On/Offcall: How the Best Doctors Are Using GenAI in Clinical Practice

Welcome back to On/Offcall!

We’re throwing our second live event, and this time we’re upping the stakes!

How can clinicians start getting the most out of AI and put ourselves in the driver’s seat?

It’s one of the most important questions in medicine, and we’re teaming up with several incredible physician-led organizations to help answer it: Abridge, the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association (EMRA), and MDplus.

🚨Hosted by Offcall’s co-founder Dr. Graham Walker and emergency medicine chief resident and Offcall ambassador Dr. Ally Abel, this Thursday July 24th, we’ll be revealing how every doctor and trainee can start using AI in clinical practice today. 🚨

Here’s what we’ll cover:
👉 GenAI basics: Everything you need to know
👉 Where GenAI is showing up in clinical workflows and best use cases today
👉 Specific frameworks for using GenAI as both an attending and trainee
👉 Practical advice for getting started right now

Plus, we’ve also invited a VIP surprise guest! 👀

This is an incredible chance to connect with fellow physicians, ask your burning AI questions, and learn from some of the most innovative physicians around. We hope you’ll join us!

Thursday, July 24th
5pm PT / 8pm ET

Register and claim your spot here

P.S. Know someone who would benefit from joining Offcall? Help us grow our tent by forwarding this newsletter to your physician colleagues and subscribing here.

How wRVUs Keep Physicians in the Dark

This week on How I Doctor, Graham talked to physician contract attorney Dennis Hursh to break down one of the most misunderstood parts of physician compensation: wRVUs.

Dennis has reviewed 3500+ employment contracts over the course of his career, and he’s made it his life's mission to help physicians get a fair deal. One of the most common issues he sees involve wRVUs, which are in theory meant to "incentivize" physicians, but often end up keeping them in the dark.

🗣️ “If the median wRVU in your specialty is 9000 and you’re doing 12,000 … did you even know the median was 9000? Did you know you were doing 12? A lot of times, the answer to both of those is no.”

Together, they cover:
➡️ What wRVUs actually are and how to know what's fair
➡️ Eye-opening stories of wRVU physicians getting taken advantage of
➡️ Questions every physician should ask before signing their contract
➡️ Practical renegotiation tips and frameworks anyone can use

We’re also excited to share that Dennis has created a special Negotiation Guide exclusively for Offcall users, and he’s offering a 10% discount for his legal services!

To receive your discount and book time with Dennis, and to read the Negotiation Guide, sign up for Offcall at the link below.

Listen to the full episode here

Most Talked About On Offcall

Help Us Combat the Gender Pay Gap in Medicine

We’re releasing pay gap data in Emergency Medicine on July 30 and asking for your help to advance pay equity!

We’re Celebrating Independent Physicians. Who Should We Add?!

We want to honor and uplift every independent physician in America. Know someone we should add to our list? Tag them in the comments!

Physician Builder Spotlight: Saumya Rawat Pandey

Dr. Saumya Raway Pandey is the founder of Parchaa, an AI-powered platform for early diagnosis, clinical decision support and intelligent workflows. Read more about her entrepreneurial journey and company!

Independent Physician Spotlight: Ajay Bhatnagar

New this week: We put out a call to celebrate independent physicians and the response was overwhelming. So we’re featuring an entrepreneurial doctor who’s decided to go (or remain) independent, despite all the odds, to restore their autonomy and provide better patient care. This week, meet Ajay Bhatnagar, who’s redefining prostate cancer care with his own practice Prostate Cancer Institute of America. You can connect further with Ajay on LinkedIn.

1. Ajay, give us a little background on you and your practice. I’m a board-certified Radiation Oncologist, and I’ve been treating patients for nearly 20 years. After spending much of my career working for corporate-backed practices, I realized the system wasn’t built for patients — it was built for profit.

Men were often steered away from effective treatments like brachytherapy, not because they didn’t work, but because they weren’t as financially rewarding for the system. That didn’t sit right with me. That’s why I founded the Prostate Cancer Institute of America, the only practice in the country focused exclusively on low-dose rate brachytherapy for localized prostate cancer. My goal was simple: give men access to a highly effective, minimally invasive treatment that too many were never even told about.

2. What were the biggest challenges when you decided to go independent? Walking away from corporate medicine was the easy part. Building something new — that was the challenge. Getting credentialed with insurance companies was the biggest hurdle. In a large market like Phoenix, that process can feel endless, but it’s crucial because patients need coverage. Luckily, I had a friend who connected me with a consulting team that specializes in helping practices like mine get off the ground. That support made all the difference.

3. What have been the biggest benefits—for you and your patients? Would you like to see more physicians take this path? For me, the biggest benefit is freedom. I can treat my patients based on what’s best for them, not what’s best for a billing code. That freedom has been professionally fulfilling in ways I didn’t expect. For my patients, the benefit is choice. They get to learn about options — like brachytherapy — that many never hear about elsewhere. And yes, I’d like to see more physicians consider independence, but only if it makes sense for their life and practice. It’s not for everyone, and that’s okay.

4. What advice would you give to a physician considering this path, or someone deciding on a career direction after training? Do your homework. Talk to other doctors who’ve done it. Understand the risks and rewards, because independence isn’t for everyone. Figure out what truly matters to you — your priorities will guide your decision. And if, after digging deep, you find that independence isn’t your fit, there’s no shame in that. Better to know before making the leap.

