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 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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Be Sure to Join Our Linkedin Group!
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.
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ERISA - A Trap for the Unwary
By Mark D. Miller, Esq
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ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, is an oxymoron, at least with respect to employer-funded health insurance plans. By looking at the title of the Act, one would think that it was enacted to protect employees. In practice, however, with respect to health insurance benefits, it protects only insurance companies and employers.
In theory, the insured employees are supposed to select a doctor of their choice whereby they pay their co-pay plus a deductible (if any). The employee and the doctor both expect that the balance, or at least a specified portion of the balance (typically 80%), will be paid by the health insurance company. The insurance company has pre-contracted individual doctors or "participating providers" (providers) in their network who have agreed to accept a predetermined rate for specific services provided. In the case of such "in-network" providers, the system usually works just as intended.
The situation where ERISA hurts the unsuspecting employee and the doctor is when the employee chooses a "non-participating" or "out-of-network" provider for services. In practice, the employee typically does not have, and has not been given, a fully copy of his or her health insurance plan. The law only requires that the employer deliver a "summary of benefits." The out-of-network doctor also has no access to the plan document.
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MD Preferred City Spotlight - Great Neck
By Leonard N. Katz, CRC®, RFC®, MFP™, President, SK Management Consultants, Inc.
The term Great Neck is commonly applied to a peninsula on the North Shore of Long Island, New York. The Great Neck area comprises a residential community of some 40,000 people in nine villages. The immediate area is home to several major medical centers including: North Shore University Hospital, St Francis Hospital, Flushing Hospital Medical Center, Calvary Hospital, North Shore Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Cohen Children's Medical Center, Montefiore - Einstein Hospital, Nassau University Medical Center, Bellevue Hospital Center, NYU Langone Medical Center and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Among the many medical specialties found in the Great Neck area are: Adolescent Medicine, Anesthesiology, Cardiology, Clinical Psychology, Colon Surgery & Rectal Surgery, Dermatology, Diabetes, Metabolism & Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, General Surgery, Hand Surgery, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Pediatric Dermatology, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Plastic Surgery, Psychiatry, Psychology, Urology, Vascular Surgery. Opportunities abound for research and practice specialization in state-of-the-art facilities throughout the area.
Great Neck offers not only a stimulating work environment but also a safe, beautiful and pleasant place to live; whether as a family or as a single person. The Village of Great Neck is protected by the Nassau County Police Department's except for the villages of Great Neck Estates, Kings Point, Kensington and Lake Success. Those villages have their own police departments, which are reinforced by the NCPD during any criminal activity, event, or other incident that falls outside the realm of "routine." Great Neck is also served by three all-volunteer fire departments offering fire and rescue services. One company also provides emergency ambulance services. In addition, the Nassau County Police Emergency Ambulance Bureau also provides EMS.
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What's Your Financial Plan
By Barry Rabinowitz, CFP®, MBA, IAR, EA
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Over the past two years we have been on a roller coaster ride in the financial markets, and have seen the major stock market indices fall to a 12 year low, then rebound almost 100%, and then fall almost 20%. Daily moves of over 100 points have been common, and with the all the negative news about the economy, many individuals are wondering about a replay of the 2008 bear market.
What should investor's be doing: Now is a good time to be reviewing your asset allocation, ie., the mix of cash, equities and bonds in your portfolio. Assuming that nothing has changed, you have a diversified portfolio, and your investment allocation adequately reflects your goals, objectives and risk tolerance, you should be "staying the course."
History shows that selling in a panic, or letting your emotions drive your investment
decisions, is a recipe for disaster. In fact, the major reason investors don't earn market returns, is that they buy high and sell low, and convert all their assets to cash during a market downturn. According to Dalbar Inc., a financial research firm, for the 20 year period ending December 31, 2010, the S&P averaged a yearly compound return of 9%.
However, the average stock fund investor, during that same time, averaged only 3.8% a year, as they switched in and out of funds every 3-4 years. That was barely enough to beat inflation, which averaged almost 3% annually over that period.
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Living in a World of Pain
By Anthony J. Ogorek, Ed.D., CFP™
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Physicians by their very nature are healers. Their mission is to alleviate unnecessary pain, as well as to provide a better quality of life for their patients. Sometimes they are successful; other times they are fighting a losing battle. In the end, though, everyone must succumb to their mortality.
Pain is often nature's way of letting us know that something is out of balance or is in danger of being seriously compromised. Although it hurts, it is an early warning system that can help to prevent further damage. We cannot claim the same degree of engineering in the financial markets that has been applied to the human body, but the principles are the same.
