Health 2.0 Financial Planning for Medical Executive-Post Members

A By-Product of Health 2.0?

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko FACFAS MBA CMP*

[Founder and CEO]

www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com

Dr David E Marcinko MBAA decade ago, Editor Gregory J. Kelley of Physician’s MONEY DIGEST and I reported that a 47 year old-doctor with $184,000 annual income would need about $5.5 million dollars for retirement at age 65. Then came the “flash-crash’ of 2007-08, the home mortgage fiasco and the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act [PP-ACA] of 2010; etc.

No wonder that medical provider career panic is palpable. Much like the new medical home concept, the idea of holistic life planning was born.

Life Planning

Life planning has many detractors and defenders. Formally, life planning has been defined in the following way. 

Financial Life Planning is an approach to financial planning that places the history, transitions, goals, and principles of the client at the center of the planning process.  For the client, their life becomes the axis around which financial planning develops and evolves.

But, for physicians, life planning’s quasi-professional and informal approach to the largely isolated disciplines of medically focused financial planning, was still largely inadequate.

Why? 

Today’s personal financial and practice environment is incredibly more complex than it was in 2007-08, as economic stress from HMOs, Wall Street, liability fears, criminal scrutiny from government agencies, IT mischief from hackers, economic benchmarking from hospitals and the lost confidence of patients all converged to inspire a robust new financial planning 2.0 approach for medical professionals.

Example of a financial planning mistake 

Recall the tale of Dr. Debasis Kanjilal, a pediatrician from New York who put more than $500,000 into the dot.com company, InfoSpace, upon the advice of Merrill Lynch’s star but non fiduciary analyst Henry Bloget.

Is it any wonder that when the company crashed, the analyst was sued, and Merrill settled out of court? Other analysts, such as Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter and Jack Grubman from Salomon Smith Barney, were involved in similar fiascos.

Although sad, this story is a matter of public record. Hopefully, doctors now understand that the big brokerage houses that underwrite and recommend stocks may have credibility problems, and that physicians got burned with the adrenalin rush of “self-directed” investment portfolios.

Example of a medical practice management mistake 

Just reflect a moment on colleagues willing to securitize their medical practices a few years ago, and cash out to Wall Street for perceived riches that were not rightly deserved

Where are firms such as MedPartners, Phycor, FPA and Coastal now? A recent survey of the Cain Brothers Physician Practice Management Corporation Index of publicly traded PPMCs revealed a market capital loss of more than 95%, since inception. 

Another Approach?

This disruptive narrative shift was formally noted by the Institute of Medical Business Advisors Inc [iMBA, Inc] and introduced to the medical and financial services industry. This research and corpus of work resulted in hundreds of publications in the Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Library of Congress, along with related publications, a dozen textbooks and white papers

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog?term=marcinko

The iMBA approach to financial planning, as championed by the www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org professional charter designation, integrates the traditional concepts of fiduciary focused financial planning, with the increasing complex business concepts of medical practice management.

The former ideas are presented in our textbook on financial planning for doctors: Financial Planning for Physicians and Advisors

The later in our companion book: Business of Medical Practice [Edition 3.0]

A textbook for hospital CXOs and physician-executives: Hospitals & Healthcare Organizations

While most issues of risk management, liability and insurance are found in Risk Management and Insurance Strategies for Physicians and Advisors

And, for the perplexed, all definitions are codified in the dictionary glossary Health Dictionary Series

Health 2.0 Paradigm Shift

And so, the ME-P community now realizes that a more integrated approach is needed.  The traditional vision of medical practice management, personal physician financial planning and how they may look in the future are rapidly changing as the retail mentality of medicine is replaced with a wholesale philosophy.

Or, how views on maximizing current practice income might be more profitably sacrificed for the potential of greater wealth upon eventual practice sale and disposition.

Or, how Yale University economist Robert J Shiller warns in “The New Financial Order” [Risk in the 21st Century] that the risk for choosing the wrong healthcare profession or specialty might render physicians obsolete by technological changes, managed care systems or fiscally unsound demographics. 

Physician-Executive

My Assessment

Yet, the opportunity to re-vise the future at any age through personal re-engineering, exists for all of us, and allows a joint exploration of the medicine, business and the meaning and purpose of life.

To allow this deeper and more realistic approach, the advisor and the doctor must build relationships based on fiduciary trust, greater self-knowledge and true medical business and financial enhancement acumen.

