COM Outlook - Summer 2015

40 Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine 41 IN FEBRUARY, the college opened a satellite medical center at Covenant Village of Florida in Plantation, a faith-based, not-for-profit, continuing care retirement community located several miles from NSU’s main campus. The center is operating under the direction of Jill Wallace-Ross, D.O., assistant professor of family medicine. Although the satellite medical center is new, the college’s Department of Geriat- rics has been providing care for the residents of Covenant Village’s skilled nursing facility for many years. NSU COMmunications Satellite Medical Center Launched at Covenant Village of Florida The NSU-COM Medical Center at Covenant Village of Florida is an outpatient office designed to provide medical care to the facility’s several hundred independently living residents. “We are also providing care for the employees of Covenant Village of Florida and their family members,” Dr. Wallace-Ross said. “In addition, we are working with other outside organizations to help coordinate care and meet the health care needs of their patients at this same location.” NSU-COM Receives Four Awards at AACOM Conference Marti Echols, Ph.D., M.Ed. , assistant dean of medical education, and Rogerio Faillace, M.D. , assistant professor of pediatrics, received the Outstanding Medical Education Research Poster and Presentation Award for their project entitled “The Effects of Hippotherapy on Children and Adolescents with Asperger’s Disorder.” OMS-III Jacob Triplet was presented with the inaugural National Student Researcher of the Year Award, which was established to recognize an osteopathic medical student researcher who demonstrates a high degree of quality in the realm of basic science, translational, or clinical research. Dianna Silvagni, J.D. , clinical assistant professor of medical education, received the inaugural Outstanding Advancement in Osteopathic Medical Education Award in relation to the college’s Art, Medicine, and Observation Program. The college also received a Best Video/Podcast Award for its innovative marketing/recruitment video, which was presented “in honor of the exceptional communications and mar- keting, media relations, public education, and promotion exhibited by NSU-COM.” The award-winning project was produced in partnership with NSU’s advertising company Fahlgren Mortine and NSU-COM colleagues Scott Colton, B.A., APR , COM/HPD director of medical communications and public relations; Debra Gibbs, B.A. , medical commu- nications coordinator; Stephanie Petrosky, M.H.A., R.D. , director of administrative services and special projects; and Delfina Wilson, Ph.D., M.A. , assistant dean of alumni and student affairs. During the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) Annual Conference held April 22–25 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, NSU-COM received four awards in areas ranging from research and communications to innovation. IT DOESN’T TAKE ROCKET SCIENCE to assume that compensation is the most important business term to any person evaluating a prospective job. Judging from my expe- riences working with doctors, to assume the same about medical professionals would not be careless. Medical entities, just like almost all other employers of professionals, offer benefits they will provide to such professionals throughout their employment. Below are a few facts and tips related to a subpart of a standard physician compensation package—benefits. As a part of a physician’s compensation package, employers commonly offer benefits such as paid vacation time, health insurance coverage, and retirement plans. While the foregoing benefits are almost always offered to employed physicians in some manner, there are other important benefits employers do not always offer. For instance, employers could also offer malpractice insurance coverage, as well as tail coverage, and reimbursement for professional requirements such as continuing medical education, licensure, and organization fees. Whether a prospective employer offers a physician certain benefits, and the extent in which the employer offers them, are different depending on the size, and business practice, of the employer. For physicians, compensation packages also depend on the type of specialty they will practice. For instance, Specialty A Medical Group may offer six weeks of paid vacation time, while Specialty B Medical Group may only offer three. Certain employers may be en- rolled in a more comprehensive health insurance plan, while others may offer a higher reimbursement allowance for a physician to obtain continuing medical education credits. While it is easy for me to offer my advice, I understand it is hard for a person not to zero in on the dollar amount he or she will potentially be paid. A physician usually is offered a base compensation in his or her first contract. In the majority of cases, the base compensation will be a specific dollar amount. In a standard physician employment contract, however, base compensation is referenced separately from the benefits. Thus, when a physician is analyzing the base-compensation number in a proposed employment agreement, he or she must factor the cost of the benefits to the employer. Employers do not usually present an accounting of how they arrived at a certain base- compensation number. Similarly, while most people construe the term benefits to mean positives above and beyond salary, the employer will most likely consider the benefits it will provide when determining the base-compensation amount. Thus, while one employer may offer a lower base salary than a competitor, the employer may be offering a more valuable compensation package. Fred Segal is a health law attorney in the Miami office of the law firm Broad and Cassel and a graduate of NSU’s Shepard Broad Law Center (now the Shepard Broad College of Law). Benefits Offered in Physician Contracts The Health Care Legal Eagle By Fred Segal, Esq. Dr. Frederick Lippman Named a Health Care Hero ON MAY 19, Frederick Lippman, R.Ph., Ed.D. , chancellor of NSU’s Health Professions Division, was honored as the 2015 Individual of Merit by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce at its 18th Annual Health Care Heroes Awards held at Jungle Island in Miami. The Health Care Heroes Awards program recognizes individ- uals, institutions, professionals, students, volunteers, and programs that, through their individual or collective actions, have made an extraordinary impact in the South Florida health care community.

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