Medicine – Page 3 – Physician In Numbers

Slowing Down

Alas, I am not announcing that I am slowing down at work to focus on the blog. In fact, it is quite the opposite.

There’s an old joke about a man in the golf club locker room, hitting his head against the wall. Another man asks him, “Ron, why are you hitting your head against the wall?” And Ron answers, “because it feels so good when I stop.”

Thoughts for July 1

As spring turns into summer, I prepare mentally for our brand new interns. I (and I’m sure I am not alone) remind myself to transition from a hand’s-off, strictly-advisory role in May or June, to an in-the-trenches, double-check the orders role come July 1.

I still remember my father, a retired surgeon, telling me after my graduation from medical school “Congratulations, you now have a license to kill.”

What he was referring to, of course, was not a new career as a sexy British spy, but to the fact that I was entering a time where (especially in those days) my orders did not need to be reviewed by anyone before they were executed. And that a doctor can, through ignorance or poor judgement, make decisions with grave consequences.

Monday Melange #2

Between work and a summer cold, I just am not up to writing a full blog post for Monday. I thought this would be a good time to link to a few posts by other people I found interesting.

Sometimes 90% is more than enough

Yesterday was my first day back after a 3-day weekend. I had planned this absence, as I had a meeting out of town. Despite having cut my hours last fall, I still found myself going home late yesterday with lots of work to do from home.

ACP 2019

I wrote plenty on Monday about financial aspects of attending the American College of Physicians meeting last week. Perhaps more than I planned to.

I thought I might write a shorter bit today about the actual meeting, which I enjoyed very much.

ACP in Numbers

I’m just back from ACP 2019, the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians, held this year in Philadelphia. I had a great time, and may talk about it all week.

Since I usually blog about financial stuff on Mondays, I thought I might write about some of the money issues around attending such a big meeting.

Can I Still Afford to Max Out My Retirement Savings?

I recently received an e-mail from work, reminding me that for 2019, the maximum pre-tax contribution to the 403(b) has gone up. For those under 50, it has increased from $18,500 to $19,000; for those 50 or older (including those who turn 50 in 2019), the maximum has gone from $24,500 to $25,000.

I was reminded–yet again–that turning 50 is a special time. As a PCP, I usually have other issues on the brain when thinking about this landmark year.

Get Credit For the Work You Do

Any resident who joins me in clinic will hear me talk about billing. It isn’t the most important thing I can teach them–seeing a variety of medical issues, learning nuances of outpatient medicine, practicing efficiency: these are what they want to learn, and what they should learn. However, I had little education on billing as a resident, which really came back to bite me in my first job, and I would like to help them avoid this in their own practice.

If you know how you get paid (which you should!), you need to make sure you get paid appropriately. I think it’s also important for employees to get credit if they are working hard. My first job became quite unpleasant after a few years, mostly due to my ignorance of proper medical billing practice.

Know How You Get Paid

Something that I see written about frequently–and will likely write more about myself–is saving your money. As attendings, we doctors are paid pretty darned well, and ought to be able to live within our means, while also saving for retirement. However, some of the numbers offered as reasonable physician income are far higher than what an average primary care physician or internist can reasonably be expected to earn.

While it is reasonable to find savings to put away by spending less, another strategy is to make more. Working hard at your job, or negotiating better terms on a contract, are important factors to earning more. What I’d like to write about today is knowing where your money is coming from. That can help you make smarter choices about where you want to put your effort, possibly helping you get paid for work you are already doing.

Category: Medicine