During the financial panic of 2008-2009, many observers pointed to the stock markets as the cause of the debacle. In fact, the markets were acting more like a thermometer, letting the world leaders know just how sick the global financial system was at the time. The media tends to give the stock market premier billing during times of crisis, however, there is usually a lot of collateral damage to report when a dropping Dow makes the Nightly News.
For example, during 2008, the S&P 500, a proxy for the U.S. stock market declined by 37%. Foreign markets tanked by 43%, with commodities and real estate losing 46% and 41% respectively that year. The pain applied by the financial markets in 2008 was said to presage a second Great Depression. Policy makers responded forcefully to the global financial meltdown. Unfortunately, their solution has given rise to the Occupy Wall Street movement and its attendant frustration that government cares more for its moneyed institutions than it does the working class.
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Gasoline Sense - Tips for Stretching Your Tank
By Anthony Rosamilia, Sr. Mortgage Consultant, Capital One Bank
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In terms of the economy and its effect on our daily lives, there is no hotter topic than the outrageous prices we are seeing at the pumps. The maddening part is as consumers, we have zero control over these inflated costs. To make matters worse, there's always that person who says something like, "You know, Europeans pay a lot more for gas than we do." That's true, but it doesn't make it any easier when we're reaching for our credit cards at the pump. The absolute worst part about high gas prices, however, is the notion of having no alternatives. Even a diligent hybrid owner has to make a trip to the gas station at some point, right?
So, now that you're feeling backed into a corner and completely depressed about the situation, what do you do? The answer is actually a simple one; cut down on the amount of gas you use. I realize it doesn't sound simple, but by changing just a few bad habits, any motorist can stretch a tank of gas no matter what type of car they drive. Here are some tips that are sure to help.
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The Deductibility of Professional Fees
By Scott C. Edgerton, CFP®, MBA - Core Advisors, Ltd.
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There are a multitude of easily identifiable long term benefits that comprehensive financial planning offers families, but the often overlooked perk of deducting these professional fees has come to the forefront in recent years. In addition to the deductible investment and tax advice that many comprehensive planners provide, there are other investment management fees that can provide tax deductible savings. In many cases, these types of fees are left unaddressed or not communicated properly between advisors, CPA's, and clients. Revisiting previous tax returns can identify these missed deductions, and can often result in an additional refund by filing amended returns.
IRS Publications 529 and 334 are the main sources of guidance on the deductibility of professional fees. These fees are categorized as "miscellaneous" itemized deductions for individuals, and are subject to a 2% floor, meaning taxpayers can only deduct those miscellaneous itemized deductions that exceed 2% of their adjusted gross income (AGI). As an example, a couple with an AGI of 100,000 and 10,000 in miscellaneous itemized deductions could effectively deduct 8,000: 10,000-($00,000X.02) equals 8,000. For business owners, these fees can usually be deducted in full, as they are treated as an ordinary and necessary expense directly related to operating the business, and will therefore not be subject to the 2% floor.
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The Tax Savings of Captive Insurance
By Hale Stewart
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Captives also offer owners tremendous tax benefits. First, when properly structured, captives provide owners with lower ordinary income and thereby lower current year taxes. This money is then paid into the captive. Under current law, when a captive has less than $1.2 million in income, it can elect to be taxed on its investment portfolio rather than its gross income. Finally, should the owner wish to liquidate the captive at the end of its operation, the transaction will be taxed at the then prevailing capital gains rate.
Let's create a hypothetical example to explain the above concepts starting with an individual who, after taking all his deductions, has a taxable income of $1 million. Using the Turbo Tax calculator for 1,000,000 in taxable income gives us 324,371 in taxes due (the calculation includes the standard deductions and exemptions, but you get the idea).
