What is this French-horn-playing, Ironman triathletic, 3rd degree black belt-holding Kenpo martial artist up to now?

Stirring the pot of controversy it seems, with his newly released book Concierge Medicine; A New System to Get the Best Healthcare. As a two-time author and full-time practicing internist, Dr. Knope is ready to take on all that is wrong with the everyday practice of medicine.

In this podcast interview with Dr. Knope, you will hear how and why he got started in his concierge medicine practice in Tucson Arizona, along with his counterargument about the "ethics" of how medicine is practiced in the concierge model versus the HMO and third party insurance industry.

Above all, you will hear a physician who is passionately dedicated to improving the overall health of his patients through a relentless focus on customized exercise and nutrition plans along with health education provided without the constraints of "no time to practice properly".

When you are done listening to this intriguing interview, please come back to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog and share your comments and thoughts.

This week's Entrepreneurial MD Podcast is on an intriguing and obscure topic - previously unknown to me, and to many physicians I suspect.

Are you an owner or even part-owner of a commercial medical office building?
Or thinking of becoming one? 
Or other commercial real estate?
If so, it's time to sit up and pay attention as this information could make you smile, while Uncle Sam frowns.

In a podcast interview with Cherie Brown of Cost Segregation Services Inc (CSSI), I learned that there are relatively new accounting regulations that permit a commercial business owner paying income taxes to accelerate the depreciation on the building, thereby freeing up lots more available cash flow each month.

From their website:

"Cost segregation is the IRS approved method of re-classifying components and improvements of your commercial building from real property to personal property. This process allows the assets to be depreciated on a 5, 7, or 15-year schedule instead of the traditional 27.5 or 39-year depreciation schedule of real property. Thus your current taxable income will be greatly reduced and your cash flow will increase."

Although this may sound like dry "accounting-ese", I hope that the idea of saving beacoup bucks is catching your attention!

In order to qualify for cost segregation, you need an engineer's report that details all the specifics of your building - carpeting, cabinetry, wall attachments, walls, floors, ceilings etc! That is where CSSI comes in - they are the engineering company that generates the report for your CPA.

The good news is that Cherie is a capable translator, who manages to make an arcane topic understandable.

Questions, anyone?? :-)

When done listening, please rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog with your comments.

Internet Marketing expert Shama has mastered the skill of making tough technical ideas seem easy to understand!

In the podcast, I explore with Shama just what SEO (search engine optimization) is, and why it matters to any medical or physician website owner who wants to be found on the Web through the search engines by potential patients or clients.

Shama generously shares the simpler optimization tips that even non-techies can implement (such as using your best key words and phrases in your content and in your article or blog post titles).

Listen here to The Entrepreneurial MD podcast, and then please go back to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to comment or ask questions.

As the CEO and founder of Medical Justice, he holds his company responsible for helping preserve the reputations and sanity of his 1700+ physician subscribers, in a healthcare system gone crazy with often frivolous and meritless lawsuits.

Jeff is now a true serial entrepreneur, having started DarPharma, Inc, a biotechnology company in Chapel Hill, N.C., focused on the discovery and development of first-of-class pharmaceuticals for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Why Medical Justice?

As a practicing neurosurgeon, Dr. Segal recognized the pain that lawsuits caused for his colleagues, and then experienced first hand the anguish of being sued himself. His frustration at the lopsidedness of a justice system that made it easy for lawyers to file suits against physicians without much consequence spawned the birth of the ideas behind his company.

Listen to this week's podcast as the articulate and passionate Dr. Segal describes the path his company has taken to date, and how he sees the vision for the business evolving.

And then please share your thoughts at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Louis Cornacchia doesn't just want to save your brain or spine; he's wants to save medicine from itself. Frustrated by the diminished power of physicians in the current healthcare system and the increasing disconnect between physicians and patients, he has been on a 9-year journey to find sustainable and effective solutions.

After extensive research and consultation with physician colleagues, patients (consumers of healthcare), attorneys, technogeeks and business people, he and his partners have concluded that the only successful path to a healthcare revolution is via the connectivity and continuity provided by web-based technology platforms.

