Ike Devji, JD

Part two of our look at stories from current headlines puts abstract conversations about asset protection, insurance, compliance, and risk management issues into the real-life context of current national headlines.

 we have previously advised you to manage proactively including social media, employment law and the COVID-19 vaccine. The headlines of the last few weeks are no less varied in the lessons they can provide.

Identity Theft Is Spiking – And Now They Probably Have Your Cell Number

We’ve discussed that both medical practices and their physician owners are popular and frequent targets for cybercriminals and some of the 

 protecting yourself requires. Things got a little harder this year as the identifying details of hundreds of millions of Facebook users was made available for free. As 

Over the weekend, news broke that a hacker had published online

a database containing the personal information of 533 million Facebook users

, including email and physical addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and more. While the data was stolen in a 2019 breach and Facebook long ago plugged that hole, it’s the first time this huge trove was made available for free.

What this means for consumers is that you will need to be extra vigilant about 

, using two factor authentication and carefully screening any 

 as likely phishing attempts, which are already increasing by using this information. Be extra leery of anything with a link or an attachment and look out for common scams including fake package and Amazon delivery updates.

Reconsider Business, Personal Security, and Your Need for Privacy

Physical security issues that can pose a risk to life and business takes many forms and we’ve examined the need for your practice to consider 

, a gun policy and heavy levels of several kinds of insurance in areas including 

. There has been a public shooting reported in different parts of the country 

 and his family by a patient. In this case, unlike the majority of other incidents involving medical professionals that are usually 

, the attack took place at the physician’s 

 and spilled over to other family members. This tragedy highlights the need for situational awareness and security precautions at all times as well as the need for physicians to take efforts to keep their residential addresses private by using trusts and other legal devices to legally keep their names out of public records. Having something like, “Dr. Sheila Smith and husband Bill Smith Just purchased this lovely contemporary home in located at 2345 East. Mountain Top Lane for $2.5MM” published in your local paper on the internet is a bad idea for many reasons. Think about your need for privacy and security well before closing on any real estate purchase.

Due Diligence in All Things Financial is Still Vital

You may have noticed a spike in reporting on investment fraud cases—it’s real and it affects a variety of industries and types of investment opportunities. Pushed by fears about the economy and uncertainty about taxes, investors are looking for opportunities and scammers are taking advantage of that in many ways.

All the basics of due diligence still apply from 

checking your investment advisor’s record

 and background to being conscious of the risks of private placements and investments, especially those that don’t use 

 or who promise outsize returns that other alternatives can’t match. One recent scam involved a Hollywood actor pushing a movie distribution deal that 

. It can also be a much smaller front-end scam that leads to a huge exposure, like 

 and discovering your agent wasn’t actually using your premiums to insure you, leaving you 

Doctors have always loved private aircraft, but we’ve seen a big increase in the number of clients interested in buying a private plane, spurred at least partially by COVID. Owning or flying an airplane carries 

 that can be fatal to you or others. Make sure you have professional help in how to own and insure the plane and 

, including life insurance, estate planning and asset protection in solidly place before you are wheels up.

, JD, has practiced law exclusively in the areas of asset protection, risk management and wealth preservation for the last 16 years. He helps protect a national client base with more than $5 billion in personal assets, including several thousand physicians. He is a contributing author to multiple books for physicians and a frequent medical conference speaker and CME presenter. Learn more at

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Asset protection, insurance, compliance, and risk management.

2021 Asset Protection Lessons in the News, Part Two

Risks that threaten doctor’s financial solvency take many forms and require serious personal and professional risk management in multiple areas. A look at recent physician specific headlines illustrates why our asset protection coverage is so broad in its scope and some specific issues to avoid.

If you are a regular reader of this column, you already know that I make significant effort to cover 

 the predictable and recuring personal and 

 and go far beyond the ever-present elephant in the room of your professional malpractice liability. We assume this is an omnipresent risk and will be it examining in detail in the near future. Our discussions have included issues like the importance of leadership, compliance, insurance, and a wide scope of legal risks related to the 

 This week we take a fist look at a series of recent headlines that could affect your wealth.