Now, let's assume he forms a captive and underwrites 750,000 in risk. Assuming all the same facts as above, the individual now has taxable income of 250,000. Again using the Turbo Tax tax calculator (which includes the standard deduction and exemption, but, again, you get the general idea), we get total taxes of 64,531. Put another way, we have already seen tax savings of 259,840.00 I should also add that while this example seems excessive - that is, the premium seems very large especially in comparison to a previous year - it's not. Many businesses self-insure a large amount of risk - meaning, they pay for the loss directly rather than through insurance. |
Applying for Medical Residency and Credentialing & Licensing
By Dan Friesland, Accountable Care Search Partners
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Foreign medical graduates seeking to practice clinical medicine in the U.S. usually must complete (or in some cases repeat) residency training at a U.S. program in order to obtain a state medical license. Doctors who have completed an accredited residency training program in Canada are often exempt from this requirement and may obtain a state license without repeating residency training in the U.S. To obtain U.S. residency program placement, a foreign medical graduate must successfully complete an English test and a basic science test and receive certification through the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) of their foreign education. ECFMG can act as a visa sponsor enabling the foreign medical graduate to obtain a J-1 visa and enroll in the residency program. Alternatively, the residency program itself may sponsor the foreign medical graduate for an H-1B visa
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Litigation Isn't The Only Way to Lose Your Assets
By Meredith Beall
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Generally speaking, when we hear, "asset protection," we automatically associate this with the thought of being sued. Depending on the profession you have, this might be your biggest concern. This especially applies to my clients that happen to be physicians. Recently, during a meeting with one such client, I asked him, "Doctor, what keeps you up at night.?" He paused for a moment, thought about it, and answered that being the victim of a lawsuit was a huge concern of his. He went on to explain how he has seen this happen to some of his colleagues, and the impact this had on their personal finances resulting in major lifestyle changes.That being said, we were both in agreement that maintaining quality of life was the first issue we were going to address in the financial plan we were mapping out.
Believe it or not, it's very common for my clients to list their assets as a home, car, or boat. Most of the time they are overlooking the most important one, this being the ability to go to work every day and earn an income. Throughout the course of my meeting with this doctor, we reviewed his disability insurance policy. This policy had been in force since he was a young resident making $30,000 a year. Since disability insurance is income based, he was seriously under insured which posed an enormous threat to his family's quality of life should he be sick or injured and not able to work.
The majority of people don't realize that disability is the number 1 cause of bankruptcy in the United States, or that just because you have DI through your employer means that you are adequately covered. and that a disability doesn't have to be a catastrophic incident. For instance if Doctor Jimmy Jo, the Neurosurgeon, develops Arthritis, hindering his ability to preform surgery, he is considered disabled. If Dr. Joe doesn't have adequate disability coverage or savings to subsidize his lost income, he's going to have a difficult time maintaining his current lifestyle.
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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
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Understanding Your Credit Score
By Brendan Bracken, Loan Officer, W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital Corp.
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Most people use credit to make a purchase at some point in their lives, whether it's a big-ticket item like a home or car or smaller purchases made on a bank or store credit card. These lines of credit are extended to individuals based on a number of factors that, when combined, determine your credit score. Understanding your credit score may help you understand how to protect or even improve your score, which can impact many areas of your life - not just your mortgage terms.
With credit so enmeshed in everything that we do, it's surprising how few people realize what goes into their credit score. Anyone who is interested in financing a home purchase through a mortgage should have a solid understanding of what goes into his or her credit score. In fact, even some employers are beginning to run credit score checks on prospective employees.
A credit score is a numerical value calculated by a third party that describes how likely someone is to repay a loan. Credit scorers look at a variety of factors including past financial and borrowing history to determine the score. Lenders then use this score to decide how safe it is to lend that person the money they need.
How those scores are calculated depends on the rating system. Most people are familiar with the FICO score. FICO is named for the Fair Isaac Corporation, which was founded by an engineer named Bill Fair and mathematician Earl Isaac, who developed their credit scoring system in the 1950s. It has since gone on to be the gold standard of credit scores - and that should come as little surprise given that Fair and Isaac were true visionaries for their time (Isaac even experimented with artificial intelligence as early as the 1950s).
FICO scores range between 300 and 850 points, with the higher scores telling lenders that a borrower is a low risk, and lower scores denoting a higher credit risk. If your FICO ranks too low, you'll have a tough time finding a loan, and if it's high enough, lenders might offer you competitive terms to secure your business. To provide some perspective, the median FICO score for U.S. borrowers in 2010 was 723.
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Should You Stay or Should You Go: Answer This Before You Walk Away
By Chris Thomas, Realty Executives
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Before you decide whether to try for a short sale or walk away and face a full foreclosure, ask yourself if you really want to leave the home at all. You might wind up saving your time, your credit, and possibly even a lot of money. Your situation will always be unique, but answering one quick question will help you decide how to proceed when your mortgage is causing problems.
Why did you buy?
This is the single most important question you can ask when facing a property loss, because it sets the tone for everything that comes next. Did you hope for a quick flip to cash in on rising prices or home improvements? Was it a long-term investment designed to provide income and stability decades down the road? Or was this a primary home for yourself and your family?
