Ed Rabinowitz

In an effort to control personal finances, many people focus on three common goals: cutting spending, reducing debt, and saving more. In a Q&A with James W. Stone, author of "Spend Joyfully," he says the way to measure progress toward that goal is to monitor your net worth.

Burnout is a serious matter for physicians and their patients, as well. One study found about 40 percent of doctors surveyed said they were burned-out in their jobs. Our experts offer tips on how to avoid and cope with burnout.

It's extremely difficult to measure how well you're communicating on an ad hoc basis, but if done right, you can get a very good picture of the level, structure and nature of communications, and some good ideas of what you can do to improve.

If a medical practice employs a physician who is impaired and injuring patients, the practice is open to liability as well. Our experts explain the danger of ignoring the problem, and offer advice on what to do when confronting a colleague with an addiction.

It's easy to talk the talk -- walking the walk is the challenge. But when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, physicians need to walk that walk in order to boost their credibility when it comes to counseling patients.

There are many reasons why, on any given day, one or more of your patients might have a short fuse. There are also four essential steps doctors need to take to handle angry patients: Anticipate, Acknowledge, Apologize, and Make Amends.

Patients kept waiting due to delays in a physician's schedule is a recurring problem -- but it's a problem that one doctor is attempting to fix with a new Web-based tool that helps doctors and patients better manage their time.

More medical schools are publishing literary magazines and artistic journals that encourage doctors, nurses and patients to express their feelings through artistic endeavors, such as painting, writing and photography. Not surprisingly, the field of art therapy is rapidly expanding in physician practices.

With managed care and the rising cost of running a medical practice continuing to eat away at physician incomes, it would be easy to assume that the gap between compensation in academic practices versus private practices would have narrowed. That assumption would be wrong. A recent survey shows compensation in academic practices continues to lag that of private practices.

Medical identity theft is a disturbing and growing trend, and the onus is on physician practices to guard patient records. The cost of not doing so can be considerable: A new survey shows it takes twice as much time to detect medical fraud and more than twice as money on average to remedy each case.

More physicians are attempting to boost revenue by charging patients new "add-on" fees for such things as missed appointments, filling out medical school or work forms, providing copies of records, or general administrative work. But doing so effectively without incurring the wrath of your patients is key.

A common contributor to medical malpractice lawsuits is a patient's claim that the physician never accurately communicated information related to the diagnosis. To defend themselves, doctors need to carefully document, communicate, and then follow up on their diagnoses.

The progressive rock band Rush wrote that "Time Stands Still" -- the harsh reality, however, is that time is a most fleeting commodity. And for physicians, time could be their most important asset. So the question becomes: How do you maximize time? Or perhaps more appropriately, how do you know when you're not maximizing time?

New initiatives under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are designed to reverse widespread physician discontent with their working environments and return them to the joy of practicing medicine. But, as many are finding, change is never easy.

In volatile markets, your investment portfolio can be thrown out of whack. But financial experts say the key to successfully rebalancing a portfolio is to make sure it was balanced properly in the first place.

By now, you're more than familiar with the names Twitter, Facebook and YouTube -- the big three in social media. You've probably often been asked, ‘Why you don't have an online presence?' Experts say there are four good reasons to be using social media: marketing, public relations, market research and customer service. All four help to accomplish one goal: To connect you with your current and potential customers.

Physicians may be able to save time, money and a lot of hassle by adopting a more modular approach to incorporating electronic health records into their practices. It may also help tame the frustration of meeting onerous EHR "meaningful use" requirements to qualify for federal funds.

Spam isn't just erectile dysfunction e-mails in your junk folder. Now you've got to watch out for spear phishing, where more experienced criminals will use information about you found online to craft a targeted e-mail designed to fool you into giving up personal information.

As the Clash once asked, "Should I stay or should I go?" With requests for attendance seemingly arriving every day via traditional or email, how can a physician determine which ones are worth attending?

Are you looking for a change, a different way to run your medical practice? A purpose-built, relationship-based, primary care, internal medicine, concierge practice might be just what you're looking for.

A recent NEJM survey found that people's trust in physicians has increased while their faith in information found on the Internet has subsequently decreased. In fact, what pops up on the Internet may cause a person more anxiety than help them. That presents opportunities for physicians.

The first key step to purchasing a medical practice: will the purchase be an asset or a stock purchase. The other two? Read on...

It used to be that heavy capital investment would be what set a practice's ledger back. Today it's rising healthcare and malpractice expenses - the simple costs of doing business - that are making it difficult for practices to stay afloat.

77 percent of patients want to ask you a question about something which doesn't require a visit...and are ready to pay for the answer.

Following a sizzling growth spurt in 2007 and subsequent slowdown that mirrored the economic downturn, retail health clinics seem poised to rebound.

Financing a college education involves more than simply writing a check for the cost of tuition, room and board. For starters, that's a pretty hefty check being written nowadays. How you obtain the funds to write that check requires research and careful planning, because there are options to consider.

An increase in patient volume is the goal of virtually every practice, and despite current economic struggles, there are still things physicians can do to increase the foot traffic passing through the practice's corridors.

A medical practice that has proven to be a good credit tenant has leverage in lease negotiations; landlords are willing to negotiate when they know they have a reliable tenant.

Negotiating fees with health plans is not difficult to do, and yet, according to managed care expert John Schmitt, it's a practice that is often ignored.

Developing a transition strategy for your retirement from practice can take up to 10 years to implement. The earlier you start the process, the better.