Assistance for Physicians Looking for Personal or Employee Benefits Packages
Physicians perform vital services for our communities, and they deserve compensation beyond just salaries. Benefits packages for physicians are unlike those for other professions, however. Physicians can explore packages that include not just standard healthcare coverage, dental insurance, and sick leave, but also malpractice insurance, relocation reimbursement, and medical school loan repayments. When benefits packages are as complex as they are for physicians, it pays to have a well-rounded team of knowledgeable financial advisors to help decide which benefits plans are worth exploring… and which ones are more trouble than they’re worth.
25 Financial is that team of financial advisors. Our goal is to provide our high-net-worth clients like physicians with confidence that their financial future is secure and lucrative. We take advantage of every wealth management strategy and investment opportunity to make this goal a reality.
Benefits plans for full-time employees of medical practices can be complicated to navigate and expensive to implement. Having a team of dedicated advisors can make navigating this process easier for time-strapped professionals like physicians, all while avoiding extraneous expenses.
Here are some of the major perks Team 25 advises professionals to consider in their physician benefit packages.
While medical malpractice insurance is not required by the federal government and many state governments, it’s still a wise investment strategy for physicians and other medical professionals. Most physician benefits packages include some form of medical malpractice insurance to reduce liability in case lawsuits should arise. Some employers also find it beneficial to add tail coverage to malpractice policies, as it protects them in cases brought against a doctor regarding cases of malpractice at a previous place of work.
Education doesn’t stop at graduation. One of the better benefits an employer can add to a benefits package is paying for continuing medical education courses, or CME credits. By paying for their employees to earn CME credits approved by their malpractice insurance provider, some practices can save a significant amount on their premiums.
The cost of a medical education is on the rise in the United States, and most physicians graduate medical school with over $200,000 of debt. That makes student loan repayment benefits extremely enticing for recent graduates looking to join a public health system or even a private practice.
Many medical professionals have to move for their jobs. For practices looking for high-quality candidates, having relocation reimbursement perks can be an incredible incentive to attract top-tier talent.
Physicians need healthcare coverage too. When medical groups offer this insurance, it’s usually more cost effective to purchase group plans rather than individual ones, especially if the practice also plans to offer dental coverage and vision coverage.
Everyone needs a break, especially for people with high-stress careers, like physicians. That is why paid time off is an integral part of any package offered to employees. It’s also important to plan ahead so that employees can actually utilize this benefit by reducing obstacles physicians face when trying to use their well-deserved PTO.
Physicians are just like anyone else and can develop illnesses or disabilities that make it difficult for them to perform their job duties to the best of their abilities. In these cases, their expenses can be covered, at least in part (if not fully), with short-term disability or long-term disability insurance.
It’s possible to fully cover this type of benefit for employees. For example, it is quite common for practices to fully cover short-term disability for cases like maternity leave. That said, many practices opt for sharing these costs with employees (i.e., cost-sharing plans) or simply leaving the option to purchase these types of coverage up to the employees.
Life insurance policies for physicians may come with special rates and higher coverage amounts than policies for other individuals. In these cases, it may be more expensive to offer such a policy under a standard benefits plan. Instead, many practices let employees elect their own life insurance policies, funded through a tax-free, employer-established flexible spending account (FSA). The FSA helps cover out-of-pocket expenses for these policies and other add-ons to a benefits package, like health plans and childcare costs.
Retirement planning for physicians can be complicated due to higher levels of debt, starting retirement savings later in life, and having special expenses like malpractice insurance. For physicians, robust retirement benefits are necessary to ensure peace of mind that their financial well-being will be secured in their golden years.
Knowing how to manage wealth is one skill. Knowing how to manage wealth for physicians is another skill entirely. Managing wealth for these high-earning individuals is unlike financial planning for others. After all, physicians and other medical professionals graduate with plenty of student debt, are often targets for lawsuits and tax audits, and start retirement planning later in life, meaning they have less time to reach larger-than-average retirement goals.
Team 25 has years of experience working with high-net-worth individuals, including physicians. It’s why we developed the philosophy that financial planning for doctors needs to be unbiased, comprehensive, and always in the practitioner’s best interest. Our comprehensive financial plans for physicians include insurance review and planning; investment planning and analysis; debt management; proactive tax strategies; college, retirement, and legacy planning; estate and asset protection planning; medical student debt management services; and employee benefits planning and analysis.