If you're looking for a quick buck and you're way underwater, finding a way out may make sense. Most markets have lost a lot of ground recently, and returning to pre-2008 levels could take many, many years. Absorbing a loss now will be painful, but it could free up cash flow for other investments, including properties in less-impacted markets, or lucrative, growing segments like rental properties.
If you're looking at a long-term investment, the decision is more difficult. On one hand, throwing good money after bad if you won't come back to flush for 10 years doesn't make a lot of sense. On the other, a short sale or foreclosure will hurt your credit, hampering your ability to get back in the game and buy another property. By the time you're able, the market may have recovered a good deal of what you've lost.
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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
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Life Insurance - Some Advice
By Peggy Mace, COO and Senior Agent for Outlook Life
If you listen to financial speakers on radio and TV, you will hear many opinions on what type of life insurance to purchase. Most recommend Term Life, with the assumption that it costs less than Whole Life and that you will participate in additional financial planning ("purchase Term and invest the rest"). When Whole Life is recommended, it is often for tax or liquidity purposes. However, these guidelines rarely take impaired risk life insurance into account.
Life insurance for people with a health condition (called "impaired risk" life insurance) sometimes operates by a different set of rules. Here are a few reasons why.
People with health conditions sometimes have limited income due to inability to work, or because of high medical expenses. Thus, they may have little to "invest" for when their Term coverage ends. If you cannot save up enough to cover your final expenses, or are afraid of losing that savings to pay other bills, then take your impaired risk life policy in a product that will be there when you pass.
Many health conditions, such as MS and diabetes, can cause side effects over time. This makes it much more expensive, or even impossible, to get a new policy later. While you are able to get it, make your impaired risk life insurance policy last long enough so you don't have to apply again in the future.
Depending on the seriousness of the health condition, "Impaired Risk" life products are more limited than what people of good health can get. Therefore, someone who has just had a heart attack may have only a handful of choices. The Whole Life choice may cost less than what they can get in Term. The actual products available, rather than the type of insurance, often dictate the best choice for people with impaired risk type conditions.
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Helping Mice Live Longer
By Mike O'Malley
A recent report in Nature caught my attention. It's always exciting to find a study that has taken a concept or scientific principle that has been suspected and find an application that validates the theory. In this case, scientists have long suspected that the build up of old cells in the body that stopped dividing may be directly linked to the aging process.
Normally these "senescent" cells are purged by the body. But as we age they build up and it is thought that they may effect nearby tissues. Perhaps wrinkled skin and muscle loss might be a direct result. More importantly senescent cells produce harmful compounds that could be related to conditions ranging from dementia to diabetes.
The report in Nature detailed how researchers at the Mayo Clinic working with mice were able to delay the effects of aging by cleansing senescent cells. The mice had been genetically engineered to age rapidly and die early of heart attack. So, the study did not indicate that aging had been suspended. But it showed definitively that mice that were treated with a drug that targeted senescent cells manifested "a remarkable delay in the development of cataracts, muscle wasting and the type of fat loss that, in humans, causes skin wrinkling."
The temptation is to extrapolate the study to the nth degree. Could this process delay or even prevent aging in humans? It is obviously a huge step from a limited study of mice to proclaiming the discovery of the fountain of youth. And there is always "a dark side" to any tinkering with the human condition. It is believed, for instance, that senescence may be one means by which the human body protects itself from run away cells that divide uncontrollably leading to cancerous tumors. But this break through study suggests numerous avenues of further research. |
Smoke In The Air
By Mike O'Malley
If I understand it correctly the "Occupy Wall Street" movement is the democracy in action...people in the streets expressing their outrage at the moral decay of irresponsible corporations who place profit before jobs. Let's take a classic example of this American greed...Bank of America.
What a disgusting story of capitalism run amuck. Here is an American enterprise that operates in all 50 states and 40 foreign countries. It employees 288,739 people all of whom regrettably earn above average wages and have comprehensive benefits including health insurance. The company made an obscene amount of money in the third quarter...$6.2 billion! Let's be clear. What that means is that this publicly traded company collected $6.2 billion more than it spent in a mere 3 months and then distributed every penny of that money to its staff and share holders.
This is the very type of behavior that has brought the proletariat into the streets and parks of Manhattan...Wall Street greed plane and simple. Well, the company is based in Charlotte, North Carolina but you know what I mean. Imagine an enterprise having the audacity to offer goods and services that were used by over 57 million customers last year. And it is satisfying to this writer that the stock market has punished such behavior by devaluing BOA stock by over 50% in the last twelve months. This substandard performance is not appreciated by its tens of thousands of share holders.
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