called to the Rescue in Midflight' in the New York Times: Since the earliest days of commercial aviation, airlines have coped with medical emergencies in flight by calli...
How to stay healthy when traveling abroad
I was interviewed for an article on Dr. Andrew Weil's drweil.com: 'I am planning a trip to sub-Saharan Africa next year. I understand I will need to get some vaccines. How do I find out which ones? Do...
Reconnecting healthcare through health information exchange
Published at Hospital Impact on September 15, 2010: The clinical scenario is familiar to many doctors. An elderly man arrives at California Pacific Medical Center's emergency department in San Francis...
The case of the $517 chest x-ray
Part 1 in a Series. So the story goes like this. A patient of mine needed a chest x-ray. He doesn't have health insurance, so rather than just give him a requisition and send him to the local hospital...
Anatomy of a hospital 'bounce-back'
Published at Fierce Healthcare on March 5, 2010: As a physician who works as a hospitalist and a primary-care doctor, I understand the complexity of discharging a patient from the hospital, and all th...