How to ensure a viable future for community-based specialty practices

Over the last few years we’ve seen a wide variety of physicians commit “

” by doing things that reflect poorly on personal character or their professional skills, both inside and outside the walls of their practice. You’ve doubtless seen examples like the surgeon attending a traffic court hearing in the O.R. with a patient on the table and perhaps more recently, the 

Michigan physicians that are under investigation

 after they posted pictures of themselves playing a "Price Is Right"-type game where they guess the weight of organs they just removed from patients, 

Regardless of fact, context and any actual effect on patient safety, here’s the cold, hard bottom line; doing these things will be used as de-facto evidence of your negligence in the event of any adverse outcome and your reputational damage will be public, immediate and permanently recorded on the internet.

EEOC Tells Doctor to Praise the Lord and Pass the Plate, With $375,000

This recent story about a practice in a Dallas suburb illustrates details we have covered including the need for custom drafted 

 including both EPLI (employment practices liability insurance) and D&O (directors’ and officers’ insurance) in place.

A U.S. District Court ordered a Texas physician to pay $375,000 to employees who were required to start their workdays with 

. The court ruled that actions of the employing physician and organizations violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees from being 

 to accept their employer’s religious practices and beliefs as a condition of their employment.

If your personal beliefs require you to interject this sensitive issue into the workplace, do so carefully, on a clearly voluntary basis that includes no retaliation or disparate treatment for those that don’t participate, including by other staff members. It’s your liability either way.

Inappropriate billing, fraud gaining scrutiny

Even as America makes record progress in getting large numbers of people vaccinated against COVID-19 the anti-vaxxer movement is having a significant effect or slowing or stopping that progress in certain communities using a combination of wild conspiracy theories about vaccines being used for “mind control and containing secret microchips”, bad science, anecdotes and outright disinformation from America’s foreign enemies. According to a recent 

 quoting U.S. government officials, Russian intelligence agencies have mounted a disinformation campaign to undermine confidence in Pfizer vaccine and other Western COVID19 vaccines, using social media to promote publications that question vaccine development and safety.

Take this concerted effort into account when educating your patients and your staff, as medical professionals (including physicians) have certainly not been immune to this condition. Consider providing guidance on what info should be provided on these topics by your team both directly to patients and 

publicly through any related social media

legal exposures or physical security issues

 that this disinformation may present, including protecting both any vaccine supply and those administering it.

In our next installment we will address other recent real-world examples including legal protection for whistleblowers and risk for employers that retaliate against them, sexual harassment claims, how medical malpractice claims could get even more expensive, and personal injury liability with vehicles and aircraft, among others.

Risks that threaten doctor’s financial solvency take many forms and require serious personal and professional risk management in multiple areas.

Asset protection lessons in 2021 headlines

Doctors face a variety or risks far beyond medical malpractice liability. We examine some of the predictable risks of spring and surprises from current headlines that can threaten physicians’ wealth.

December through February are traditionally common peak times for proposals and summer wedding season is right around the corner. If you are engaged, an important part of your asset protection planning is a professionally drafted and properly executed 

. This includes both young physicians with limited current assets and older physicians with more significant assets that may be re-marrying. The most common lament of those in a divorce is the lack of a pre-nuptial agreement that would have made the process cheaper, faster, and less traumatic because, “

We didn’t have any assets when we got married

”. You eventually will and failing to have this conversation and document can cost you 

, including retirement savings and even your 

Reducing clinician burnout by getting rid of “stupid stuff” in EHRs

Spring break is here, and many families are finding safe ways to get away as vaccine eligibility grows and COVID travel restrictions are lifted or loosened for those recently vaccinated.

Spring break presents a variety of predictable and recurring family and 

 I’ve previously addressed as well as some new ones specific to the current COVID-19 reality. I’ve I would not presume to give medical advice on this issue to an audience of medical professionals beyond cautioning you to choose such excursions carefully including taking into account the 

 of the place you are visiting and take into account your most vulnerable family member. I’d also caution you to consider your public profile and position as a healthcare authority and how your choices, lacking context and how they are portrayed in social media in particular, could affect 

. You are held to a higher standard by the media and the public and a headline like, “Local doctor cavorts mask-less in sea of irresponsible spring break revelers” is not one you want to be part of, 

but it is nonetheless one we are likely to see soon

While love may be blooming at one home, the war of the Roses may be going on next door. Unfortunately, a year of forced togetherness during quarantine in a high stress situation has not been kind to many relationships and lead to a 

 after many couples are seeing the best and 

. Some divorce attorneys expect an increase in this number as restrictions continue to lift and make the process of separating, moving, finding a new home, job, getting access to the courts and other related issues much easier. If you are facing this change it’s important that you start planning early to make the process 

 and that you are professionally represented, particularly if you don’t have a prenup or if your practice maybe implicated because your partnership is missing a 

As tax-day approaches both good, legally complaint tax plans and the tax evasion scams we’ve previously warned you about are being heavily promoted and may look very similar to consumers. Choose carefully and have any plan vetted by your CPA or a tax attorney before committing to it.