As a founder of Doctations, Dr. Cornacchia speaks about his journey to entrepreneurship that began with a series of annoying and unnecessary interactions in the hospital around providing patient care, and his vision for the company in this week's Entrepreneurial MD Podcast.

The somewhat challenging concepts are best captured in the company's Mission Statement:

Doctations, Inc. intends to further leverage the power of the Internet to improve the efficiency, accessibility and quality of healthcare delivery and doctor-patient interactions, with an initial focus on Internet-enabled digital medical records (iDMR) and automation of physician offices using outsourced services provided by a distributed, independent domestic workforce. A strong doctor-patient relationship is key to improving the delivery of excellent healthcare. The Doctations software suite allows doctors to use the Internet to establish Centers of Excellence and to help decrease the global cost of healthcare.

Doctors + Other Provider Organizations + Patients = Web Integrated Healthcare Communities

Practicing physicians can immediately begin using the platform for free, while patients and their families can set up their records at www.iMedicalHome.com - want to try it out?

Then please share your thoughts back at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog.

At a patient's urging, he explored the concierge or retainer practice model, discovering its many variations. And realizing that, by cutting back dramatically on his patient load, he could once again become the real physician he had dreamt of being in his medical school days.

Seeking the mentorship of a family member with business experience, he began the transition several years ago by severing ties with the healthcare insurance industry, first with the PPOs and a year later with Medicare.

Paradoxically, he argues that, instead of contributing to the creation of primary care shortages with this model of care, he sees that students considering medicine as a future career are more likely to consider primary care when exposed to the role models of contented physicians providing the care they most enjoy giving to their patients! As opposed to the image many are witnessing today of harrassed, irritable doctors rushing from patient to patient, handling 5 phone calls between rooms, in order to make their "quota".

His advice:

• decide on whose behalf you are truly willing to work and who your customers really are - insurers or patients?
• take the high road and offer only those services and that care that is evidence-based. Keep it ethical - only offer what you would have done unto you!

Listen here to Dr Fuchs's refreshing account of how he chose to re-align with his deepest professional values, in his quest for his vision of an ideal practice.

And then rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog here for your comments and opinion!

Dr. Richard Schoor is a Smithtown NY urologist who has already accomplished three great things as an entrepreneurial physician:

1. He has built a solo specialty practice, with the guidance of his own Grand Vision, and is en route to the much bigger dream
2. He has carved out a niche for himself as a male infertility sub-specialist, in a crowded field, thereby turning his potential competitors into a source of referrals
3. He has begun building a web presence and "platform" for his name and practice using 21st century marketing tools, and has already reaped the benefits. He is the author of an acclaimed blog -- The Independent Urologist.

Since I teach and encourage each of these principles, in my eyes that makes him an up-and-coming star entrepreneurial physician business owner!

Listen to Dr Schoor tell his story of how he escaped the "safe" trap of group practice, and opted instead for the elation of independent solo practice (it's less than 20 minutes).

And then please rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to share your thoughts and questions.

As one of the growing number of physicians with concierge or membership-style medical practices (known to some as "boutique practices"), he opened his doors (actually the doors of his Honda Accord car) almost three years ago after recognizing some significant limitations to traditional group practice.

However, instead of opting for an office-based practice, he has chosen a practice in which 100% of his patient visit are home visits. Talk about keeping overhead down!

Listen to The Entrepreneurial MD Podcast here where you can enjoy his refreshing story and appealingly candid insights about life as a concierge home-visiting doctor in Fort Myers in the Southwestern part of Florida, and then rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your comments or questions!

As a physician, Executive coach and Organizational Development specialist, she's long had a love affair with leadership. Having worked as an internal coach prior to developing her own business, Manya Arond-Thomas and Associates, she has focused on working with leaders and teams to produce healthier workplaces.

And in her newest business venture, Heart of Healthcare (soon to be available online), she is returning to her roots -- her passion for improving the quality of life for those in health and human services.

Listen here to her sharing the story of her journey into and out of clinical practice - it's a 20-minute interview - and then return to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your comments!

