Where scalpels meet systems — and physicians say what they really think.Co-hosted by Anish Koka, MD & Anthony DiGiorgio, DO. Candid talks on healthcare policy, reform, physician autonomy & patient care.
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Nov 14, 2026 · 1:05:33
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Spine surgeon Eric Potts, co-owner of Indiana Spine Hospital, joins hosts Anthony DiGiorgio and Anish Koka to discuss why physicians built a…
Nov 10, 2026 · 1:15:46
Send us Fan Mail Updated edit of our conversation with Nikhil Krishnan, with a cleaner opening and light filler-word trims. Out of Pocket founder Nikhil Krishnan joins Anish Koka…
Oct 29, 2026 · 1:09:18
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Orthopedic spine surgeon and independent-practice owner Adam Bruggeman joins The Doctor’s Lounge to explain the No Surprises Act (NSA), its…
Oct 25, 2026 · 1:01:51
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary: In this episode, Dr. Anish Koka and Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio talk through the trade-offs of government-run programs using SNAP as a model for…
Oct 16, 2026 · 1:01:19
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary This episode examines why US healthcare keeps rewarding consolidation, even when it raises costs and makes the system harder to navigate. Andrew…
Oct 11, 2026 · 1:01:32
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Dr. Mollie James joins Anish Koka, MD and Anthony DiGiorgio to talk about what pushed her out of traditional employment, how she rebuilt her…
Sep 27, 2026 · 1:05:53
Send us Fan Mail Summary In this episode, Anthony DiGiorgio and Anish Koka engage with Tom Wolf, a recovery advocate, who shares his personal journey through addiction,…
Sep 22, 2026 · 1:16:02
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Rachel Rosenthal, an editorial board member at Bloomberg who writes on healthcare and education, joins Anthony DiGiorgio and Anish Koka for a…
Sep 21, 2026 · 1:04:40
Send us Fan Mail In this special add-on episode, Anish Koka and Anthony DiGiorgio welcome Dr. James O'Leary — a Mayo-trained OB-GYN with forty years of experience, former…
Sep 14, 2026 · 1:16:24
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Anthony DiGiorgio and Anish Koka speak with Dr. Ashish Jha, co-founder and CEO of BioRadar, senior fellow at Harvard Belfer Center, and former…
Sep 7, 2026 · 1:07:36
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary In this episode of the Doctor's Lounge, Anthony DiGiorgio speaks with Hon. Tom Oliverson, MD, Texas State Representative for House District 130…
Sep 1, 2026 · 59:41
Send us Fan Mail The prior uploaded file had 26 seconds that was corrupted. Restored on this version! Episode Summary: Dr. Vinay Prasad joins the Doctors Lounge in a recorded in…
Aug 28, 2026 · 57:08
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Duke political economist and podcast host Mike Munger (The Answer is Transaction Costs) joins Anthony DiGiorgio and Anish Koka to argue that what…
Aug 22, 2026 · 56:19
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary With scheduled guest Dr. Geoff Manley pulled away by a medical emergency, hosts Anish Koka and Anthony DiGiorgio turn the episode into a news…
Aug 13, 2026 · 1:03:17
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary In a special Tuesday episode, Anish Koka and Anthony DiGiorgio sit down with Heather Tereshko, a Principal at Post & Schell in Philadelphia and a…
Aug 11, 2026 · 1:00:52
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Anish Koka and Anthony DiGiorgio sit down with Niklas Anzinger, a venture capitalist and founder of Infinita VC, to unpack Montana SB535 — a new…
Aug 1, 2026 · 51:54
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Anthony DiGiorgio and Anish Koka sit down with Dr. Dan Donoho, an NIH-funded neurosurgeon-scientist at Children's National Hospital and George…
Jul 31, 2026 · 1:14:51
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. George Tolis, chief of cardiothoracic surgery in Boston, returns to The Doctors Lounge with hosts Dr. Anish Koka and…
Jul 16, 2026 · 54:33
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Drs. Anish Koka and Anthony DiGiorgio sit down with independent science writer Cremieux, the pseudonymous Substack author known for auditing…
Jul 11, 2026 · 1:16:50
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Anish Koka and Anthony DiGiorgio sit down with Scott Becker, founder of Becker's Healthcare and partner at McGuireWoods, on the business of…
Jul 7, 2026 · 1:27:01
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Anish Koka and Anthony DiGiorgio sit down with Martin Shkreli — the former hedge fund manager and pharma executive best known for the 2015…
