What do you get when you mix passion with expertise and curiosity?

You get Dr. Steven Ponder, a committed pediatric endocrinologist and diabetologist, who has become an equally enthusiastic entrepreneurial physician.

As a Type I diabetic since age 9, Dr. Ponder knows diabetes.

in addition to practicing medicine, Steve is also a business owner in MyGluco.com and DiabetesHousecall.com - two highly innovative companies involved in the delivery of direct healthcare.

In this week's 25-minute podcast interview, you will hear Dr. Ponder describe how he became an accidental entrepreneur, what he had to learn to build his business expertise and how he and his business partner have taken advantage of technology to deliver care to a far-flung population of diabetic children in Texas.

What the podcast doesn't do justice to are the additional "smart marketing" activities I discovered post-interview that Dr Ponder is engaged in:

• writing a blog
• writing a health column for a local newspaper
• doing a radio show that is picked up by his local PBS station.

As a contemporary "marketer" (this modest guy would hate to think of himself as such --  he would only think of himself as an educator) who is using all the recommended strategies for getting the word out,  it is no wonder he is "slightly famous" in his community.

When you are done listening, please rejoin me at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog and add your thoughts or comments.

Kenneth (Ken) Cohn MD MBA is no ordinary general surgeon.

This is a man who looked at a layoff as an opportunity to keep his wife happy (smart guy!) by remaining settled in New England, and instead, made lemonade out of the lemons he was handed.

Involuntary unemployment provided him with the chance and time to go back to school to get his MBA at the Tuck Business School at Dartmouth, thus launching a whole new phase of Ken's professional development.

As the founder of Healthcarecollaboration.com and a self-employed consultant who helps hospital administrators and their medical staffs and physician communities get cozy and collaborative, Ken obviously has the patience of a saint (I know, because I have been there and struggled with that). And a delightfully self-deprecating sense of humor to match! He's also a thoughtful blogger.

And to keep his hand in, he maintains a practice as a locum tenens, getting to know many physicians and hospital administrators in the process. Good marketing, don't you think?

Listen here as Ken shares the insights and lessons that becoming an accidental and now very intentional entrepreneurial physician have presented to him.

And then please rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to share your comments and thoughts!

I'm always surprised by just how many physicians express their longing for an outlet for, or even an escape from, the relentless pressure to see insanely big numbers of patients a day to keep incomes stable or meet organizational demands. And to hear how stuck they feel about next steps.

Every now and again I encounter a physician who has decided to follow his or her heart.

Lissa Rankin MD is one such person.

Lissa is an OB/Gyn who has sensed a calling as an artist for many years now, and who felt compelled to step away from the rat race and then a bad job situation, and instead permit herself a year off.

Listen to The Entrepreneurial MD Podcast this week, with Dr. Rankin's frank revelations about clinical practice, her journey into the creative life (including that of author and blogger) and her willingness to tolerate and enjoy  "the freefall" that such an adventure entails. Her many months away from practice have been a time of self-discovery and creative exploration, and she is still unsure as to what the next fork in the road will offer. All she knows is that  she is having a lot of fun!

And please come back to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog and share your comments about this insightful and revelatory interview!

PS: Enjoy some of Lissa's striking art at LissaRankin.com and read her funny and candid "yoni musings" at her blog.

Talking to Dr. Steven Knope is an exercise in fascination.

What is this French-horn-playing, Ironman triathletic, 3rd degree black belt-holding Kenpo martial artist up to now?

Stirring the pot of controversy it seems, with his newly released book Concierge Medicine; A New System to Get the Best Healthcare. As a two-time author and full-time practicing internist, Dr. Knope is ready to take on all that is wrong with the everyday practice of medicine.

In this podcast interview with Dr. Knope, you will hear how and why he got started in his concierge medicine practice in Tucson Arizona, along with his counterargument about the "ethics" of how medicine is practiced in the concierge model versus the HMO and third party insurance industry.

Above all, you will hear a physician who is passionately dedicated to improving the overall health of his patients through a relentless focus on customized exercise and nutrition plans along with health education provided without the constraints of "no time to practice properly".

When you are done listening to this intriguing interview, please come back to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog and share your comments and thoughts.

In response to demand, and hot on the heels of our popular May teleclass on Internet Marketing 101 for Physician Entrepreneurs (how to create an effective website!), I interviewed Shama Hyder of AfterTheLaunch for this week's podcast.

Internet Marketing expert Shama has mastered the skill of making tough technical ideas seem easy to understand!

In the podcast, I explore with Shama just what SEO (search engine optimization) is, and why it matters to any medical or physician website owner who wants to be found on the Web through the search engines by potential patients or clients.

Shama generously shares the simpler optimization tips that even non-techies can implement (such as using your best key words and phrases in your content and in your article or blog post titles).