Hear how Dr. Horowitz's fascination with leadership and management led to his enrollment in an MBA program, and how one concept taught in class caught his attention sufficiently, that two or three years later, he is now living and breathing medical tourism, and globetrotting to foreign places to better understand who his ideal target market is, and what problems they are needing help with solving.

And when you are finished listening, please come back to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your thoughts or comments.

As a busy internist and gastroenterologist with a curious and observing mind, he questioned why it wasn't possible for his patients to use the Internet to schedule appointments and reserve time with him, when it was so easy to make an airplane reservation online. What difference was there, really?

So starts his story into his latest, almost accidental, entrepreneurial physician venture.

His original goals: make life in practice a whole lot easier AND make a mobile traveling life outside practice possible.

Listen to Dr Stark share how his inquisitive mind and able partnerships have spun a highly useful home-grown web-based interface for his practice into a full-blown business, at DoctorsOnTheWeb.

And I'd love to read your comments at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog, when you're done listening!

I interviewed Rosalie today to learn more about the business of becoming an expert witness and how to generate a steady flow of clients requiring your services -- clients such as attorneys and insurance companies. This conversation is not about doctors being asked to review the odd case for an attorney -- we all know someone who has done that. Instead it focuses on physicians whose intent it is to build a business as a medical expert witness.

By the way, take note of how Rosalie exemplifies good marketing -- she has a niche and a distinct target market, and she promotes her services by writing articles for publications, making public presentations, and writing a book that positions her as the expert in her field, The Expert Witness Marketing Book: How to Promote Your Forensic Practice in a Professional and Cost-Effective Manner.

Get insights from this consummate professional consultant and author guest by listening to this week's Entrepreneurial MD Podcast.

And when you are done listening, please rejoin me at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to post your comments or questions!

Josh is a collection attorney who provides the invaluable service of going after your hard-earned money that still happens to be sitting in another person's wallet. His clients include many practicing physicians who are having difficulty getting paid for their services.

Listen to his clear and educational explanation of what a collection attorney can do to help you boost your bottom line, AND how to minimize the infuriation of bad debt by developing sound office policies, setting solid deadlines for payment, and developing follow-up strategies if your irate phone calls aren't working! 

Here is the ACA organization he references near the end of the 17-minute interview.

When you are finished listening, please rejoin me at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your comments or questions.

Kirsti Dyer MD, MS, FT, FAAETS, NCBF is a highly trained and qualified physician with a passion for easing the grief of loss and bereavement, as well as improving the well-being of her audience.

This passion has positioned her as a health educator and Internet entrepreneur, with several websites: Journey of Hearts, the Violet Heart and NICU Parent Support.

While this may sound glamorous, Kirsti is the first to confess that she has struggled to find a way to derive income from her labors of love. Having given up clinical medical practice, she has chosen to pursue her love of teaching, and fulfill her sense of purpose by helping others cope and learn. Her entrepreneurial businesses are a work in progress!

Listen to my interview with this dedicated and articulate physician at The Entrepreneurial MD Podcast this week (it's 24 minutes long), and discover that being an entrepreneur is not only about making more money -- it's about having the freedom to create something of value and to express what lies deep within yourself. A concept that is completely in line with my own philosophy about entrepreneurship.

And when you are done listening, please rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your comments and questions.

In a prior post earlier this year, I shared a snippet of the interview I had with Dr. Corre about his journey into authorship. Here now is the full interview, to inspire and caution all you wannabe writers.

The road to getting published is bumpy with obstacles - finding the time to write, corralling your personal discipline, selecting an editor in a timely way and opting for self-publication versus finding an agent and publisher. But, according to Dr. Corre, it is also strewn with rewards - the satisfaction of creation, the opportunity to redefine Self, and the recognition of your merits outside of the title of "MD".

Enjoy this week's Entrepreneurial MD's Podcast with a physician who is having some fun outside the ER!

When you are done listening, please rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to post your comments.

And how true it was. Marc flew out from the East coast once a month to our hospital to provide an evening of physician leadership development. And you can sense how good he was when I tell you that we had a full house each month on a Monday evening for eight months. And the doctors were not coming for the food!

