Welcome to Grand Rounds, the weekly edition of our Glauc To Me newsletter, and your one-stop-shop to catch up on all the latest Glaucomflecken content.
Enjoy!
-The Glaucomfleckens
On YouTube
BCBS Goes To Therapy
This is based on an actual press release in which BCBS unironically complained about other people using AI to combat their own use of AI. By the way, the BCBS Association is the lobbying/propaganda division of BCBS. You can ignore everything they say.
Proposed CMS Changes
With the proposed CMS changes, doctors will get a pay cut if we do a procedure on the same day we examine the patient. This will result in less efficient care and higher health care costs. It doesn’t make sense. No other industry operates this way. Everybody should be paid fairly for their work.
🎙️ On The Podcast
Knock Knock, Hi!
 Dr. Rachel Zoffness is a pain psychologist and assistant clinical professor at UCSF and Stanford. Turns out what 96% of medical schools teach as their entire compulsory pain curriculum is missing about two-thirds of the actual story. Pain is biopsychosocial: it results from biological inputs, psychological inputs, and social inputs, and you cannot treat chronic pain by ignoring any of them. Kristin also gets a professional consult on being a Highly Sensitive Person, which Rachel frames as being a more accurate seismograph than other people.
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Knock Knock, Eye!
 We open with the saga of our HOA fining us for window units during a 117°F Portland heat wave, including the time Will taped a photo of Brad Pitt to one to make it “more beautiful.” Then our family’s Star Wars Halloween plan: Will was going to hide inside an inflatable Jabba the Hutt until Kristin said no, so he's compromising with a Jawa.
After the break, the real news. The FDA just approved Brightly (Alcon’s apraclonidine 0.125%), the newest over-the-counter redness reliever. Will walks through why Visine is the worst thing ever invented, why Lumify is still his go-to recommendation if you absolutely must use one, and why he's cautious about Brightly, especially around kids.
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Medlines
In today's episode, Dr. Jennifer Lincoln (@drjenniferlincoln) & Eva Johnson cover full phase three results for a Lyme disease vaccine, and Psychiatry Boot Camp host Dr. Mark Mullen pays a visit. They break down a new once monthly olanzapine shot for schizophrenia. Plus: a dementia study built on a 1972 British school reform, why Christina Applegate says her MS diagnosis was wrong, and GLP-1 drugs may affect drinking habits in the UK.
Join Us On Patreon
Patreon perks abound! Like bonus episodes where we react to medical shows and movies. Hang out with us in the Knock Knock, Hi! member community. We also host interactive Q&A livestream events. Plus, you get the ultimate VIP experience with access ad-free episodes before anyone else. 🎧💥
Sponsor
Every moment spent searching for information or switching systems is time away from patient care. And while my loyal scribe Jonathan’s power may border on limitless, the right tools make him unstoppable.
Microsoft Dragon Copilot brings documentation, clinical context, and trusted knowledge into one workflow. If you're the person who decides what tools your clinicians get next, this is the one worth the meeting. More than 100,000 clinicians already use it every day.
Medical Creator Manual
Patients need trustworthy medical professionals online. Give your members the tools to post ethically and confidently.
We've spent over a year compiling The Glaucomfleckens’ Medical Creator Manual – an expert-developed resource designed to help medical professionals build online presences that make an impact. It explores:
✅ Public health education + advocacy
✅ Curbing the spread of medical misinformation
✅ Building public trust in the medical field
✅ Fostering relationships between medical professionals across specialties
✅ Amplifying organizational positions
The best part? It's now available for institutional licensing! We'll work your organization to customize a version that supports your members' needs, in any specialty.
Fill out the form below and our Jonathans will be in touch to get started. 🙂↕️
A Fireside Chat with Dr. Rana Awdish
Dr. Rana Awdish was a critical care physician before she became a critical care patient in the ICU where she worked. She nearly died. Then she went back to work in the same building, in the same job, as someone who now knew exactly what the other side of it felt like. She has written two books about it – In Shock (2017), and After Shock (2026).
Kristin is sitting down with her next Thursday, November 5 for a very special conversation. Kristin knows the version of this where you are the person standing next to the patient, which means these two have been through the same kind of night from opposite chairs. They'll get into what happens after the emergency ends, what recovery looks like when nobody is charting it, and what it's like to walk back into a system you now see completely differently.
This is an exclusive event for our Humor & Humanity in Medicine members. To get in on the action – and a whole lot more – join the membership at the link below.
Texaco Mike’s Merch Of The Month
It's Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month – not just for patients, but for co-survivors, too. Show where your heart's at with this colorful, cozy shirt.
Did A Fantastic Human Share
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