Listen here to The Entrepreneurial MD podcast, and then please go back to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to comment or ask questions.

Jeffrey Segal MD is a fierce watch dog, always on guard against medical injustice.

As the CEO and founder of Medical Justice, he holds his company responsible for helping preserve the reputations and sanity of his 1700+ physician subscribers, in a healthcare system gone crazy with often frivolous and meritless lawsuits.

Jeff is now a true serial entrepreneur, having started DarPharma, Inc, a biotechnology company in Chapel Hill, N.C., focused on the discovery and development of first-of-class pharmaceuticals for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Why Medical Justice?

As a practicing neurosurgeon, Dr. Segal recognized the pain that lawsuits caused for his colleagues, and then experienced first hand the anguish of being sued himself. His frustration at the lopsidedness of a justice system that made it easy for lawyers to file suits against physicians without much consequence spawned the birth of the ideas behind his company.

Listen to this week's podcast as the articulate and passionate Dr. Segal describes the path his company has taken to date, and how he sees the vision for the business evolving.

And then please share your thoughts at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog.

One enterprising and industrious physician believes it can.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Louis Cornacchia doesn't just want to save your brain or spine; he's wants to save medicine from itself. Frustrated by the diminished power of physicians in the current healthcare system and the increasing disconnect between physicians and patients, he has been on a 9-year journey to find sustainable and effective solutions.

After extensive research and consultation with physician colleagues, patients (consumers of healthcare), attorneys, technogeeks and business people, he and his partners have concluded that the only successful path to a healthcare revolution is via the connectivity and continuity provided by web-based technology platforms.

As a founder of Doctations, Dr. Cornacchia speaks about his journey to entrepreneurship that began with a series of annoying and unnecessary interactions in the hospital around providing patient care, and his vision for the company in this week's Entrepreneurial MD Podcast.

The somewhat challenging concepts are best captured in the company's Mission Statement:

Doctations, Inc. intends to further leverage the power of the Internet to improve the efficiency, accessibility and quality of healthcare delivery and doctor-patient interactions, with an initial focus on Internet-enabled digital medical records (iDMR) and automation of physician offices using outsourced services provided by a distributed, independent domestic workforce. A strong doctor-patient relationship is key to improving the delivery of excellent healthcare. The Doctations software suite allows doctors to use the Internet to establish Centers of Excellence and to help decrease the global cost of healthcare.

Doctors + Other Provider Organizations + Patients = Web Integrated Healthcare Communities

Practicing physicians can immediately begin using the platform for free, while patients and their families can set up their records at www.iMedicalHome.com - want to try it out?

Then please share your thoughts back at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog.

Dr. Albert Fuchs is an ethical purist. That much is clear from our podcast interview today in which the Beverly Hills internist shares his views on his transition from an overworked less-than-satisfied traditional medical practitioner to a streamlined, calm, happy doctor with no immediate plans to quit his concierge practice.

At a patient's urging, he explored the concierge or retainer practice model, discovering its many variations. And realizing that, by cutting back dramatically on his patient load, he could once again become the real physician he had dreamt of being in his medical school days.

Seeking the mentorship of a family member with business experience, he began the transition several years ago by severing ties with the healthcare insurance industry, first with the PPOs and a year later with Medicare.

Paradoxically, he argues that, instead of contributing to the creation of primary care shortages with this model of care, he sees that students considering medicine as a future career are more likely to consider primary care when exposed to the role models of contented physicians providing the care they most enjoy giving to their patients! As opposed to the image many are witnessing today of harrassed, irritable doctors rushing from patient to patient, handling 5 phone calls between rooms, in order to make their "quota".

His advice:

• decide on whose behalf you are truly willing to work and who your customers really are - insurers or patients?
• take the high road and offer only those services and that care that is evidence-based. Keep it ethical - only offer what you would have done unto you!

Listen here to Dr Fuchs's refreshing account of how he chose to re-align with his deepest professional values, in his quest for his vision of an ideal practice.

And then rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog here for your comments and opinion!

What does it take to liberate one unhappy urologist from a bleak unending future as a physician group associate?

Answer: A powerful guiding vision.

Dr. Richard Schoor is a Smithtown NY urologist who has already accomplished three great things as an entrepreneurial physician:

1. He has built a solo specialty practice, with the guidance of his own Grand Vision, and is en route to the much bigger dream
2. He has carved out a niche for himself as a male infertility sub-specialist, in a crowded field, thereby turning his potential competitors into a source of referrals
3. He has begun building a web presence and "platform" for his name and practice using 21st century marketing tools, and has already reaped the benefits. He is the author of an acclaimed blog -- The Independent Urologist.

Since I teach and encourage each of these principles, in my eyes that makes him an up-and-coming star entrepreneurial physician business owner!