Marc is a trained internist who began post-residency life at Harvard Community Health Plan and fell in love with business, leadership and management. He transitioned into his consulting practice, and subsequent business, by accident.

What is intriguing about Marc's business is how slowly it evolved out of his clinical practice over a long time span. He had no vision or intention of being a consultant and business owner at the outset!

Listen to Marc's delightfully self-deprecating and humorous interview (it's about 27 minutes long) and pay attention to how he describes his growing awareness of what it means to be in business. His is truly an evolutionary and inspirational tale!

When you are done listening to the interview, I invite you to come back to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your comments or questions.

Who wants to be famous?

Okay .... perhaps a more relevant question is: Who would like to be even slightly famous - recognized as an expert in your field and acknowledged as the go-to person on your topic of expertise?

My bet is that many of you would. I certainly would!

Last year, I took a great teleclass with two experts on "Growing your Business with Google". At its core, the class was centered on understanding how search engines work, and discovering how, using some inexpensive and easily available tools both online and offline, you could position yourself as a subject matter guru within a relatively short period of time.

One of the class teachers was Steven Van Yoder, author of "Get Slightly Famous: Become a Celebrity in Your Field and Attract More Business with Less Effort", which has recently been released in its second edition.

I was privileged to interview Steve for a podcast this week, and was able to explore on your behalf how, with a little strategic and creative thinking, you too can begin to craft your plan for getting your good name out, and attracting the attention you need to drive new business in through your front door.

The steps he outlines are available to both the small boutique or solo business person or practitioner, as well as the large organization.

Listen carefully to Steve's podcast interview (it's a little over 23 minutes) as he shares his wisdom and expertise about "thought leadership marketing", "cause marketing" and taking advantage of Web 2.0.

Hear how he makes this kind of marketing and PR accessible to even the smallest "shoestring" marketing budget. NO MORE $20,000 consultants with fancy marketing plans!!

And then order his practical and immensely readable book right away - it will take you gently and firmly by the hand, and guide you through the simple steps needed to get going.

And then rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to share your questions or comments!

One of the challenges for such physicians is figuring out how to materialize their ideas and then bring them to market.

At The Entrepreneurial MD, not only do I want to learn from successful physician entrepreneurs, but I am also committed to interviewing men and women who may not be physicians but who have much wisdom to share about how to accomplish certain business goals.

I had the privilege of interviewing Jim (James E.) Nicholson last year, and am using this interview to launch the "other half" of my Podcast series, called "Insights from the Professionals".

Jim is a special guy - a serial entrepreneur, an aeronautical and astronautical engineer, and holder of 38 patents (including the Venodyne compression system). In this 25-minute podcast, he outlines how he approached colleagues in healthcare to begin putting his prodigious engineering knowledge to use, to benefit patients. He also shares his experience with securing his inventions and bringing them to market.

Then join me back at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to share your comments and questions.

What does it say about our healthcare system that young physicians, many not more than 5 or 7 years out of residency, are experiencing burn-out and disappointment and shame - and dropping out of medicine?

It's one of medicine's dirty little secrets.

One physician with such an experience, Dr. Ryan Flesher, has decided to go public with his journey from idealistic medical school graduate to deeply frustrated and angry ER physician, by baring his soul on camera.

The camera he is talking into is his, and the creative expression he is involved in is writing, directing and producing a documentary. His saving grace has been his passion for film.

Dr. Flesher's intent is to capture his personal emotional turmoil and the dawning realization that he is not alone in this. His ultimate quest is to generate the understanding by the lay public of what is at stake - their own medical welfare, as seen through the eyes of the physicians they love to envy, at times criticize and, above all, need!

In this week's Podcast, listen to the very articulate Dr. Flesher share his 28-minute story. Hear how his burn-out ignited his other interest, that of film-making, along with his passionate plea for an improved healthcare system that takes care of its own, the doctors, and allows them to do what they are best at - practice medicine!

Does any of this ring true for you?

Join us back at The Entrepreneurial MD to add your comments.

