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80 6 Key Thoughts on Best Business Strategies for Young Spine Surgeons By Laura Dyrda P hysicians aren't just clinicians today; they are business men and women running their practice in a complex market. But medical schools haven't adapted and most phy- sicians don't receive any business training. at's where mentors, consultants and in- novators like Mike Duffy, MD, and Afferent Provider Solutions come in. e business was started by him and a group of health- care providers who wanted to provide proper guidance to young doctors that they never received. "I help the fellows and junior partners with investing, insurance and ca- reer planning," says Dr. Duffy, who is a spine surgeon at Texas Back In- stitute. "We have many established physician clients, but our main focus is to help young physicians through the end of training and the first few years of practice." Afferent was started to provide business training and investment advice as well as guidance for purchasing insurance. "For investing, we use an evidence-based platform for helping physicians make smart investments," says Dr. Duffy. "We are focused on making good investments for our clients, and not only that, as a fee-only service, the pricing is transparent so our clients always know exactly what they are paying." Here are six key challenges for spine surgeons transitioning into their own practice: 1. Debt management and consolidation. Young surgeons oen have medical school debt when they first enter practice, and could take on additional debt to launch their practice, buy a home or other personal or professional endeavors. "e first headache is understanding the debt from medical school and transition to making significantly more money," says Dr. Duffy. "A lot of physicians don't understand their student loans and the different rates they have; they don't know consolidating and refinancing can save them money." e average physician has saved $39,000 by refinancing student loans through Afferent's student loan consolidation partner. Osteoconductive structure that mimics the bone trabecular geometry. Porosity designed to enable cell colonization and promote bone in-growth. Reduced density for optimized imaging performances. THE ULTIMATE BRIDGE TO FUSION B Y S P I N E A R T Ti-Life TECHNOLOGY SP-pub-Ti-life-technology-pour-Nass_V2.indd 1 29/07/2016 18:23 Dr. Michael Duffy