Listen to Dr Schoor tell his story of how he escaped the "safe" trap of group practice, and opted instead for the elation of independent solo practice (it's less than 20 minutes).

And then please rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to share your thoughts and questions.

Andy Oakes-Lottridge MD is an intrepid family physician entrepreneur who is now having as much fun building his practice, Personalized Health Care, as he is delivering medical care -- right in the homes of his patients.

As one of the growing number of physicians with concierge or membership-style medical practices (known to some as "boutique practices"), he opened his doors (actually the doors of his Honda Accord car) almost three years ago after recognizing some significant limitations to traditional group practice.

However, instead of opting for an office-based practice, he has chosen a practice in which 100% of his patient visit are home visits. Talk about keeping overhead down!

Listen to The Entrepreneurial MD Podcast here where you can enjoy his refreshing story and appealingly candid insights about life as a concierge home-visiting doctor in Fort Myers in the Southwestern part of Florida, and then rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your comments or questions!

Dr Manya Arond-Thomas is a woman with a strong sense of purpose; she's on a tear to help restore humanity and heart to healthcare.

As a physician, Executive coach and Organizational Development specialist, she's long had a love affair with leadership. Having worked as an internal coach prior to developing her own business, Manya Arond-Thomas and Associates, she has focused on working with leaders and teams to produce healthier workplaces.

And in her newest business venture, Heart of Healthcare (soon to be available online), she is returning to her roots -- her passion for improving the quality of life for those in health and human services.

Listen here to her sharing the story of her journey into and out of clinical practice - it's a 20-minute interview - and then return to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your comments!

In today's Entrepreneurial MD Podcast episode, I interview Michael Horowitz MD MBA to discover how he transitioned from actively practicing cardiac surgeon and program director to Founder and President of Medical Insights International  - a medical tourism consulting company.

Hear how Dr. Horowitz's fascination with leadership and management led to his enrollment in an MBA program, and how one concept taught in class caught his attention sufficiently, that two or three years later, he is now living and breathing medical tourism, and globetrotting to foreign places to better understand who his ideal target market is, and what problems they are needing help with solving.

And when you are finished listening, please come back to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your thoughts or comments.

Howard Stark MD's guiding principles seem to be driven by two questions: "What if...?" and "Why not...?"

As a busy internist and gastroenterologist with a curious and observing mind, he questioned why it wasn't possible for his patients to use the Internet to schedule appointments and reserve time with him, when it was so easy to make an airplane reservation online. What difference was there, really?

So starts his story into his latest, almost accidental, entrepreneurial physician venture.

His original goals: make life in practice a whole lot easier AND make a mobile traveling life outside practice possible.

Listen to Dr Stark share how his inquisitive mind and able partnerships have spun a highly useful home-grown web-based interface for his practice into a full-blown business, at DoctorsOnTheWeb.

And I'd love to read your comments at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog, when you're done listening!

I am a big proponent of finding a well-defined niche to build your business around. Rosalie Hamilton of Expert Communications has been shrewd enough to accomplish that in spades, by providing business development education and coaching to physicians (that is a niche in and of itself) on the topic of how to succeed in a medical expert witness business. A niche within a niche!

I interviewed Rosalie today to learn more about the business of becoming an expert witness and how to generate a steady flow of clients requiring your services -- clients such as attorneys and insurance companies. This conversation is not about doctors being asked to review the odd case for an attorney -- we all know someone who has done that. Instead it focuses on physicians whose intent it is to build a business as a medical expert witness.

By the way, take note of how Rosalie exemplifies good marketing -- she has a niche and a distinct target market, and she promotes her services by writing articles for publications, making public presentations, and writing a book that positions her as the expert in her field, The Expert Witness Marketing Book: How to Promote Your Forensic Practice in a Professional and Cost-Effective Manner.

Get insights from this consummate professional consultant and author guest by listening to this week's Entrepreneurial MD Podcast.

And when you are done listening, please rejoin me at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to post your comments or questions!

I am always fascinated by people's careers, and also constantly on the lookout for professionals whose work supports my physician readers' entrepreneurial activities.

So it was both fun and informative recording this week's Entrepreneurial MD Podcast (yes - it is my intention to create weekly podcasts again, after a dry spell over the holidays) with Joshua P. (Josh) Friedman, a colleague I met through my terrific Provisors business networking group.

Josh is a collection attorney who provides the invaluable service of going after your hard-earned money that still happens to be sitting in another person's wallet. His clients include many practicing physicians who are having difficulty getting paid for their services.

Listen to his clear and educational explanation of what a collection attorney can do to help you boost your bottom line, AND how to minimize the infuriation of bad debt by developing sound office policies, setting solid deadlines for payment, and developing follow-up strategies if your irate phone calls aren't working! 

Here is the ACA organization he references near the end of the 17-minute interview.

When you are finished listening, please rejoin me at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your comments or questions.