I hope you had a restoring weekend. Today we wanted to share another critical decision case: this time on a scenario you've probably encountered for yourself or a loved one. Should I get a knee replacement? And if I should, when and with whom? Joint replacement surgery is a prototypical example of a scenario where individual factors are critical and rarely get due consideration in a rushed surgical evaluation appointment. These are the scenarios where Carte's different approach really shines....
4 months ago • 3 min read
Early testimonials are in from our preview cohort of Critical Decision Medicine We've been working with our November cohort of clients who are previewing next year's new Critical Decision Medicine offering, and the results speak for themselves: "Carte Clinics was truly exceptional. They moved incredibly quickly. Gina hopped on a call right away to deeply understand our situation, and took the time to listen, ask thoughtful follow-up questions, and map out a clear action plan for us. Within 24...
5 months ago • 1 min read
is your medical care the best possible, or just the best one doctor offered? There is a surprising consistency to the problems that the modern medical system fails at. People ask Carte to solve health problems no one else can. Two years in, we see a pretty clear pattern uniting the people who come to us: they have multi-step problems. 🫀 If you have a heart attack and you come to an ER with a cath lab, everyone knows what to do and the metrics to do it well. It’s commoditized at this point and...
5 months ago • 2 min read
"Who is the best doctor for me to see?" I get this question all the time. I’m sure many fellow doctors do too. In a way, it’s the question. Who you seek help from can be the difference between getting the right answer and the wrong one. It can mean getting answers early or suffering errors and circuitous missteps before getting answers far too late. For a choice so high-stakes – who to see for a specific medical question – there must be robust systems in place ensuring that you’re going to...
6 months ago • 6 min read
Hi Reader, Annual physicals track the same familiar vital signs and lab values. But for people who want to be proactive about your health, it’s clear those numbers are late indicators. They tell you when risk has already accumulated enough to manifest as disease. A different set of markers—drawn from exercise physiology, metabolic research, and geroscience—would be employed if instead of diagnosing disease, we wanted to think about levers to remain strong, capable, and independent. We’ve...
7 months ago • 1 min read
The keto/LDL story is a great example of the limitations of blood tests when studied in isolation, and what the future of medicine and dietary interventions with LLMs will look like. Conventional teaching: LDL is bad Conventional teaching is to keep your LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, low. So when a pattern emerged of young, otherwise healthy people on keto diets experiencing massive spikes in their LDLs – to the levels of highest risk for heart attacks – it captured a lot of interest. The people...
11 months ago • 3 min read
You want your health care to work better so badly. You want to think you can change the system to suit your needs. But here's the thing: you can't change the whole system. You will sign up for a concierge practice. You will get 500 blood markers tested. This is not to say you won’t see some benefits from these investments: maybe a slicker interface to show your test results, or less time on hold, or more personalized advice. But the inevitable will happen. An unexpected corner of health care...
11 months ago • 1 min read
A great example of evidence-backed technology that is not disseminated broadly enough: alternative breast cancer screening imaging options for women with dense breasts. What are "dense breasts"? The term refers to two categories of how breast tissue look on mammograms, either “heterogeneously dense” or “extremely dense.” It is critical to know if you have dense breasts because mammography IS NOT as effective a screening tool for breast cancer in you. Guess how many women are affected, not...
11 months ago • 2 min read
We bring people from unhealthy to healthy without changing their character flaws, genetics, or suddenly granting them a lot more money. It is actually quite simple. I can tell you how in four paragraphs. 1. Health requires diligence around your bogeyman. Whether it’s a diagnosis you carry or one you’re at risk for, everyone has at least one bogeyman. Doctors can identify your bogeyman, but the diligence part won’t come from conventional doctor visits. If you’re counting on scattered 15 minute...
12 months ago • 1 min read
