Healthcare Reform and Your Interview
One of the new initiatives in healthcare reform is called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which requires that all participating hospitals and clinics be reimbursed by Medicare based on the quality of care they provide. This initiative, called Value Based Purchasing (VBP) gathers...
MANAGING YOUR PERSONAL FINANCES
Medical residents are universally lauded for their mastery of “delayed gratification,” and no one can fault them for wanting to play catch-up once the money starts rolling in. But, the transition from medical student to MD is laden with some unique financial challenges that,...
New Physician’s Guide To Personal Finance
To the consternation of young physicians, the general public perception is that all medical practitioners are wealthy, which may be the reason why we hear so much grumbling over the cost of health care costs. What is largely lost on the public is that the vast majority of...
Preserving the Humanity of Patients and Physicians
Everyone knows that life in the E.R. is fast-faced, extremely busy, and ever-challenging. When things get crazy, it becomes habit for busy physicians to see patients as “the chest pain in room 6” or “the broken wrist in the hallway.” We turn people with their amazing lives and...
PHYSICIAN COMPENSATION: WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS MODELS?
When a physician employment contract is offered, often the first thing physicians look for is the compensation section to see how this offer stacks up against others. What physicians sometimes find, is that rather than a simple 3-sentence paragraph outlining the annual...
Surviving the Medical Marriage
The only thing that is certain about the medical lifestyle is change. Moves for medical school, residency, and attending positions dominate a landscape peppered with call schedules, pagers, and licensing exams. As my husband prepared to finish a fellowship and move on to his...
Physician Employment Contract Negotiation
Tip #1: Know What You’re Worth If you’re finishing up residency or fellowship, you’ve spent the last 4, 5, 6, 7, maybe even 8 years being paid about 18 cents per hour. Now you’re out there looking for your first “real” job. So when someone comes along and offers you a 6-figure...
Medical Students Risk it all without Disability Insurance for Physicians
Dr. Lisa has dreamed of becoming an OBGYN since she was four when her mother was pregnant with her baby brother. She planned her course diligently and did what most medical career aspirants do; she sacrificed, worked hard, invested, borrowed and planned for what she expected –...
How a Stubborn “Western” Physician Came to Appreciate Eastern Medicine
As a child growing up in China, I was always aware of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). TCM is what we refer to as Eastern medicine, in contrast to the Western medicine we know from U.S. hospitals. I never understood much about TCM, only that it somehow involves herbs and...
The World Belongs To Those Who See Its Potential
I was rushing through the Vancouver airport last Wednesday when a poster caught my eye. It said, “The World Belongs To Those Who See Its Potential.” This seemed like such a powerful statement to be up there on the airport wall. Clearly, messages come in all shapes and sizes...
