On/Offcall is the weekly dose of information and inspiration that every physician needs.
🚨 Dr. Vivek Garg has spent his whole career trying to answer one question: Why don’t all patients get the care they deserve in the U.S. system?
He recently stepped into the CEO role of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the nation’s leading organization defining what “quality” in healthcare actually means. As only the second president in the organization’s history, he opened up to Offcall co-founder Dr. Graham Walker in a timely How I Doctor interview about his big plans for the future, what he believes it will take to finally bring quality care to every American regardless of zipcode, and how he believes AI will reshape the foundation of how we measure outcomes in medicine.
Together, they break down:
👉 How a quality measure actually moves from research to national requirement
👉 Why many measures feel disconnected from the patient in front of us
👉 The structural challenges facing independent practices
👉 How “measure sprawl” creates burden instead of better care
👉 Where AI could meaningfully improve outcomes, and where it won’t
👉 How physicians can engage with (and influence) the quality process
👀 Quality metrics undoubtedly shape your daily workflow, your bonus, and your reputation, and physicians deserve a voice in where it goes next.
🎧 Listen to the full episode here
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99 Ways to Avoid Death: Lessons from Author and ER Physician Dr. Ashely Alker
ER physician and author Dr. Ashely Alker on what emergency medicine teaches you about death, dying well, and the 99 things none of us have to die from.
Repealing the Ban on Physician-Owned Hospitals
From Dr. Adam Bruggeman: “Repealing Section 6001 of the Affordable Care Act will not simply change ownership structures, it will restore competition, strengthen independent practice, expand rural access, and lower costs for patients.”
How to Be a Doctor, with Dr. Graham Walker
Graham appeared on Roy Bahat’s podcast for a deep conversation about what it means to be a physician today, and his experience building Offcall and MDCalc. Give it a listen!
4 questions with pediatrician, allergist/immunologist, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center, Dr. Mansi Kotwal.
1. Mansi, what do you think the public most misunderstands about being a physician in 2026? I think the public, especially right now, misunderstands the intent of healthcare providers. There’s a lot of mistrust in science communities at this time. Physicians tend to go into the healthcare profession because they truly want to make a difference in people’s lives in whatever way that is – whether it’s in primary care, speciality care, or surgical care. We want to make people feel better, help them, and keep people healthy. And if that bottom line is understood, and also believed and seen by the public, I feel that would be a great first step in managing this epidemic of mistrust.
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