Dr. David Stern is an astute business man who spotted the opportunity for his company, Practice Velocity, as soon as he began fielding inquiries and requests to learn more about the Urgent Care practice management software that he and his colleagues had created.

In this (almost!) weekly version of The Entrepreneurial MD Podcast, listen to my interview with Dr. Stern as he shares how he translated his training as a Certified Professional Coder (how many docs have the distinction of that title??) into a solution for his own urgent care centers. This was accomplished by automating their urgent care center coding through a computerized process. And how this solution mushroomed into a full-blown business providing a much needed practice management answer for urgent care centers nationally.

And then post your questions and comments, or just come and browse at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog!

He set out to do some informational interviewing and serious networking to land his ideal job. And he accomplished this!

What made my conversation with Dr. Dorn so remarkable is that he is one of the few physicians I know who executed a perfect career-finding plan.

Most career guidance coaches and counselors recognize that the most satisfying jobs are not found through Monster.com or some other job board, or even a recruiter. Instead, they are obtained through a careful and highly strategic search process that targets ideal companies, jobs or industries and lays the groundwork for being invited to become a member of the team.

Listen to Dr. Dorn's story (28.5 minutes) in this week's podcast as I explore with him how he turned a very deliberate, intentional search for a fulfilling career into an exciting, entrepreneurial physician opportunity that has allowed him to help grow a small clinical decision support company, Zynx Health, into a clinical business large and important enough to be acquired and then maintained by Hearst Corporation. 

Pay close attention to his job search strategy - this informational interviewing works equally well for physicians with an idea for a business who want to check with potential customers if there is a real need for their product or service.

And then please come back to The Entrepreneurial MD to add your comments and browse!

I've known Lenny since my days in clinical practice when we were colleagues in Santa Monica, and I am both awed and inspired by his significant accomplishments as a business owner (healthcare consultant) and healthcare politician (past President of the CAFP and current candidate for the American Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors).

Lenny is a highly articulate advocate for improving the physician-patient experience and in this podcast, he shares not only his thoughts as an entrepreneur but also those as a physician dedicated to healthcare reform empowering us as physicians.

Listen to this 31-minute interview and come away inspired by Dr. Fromer's energy and passion for both entrepreneurship and healthcare politics.

Dr. Garrison Bliss is one such man.

As one of the former founders of Seattle Medical Associates and the current new founder, President and CMO of Qliance, Dr. Bliss has been pushing the envelope for patient-financed business models for years.

What the term "patient-financed business model" simply means is that, instead of relying on insurance as a way to pay for patient care, the providers at Qliance charge a very low monthly "membership" fee of all their patients. And I'm talking LOW! In the order of between $39 and $74 a month, depending on the patient's age.

For this fee, they provide all primary care services, as well as some basic testing (plain X-rays, EKGs, simple lab tests etc).

Critics have gone from scorn at viewing Seattle Medical Associates (Dr Garrison's earlier group that was the second group in the country to test a monthly fee membership model) as yet another concierge practice, to incredulity and doubt that Qliance can survive charging such a small monthly membership fee. Hearing the passion, conviction and clarity of Dr Bliss's thinking may make you believe otherwise!

Let Dr Bliss share his remarkable ideas and story as you listen to this week's podcast conversation with an entrepreneurial physician trailblazer. The interview is 36 minutes long - a little longer than my typical call - but I promise you it is worth your time. What Dr. Garrison is doing for health care is both revolutionary and laudable!

And then over come and join the conversation at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog.

And a sense of humor, when he describes his Association as: "....the only physician-led trade organization to represent physicians who realize that they have been working for the wrong employer for too long".

As president of the Society of Innovative Medical Practice Design (SIMPD), Chris has helped the association evolve from a loosely affiliated group of physicians and professionals, with a common interest in developing viable alternatives for medical practice models, to a much slicker physician-led organization "promoting a direct financial relationship with patients in order to restore the integrity of the patient-physician relationship".

Chris was quick to point out to me that his own private practice, 1:2:1MD, is a retainer model practice in which patients pay an annual fee based on age for unlimited access to his services - and represents just one of the several clinical practice models under the SIMPD umbrella.