Are you up to the task?

Conclusion

Your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.

Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:

Product DetailsProduct DetailsProduct Details

Product Details  Product Details

Product DetailsProduct Details

More on the Doctor Salary “WARS” – er! ah! … CONUNDRUM!

Join Our Mailing List

Compensation Trend Data Sources

cropped-dem

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA

[Editor-in-Chief] www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com

Related chapters: Chapter 27: Salary Compensation and Chapter 29: Concierge Medicine and Chapter 30: Practice Value-Worth

 

***

PERSONAL PREAMBLE

***

Physician compensation is a contentious issue and often much fodder for public scrutiny. Throw modern pay for performance [P4P], and related metrics, into the mix and few situations produce the same level of emotion as doctors fighting over wages, salary and other forms of reimbursement.

This situation often springs from a failure of both sides to understand mutual compensation terms-of-art when the remuneration deal was first negotiated. This physician salary and compensation information is thus offered as a reference point for further investigations.

Introduction 

More than a decade ago, Fortune magazine carried the headline “When Six Figured Incomes Aren’t Enough. Now Doctors Want a Union.” To the man in the street, it was just a matter of the rich getting richer. The sentiment was quantified in the March 31, 2005 issue of Physician’s Money Digest when Greg Kelly and I reported that a 47-y.o. doctor with 184,000 dollars in annual income would need about 5.5 million dollars for retirement at age.

Of course, physicians were not complaining back then under the traditional fee-for-service system; the imbroglio only began when managed care adversely impacted income and the stock market crashed in 2008.

Today, the situation is vastly different as medical professionals struggle to maintain adequate income levels. Rightly or wrongly, the public has little sympathy for affluent doctors following healthcare reform. While a few specialties flourish, others, such as primary care, barely move.

In the words of colleague Atul Gawande, MD, a surgeon and author from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, “Doctors quickly learn that how much they make has little to do with how good they are. It largely depends on how they handle the business side of practice.”  And so, it is critical to understand contemporary thoughts on physician compensation and related trends.

Compensation Trend Data Sources

A growing number of surveys measure physician compensation, encompassing a varying depth of analysis. Physician compensation data, divided by specialty and subspecialty, is central to a range of consulting activities including practice assessments and valuations of medical entities. It may be used as a benchmarking tool, allowing the physician executive or consultant to compare a practitioner’s earnings with national and local averages.

The Medical Group Management Association’s (MGMA’s) annual Physician Compensation and Production Correlations Survey is a particularly well-known source of this data in the valuation community. Other information sources include Merritt Hawkins and Associates; and the annual the Health Care Group’s, [www.theHealthCareGroup.com] Goodwill Registry.

###

Portfolio analysis

www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org

Assessment

However, all sources are fluid and should be taken with a grain of statistical skepticism, and users are urged to seek out as much data as possible and assess all available information in order to determine a compensation amount that may be reasonably expected for a comparable specialty situation. And, realize that net income is defined as salary after practice expenses but before payment of personal income taxes.

Conclusion

Your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.

Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:

DICTIONARIES: http://www.springerpub.com/Search/marcinko
PHYSICIANS: www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com
PRACTICES: www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com
HOSPITALS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466558731
CLINICS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439879900
BLOG: www.MedicalExecutivePost.com
FINANCE: Financial Planning for Physicians and Advisors
INSURANCE: Risk Management and Insurance Strategies for Physicians and Advisors

Product Details

Risk Management, Liability Insurance, and Asset Protection Strategies for Doctors and Advisors: Best Practices from Leading Consultants and Certified Medical Planners™ Risk Management, Liability Insurance, and Asset Protection Strategies for Doctors and Advisors: Best Practices from Leading Consultants and Certified Medical Planners™

***

Invite Dr. Marcinko

***

Are Physicians Really Going Broke?

Am I Prescient, Lucky or Just an Observant Trend Reporter?

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA CMP™

[Publisher-in-Chief]

A few years ago I was involved in a Physician’s Money Digest report that showed the average physician reader (ie, 47 years old and $184,000 in annual income) would need about $5.5 million to retire. This was in 2007-08, right before the infamous financial “meltdown”.

