Dr. John La Puma: NY Times Bestselling Author & TV Host

Over on the Medical Spa MD Podcast, Dr. John La Puma of Chef MD discusses being a physician entrepreneur, TV host, and NY Times bestselling author.

In episode 9 , we touch on the use (and missuse) of social media, how to use your existing skill set and match those with your interests to exert more influence over your career and lifestyle.

Dr. La Puma is incredibly knowledgeable and freely shares all sorts of tasty advice (somewhat intentional pun there) about how he started Chef MD , became a NY Times bestselling author and television host, and grew his passion for food and health into a fulfilling medical career. He also gives some great tips on marketing, how to be a great interviewee (which he is) and we even touch on medical ethics. A great episode and not to be missed.

Medical Spa MD Podcast: Dr. Thomas Young & Smartlipo

In episode 8 of the Medical Spa MD Podcast, Dr. Thomas Young of Young Medical Spa discusses new Smartlipo techniques and training, choosing cosmetic lasers, and cosmetic stem cell treatments.

We discuss the latest trends and nonsurgical cosmetic technologies including Smartlipo, stem cell treatments, laser liposuction, technology choices and integrating new surgical techniques into your cosmetic practice.

Dr. Young began performing SmartLipo Laser Body Sculpting soon after it's FDA approval and was the first physician to introduce awake tumescent laser liposuction to the Lehigh Valley. He trains other physicians across the country in awake tumescent liposuction and liposculpture procedures and was the first physician to perform Vaser® Lipo, SlimLipo, Body-Jet®, Stem Cell Enriched Fat Transfer Natural Breast Augmentation, Brazilian Butt Lift, ZERONA, VelaShape, and the Soprano XL Pain-free Laser Hair Reduction procedures in the region.

Interview With Jessica Wadley, Former COO Of Spa MD

This episode of the Medical Spa MD Podcast introduces us to Jessica Wadley, former COO of Spa MD, who brings years of Medical Spa business experience to share with our members.

In part 1 of this podcast we discuss a host of issues around medical spa operations, sales, marketing, startup costs and staffing. We've got some agreement and you'll want to listen to how our thoughts (and strategies) differ around commission structures for staff and internal operations and training.

We also discuss how Spa MD went from $3m a year in revenue to over $12m in gross revenue within four years so you'll want to hear that.

Medical Spa MD Podcast: Concierge Medicine

In this episode from the podcast, Dr. Steven Knope brings up-to-speed on Concierge Medicine. We discuss how to open and operate a concierge medical clinic.

Concierge medicine, retainer medicine, direct medicine and boutique medicine are all terms used to describe a new form of medical service in which patients contract directly with their doctor for medical services. By removing the third-party payer, your physician acts as your advocate, with no interference or conflict of interest from outside parties.

Internist Steven D. Knope, M.D., a pioneer in creating patient-centered care for optimal health and wellness, is the first physician to offer this comprehensive, personal approach in Tucson.

Dr. Knope’s concierge patients pay a one-time annual retainer fee ($6,000 for individuals; $10,000 for couples) that includes everything from “true health care optimization to ICU care for medical catastrophes” to house calls, 24/7 access, same-day appointments, and hospital admittance by the physician. They also receive a two-hour physical, nutritional analysis with an onstaff dietician, and fitness analysis with a personal trainer in his in-office gym.

Dr. Knope is a board-certified internist and sports medicine expert. He completed his premedical studies at Columbia University and graduated with honors in internal medicine from Cornell University Medical College in 1988. He completed his residency training at UCLA, where he was awarded the first Sherman Melinkoff Teacher of the Year Award. He has served as Chief of Medicine, Chairman of the Department of Medicine, and Director of the ICU in the Carondelet system in Tucson, Arizona. He is a pioneer in the field of concierge medicine, opening one of the first concierge practices in America in December 2000. He authored the first book on concierge medicine entitled, Concierge Medicine; A New System to Get the Best Healthcare (Praeger, 2008).

Knope has received local and national media attention for his work as an uncompromising patient advocate and opponent of the HMO industry. He has been covered in the Arizona Daily Star, Moneymagazine and The Wall Street Journal. In his fight against a local HMO, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and inventor of the cardiac defibrillator, Dr. Bernard Lown, praised Knope as “courageous” and “deeply principled.”

Financial Planning For Physicians

From the Medical Spa MD Podcast, episode 3 on Financial Planning for Physicians with Dr. Setu Mazumdar

We added a new podcast episode with Dr. Setu Mazumdar recently in which we discussed how physicians tend to underperform the market with their self-directed investments. Here's an excerpt from the podcast that I thought was pretty relevant.

Question: What are the physicians who are more successful with their financial planning? What do they have in common?

