Practice Management

Physicians who pursue financial independence and early retirement are not wrong. It may save them.

James Turner, MD

Finance

November 30, 2018

When Jason Kilar graduated from college he experienced tremendous personal and professional adversity. Three days after graduation, Kilar’s father ended his own life after battling bipolar disorder.

Kilar also battled professional valleys. In the months after graduation, the work-life he had long envisioned couldn’t have seemed further from the reality he faced.

After building shelves at a local store and hustling to find a job that he actually loved, this is what …

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Nurses aren’t commodities

Sarah E. Jorgensen, RN

Policy

November 28, 2018

Corporate health care mentality set up nurses up to be inhuman while holding us to superhuman expectations. We’re told to be caring — but not allowed to do it. It’s time to demand that we stop being abandoned and dismissed by dysfunctional leadership.

Early in my nursing career, I was assigned to the pediatric area for one shift in a busy emergency department (ED). Our team received notification of an incoming …

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Medicine is just a job

Physician

November 28, 2018

A couple of years ago, I read an article by Dr. Profeta at LinkedIn called “These four words that may offend you … may also just save you.” He was invited to talk about burnout in medicine and did not get a warm reception.

“It’s just a job.”

The “it” in this case is medicine. Medicine, just like any other, is just a job. Let that sink in. Everything …

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Being financially secure is different than being financially independent

Dads Dollars Debts, MD

Finance

November 22, 2018

It is official. I have left my day job and have two months off before starting my next day job thanks to being financially secure. As many of you know, the Tubb’s Fire has led to many changes in my life over the past year. We had many decisions to make and now, 13 months out, are putting those plans into effect. The biggest of these decisions was to …

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Is it still worth it to go to medical school?

Wall Street Physician, MD

Finance

November 21, 2018

Medicine has changed immensely over the past 40 years. Not only has the drugs, surgeries, and procedures changed, but the culture and economics of medicine have changed as well.

Radiologist and blogger Xrayvsn enlisted physician finance bloggers young and experienced to write posts on the common topic of generational perspectives of the past, present, and future of medicine:

Doctor of Finance MD: A Late-Career Perspective On Medicine
Xrayvsn: Medicine …
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The psychological impact of quitting medicine

Smart Money, MD

Finance

November 20, 2018

We talk about money on my website, and how to make sure that you have enough of it. In fact, that’s pretty much the entire strategy for the growing crowd of people in the world who are gunning to retire at an age that most neurosurgeons start their careers.

Those of us in the medical field who also have similar ambitions to work our finances intelligently are likely to have similar …

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Make sure your decision to leave medicine is not based on an emotional response

Lisa Herbert, MD

Physician

November 18, 2018

We know the statistics. More than 50 percent of physicians are experiencing burnout at the hands of EMRs, a nonexistent work-life balance and regulatory constraints to name a few. This is causing physicians to leave clinical medicine and find other work. Some are opting for nonclinical administrative roles, and others are leaving altogether for careers outside of medicine. This is adding to the shortage of physicians that we were already …

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The stories of rural physicians

Health eCareers

Physician

November 17, 2018

This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.

When George W. “Billy” Campbell, MD, walks down the street, he never knows who — or what — he’s going to encounter. Anything can happen when you’re the doctor at Foothills Family Medicine of Westminster, South Carolina, a small town with a population of only 2,500.

“I’ve had someone pull …

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Meet the physician who became a financial advisor

James Turner, MD

Finance

November 13, 2018

If you can’t beat ’em, join them (and make it better). Am I right? This was some of the sentiment I felt as I registered with FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) to take the Series 65 exam. Passing this exam will allow me to register in my state as an Independent Advisory Representative (IAR) and function as a financial advisor. This begs the question: Why should I become a financial …

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6 ways to better work with physician recruiters

Health eCareers

Physician

November 3, 2018

This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.

