MD Preferred Services is an online resource center for physicians and healthcare executives. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are approximately 700,000 physicians in the United States who work in excess of 60 hours per week. To help medical professionals leverage their time and resources, MD Preferred has identified and screened uniquely qualified, financially sound, "doctor friendly" community based professionals in a wide range of disciplines including: real estate/relocation, financial planning, mortgage services, banking, legal services, insurance, and accounting who are committed to serving healthcare professionals and offering a superior service experience.    Contact Us!    

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Networking for Healthcare Professionals

Just a heads up to all our readers...we started a group on Linkedin! 

 Networking for Healthcare Professionals is all about our members and the healthcare industry coming together.  Share ideas, opinions and industry news.  Establish connections with other MDP members and share your knowledge with the healthcare field. 

The goal of this group is to establish business to physician relations as well as physician to physician networking. We also hope that this will become a resource for physicians and healthcare professionals looking for tools to help them grow in their career or career search and meet their everyday needs.

Employment Contracts:  The Difference Between an Independent Contractor & Employee

By Ali Oromchian, Esq., Dental & Medical Counsel, PC
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As doctors plan to enter the workforce, they must contend with a legal matter that they are not typically acquainted with or knowledgeable about - the employment contract.  It is important to remember that to protect their legal interests, all doctors should have a written contract regarding the terms of their employment agreement with their employer.  

An employment contract is an agreement between an employer and an employee, which sets out their employment rights, responsibilities and duties. These are called the 'terms' of the contract.  Typically, both you and your employer have a legal duty to be bound to the terms until it ends or until notice is given.  Some of the basic terms include, but are not limited to, the date when the employment began, the pay rate and when payment will be paid, hours of work, number of vacation and sick days and benefits, confidentiality, and on-call schedule.

In this article, we are going to simply focus on the difference between an independent contractor and an employee as it is one of the most important aspects of a contract because there are very important tax consequences to each.  

An independent contractor is considered self-employed.  So generally speaking, you can be considered an independent contractor if you have a great amount of control on how to conduct your job and you have independence on when and where to treat your patience.  Some of the other factors include the following: does the company control or have any right to control what you do and how you practice medicine?  Does the company control how you are paid?  Does the company reimburse you for expenses?  Who provides you with the tools and supplies you require in treating patients?  Do you earn benefits typically reserved for employees such as pensions, health insurance, and vacation time?

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The Sandwich Generation:  Caught Between Duty and Goals  

By Susan H. Tritsch, New York Life Insurance Company
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The "Sandwich Generation" is the largely unheralded group of adults who find themselves raising and providing for young children while also caring and providing for aging parents. If you are a member of this generation, it might seem like there is no safe or reliable investment to protect your family and address your specific needs. But there are more options than you may realize.

Preparing for the Future
One of the greatest concerns for anyone with the responsibilities of caring for parents, children or spouses   is, 'What will happen to them if something happens to me?' Fortunately, there are several precautionary steps you can take. First, it is important to prepare a will, and to update it as often as circumstances change.

An estate-planning attorney can help you navigate your options. Another prudent step to think about is life insurance, which can be tailored to the needs of you and your family. For instance, a term life policy can provide affordable death benefit protection for a certain period of years. It may also be eligible for conversion to whole life policy at a future date, which can provide financial protection later in life. Additionally, the cash value of a whole life policy can be borrowed against* as needs arise.  

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Facts About Life - 2011 

Life Insurance Awareness Month, September 2011  

• The proportion of U.S. adults with life insurance protection has declined to an all-time low as 41 percent (95 million) of U.S. adults have no life insurance at all.
• Both men and women are less likely to own life insurance today than they were in 2004-only 61 percent of men and 57 percent of women have some sort of life insurance coverage.
• Only 1 in 10 insured adults own both permanent and term life insurance -half as many in 2004.
• The likelihood of being without life insurance has dramatically increased for every age group since 2004.

Troubling Declines for Men:

• Men ages 35 to 54 have seen large declines in individual life ownership in the past 12 years. This is troubling, since middle-aged men typically have families and are usually in their highest income earning years.
• Young males, ages 18 to 24, are less likely than in past decades to be starting their adult years with any individual life insurance. Only 13 percent had individual life policies in 2010, compared with 30 percent in 1998.
• Husbands ages 35 to 54 and 65 or older had double-digit declines in the proportion owning individual life insurance in the past six years.
• Since 2004 the likelihood of husbands having any life insurance has declined across every income level -low, middle and affluent.