5. Are there resources you recommend for physicians considering this move? Your colleagues are your best resource. I’m active in the Arizona Medical Association’s private practice section, and connecting with peers who are walking this same path has been invaluable. There are also consultants who specialize in the business side of medicine. Use them. You don’t have to do it all yourself. Focus on your patients and lean on experts for everything else.

6. How can other physicians support what you’re doing? Connect with me on LinkedIn, share and support the content we put out, and if you’re a physician interested in collaborating or offering brachytherapy to your patients, reach out to me. Introductions to other doctors are always welcome, and if you know someone who might benefit from seeing us, send them our way. At the end of the day, my mission is simple: to expand access to effective, patient-centered prostate cancer care. Any support that furthers that mission means the world.

This excerpt has been shortened, read the full article here. Know someone else who should be featured? Reply or tag them and their company in the comments!

What to Read This Week

So Your Doctor Is a D.O. Does That Matter? (NYTimes)
The number of D.O.s is on the rise but few patients know how a D.O.’s training might shape their care.

Proposed Medicare Pay Cuts Will Hit Specialists Hard (STAT News)
The Trump administration is aiming to even the score between highly paid specialists and primary care physicians.

Why Doctor Offices Still Depend on Fax Machines (Stanford School of Medicine)
Commentary from Lloyd Minor: 40 years later, here’s why faxes are still coming off the rollers in hospitals and clinics.

Why Aren’t Medical Schools Embracing AI? (Breaking The Healthcare Rules)
Provocative op-ed from Dr. Robert Pearl: Why most U.S. medical schools remain stuck in the last century.

Highlights From Our Community

Each week, we celebrate career milestones, launches, & other goings-on in the physician community. Have something to promote? Reply and we’ll feature you.

🎉 Congrats, Quinn Wang!
Dr. Quinn Wang has officially launched Doctors in Network, a modern surgical staffing platform built for flexibility and continuity. You may remember Quinn from her Builder’s Spotlight profile on Offcall :) Now it’s official, learn more here.

👍 Well done, Sara Krzyzaniak!
Dr. Sara Krzyzaniak gave a TEDx talk about Why AI won’t replace your doctor because of the irreplaceable human side of medicine. Watch it here!

🏃‍♀️Keep it going, Tina Shah
New Jersey congressional candidate Dr. Tina Shah spoke with Dr. Vin Gupta on the Midas Health podcast about why she’s running to help change healthcare. Don’t miss her widely watched interview with Graham on Offcall the week she announced!

📢 Say it loud, Pamela Buchanan
Dr. Pamela Buchanan created a new community called Melanated Medicine to help support Black women physicians. Read more here.

✅ Way to go, Scott Zeller
The American Board of Medical Specialties approved a focused practice designation in emergency behavioral health for Dr. Scott Zeller’s EmPATH model. Learn why this is such a huge achievement in this shout-out post from Dr. Eric Arzubi.

👏 Bravo, Sonia Eden
Neurosurgeon Dr. Sonia Eden was honored by Black Directors Health Equity Agenda for #BlackExcellence and her work to diversify the pipeline to medicine. Read it here.

🎙️Hot podcast listen, Lee Scheinbart
Dr. Lee Scheinbart spoke with Dr. Sachin Jain for The Fire Chief podcast about the challenges of driving transformational change in healthcare. Give it a listen here.

❗Check it out, Courtney Burns
Resident physician Dr. Courtney Burns published a new paper studying emotional distress among anesthesiologists after challenging clinical events, alongside co-authors Maedeh Marzoughi, Dr. Daniel Saddawi-Konefka, Dr. Matt Wixson, and others. Check it out here, along with commentary from Dr. Stefanie Simmons.

👍 Strong work, Sanjay Basu
Dr. Sanjay Basu co-authored a new peer-reviewed article about optimizing AI solutions for population health in primary care, alongside an impressive group of co-authors: Pablo Bermudez-Canete, Tannen Hall, & Pranav Rajpurkar. Read more here.

💯 Great episode, Amna Shabbir
Dr. Amna Shabbir spoke with Dr. Hala Sabry, emergency physician and founder of the Physician Moms Group (PMG), about rejecting perfectionism and redefining what success looks like on her podcast Success Reimagined. Check it out here.

✍️ Keep up the great work, Layla Abubshait
Dr. Layla Abubshait’s work on integrating Social Determinants of Health into emergency medicine education was highlighted in a new article by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Read more about it here.

👀Tune In, Poonam Desai
Dr. Poonam Desai is launching Her Longevity, a physician-led summit on World Menopause Day (Oct 18th) dedicated to longevity medicine for women. See the lineup of speakers and learn more here.

🗣️ And finally, great share Graham Walker!
Graham reflected on a new NEJM AI study which found laypeople rated low-accuracy AI answers as just as trustworthy as real physicians. Read the study from authors Shruthi Shekar, Pat Pataranutaporn, Dr. Chethan Sarabu, Guillermo Cecchi, and Pattie Maes, and Graham’s reflections here.

Be Sure to Sign Up for Offcall!

At Offcall, we believe physicians deserve to be heard, valued, and treated fairly. Everything we do is driven by our commitment to empowering doctors with accurate, reliable, and trustworthy data — to advocate confidently for themselves and ensure their compensation truly reflects their worth.

Learn more and sign up here

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