When searching for a new job, building strong relationships is an important part of the process, especially when you’re working with a physician recruiter. The relationship you create with your recruiter will set the tone for your job search and ultimately have an effect on whether or not you …

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You shouldn’t worry about public service loan forgiveness

Rishi Thaker, DO

Finance

October 31, 2018

Anger. Jealousy. Envy. Frustration. I was feeling all the emotions when NYU announced in August that their incoming and subsequent classes would be tuition-free into perpetuity. One consolation: at least I wasn’t one of the chronologically unfortunate that graduated from the school just months, or a year, before that announcement. For them, the time difference was small, but the difference in loans was vast — one year of tuition costs …

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Physicians have the skills to be entrepreneurs

Passive Income, MD

Finance

October 24, 2018

Within the medical community, there seems to be a prevailing belief that when it comes to business and finance: Well, we’re just not very good at it. Some chalk it up to the lack of financial training we received in medical school. Others say it’s simply not in the physician’s DNA – that our brains are wired differently.

I would disagree.

In reality, I’ve seen many, many physicians become successful …

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Don’t watch too much financial news

Wall Street Physician, MD

Finance

October 23, 2018

There’s a lot of financial information out there. Some of it is helpful, and some of it is unhelpful.

I’m sure many of you take notice when the Dow Jones falls 1,000 points in two days.

And even if you don’t usually follow the stock market on a daily basis, when the stock market is dropping, the financial news media will let you know about it.

Because when the stock market is crashing, …

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A simple solution to rapidly increase physician financial literacy

Wall Street Physician, MD

Finance

October 17, 2018

Physician financial literacy is dismal. In the past, many physicians got their first introduction to finance from insurance salesman or financial advisors who give presentations over a free steak dinner.

My medical school’s attempt at teaching us personal finance was to have a financial advisory firm give a half-day lecture about student loan management, budgeting, and investing. While the advice wasn’t inherently bad, I don’t think many of my classmates retained …

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7 reasons why this physician works half-time

James M. Dahle, MD

Finance

October 16, 2018

By the time you read this, I will have completed a transition to working half-time. Now, I know a lot of docs out there think emergency docs are already only working half-time, so perhaps I ought to start with explaining why that isn’t the case, even if emergency physicians work fewer hours than many other physicians.

Let’s start with the fact that most Americans consider 35 to 40 hours a week …

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A scrum master for primary care

C. Todd Staub, MD

Physician

October 9, 2018

We should consider a new position in our primary care teams — that of the scrum master. “Scrum” is a rugby term that comes from agile, a work methodology for software development that now is being applied to industry and health care.

In rugby, a scrum is a huddle where the teams come together with interlocked arms to regroup and start play again. In agile, scrum masters facilitate team huddles and …

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7 keys to having a medical career that serves your life

Stephanie Wellington, MD

Physician

October 5, 2018

Doctors spend their early adulthood preparing for medicine. In college, we take classes to satisfy prerequisites and prepare for the MCAT exam. Medical school has a life of its own. The volume of material to master is extensive, and the pressure mounts to be your best. Next is the interview process for residency training and the anticipation of Match Day.

Then life will begin. Maybe?

Now, you are in your late 20s …

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Should your practice hire a physician assistant or nurse practitioner?

Health eCareers

Physician

October 4, 2018

This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are both advanced-practice providers with considerable autonomy, but they’re not interchangeable. Each brings something slightly different to the table, and if your practice is considering hiring an advanced-level practitioner, it’s important to understand the differences so you can hire appropriately for your need.

Because medical facilities are …

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The answer to your prior authorization problem is simpler than you think

Meds

September 30, 2018

Prior authorizations (PAs) have become increasingly burdensome for providers — they contribute to 92 percent of care delays and an estimated 77 million are submitted manually each year. In fact, the process has become so burdensome that many physicians get fed up with the process end up writing for less-effective prescriptions because they know the preferred drug will require a prior …

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