Financial Outcomes

• Medical specialists continue to be relatively highly paid.
• Male specialists earn significantly more than do women specialists.
• U.S. Physicians earn considerably more than physicians elsewhere in the developed world.
• Medicine is not the most highly paid profession per year of required education.
• Other professionals can earn more, sooner in a career, and with less training.

• Patients with lung and colorectal cancer and limited financial reserves are more likely to have a higher symptom burden and a decreased quality of life.
• Patients with lung and colorectal cancer and limited financial reserves are more likely to have a higher symptom burden and a decreased quality of life.
• Results Among patients with lung and colorectal cancer, 40% and 33%, respectively, reported limited financial reserves.

Michael S. Berry, ChFC, is an advisor to MDalert.com. He helps us serve the financial planning concerns of our physician readers. He is also an independent financial consultant with a proven process. His unique wealth planning process engages a team of experts in a variety of disciplines in order to deliver comprehensive results.

In this short clip, Mr. Berry discusses ways to mitigate the three types of financial risk.

Michael S. Berry, ChFC, is an advisor to MDalert.com. He helps us serve the financial planning concerns of our physician readers. He is also an independent financial consultant with a proven process. His unique wealth planning process engages a team of experts in a variety of disciplines in order to deliver comprehensive results.

In this brief video interview Mr. Berry discusses one of the most important actions that physicians can take in business: securing optimal contracts for his or her practice.

Michael Scott Berry is an advisor to MDalert.com. He helps us serve the financial planning concerns of our physician readers. He is also an independent financial consultant with a proven process. He analyzes a client’s particular fact pattern, educates on planning options, and works with the client to implement the chosen strategies. His concierge wealth planning process uses a team of experts in up to 8 disciplines to deliver comprehensive results.

In this brief video interview he discusses the time value of money.

Michael Scott Berry, ChFC, is an advisor to MDalert.com. He helps us serve the financial planning concerns of our physician readers. He is also an independent financial consultant with a proven process. He analyzes a client’s particular fact pattern, educates on planning options, and works with the client to implement the chosen strategies. His concierge wealth planning process uses a team of experts in as many as 8 disciplines to deliver comprehensive results.

In this brief video interview he discusses the importance of getting a second opinion on financial matters. It is almost always worth taking the time to consider diverse approaches to major financial decisions.

• Americans pay much for healthcare but get much less in terms of quality and efficiency than Western European nations.
• The training and quality of medical staff is similar in the U.S. and Europe, but for the same experience healthcare providers earn much more in the U.S. than in Europe.
• European patients can access high-quality hospitals with well-trained medical staff, using the same technologies, pharmaceuticals, and devices, for half the price they would pay in the U.S.
• European health systems adopt technologies from the U.S. more quickly than vice versa, due in part to more rapid regulatory approval.
• For the 20 biggest selling pharmaceutical products, prices in the U.S. are much higher than in Europe.

• Intra-articular tranexamic acid (TXA) reduces costs, transfusion rates, and length of hospital stay in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA).
• Blood transfusion rates were significantly lower when TXA was used.
• Reduced transfusion rates and shorter hospital stays resulted in significantly lower costs.
• Amount of blood transfused was significantly lower in cases where TXA was used.
• TXA was infused directly into the knee joint via an epidural catheter following wound closure.
• Overall cost saving was AU$631.36 (US$479.88) per patient.

• The most valuable asset for a young physician is his or her ability to earn.
• Among wage earners, 30% will experience a long-term disability (90 days or longer) before they reach age 65. (U.S. Social Security Administration, Fact Sheet February 7, 2013; Council for Disability Awareness, Disability Divide Consumer Disability Awareness Study, 2010.)
• In December of 2010, there were more than 2.5 million disabled workers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who were receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits (SSA.gov).
• Medical expenses contributed to 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, a nearly 50% increase over results from a similar 2001 study (U.S. Social Security Administration, Fact Sheet February 7, 2013; Council for Disability Awareness, Disability Divide Consumer Disability Awareness Study, 2010).

Michael S. Berry, ChFC, a member of the MDalert.com Advisory Board, is an expert financial planner who specializes in streamlining and optimizing personal and professional finances for physicians. He has been helping medical practices earn more and keep more of what they earn for over 20 years.

Taxes are one of the greatest burdens on your income. Click to see the full video for tips on streamlining your taxes.

• A mediated divorce is the best way for a divorcing couple to protect the family, determine the future course, and to equitably distribute the assets.
• Divorce is one of the most common and serious threats to financial security in the United States.
• According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov), approximately 43% of all first marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. Second marriages end in divorce about 60% of the time. Nearly 75% of third marriages end in divorce.
• While divorce is frequently an emotionally devastating experience, it can be financially disastrous as well.

• Cash-value life insurance can grow tax-free, provide a tax-advantaged death benefit, and is protected from lawsuit creditors.
• Investors take advantage of life insurance as an investment because of the flexibility it offers as a financial planning tool.
• No other financial, tax, insurance or legal tool can play as many roles in a financial plan as life insurance.

• Implementation of PCMH practices improves the efficiency with which care is delivered. A PCMH practice can significantly improve financial outcomes.
• The widespread implementation of PCMHs is seen as essential by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to improving care nationwide.
• A PCMH can deliver financially efficient, patient-centered, multi-specialty primary care within a single practice.
• AHRQ urges widespread implementation of PCMH practice as an essential way to improve the quality and efficiency of U.S. healthcare.

• The American College of Physicians notes that there are challenges, cautions, and benefits for primary care doctors adopting telehealth.
• Telemedicine can help physicians and patients remain in routine contact.
• Telemedicine can also help to save time for staff and patients by enabling communication without an office visit.
• Legal questions remain unanswered.
• In many cases it is not clear that insurers will cover telemedical costs.

• The U.S. economy has created millions of jobs since the crash of 2008.
• With nationwide overall unemployment at about 5.3%, there are many job opportunities for your employees.
• The risk of employee turnover is higher now than it has been in years.
• There are steps you can take to protect your practice from losing key employees.