Jul 6, 2026 · 58:45
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Dr. Stanley Goldfarb — nephrologist, former Associate Dean for Curriculum at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, and founder of Do No Harm —…
Jul 2, 2026 · 1:15:07
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Dr. Tracy Beth Høeg returns alongside Dr. Venkatesh Murthy, NIH-funded cardiologist at the University of Michigan, to dissect the Senator Ron…
Jun 27, 2026 · 1:26:15
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Investigative journalist David Zweig joins Anish Koka and Anthony DiGiorgio to discuss his book An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, The…
Jun 20, 2026 · 58:38
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Ryan Long — former senior policy advisor to Speaker Kevin McCarthy and current non-resident senior scholar at the USC Schaefer Institute — joins…
Jun 10, 2026 · 1:13:25
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Dr. Tracy Høeg — physician, epidemiologist, and former Acting Director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research — joins Drs. Koka and…
Jun 6, 2026 · 1:02:15
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Dr. Noah Kaufman - board-certified emergency physician with 20 years in the ER, seven seasons on American Ninja Warrior, and a new direct acute…
Jun 3, 2026 · 1:00:57
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Dr. Greg Katz, preventive cardiologist at NYU Langone and co-host of Beyond Journal Club, joins Anish to dissect the online cholesterol debate —…
May 31, 2026 · 1:05:19
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Dr. Anil Makam — hospitalist, health services researcher at UCSF, and faculty at Zuckerberg San Francisco General — joins Drs. Koka and DiGiorgio…
May 25, 2026 · 53:08
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Anish sits down with Adu, a med student and biotech investor, to work through the FDA's contested handling of Unicure's AMT-130 — a gene therapy…
May 23, 2026 · 1:07:35
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Pediatric nephrologist, medical educator, and "Sheriff of Sodium" Dr. Bryan Carmody joins Drs. Koka and DiGiorgio to challenge some of the most…
May 17, 2026 · 1:26:47
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Jared Rhoads, founder of the Center for Modern Health and senior lecturer in health policy at the Dartmouth Institute, joins Drs. Koka and…
May 16, 2026 · 1:11:05
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Dr. George Tolis, section chief of coronary and general cardiac surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital, joins Drs. Koka and DiGiorgio for a…
May 10, 2026 · 1:16:10
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Radiologist, National Review senior contributor, and prominent center-right voice in medicine Pradeep Shanker joins Anish Koka and Anthony…
May 3, 2026 · 1:24:16
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Dr. Eithan Haim, a general surgeon in the Dallas area, joins Anish to walk through the events that took him from chief resident at Baylor to…
May 2, 2026 · 34:01
Send us Fan Mail Anish and Dr. DiGiorgio trace the history of insurance from ancient Babylonian bottomery contracts through Egyptian workers' guilds, Greek risk-pooling…
Apr 26, 2026 · 50:57
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Anish and Anthony are joined by Dr. Elad Levy — Professor and Chair of Neurosurgery at the University at Buffalo, holder of the L. Nelson Hopkins…
Apr 25, 2026 · 37:11
Send us Fan Mail Anish and Dr. DiGiorgio dig into the intellectual debate that preceded the 1965 passage of Medicare, focusing on the economists — James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock,…
Apr 19, 2026 · 57:46
Send us Fan Mail Back from hiatus, Anish and Dr. DiGiorgio swap travel notes on Japan and San Diego before diving into Anish's recent Substack piece mapping emergency cardiac…
Apr 3, 2026 · 59:06
Send us Fan Mail Guest: Ali Mortazavi | CEO, Tangram Therapeutics (formerly E-Therapeutics), London, UK Episode Summary: Ali Mortazavi is not your typical biotech CEO. A computer…
Mar 31, 2026 · 56:54
Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary Dr. DiGiorgio returns from testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, the third in a series of hearings on…
Mar 15, 2026 · 59:13
Send us Fan Mail Kevin Bass, PhD, joins Anish and Dr. DiGiorgio to tell the story of how a viral Newsweek op-ed apologizing for his support of COVID lockdowns and mandates set…
Mar 9, 2026 · 55:27
Send us Fan Mail Dr. Anish Koka and Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio open with the little-known medical story behind the death of the Shah of Iran — how Mohammed Reza Pahlavi came to be…
Feb 28, 2026 · 58:21
Send us Fan Mail In this conversation, Dr. Mary Talley Bowden shares her experiences as an independent physician during the COVID-19 pandemic, detailing her courageous battle…
Feb 21, 2026 · 1:11:23
Send us Fan Mail Episode Title: The Medicaid Data Dump: $1.7 Billion in Billing From Shell Companies and Why Nobody Stopped It Guest: Samir Unni | Biomedical Engineer, former…
Feb 14, 2026 · 1:08:13
Send us Fan Mail In this engaging conversation, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya discusses his unique perspective as a health economist and the impact of his training on his approach to…
Feb 7, 2026 · 1:05:45
Send us Fan Mail Benjamin Ryan was the only journalist in the courtroom for every day of the first detransition lawsuit to reach a jury verdict. In January 2025, a White Plains…
Feb 6, 2026 · 47:45
Send us Fan Mail Guest: Ed Gaines, JD, CPC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Zotec Partners Honorary Member, American College of Emergency Physicians Episode Summary: If…
Feb 1, 2026 · 1:07:46
Send us Fan Mail What happens when a spine surgeon who's been in private practice since the Obamacare era sits down with doctors across the political spectrum? You get one of the…
Jan 30, 2026 · 1:07:05
Send us Fan Mail Guest: Josh Umbehr, MD | Co-founder & CEO, Atlas MD | DPC Pioneer Summary: In 2010, Josh Umbehr launched Atlas MD charging $50/month for unlimited primary care…
Jan 25, 2026 · 44:50
Send us Fan Mail Keywords Alex Berenson, COVID vaccine, Medicaid fraud, autism services, healthcare, investigative journalism, MCOs, AI in healthcare, public health, healthcare…
Jan 19, 2026 · 1:00:56
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Summary In this episode of the Doctor's Lounge, hosts Anish Koka, Anthony DiGiorgio, and Sanat Dixit delve into the complexities of healthcare…
Jan 10, 2026 · 1:05:18
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Keywords healthcare, ACA subsidies, vaccine schedule, AI in healthcare, concierge medicine, food pyramid, healthcare policy, public health,…
Jan 4, 2026 · 1:00:38
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Keywords healthcare policy, Medicaid, ACA, fraud, social media, bureaucracy, primary care, immigration, healthcare reform, insurance Takeaways The…
Dec 21, 2025 · 1:03:10
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Keywords electronic medical records, healthcare technology, EHR challenges, physician experience, digital health, healthcare regulations, EMR…
Dec 21, 2025 · 1:05:01
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Keywords healthcare, MAID, patient autonomy, economic implications, GOP healthcare proposals, health savings accounts, dynamic pricing, Instacart,…
Dec 8, 2025 · 50:49
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Keywords healthcare, primary care, ER, cost reduction, pharmacy reform, 340B program, healthcare access, bureaucratic reform Summary The…
Dec 7, 2025 · 1:08:00
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Keywords healthcare, Medicaid fraud, DEI, vaccine safety, Eli Lilly, ACA, healthcare policy, trust in medicine, social determinants of health,…
Dec 6, 2025 · 58:34
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Summary Dr. Anahita Dua is a vascular surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital who joins Dutch Rojas, Anish Koka, and Anthony Digiorgio to…
Dec 6, 2025 · 1:16:47
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Summary In this episode of the Doctors' Lounge, the hosts discuss a range of topics centered around healthcare, including personal experiences…
Nov 25, 2025 · 1:05:51
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen: Dive into a heated discussion on the future of healthcare, where leading physicians debate the merits of free market principles…
Nov 18, 2025 · 1:04:52
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 📌 Episode Overview: In this episode, the co-hosts dive into the complexities of healthcare policy, discussing the impact of ACA subsidies, the…
Nov 11, 2025 · 1:02:40
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Show Link: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/0003-4819-153-8-201010190-00274 Why Listen 👥 In this episode, the hosts delve into the…
Nov 7, 2025 · 57:48
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Why Listen 👥 In this episode, the hosts delve into the complexities of healthcare costs, the impact of policy decisions, and the role of market…
Nov 4, 2025 · 29:56
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 📌 Why Listen Explore the complexities of the 340B program, its impact on healthcare systems, and the implications for both hospitals and…
Oct 29, 2025 · 1:01:38
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen When Senator Chuck Schumer joined Dr. Mike’s podcast to discuss “The Truth About the Government Shutdown,” the talk quickly became a…
Oct 24, 2025 · 56:25
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen This episode is a no-holds-barred takedown of how hospitals manipulate billing codes, exploit DRG loopholes, and increase patient…
Oct 14, 2025 · 1:16:45
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen In this fiery and insightful episode, the doctors dissect the political and economic fault lines behind the Affordable Care Act…
Oct 10, 2025 · 1:03:19
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen This episode of The Doctor’s Lounge cuts straight into one of the most polarizing questions in U.S. healthcare: Did the Affordable…
Oct 6, 2025 · 1:13:58
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen What happens when private equity buys hospitals? Do staffing cuts and profit motives compromise patient safety? This episode of The…
Oct 3, 2025 · 26:09
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen Ever wonder who actually decides how much doctors earn for surgeries, visits, or procedures? This episode takes you inside the…
Sep 29, 2025 · 22:55
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen Journalist Ben Ryan joins the panel to unpack what really happened during the 2022 monkeypox outbreak, how public health messaging…
Sep 26, 2025 · 1:08:55
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen A spicy, inside-baseball roundtable on why rural healthcare dollars keep missing physicians, how enterprise EHRs and retail chains…
Sep 23, 2025 · 1:11:35
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen Dive into one of the most consequential debates in medicine: how should the FDA balance speed, safety, and patient need in approving…
Sep 19, 2025 · 52:34
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen When an 88-year-old with dementia lands in the hospital, should we implant a device simply “because we can”? The panel examines…
Sep 16, 2025 · 15:24
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen Organ donation is one of the most emotional and misunderstood processes in modern medicine. In this minisode, the hosts tackle the…
Sep 10, 2025 · 1:08:46
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen North Carolina approved a bill letting some international medical grads practice without U.S. residency. Smart fix for shortages—or…
Sep 8, 2025 · 1:02:19
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen Is there really a physician shortage—or just bad incentives driving doctors out of practice? In this episode, the crew unpacks…
Sep 4, 2025 · 1:05:39
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Original Substack Release: Aug 23, 2025 🎯 Why Listen When hope collides with billion-dollar incentives, who protects patients? We unpack Vinay…
Sep 2, 2025 · 1:04:24
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Original Substack Release Date: August 29, 2025 🎯 Why Listen Heard “surprise billing” blamed on doctors? This episode shows how insurers shaped…
Aug 28, 2025 · 1:01:13
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Original Substack Release Date: August 9, 2025 🎯 Why Listen This episode pulls no punches on the future of physician independence. From the…
Aug 25, 2025 · 58:46
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Original Substack Release Date: July 20,2025 🎯 Why Listen Prior authorization is the bureaucratic chokehold strangling American healthcare. But…
Aug 23, 2025 · 50:20
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Original Substack Release Date: Jun 18th, 2025 🎯 Why Listen This week’s episode takes you inside the chaos rocking organized medicine: ACIP’s…
Aug 18, 2025 · 52:21
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Original Substack Release Date: June 14th, 2025 🎯 Why Listen When the New England Journal of Medicine claims that direct primary care threatens…
Aug 15, 2025 · 49:57
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Original Substack Release Date: June 7th, 2025 🎯 Why Listen: “Shut up and enjoy your salary.” —What passes for health policy debate in 2025. Does…
Aug 9, 2025 · 1:06:49
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text 🎯 Why Listen: A candid conversation on whether non-compete clauses in physician contracts harm doctors, patients, and the healthcare system — and…
Aug 9, 2025 · 1:06:08
Send us Fan Mail Send us a text Why Physicians Need a Voice in Healthcare Policy 👥 Hosted by: Dutch Rojas Doctors: •Anthony DiGiorgio, DO, MHA – Neurosurgeon, UCSF; health…
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