Dr. Mazumdar: First of all, I think it’s a very small group. Most of the people I’ve met… Sure they might make high income [inaudible – 00:50:27], but having high income and being successful I think are two separate issues. If you’re spending all the money that you’re making, you’d probably not accumulate enough assets where you can call yourself financially successful. But the common traits that I see are one having a [inaudible – 00:50:47] of plan and place.

The second thing that I’ve noticed are people who basically say: “You know I’ve realized that I can’t pick the winning stocks. I can’t time the stock market. I can’t pick the winning managers. The best I can do and what all the academic research says I should do is, match the market.”

The third, of course, is staying disciplined enough to stay with the good times and bad. As well as kind of taking the approach: “You know, I really don’t know what the future holds. It’s completely uncertain. I don’t know what my income is going to be. I don’t know if I’m going to be disabled. So I’m going to leverage time on my side and, of course, increase my savings to make sure that I have enough to retire on.”

So it all sounds kind of basic, but you’d be surprised that most physicians don’t do those things.

Jeff: So you brought up another interesting point, which is matching the market. Why would I need a financial adviser? And why wouldn’t I just invest the money that I’m willing to put in the market, whatever percentage that is going to be, and have them match the S&P 500 or invest in a matching index fund?

Dr. Mazumdar: That’s a good question. I think if you look at all the data that’s done in this issue… exactly answering this question… OK, here’s a great study. It actually comes about once a year, maybe once every two years. It’s called the [Dalbar Study?]. Here’s what it basically says. It says: If you take the past 20 years and if you just stuck with the market, this includes 2008 & 2009 and all the bad things that happened in the past decade, if you take the past 20 years, you’re just basically stuck with everything. You still will have a pretty decent rate of return, around 8% a year.

It turns out that the average individual investor… their return in the past 20 years, and the way that it’s calculated is based upon mutual fund cash flows across tens of thousands of different accounts and different custodians, the average individual investor got a rate return under 2% a year. The market return of about 8% a year… the average individual investor got a return about 1.8% a year. It turns out that inflation is about 3% a year.

So basically the conclusion there is that investors, when they do it themselves, are getting in and out in the market exactly at the wrong time. They’re essentially buying high and selling low. And so one of the value of an adviser is basically discipline. And people tell me: “Do I really want to pay for discipline?” And my answer is: “Actually that’s the number one thing you should be paying for because your own worst enemy is usually yourself. And all the data show that.”

But then there are always other issues like: Investment is one thing, but how do you integrate that with state planning? How do you know if you have enough life insurance? How do you if you’re saving enough? How do you know this from the other? And it’s kind of like medicine. It’s too vast of a field for somebody who kind of sit down and have the inclination to do so and really figure it out.

Listen to the entire interview on the Medical Spa MD Podcast.

Medical Spa MD {4} Mr. Adrian Richards MBBS, MSc, FRCS (Plast.) - Cosmetic Medicine In The UK

A real eye-opener for physicians in the US... In this episode of the Medical Spa MD Podcast we discuss cosmetic medicine in the UK with plastic surgeon Mr. Adrian Richards.

Listen to this episide here.

Mr. Richards qualified as a Doctor in 1988 and for the last 12 years has specialised in plastic surgery. He has full registration with the General Medical Council No. 3286812 and is a Member of both the British Association of Plastic and Reconsructive Surgeons (BAPRAS) and the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), the leading British professional bodies for plastic surgery and reconstructive surgery. He is an author and has written a best-selling textbook ‘Keynotes on Plastic Surgery’. He is founder of Cosmetic Courses, a company accredited by the Royal College of Physicians, which provides training to medical practitioners entering the aesthetic market and was the lead investigator in recent clinical research into the use of Botulinum Toxin A (Botox) for cosmetic purposes.

In this episode we're discussing cosmetic medicine in the UK with Adrian Richards. It will probably come as something of an eye-opener for physicians in the US to learn that; most cosmetic surgeons in the UK don't really worry too much about informed consent, being sued by a patient is a rarity, filler injections are unregulated, and that physicians are routinely employed by non-physicians. I found the differences to be striking.

We also discuss how Adrian markets his services through social media, videos, and podcasts of his own as we delve into cosmetic surgery across the pond.

Some of what we talked about in this episode.

• Mr. Adrian Richards MBBS, MSc, FRCS
• Aurora Clinics UK
• Facebook Marketing for Physicians

Medical Spa MD {3} Dr. Setu Mazumdar & Physician Wealth Management

Episode 3 of the Medical Spa MD Podast: Dr. Setu Mazumdar of Lotus Wealth Solutions discusses physician wealth management.