Women Lag Behind in Life Insurance Coverage:

• While younger women are now as likely as their male counterparts to have coverage, women ages 55 and older are still considerably less likely than men the same age to own life insurance.
• Women of all ages average smaller amounts of individual life coverage than men of similar ages. On average, women have $129,800 of individual life insurance, while men have $187,100 of individual life insurance coverage.
• The gap in average life insurance coverage between husbands and wives with similar personal incomes has narrowed over the past six years -primarily because insured wives have experienced smaller declines in amounts of individual life and group life coverage than have husbands with similar personal incomes.
• Women with high personal incomes ($100,000+) are less likely to have individual life insurance or group life insurance than men with similar personal incomes.

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MD Preferred 

Professional Services Directories  

MD Preferred understands that a job search involves far more than resumes and interviews. That is why MD Preferred has selected the nation's leading service professionals and recognized them with the MD Preferred Service Medallion. As you will discover, MD Preferred offers access to award winning professionals in: Real Estate/Relocation, Mortgage Services, Private Banking Services, Legal Services, Accounting Services and Financial Planning.

To find a service provider in your area visit our national networks or call 800-260-8366 Ext 702 for a referral 

• Real Estate & Relocation
• Banking Services  
• Mortgage Services
• Financial Advisors
• Legal Services
• Insurance  

It's Time to Revise Your Recruiting Efforts 

By Mike O'Malley 

Most in-house medical recruiters do a fine job of identifying and attracting qualified physician candidates.  But the task is getting more challenging as the national physician shortage grows, especially in the primary care fields.  Major national search firms will tell you that graduating residents and fellows will interview at five properties on average before accepting their first practice opportunity. 

And with the challenging economic and real estate environments, many practicing physicians have postponed any plans to explore new opportunities; which in turn drives the competition for young physicians to new heights.  One doesn't need to be a math wiz to understand that if graduating residents and fellows are accepting one out of five job offers for which they have interviewed there are four groups that lost their candidate. 

If it were simply a numbers game of supply and demand, a medical recruiter might be forgiven for simply adjusting their recruiting budget and forecast in accordance with the new industry realities.  But a growing number of hospitals and medical practices are changing the numbers by changing the interview schedule once a candidate is on site.   

A recruiter can draw upon many resources to tell the clinical story of their practice opportunity.  They can assign a senior partner or department head to spend time with the candidate.  Hospital staff will see to it that the candidate is made aware of all the bells and whistles, the advanced medical equipment and facilities, the new doctor's office tower and the preferred parking.  But the sad truth is that most of the practice opportunities offer state-of-the-art facilities, competitive compensation and benefit packages and impressive cadres of colleagues and support staff.  So why do 80% of the competing employers lose the contest?

The short version is that 60% or more of the final practice deliberation involves non-clinical, non-compensation life style factors.  And the spouse and family are playing a larger and larger role in that process.  So, if the physician shortage is not going to get better; if the competition is going to get fiercer; if more than 60% of the career decision is going to involve quality of life and community factors; why does the average first site visit exclude the spouse and devote over 90% of the available time telling the clinical story?

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The Rule of 72 

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Do you know how to benefit from the Rule of 72 in your financial estimations?

The easiest way to explain this Rule, is by example.  When you take the inflation rate, suppose it is 3%, divide that into 72, and we get 24.  What this means is that at an inflation rate of only 3%, you will need twice as much money in 24 years as you do today.  Knowing this will enable you to plan for your future.  If you are living a 100,000 dollar  lifestyle, in 24 years you will need 200,000 dollars to live the same lifestyle.

If you are earning 5% on your investments, divide 5% in 72 and you get 14.4.  What this means is that your investments, growing at 5% per year, will double in 14.4 years.

Article submitted by Sara Finkelstein, Signature Advisory Group, Delray Beach. Sara is a CFP candidate and has been serving clients in FL since 1996.  She is a Safe Money Strategist.  Have a question for Sara? You can email her atsara@signatureadvisorygroup.com or call (561) 503-4803.

MD Preferred 

Medical Directories 

Knowing how to reach industry decision makers is a critical part of any job search. MD Preferred healthcare directories help physicians and nursing candidates identify hospital and private practice in-house recruiters as well as the nation's leading search firms. The MD Preferred Hotel Directory helps healthcare executives plan conferences and meetings, business and personal travel.  

Hospital & Private Practice In-house Recruiters

Top 100 Medical Recruiting Firms

Medical Associations & Societies

State Licensing Boards

Quick Tips - Boost Your Savings Account

Annual income aside, there's not a person among us who wouldn't welcome the idea of having more money in their savings account. This is the money we use on everything from yearly vacations to family presents. Come holiday time, wouldn't it be nice to have an extra thousand or so dollars at your disposal? Here are a few ideas that can help to make that possible. The best part is you'll hardly feel it!

Bring Your Lunch to Work - The average person spends 6 dollars when they buy their lunch yet only 2 dollars when they pack it themselves. That's a potential savings of 20 dollars a week or 1,040 dollars a year.