Listen to this week's "The Entrepreneurial MD Podcast" interview with Chris Ewin as he shares his vision for the future of primary care, as well as those of his organization and his personal clinical practice.

As a family physician who worked in faculty group and solo settings, Delia would probably still be limping along, suffering from a vague sense of disappointment and disillusionment with clinical practice, were it not for two events that affected her life personally.

Health problems affecting both her daughter and her best friend almost simultaneously forced her to acknowledge that navigating the health care system, even as a health professional, was a big challenge. She realized just how arduous the process was for the average person to be able to arrive at a sound medical decision or treatment plan. 

The idea of patient care advocacy was hatched!

Working in partnership with a like-minded colleague, Delia opened Insight Medical Consultants almost a year ago, and has been steadily growing her business.

Listen to this week's episode of The Entrepreneurial MD Podcast and discover how this articulate, compassionate physician has been able to leverage her medical knowledge and her negative experiences within the healthcare system to find deep satisfaction in her work. And provide a much-needed and highly-valued service to boot!

And if you prefer to read her story, click here for the interview transcript instead.

And don't forget to share any thoughts you might have in the Comments section above.

At least this is the premise behind RelaxDoc, a new MySpace-type of social networking site exclusively for physicians.

At the helm of RelaxDoc is serial entrepreneur, former practicing medical oncologist and computer scientist Dr Myo Thant.

Not content with having created the wildly popular and well-regarded Life and Death I and II and Virtual Surgeon simulation games as well as one of the first animated EKG Primer applications in the 80's and 90's, Dr. Thant turned his attention to helping found Chesapeake Cancer Center.

However, he was unable to stay away from his beloved computer, and in May 2007, he announced that his new "baby" RelaxDoc had gone live.

Listen here to Dr. Thant share his story and his vision for RelaxDoc in The Entrepreneurial MD's podcast this week.

My second podcast reveals a delightful interview with Dr. Laura Trice, CEO and founder of Laura's Wholesome Junkfood based in Los Angeles, CA.

I like to think of her as the doc who said no.

Fresh out of medical school, Laura realized that she wasn't cut out for life as a practicing clinician. And faced with a great big question mark about what to do next, she embarked on a scary and intrepid journey to determine what it was she really wanted to do with her life.

How many of you got out of medical school and were not sure you wanted to continue with a residency or medical practice? I have spoken to several young physicians who have been filled with ambivalence, and yet overwhelmed by a sense of obligation and expectation that has forced them to continue despite their lack of enthusiasm. It takes a lot of insight and courage to say "No - this isn't for me" at that stage.

Well, Laura did and now, more than six years later, she is living the busy life of a company CEO, that started at the whimsical suggestion of a close friend.  Listen to her 24-minute interview now, and come away inspired by her wisdom that is quite uncanny for her relatively early years!

If you prefer to read rather than listen, click here for the transcript of the interview.

A quick reminder if you haven't listened to a podcast before:

You can either click on the player button in the little player graphic in the top right corner of the page, OR you can click on the place that says "Direct download : Interview with ......." near the bottom of the page.

Dr Marty Schulman was an unhappy family physician in an academic group practice, when he paused to figure out what was wrong.

He realized he hated having to start every patient visit with an apology for being late. Or end the visit apologizing for not having enough time to discuss all the patient's concerns.

Sound familiar, anyone?

Several years later, he no longer needs to say sorry - at least not for running late or lacking time. As a solo practitioner in an innovative membership-based medical practice, he can give his patients all the time they need.

Listen to this 25-minute interview as Dr. Schulman shares the story of how he transformed himself from disgruntled doctor to enthusiastic clinician and entrepreneur.

You can download and read the transcript of this 25-minute interview here, if you prefer to read rather than listen.

And please share your thoughts about and reactions to podcasting in the comment section - I'd love to hear them!

Next week, I plan to have a podcast interview with Dr Chris Ewin, president of The Society for Innovative Medical Practice Design and owner of his own innovative practice, 1:2:1MD.