The interview in this episode is with Dr. Setu Mazumdar of Lotus Wealth Management. Dr. Mazumdar is an MD who's now changed careers to become a financial and wealth management advisor specifically for physicians who are looking to get their house (and medical practice) in order.

We discuss how physician training does not equip docs with the knowledge and skills that they need to actually accumulate wealth, and how you can make some changes that give you control over your finances. Dr. Mazumdar details common mistakes that docs make and how they can be avoided.

If there's anyone who you'd like to hear interviewed or you think should be a guest on Medical Spa MD, please let us know or just leave a comment.

The New Medical Spa MD Podcast

Medical Spa MD now has its own podcast for physicians and medical spas and the first couple of episodes are now live.

I've been looking to start a podcast for Medical Spa MD for a while now, and we've finally launched.

With each new episode, we'll talk about cosmetic medicine, plastic surgery, cosmetic lasers, clinic operations, management, marketing, sales, treaments, cost controls and everything else you'll want to know. We'll be asking (and hopefully answering) the tough questions. How do different cosmetic lasers compare? Which IPL company provides the best service? How should you compensate and motivate your staff? How to market your clinic? Where to spend your advertising budget? How to get started. How to grow. How to compete. Finally, what does that mean for your business and lifestyle?

To start, we're interviewing physicians who discuss their own concept of personal brand and how they've managed their careers outside of clinical medicine. 

In the first episode we talk to Dr. Greg Bledsoe about the Medical Fusion Conference and his desire to help physicians control more of their career. Greg's speaking from experience here. He's a leader in expedition medicine and organizes his other businesses to facilitate the lifestyle and income that he wants.

In episode 2 we're talking with Dr. Elliot Justin of Swift MD about telemedicine and the efficient delivery of medical services remotely. Elliot talks candidly about Swift MD and how company got started and functions operationally. He's also got some views on the state of US healthcare that resonate with almost every other physician I know.

We've already got another few episodes being edited and a long list of physicians and others who are scheduled to appear. My goal is to get out at least one every other week for the foreseeable future.

This new podcast will focus on providing relevant information for physicians, with a special emphasis on cosmetic practices, techniques, marketing, operations and just about everything you'll want to be aware of the field of nonsurgical cosmetic medicine. While we'll have plenty of physician interviews, we'll also be talking to technology companies, marketing gurus, and others about what it takes to run a successful medical practice, and exactly how to use these tactics and operations inside your own clinic. We'll be providing broad overviews as well as delving down into specific treatments and 'how tos'.

The Medical Spa MD Podcast is a permenant addition. You can find it by clicking on the link in the main navigation at the top the page. You'll also be able to subscribe to the RSS feed directly or subscribe via iTunes as soon as they index the feed.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. What topics would you like us to cover in the future? What guests would you like us to interview?

Podcasts: The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine

From the Ameraican Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) comes this series of podcasts on cosmetic treatments.

Preview or listen to these podcasts at your computer by clicking the 'stream' icons below. podcast icons below. Download or open the MP3 files with the 'podcast' icon.

• Laser Hair Removal, and Intense Pulsed Light

  This show was part of the XIV international Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine 2006, held on July 14-16, in Chicago, Il.

  

• Overview of Aesthetic Lasers

  This show was part of the XIV international Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine 2006, held on July 14-16, in Chicago, Il.

  

• Vascular Laser Treatment Overview

  This show was part of the XIII International Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine 2005, held on December 8-12 in Las Vegas, NV.

  

• Intense Pulsed Light Applications

  This show was part of the XIII International Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine 2005, held on December 8-12 in Las Vegas, NV.

  

• Treating Unwanted Hair, Veins, Facial Rejuvenation, IPL and Erbium Resurfacing

  This show was part of the XIII International Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine 2005, held on December 8-12 in Las Vegas, NV.

  

• Resurfacing Techniques

  This show was part of the XIV international Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine 2006, held on July 14-16, in Chicago, Il.

  

• "Surgery-Less" Face Lift: Plastic Surgery for "WIMPS" of the Way of the Future

  This show was part of the XIV international Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine 2006, held on April 7-9, in Orlando, Fl.

  

• Adavanced Facial Sculpting with Botulinum A for the Upper Face

  This show was part of the XIII International Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine 2005, held on December 8-12 in Las Vegas, NV.

  

• Restoring Youthful Contours: The Latest in Semi-Permanent and Permanent Facial Fillers

  This show was part of the XIII International Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine 2005, held on December 8-12 in Las Vegas, NV.

  

• The Latest in Collagen and Hyaluronians for Facial Aesthetic Enhancements

  This show was part of the XIII International Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine 2005, held on December 8-12 in Las Vegas, NV.