Declare Your Financial Independence!

Recent political, fiscal, and macroeconomic events will force Medicare and third party commercial payers to continue to cut your physician fees.

The fact is healthcare is 1/6 of our gross domestic product or 16% of GDP. That’s $2.1 trillion dollars allotted to healthcare!

And growing…

Dollars by percentages: 31% hospitals, 21% physicians, 10% prescription drugs, 6% nursing homes, and 32% other.

Something’s got to give to pay for medical services. Physicians and hospitals will suffer the greatest cuts. So get ready for less pay now and into the foreseeable future.

The latest ruse by our do little to nonexistent Congress is to further reduce your Medicare fees to the tune of 10.6%.

Read recent post titled, “Senate Fails to Postpone Medicare Reimbursement Reduction at
http://www.physicianentrepreneur.com/?p=430

For the moment cuts will be on hold until Congress gets back from the July 4th recess to reexamine the bill.

But it’s still going to cost you and your medical practice money. Why…because of loss of cash flow for at least two months.

Under “normal claims processing” Medicare by law cannot process your claim for 30 days. Which means best case scenario for you to receive payment is day 45 to day 60.

You face a cash flow shortage while your expenses continue unabated.

However there is a greater concern than just delayed cash flow.

If this reduction goes through you can expect third party commercial insurers; BC/BS, Aetna, United Healthcare, and others, to follow suit.

That’s when you’ll feel the reduction in income in your practice.

Oh!…by the way, did you know you have been subjected to a stealth pay cut?

If you consider that inflation has averaged 4% over the last three years and you have not had a commensurate increase in insurance payments from either Medicare or commercial insurers over the same period, you’re down 12% in real wages.

Everything else around you however has gone up in price.

This is not a doom and gloom message, but rather a wake up call for you to take action.

You will continue to be under financial pressure for the foreseeable future. You can’t hope it’ll go away and get better.

You need to act now.

Begin by acknowledging that you are responsible for your own future and your family’s well being.

Yes you can write your congressman and voice your concerns and frustrations and become politically active. And that’s ok. But it is not enough.

You can and need to do more. But what you may ask? Here are some thoughts to consider.

Are you passionate about a hobby or interest you enjoy? Have you ever given serious thought to how you could make your hobby a revenue producing business?

Imagine making money doing something you love to do in addition to practicing medicine without worrying about money because you have another revenue stream.

If not, you should.

Consider a physician who enjoys knitting. She could write about how to knit or better yet video record a knitting session to show you exactly how.

How about a physician who enjoys mountain climbing sharing his thoughts and ideas on a blog, developing a following, and providing trip and product reviews paid by advertising sponsors.

Have you ever wanted to write a book and publish it on your topic of interest?

The possibilities are endless if you look. If you don’t have a skill, acquire one. Read, research, and ask others.

Time spent now will reward you later as you build a new business that generates supplemental income or replaces your medical income.

You can continue to practice medicine and enjoy medicine for medicine’s sake as you expand your skill sets.

Begin now to position yourself to grow your new you, your new business, and secure your financial independence.

Declare your independence now. Happy Fourth of July!!