Lifestyle Preservation

Now, that’s if they planned to have the same lifestyle after retirement as in the years just prior to retirement. In other words, to live on 80% of pre-retirement income, my doctor colleagues would need about $4.4 million. Although that isn’t exactly loose change, the average PMD reader at the time, had a head start, with a net worth of $1.1 million. By maxing out on retirement plans, we reckoned the average reader could be in shouting distance of the goal by age 65.

Although the figures were daunting, they were a wakeup call to the fact these doctors, now age 52-53, still needed to save more aggressively to be able to finance the retirement they were working toward. But since then, their home worth and practice value, savings, investment and retirement accounts are probably down in 2012; as is their net worth. Down –  and I mean way down!

Link: http://www.physiciansmoneydigest.com/issues/2005/92/3951

Fast Forward to 2012

Today, some pundits posit that doctors in America are harboring an embarrassing secret: Many of them are going broke. This quiet trend and seeming reality, which is spreading nationwide, is claiming a wide range of casualties including family physicians, cardiologists and oncologists. Sadly, it is a trend that I have professionally observed and personally seen.

Link: http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/05/smallbusiness/doctors_broke/

Doctors list shrinking insurance reimbursements, changing regulations, rising business and drug costs among the factors preventing them from keeping their practices afloat. And, no doubt, these are all true reasons – in part. But, some experts counter that doctors’ lack of business acumen is also to blame.

So, that’s why we started our physician focused financial planning firm www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com  –  and – our online educational program for their managerial consultants and financial advisors www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com These firms were conceived and launched more than a decade ago; to much derision and haughtiness at the time. Not some much today, however! Why?

Assessment

A decade ago, Forbes magazine ran an article about doctors making six figure salaries and still wanting a medical union to bargain collectively.  This was a bit difficult for the average man or woman in the street to imagine about such learned professionals, formerly considered affluent and a cut above the rest. So, where is medical union clout today? Where is MD salary clout? And, where is physician net worth now – and in the future?  Doctor – what’s in your wallet?

Conclusion           

And so, your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Are doctors really going broke? Are they OWS…ers? Was I prescient, lucky or just an observant reporter of this trend, early on? Please review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.

Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

Our Other Print Books and Related Information Sources:

Health Dictionary Series: http://www.springerpub.com/Search/marcinko

Practice Management: http://www.springerpub.com/product/9780826105752

Physician Financial Planning: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/0763745790

Medical Risk Management: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/9780763733421

Healthcare Organizations: www.HealthcareFinancials.com

Physician Advisors: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com

Subscribe Now: Did you like this Medical Executive-Post, or find it helpful, interesting and informative? Want to get the latest ME-Ps delivered to your email box each morning? Just subscribe using the link below. You can unsubscribe at any time. Security is assured.

Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos

Sponsors Welcomed: And, credible sponsors and like-minded advertisers are always welcomed.

Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2007/11/11/advertise

Product DetailsProduct DetailsProduct Details

Product Details  Product Details

Product Details

Doctor – Are You on Your Way to $5.5 Million?

Update 2015

[By Staff Reporters]

[Initially Published on September 16, 2008]

As a physician, how much do you need in your retirement kitty to finance your golden years?

It was a vexing question when this article was first written by Physician’s Money Digest’s Editor-in-Chief, Gregory J. Kelly, and is an even more vexing dilemma in 2009. It is also one that most physicians tend to ignore; hence the reprint.

Assessment

And so, for those doctors curious about whether they’ll be living on Easy Street, or Skid Row, when they hang up their stethoscope, it helps to do some basic math and to review this link:

Read: http://www.hcplive.com/print.php?url=http://www.hcplive.com/publications/pmd/2005/95/4030

Channel Surfing the ME-P

Have you visited our other topic channels? Established to facilitate idea exchange and link our community together, the value of these topics is dependent upon your input. Please take a minute to visit. And, to prevent that annoying spam, we ask that you register. It is fast, free and secure.

More:

  1. More on the Doctor Salary Conundrum
  2. Doctor Salary v. Others [Present Value of Career Wealth]
  3. Are Doctors Members of the Middle Class?
  4. Taxing the [not so] Rich [doctors]
  5. Doctor – Are You on Your Way to $5.5 Million?

Conclusion

Your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:

Financial Planning MDs 2015

Comprehensive Financial Planning Strategies for Doctors and Advisors: Best Practices from Leading Consultants and Certified Medical Planners(TM)

%d bloggers like this: