Dr. Shenkin on Humanistic Pediatrics, Health Policy, and Fixing Incentives in U.S. Healthcare

On The Pediatric Lounge, the hosts interview Dr. Shenkin, a Harvard-trained pediatrician, physician leader, and health policy expert who founded Bayside Medical Group in Oakland and grew it to a 35-physician, 10-office organization later sold to Stanford/Children’s Hospital. He describes choosing pediatrics as “falling in love,” shaped by a neurosurgeon father, and recounts work in the Public Health Service during the Vietnam era, including leading and reshaping migrant health into early regional rural health centers and studying health systems and policy in Stockholm and Yale. The conversation critiques U.S. insurance, fee-for-service/RBRVS, RVUs, networks, PBMs, and administrative waste, arguing costs stem from high prices and bureaucracy, not patient overuse. They emphasize restoring humanistic care—patients feeling “cared for and cared about”—through values, systems, mentorship, and better measurement, while criticizing hierarchical training, Epic-driven box-checking, and misaligned incentives that prioritize revenue over care.

00:00 Welcome to the Lounge
00:30 Meet Dr. Bud Shenkin
01:18 Why Pediatrics Chose Him
01:34 Family Roots in Medicine
05:13 Policy Path and Vietnam Era
06:48 Training Abroad and Independence
07:47 Great Profession, Bad Job
09:40 Residency Mentors and Customer Service
12:06 Why He Rejected Academia
13:32 Insurance and Fee-for-Service Critique
15:02 Catastrophic Coverage Debate
17:15 Humanistic Care Without Money Anxiety
18:58 Where Healthcare Overspends
20:15 Hospital Pricing and System Power
21:27 PBMs and Pharma Incentives
24:45 Leading While Still Seeing Patients
26:17 Hospitality Lessons for Healthcare
29:07 Systems Thinking and Safety Design
31:33 Building Humanistic Relationships
32:49 Name Tags and Respect
33:58 Selling to Big Systems
36:27 Training and Hierarchy
37:41 Epic and Box Checking
38:14 Humanistic Exam Room
40:27 Mentorship and Great Practices
43:46 Networks vs Fiduciary Duty
44:55 Falling in Love with Pediatrics
48:36 Paying for Humanistic Care
53:06 Trust, Dissent, and Leadership
54:34 Becoming a Great Clinician
01:00:08 Keeping Idealism Alive
01:01:08 Closing and Credits

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The Pediatric Lounge - A Podcast taking you behind the door of the Physician's Lounge to get a deeper insight into what docs are talking about today, from the clinically profound to the wonderfully routine...and everything in between.

The conversations are not intended as medical advice, and the opinions expressed are solely those of the host and guest.