Episode 11. Keith Smith, MD -- Fixed Cost Surgery

As healthcare professionals, we can all agree that the healthcare system in the US is broken. It's too difficult to maneuver for patients and practitioners alike. Today we talk with Dr. Keith Smith, anesthesiologist and a founder of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma. This practice is a pioneer in cost transparency and as you will hear during our interview, charges a fixed price for many common outpatient surgeries. Dr. Smith and his partners understood many years ago the challenges of dealing with insurance companies and decided to break free by switching to this model. This episode complements the direct primary care model that was highlighted in episode 6 with Dr. Josh Umbehr. Keith was very straightforward in this interview about his feelings about the intervening parties involved in healthcare today, (government, insurance co, etc.) I think many of you listening can relate to these frustrations. The difference is that he is doing something about it, and I hope that by listening to the challenges faced and the benefits gained, we physicians are inspired to take back control about the health care that we deliver.   Dr. Smith definitely gets you fired up about empowering physicians to take charge of their own destinies. Ultimately, costs in the US Healthcare system will be reduced and it is imperative that physicians lead this change rather than have it dictated to us. The Surgery Center of Oklahoma  is one model that is producing results. 4 price decreases in the last 9 years, with no increase in surgical costs and yet the doctors remain well paid and more importantly are independent decision makers. Click here to learn more about the Surgery Center of Oklahoma. Please visit our website at www.doctormoneymatters.com You can follow our show on: Twitter @drmoneymatters Facebook: Doctor Money Matters Instagram @doctormoneymatters I encourage healthcare professionals to join our private facebook group, Doctor Money Matters. If you enjoyed this episode please leave us positive review on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher. Any constructive criticism or topics for future shows can be directed to comments@doctormoneymatters.com Please remember what you heard on this show is for your entertainment and education only. Please speak with the appropriate experts prior to making decisions regarding your own financial situation. Thanks again and look for our next episode coming soon.

Om Podcasten

Welcome to the Doctor Money Matters podcast. I am your host Dr. Tarang Patel, a practicing diagnostic radiologist in Phoenix, AZ. I started this podcast as a way to share knowledge about financial matters as they relate to health care professionals. We spent many years learning about the science and art of providing patient care but most of us have relatively little knowledge about reaching financial well being. I know that I had no formal training in setting up investment accounts, negotiating contracts, buying insurance, buying real estate, etc. I just learned by reading and also by making many mistakes. Health care professionals are trusted to take put their patients needs first and we in turn assume everyone in other fields work the same way. Unfortunately this is not always true. By talking about these topics, I hope we can reduce the many financial mistakes that prior generations of doctors have made. Those physicians were able to overcome these mistakes because of shorter training periods, less debt, and they were more likely to be in private practice. Today we no longer have those luxuries and many of us have significant debt burdens. The good news is that we also have access to information that the prior generation never had. A little background about me. As I said before I am a practicing radiologist in Phoenix, AZ. I went to undergrad at Indiana U. (Go Hoosiers), medical school at the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (Now AT Still Univ) in Missouri, moved east and did my radiology residency at New York Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan. I then moved west to serve my Air Force commitment at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, NV. I then did a fellowship in Body/Musculoskeletal Imaging at Mayo Clinic Arizona. Since I finished training I have been in a hospital employed group for the last 6 years. I have always enjoyed learning about finance and have read (listened to) many of the financial books. I also spent time reading on the bogleheads.org forum which I found to be a valuable source of information. Finally I just observed that many of my colleagues and I had the same questions about relatively basic financial matters but it was difficult to find clear answers. Hopefully you find these podcasts useful. I encourage you to subscribe to them, that way you will be updated when any episodes are released automatically. Also please let your friends and colleagues know about this podcast. Please give us good feedback on iTunes, Google Play and stitcher and if you have suggestions on topics or how to improve the podcast please send your emails to comments@doctormoneymatters.com Social media links: twitter @drmoneymatters Facebook www.facebook.com/doctormoneymatters/ Please understand that this show is for entertainment and education only and you should do your own research and speak with the appropriate experts prior to making any changes in regards to material you may have heard on the show. The opinions from the guests on this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or of Doctor Money Matters, LLC.