WHEN DOCTORS PUBLICIZE THEIR FITNESS: “We found that participants who were overweight believed that the fit doctors would disapprove of patients with unhealthy habits, and as a result overweight participants preferred physicians who did not advertise their fitness. Interestingly, in our studies, doctors who emphasized their healthy habits were no more appealing to patients who were not overweight. So health care practitioners showing off a healthy lifestyle didn’t seem to draw in patients as might have been expected, and even drove away some.”

Well, depending on your compensation model, driving away overweight patients might be worth it even if it doesn’t attract more fit patients. Simply by making fat, unfit people more likely to go elsewhere, you wind up with a pool of patients that, on average, is probably healthier and less expensive.