By Shawna Bertalot, CIC, ACI, WisMed Assure President

If you’ve ever witnessed a changing of the guard at Arlington Cemetery or in front of Big Ben, you know it’s a serious event and poignant image of respect and protection. We have had a changing of the guard at WisMed Assure this past year with four of our more than 25 year veteran agents retiring – that’s more than 100 collective years in the service of protecting physicians and health care organizations from economic and reputational harm. They all shared pride in their WisMed team and mission to serve those who care for our health and we thank for their work and dedication.

I am so pleased to introduce the highly experienced and dedicated new guard that has joined WisMed Assure.

Janet Marzsalek, Laura Weber and Jim Davis each bring more than 25 years of experience in medical professional liability underwriting, service and sales. I am confident that there is no team in Wisconsin with more expertise handling the liability and business insurance needs of physicians, clinics, hospitals and health care facilities.

Tom Strangstalien is leading Team Income Defense with a focus on individual income protection insurance including Disability, Life and Long-term Care insurance. Tom has recruited Jerry Tiffany to join the team. Jerry brings additional expertise and relationships in the Medicare Supplement, Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug program space.

Tara Julien is our newest member to the Employee Benefits Team. Tara brings years of group insurance experience with a national health insurance carrier and has worked with clients in both the consumer goods and health care industries.

You can learn more about all of our dedicated, mission-driven team members here.

Wisconsin Medical Society Members, you can be proud that your association created this agency in 1978, and WisMed Assure continues our dual mission of both providing exclusive benefits to members and revenue to support the mission of the Wisconsin Medical Society. We care for your financial health by reducing the confusion, fear and hassle of evaluating and buying insurance so you can focus on patient care.

We are pleased to announce that a veteran insurance professional, Jim Davis, will be joining WisMed Assure as of Monday, July 12^th as Vice President Medical Professional. 

Jim has an incredible amount of Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance, Medical Professional, Work Comp, Management and Cyber Liability experience. Jim has also been in direct sales most of his career and has many contacts in the Wisconsin market, especially with hospitals. Jim’s primary focus will be developing new business relationships and opportunities with hospitals, clinics, physician groups and other medical service providers. 

While Jim’s focus is on the P&C lines of insurance, he also looks forward to partnering with Chris, Tom and Mark to make Employee Benefits, Individual Income Protection and Financial Advisory referrals.

Here’s what Jim says about the opportunities ahead.

“I am truly excited because it is such a unique opportunity. I believe everything I’ve done to date in the insurance industry has led me to this. Here’s why I think this opportunity is so special:

• I firmly believe the backing of the Wisconsin Medical Society is an enormous differentiator and clearly separates us from competing agents and agencies.
• Likewise, being the only Wisconsin based Insurance Agency, Financial Services Firm that exclusively serves the healthcare community brings great value to our clients. In other words, everyone in our organization is in healthcare. Most, if not all other agencies, work in manufacturing, transportation, contractors, etc. By focusing on healthcare, we are able to continuously develop unequalled expertise.
• I like the “Your financial partner for life” tag line because it is true. Not only are we committed to serving our clients for life, we are also committed to helping them protect and enhance the lives of the patients and people they serve.
• Offering a complete array of financial services helps us to not only round out accounts, but also helps to cement our relationships.
• Relationships are the key, and that has always been the foundation of my success. People do business with people they like and trust because after all, what we offer is a promise, and they count on us to deliver by providing the financial services and appropriate solutions they need. 

By Mark Ziety, CFP®, AIF®, Senior Advisor, WisMed Financial

Uncle Sam is part of your family, even if you are single. From time to time, you may have wondered if there are ways to reduce your tax payments to him. There are ways, so let’s have a quick tax lesson and then explore a couple options.

We have a progressive income tax structure in the US. As you earn income through the year, your first dollars are taxed at the lower tax rates. As you earn more and more, the last few dollars are taxed at higher tax rates. The highest rate is called your marginal tax bracket. Most people think every dollar is taxed at their marginal tax bracket, but it is only the last few dollars earned. Here is a short video that provides a bit more detail.

During your working years 

If you are just starting out, have modest income, and are still in a lower tax bracket, then paying taxes now is generally preferred. One way to do this is to make Roth contributions to your 401(k) or 403(b). In contrast, if you are in your peak earning years and need a tax deduction, traditional/pretax contributions to your 401(k) or 403(b) is preferred. This reduces your taxable income today and kicks the tax can into the future when you may be able to pay it at a lower tax rate.

Between retirement and age 72. 

Quite often, there is dip in taxable income (and therefore tax bracket) after retirement. However, taxable income may climb right back up again at age 72 when required minimum distributions start. The years between retirement and age 72 are the key tax planning years to reduce lifetime taxes. By accelerating income into these low tax years, typically using Roth conversions, you can reduce your lifetime taxes. Please see Chart 1.

Chart 1. Ordinary income tax brackets at various ages

Green = taxable income
Lines = income tax brackets

In addition to these strategies, taxes can be reduced by using tax efficient funds, making timely charitable gifts, locating investments in the right types of accounts, and more.

For personalized help with your tax planning, please contact me.

Mark Ziety, CFP®, AIF® 608.442.3750.
WisMed Financial, Inc. part of the Wisconsin Medical Society

By Steph Breunig, HR Practice Leader Fine Point Consulting

Summer is here and if you are like me, you’d like to coast a bit these short few months to relax a little more, worry a little less.

