Feeling burned out is often a function of financial fragility. How is that possible when most doctors earn incomes in the top 1 percent?
I am both a physician and involved in finance. As physicians, we often start our careers under significant debt, start our careers at an older age, and start with less savings than many of our friends who are professionals in other industries. Starting our careers at this …
As the world becomes increasingly digitized and economic realities continually shift, there has been a growing conversation among medical professionals regarding investing, particularly in digital assets like Bitcoin. The appeal of Bitcoin is substantial, especially in an era marked by high inflation rates. Bitcoin is the first “programmed” money that relies on math and code. It has an open public and simple code and has never been hacked. This is …
The applicability of add-on payment/reimbursement qualifiers/modifiers for emergency procedures should not be limited to patients’ emergency conditions alone. They should also be applicable to situations where arrangements are made for procedures outside regular office hours or on weekends. This includes cases where proceduralists choose to schedule procedures during after-hours or patients choose to have procedures during these times. Additionally, these qualifiers/modifiers should apply to proceduralists who work during after-hours or …
America’s medical debt problem is out of control, with collection agencies holding around $140 billion in unpaid medical bills.
Some experts think the amount of medical debt may actually reach $1 trillion and affect nearly 1 in 3 Americans. That’s because not all medical debt appears on credit reports. Moreover, many people pay their medical bills with their credit card and then are forced to have those unpaid …
Physician burnout and the shortage of physicians are pressing issues within the health care industry, often unnoticed by the general public until their own health is at stake. The erosion of the title “doctor” and the increasing encroachment on physician authority have contributed significantly to this problem. Physicians have allowed the interference of the federal government, burdensome regulations, and insurance company restrictions to impede their ability to provide quality care. …
Few problems in health care are more vexing or persistent than physician burnout. It’s a problem that poses a serious threat to patient care, no different from the spread of a virus or the impact of cigarette smoke. And it has only gotten worse since the pandemic.
Burned-out physicians are less effective as healers. They don’t connect as well with patients, undermining the therapeutic benefits of a close clinician-patient relationship. They …
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Join Gail Gazelle, an internal medicine physician, physician coach, and author of Mindful MD: 6 Ways Mindfulness Restores Your Autonomy and Cures Healthcare Burnout, where we explore the transformative power of mindfulness in health care. In …
An excerpt from The Compound Code: An Expert Guide to Trading Stocks & Options.
The focus of this chapter is on how to use options to generate income, enhance returns, and provide downside protection. Options can be complex and confusing, if not outright intimidating. Many people think of derivatives in general …
Lack of business education among doctors is a topic I’ve been considering as I decide which direction to take in my career. I wholeheartedly agree with the lack of physician engagement in the business of medicine is troublesome. However, blaming academia’s lack of financial education as an external force for the profession’s lack of financial ability is not productive. The mindset of placing responsibility on our educators actually exemplifies …
The broken status quo
The hard, cold truth is that half of you will end up teetering on the same burnout cliff that I found myself looking at a decade ago. It’s a painful abyss, and many of you will experience it.
The status quo of resigning ourselves to accepting that half of the brightest and most altruistic humans on Earth will be injured and harmed by the current health care system …
Both privileged and marginalized payers should reflect on the completeness, difficulty, and straightforwardness of procedures, processes, and payments.
When it comes to procedures that are reimbursed at reduced rates due to their incomplete nature, it is important to consider the reasons behind the failure to complete them. Were the factors patient-related, provider-related, or related to the location? Were there issues with the preparation for the procedures themselves? Furthermore, if the failure …
Yes, this sounds very ominous. However, there is a reason why I wanted to alert you to the fear of mismanaging your finances. Doctors live in the limelight and are highly traceable on the internet. Also, physicians earn large amounts of money, which can sometimes be overwhelming, giving a false sense of never running out of it. Therefore, I want to review the top four mistakes doctors make with their …
“The cause of man’s problem is a lack of knowledge. It does not stem from a shortage of information but rather from the rejection of information.”
– Hosea 4:6
This event in medical history is one such lesson that describes the blinding of physicians to the realities of open-mindedness and the destructive potential that results from ignoring factual truth.
If it weren’t for the persistence and medical ingenuity of an early 1800s medical …
Over a million intelligent American physicians are walking around in the medical practice environment today, patting themselves on the back while believing they have reached their ultimate success in medical practice. They have absolutely no idea that they have never come close to their optimal potential. It’s a tragedy that has been disregarded yet tolerated by medical school scholars and administrators for at least the last century.
What every physician should …
Emotional intelligence (EI) represents an essential suite of abilities that dictate our capacity to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions and the emotions of others. This skill set significantly influences our decision-making process, conflict resolution abilities, empathy towards others, and how we handle stress. EI plays a fundamental role in entrepreneurship and forms the bedrock of successful leadership, effective team dynamics, and robust client relationships.
Pioneered by psychologist Daniel Goleman, …
In a recent Wall Street Journal article titled “A Housing Bust Comes for Thousands of Small-Time Investors,” the foreclosure woes of Jay Gajavelli, the head of Applesway Investment Group, were brought to light. Gajavelli’s ownership of multiple units across Houston took a turn for the worse, shedding light on the risks associated with syndicators in the real estate market. However, it is crucial to note that this case does …
In organizational leadership, the adage “less is more” often rings accurate, particularly regarding team size. Small teams, with their inherent communication advantages, often outperform larger ones. This phenomenon, communication complexity, is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in team success. In this article, we will explore the concept of communication complexity, its application in health care leadership, and how it influences various team structures such as grand rounds, regular teaching …
At age 18, my buddy David and I scaled the outside stucco of a hotel in Cancun, Mexico, and soon found ourselves ten stories up, lying on our backs on the hotel roof, looking at the night sky. It was a terribly stupid idea—one of many we had back in those days. But once we were up there, David taught me the major stars and constellations of the summer sky: …
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