Durable over Disposable - Using products like Handi-Wipes (semi-disposable rags) as opposed to paper towels, and a rechargeable razor rather than the disposable kind, can save you up to 200 dollars per year.

Hold an Annual Yard Sale - You should have no problem making at least a hundred bucks. Besides, you'll get rid of all that household clutter in the process. Whatever you don't sell can be donated to charity and used as a tax write-off.

Ask for Discounts - From buying airline tickets to paying a medical bill, always ask if there's a discount to be had. The worst that can happen is you'll be told no. Get a Library Card - As opposed to buying a book for 20 dollars or renting a DVD for 4 dollars, get it for free. If you average 3 movie rentals a month, you'll save yourself over 140 dollars a year.

Watch Those Utilities - Changing over to energy saving light bulbs and low flow showerheads is a great start. Also, most utility companies offer a home audit you can complete online. If not, go to http://hes.lbl.gov for a virtual inspection of your home. You may be surprised to learn how much energy (and money) you could be saving.

The good news is suggestions like these are merely a start. Only you know where your household may be wasting money. Find inefficient habits and figure out a solution. Remember, every little bit counts. The final step is when you save money on something, put the savings into an earmarked account. Then leave it alone until it's the appropriate time to use it.

Deal or No Deal 

By Christopher Veenstra, GFDIC    

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Perhaps you have watched the TV show "Deal or No Deal." If so, you know contestants have a 1 in 26 chance of winning 1,000,000 dollars, which can improve every time they open a case that does not contain the 1,000,000 dollars. Open enough cases, and with enough luck, the odds can improve to 1 in 10, 1 in 5, or even better. The psychologically interesting thing about the show is that there is a "banker" who offers to buy the contestant's briefcase for increasing amounts of money as the odds of that case containing 1,000,000 dollars improves.

Contestants agonize over turning down a guaranteed offer of; say 450,000 dollars, for a 1 in 3 chance of winning 1,000,000 dollars. Of course, the suspense is heightened by frequent commercial breaks and carry-overs to the next show to find out if the person wins.

Have you ever thought about what you would do if given the choice outlined above? Consider this "deal". For 1 - 2% of your income, we can provide you the protection of replacing 60% of your income if you became sick, hurt and unable to work - a sum that can easily exceed 1,000,000 dollars. Or, you could pay nothing now and receive nothing if you become sick, hurt and unable to work.

GFDIC has established a special 15% discount on "TRUE" Own Occupation income protection products for members of MD Preferred Physician Services. For more information contact us at (877) 642-2777.

MD Preferred 

Career Services  

With a growing physician shortage, with healthcare reform swelling the ranks of patients, with rising malpractice premiums, shrinking revenues and growing government regulation, it has never been more important that a physician or nursing professional make the right choice when considering a career change.

MD Preferred offers the only medical job board with top tier job listings and access to award winning, doctor friendly professionals in: Real Estate/Relocation, Mortgage Services, Private Banking Services, Legal Services, Accounting Services and Financial Planning.

Medical professionals requiring discrete professional representation during their job search can call 800-260-8366 to speak with a personal search associate. 

MD Preferred/Medical Match Job Board

By Brendan Bracken, W.J. Bradley Mortgage

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Given current economic pressures, many people are trying to erase debt from their financial picture and focus on saving and safer investments. Americans are paying down their credit cards and cautiously borrowing money. Not surprisingly, paying down the home mortgage has become an attractive option for people in a financial position to do so.

However, paying off your mortgage isn't necessarily something you always want to do. It turns out there are various considerations you should weigh to decide whether paying off your mortgage is the right move. Let's take a look at some of the factors that could influence your decision: 

Do you have other debt?
If you are still paying off a car or carrying credit card debt, then paying off your mortgage shouldn't necessarily be your first concern. It all comes down to interest rates. Chances are your mortgage carries the lowest interest rate you have. Why prioritize paying off a loan at a much lower interest rate when you should be prioritizing paying off more expensive loans, such as credit cards?

Peace of mind.
For many, paying off the mortgage brings a psychological benefit. It's true for many people that they are not happy when they owe money; it represents an insecure state of personal finances for them. That's completely understandable, but curbing an emotional response to consider how you can best make your money work for you is probably the best way to go. For some, that could indeed be to pay off the mortgage. For others, it might make more sense to stick to the original term of the loan. The best rational outcome should ultimately prove the most psychologically satisfying.

Taxes.
If you pay off your loan early, you will lose the ability to write off the mortgage interest you have paid during the tax year. That can amount to a considerable deduction. However, don't be oversold on this issue. If you don't itemize your deductions, or are confident that you won't be itemizing by the time you pay off your loan early, then this might not apply.*    

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