Back in 2015, I did a study about what happens to patients when cardiologists flocked to their

big annual conferences, because when thousands of healthcare professionals all pile into

a convention center, it must have an effect, right?

Well, the results surprised me, and it sparked the young Stephen Dovner's interest too.

He asked me to come talk about it on Freakonomics Radio, and in a lot of ways, you can draw a line

from that first conversation with Stephen to where we are now.

From the Freakonomics Radio Network, welcome to Freakonomics MD.

I'm Bob Pugena.

I'm an economist, but I'm also a medical doctor.

In each episode, I dissect a fascinating question at the sweet spot between health and economics.

Today, when a lot of cardiologists leave town and head to their big annual conference, what

happens to the patients who need care?

I thought it would be fun to hop in a time machine today and have you listen to that conversation

from Freakonomics Radio about the cardiology meeting study.

And after that, I want to tell you about some hot off-the-pressure research my colleagues

and I just published that was inspired by it.

So stick around for that.

But for now, let's go back to 2015 when this conversation aired on Freakonomics Radio.

Remember 2015?

Thanks to the pandemic, it actually all feels like a long time ago now.

Let's see.

2015, Barack Obama was still president.

...