The plans being marketed range from basic and well proven strategies like funding qualified retirement plans and setting up self-directed IRAs for real estate investing to outright 

 about the ability of the government to tax you at all. The ones that use legitimate strategies like captive insurance and conservation easements in an 

 are also dangerous as they appear legitimate on the surface in their marketing but fail to meet IRS guidelines the way they are actually implemented. Tax attorney and tax plan related expert witness Lance Wallach recently commented on this issue and provided 

 that may face audits and harsh penalties for engaging in these transactions, including his opinion on defense strategies and malpractice claims against those selling them. In many cases, this liability will actually start when the promoter of an abusive plan gets on the IRS radar, causing every one of their clients to get audited.

Doctors face a variety or risks far beyond medical malpractice liability. We examine some of the predictable risks of spring and surprises from current headlines that can threaten physicians’ wealth. 

Physicians, asset protection, and the seasonal risks of spring

Over seventy percent of the U.S. is experiencing severe winter weather conditions and the catastrophe in Texas caused by freezing temperatures and blackouts is still unfolding. With hurricane still ahead, we examine some important basics on how to document your losses and make an effective insurance claim.

Texas residents and business owners whose homes and businesses were damaged can begin applying for FEMA online at

It’s vital that you are adequately insured for both 

, including property damage, contents, and business interruption, among others. Make sure you understand vital policy details like the difference between being covered for 

 (the dollar amount needed to replace a damaged item with one of similar kind and quality, 

 (which pays only the amount needed to replace the item at its current market value 

7 Financial Reports Your Practice Needs to Run

Most polices require you to take reasonable measures to prevent further damage to your property like covering a hole in a roof with temporary shelter, calling 

a qualified and licensed restoration contractor

 for water damage, etc. Your insurance policy may exclude further damage to your property if you have not taken reasonable steps to do so and will generally reimburse you for reasonable costs incurred to protect your property.

As is reasonably possible, document the damage to your home and/or office with an inventory of any damaged items you can immediately spot, including personal property in your home, damage to vehicles and medical equipment, fixtures, signage, and office equipment, as well as documenting any appointments that had to be cancelled and other loss of revenue related to the damage. Record it at the time so your recollection is fresh and accurate, and support that writing with pictures, video, etc. Your smart phone gives you the best ability to do this at all times. If it doesn’t present a health, fire, or other safety hazard, consider preserving damaged items for inspection by the adjuster before they are thrown away.

Report damage to your insurance company by phone to start the claim process or do so online or using their app on your phone. Get a claim number issued immediately so you are in the system and have something to refer to on all future calls and correspondence; your claim does not exist without a claim number. Report the damage you’ve been able to see, any remediation you’ve had to perform, and request help you need with further remediation. Inform them you’ve documented the claim with a list and photos. Keep a written log of all phone calls and correspondence, including the names of the people you spoke to, when you spoke to them, their telephone extensions and e-mail addresses, and keep copies of all correspondence sent to or received from your insurance company (having one notebook for all this is an efficient way to manage it). Some insurance carriers provide an endless maze of dead-end fax and phone numbers, in an effort to delay timely processing of claims and paperwork you into giving up.

Your insurance company may use a “proof of loss” form and will often have you make a formal statement by phone that will be recorded. You’re not a contractor, so don’t give 

 on the scope of the damage, costs, and etc. as it will likely be used against you later if you do, just tell them what you can see and actually 

The adjuster should perform a thorough evaluation of the damage, so check their inspection report against your own list to make sure they haven’t omitted any damage. If the adjuster is unable to complete a thorough inspection due to time constraints he may be forced to “scope the loss.” This is a brief inspection of the damage with a second visit necessary to complete the inspection.

Bedside manner remains vitally important during the pandemic

If your carrier gives you the run around on any issues, does not timely respond, or most likely, fails to make you an adequate settlement offer, report the issue to a claims manager and support your case with documentation, estimates, and the photos you took. Your state’s department of insurance website will spell out your rights and the carrier’s legal obligations in plain English.

We examine some important basics on how to document your losses and make an effective insurance claim.