I like that at Fine Point Consulting, I can allow myself a little more of this down time when it suits me and my clients. It helps me recharge and ultimately makes me a better employee. Make no mistake, this is possible because we’ve cultivated a culture in our organization to not just accommodate flexibility but CELEBRATE flexibility.

Flexibility was always important to Fine Point’s founder, Luella Schmidt and she built it into our culture. When you are thinking about how you can improve your company culture, ask yourself, “What kind of a company would I want to spend 20 years working for?

Here are some tips on finding the best possible answer.

Define what’s important to you
You have to establish what is at the heart of your company… what your core values are. You can’t just say you value curiosity as a company. You have to have a plan to back that up. Do you invest in learning opportunities? Do you provide educational stipends or sabbaticals?

Loop in the whole team
The tricky thing about company culture is that it is hard to measure and track effectiveness of your culture initiatives. That’s why it is a good practice to always involve your employees in the conversation and the process. Stay in constant communication with your staff and ask for their opinions.

Make room to grow
As you bring on new employees, make sure you are giving them room to grow. Many employees will only stay in a job long enough for them to learn everything there is to learn before moving on and taking their skills elsewhere. Mentoring programs, tuition reimbursement, lunch and learn opportunities all work to provide space for growth.

Use the right software
There are many employee engagement tools to help you on your journey. Technology makes gathering employee opinions and suggestions quick and easy.

Positive culture. Positive vibes.
Building strong company culture is easier said than done. But the work is so worth it. When employees and employers share similar values, employees are happier and more productive. And that’s good for business.

By Tom Strangstalien, Insurance Advisor

I received from a call from a physician this week in the mid-stages of his career. The call began with, “I should have listened to you years ago about purchasing personal disability insurance. I realize that it will now be very expensive, but I also realize that I need it. Can you please get some quotes for me?”. 

As our member residents graduate, we make great effort to educate them on the importance of having personal disability insurance in place prior to embarking on the next step of their career journey. At no other time will coverage be more affordable and easier to obtain. Our resident physicians are automatically entitled to a base amount of benefits, and substantial discounts are offered by each of the “Big 5” personal disability insurers for physicians. Once coverage is in place, the cost for these base benefits cannot be changed for life.

It makes a world of sense to get this coverage while you are young and healthy, as premiums are based on age and medical health history. We encourage our physicians to add options like the Future Increase Option, which will allow them to increase their coverage to keep up with their rising income, without any additional medical underwriting. We also advise implementing the Cost of Living Adjustment rider on the policy, which will ensure that benefits received keep pace with rates of inflation. 

The physician who called me was making a career change and had lost his employer group disability benefits. This is another common occurrence we see on a regular basis. In addition, most employer group benefits coverage have limits, which can be much lower than one’s true current income.

Our resident physicians have worked extremely hard to earn their biggest asset… their income!  With all of our other valuable assets, we do not think twice about protecting them. If student loans were incurred for this achievement, we can even design coverage to make these payments in the event of a disability!

We express a heartfelt “CONGRATULATIONS” to our resident graduates! During this time of celebration, take a moment to look back on times when we should have listened to our parents, teachers, or mentors. Pay particular attention to what fellow member physicians communicate to us on a far too common basis.  “I should have listened.”

“It was life changing… business changing for sure!”

By Shawna Bertalot, CIC, ACI – WisMed Assure President

When I sat down – virtually – with Jennifer Schwartz, RN, to talk about OnRamp Healthcare, I quickly realized this wasn’t going to be a ho hum conversation.

She had just launched Conduct RM, her remote CIED monitoring business, when she went to the first OnRamp conference at Lambeau Field in 2019.

Here’s what she told me, “I went to OnRamp as a guest after starting my company and it was life changing… business changing for sure!

Seeing other companies using technology that was already available and repackaging it for a purpose – to meet a need that has been unmet or poorly met – confirmed I was on the right track. The people I met were brilliant at putting all these pieces together to make a difference.

During one of the breakout sessions, I made a connection with a Madison company (Redocs) that was instrumental in helping me learn about and then negotiate with a software company (Insight Connections Group). They helped my business get the technology it needed… we didn’t have to start from scratch.”

“…the opposite of normal events.”

As we ramp up for OnRamp Healthcare on August 19^th, 2021, I asked Jennifer what she would say to any physician who was wondering if they should attend.

“Attending OnRamp is completely the opposite of normal events. Going to a traditional medical conference, you know most of the speakers, you’ve read their papers, books, journals… you know more or less what is on the agenda and what you will learn.

OnRamp is a dynamic conference and nothing is the same from vendor to vendor, start up to start up. Everyone has their own area of expertise that is outside the expertise of physicians.

You would never come across these people and these ideas. No one is pitching you, they’re informing and educating. Just listening to all this tech lingo is a great informal way to hear what is cutting edge.

For any physician, it is an awesome way to get ready to deliver in the future. It gives you an overview of the many options you can use to incrementally keep pace, a smorgasbord of ideas you can pick from and bring back to your practice.”

“It is hard to change when you are nose to the grind stone…”

During our conversation, Jennifer and I agreed that even before the pandemic, the good people delivering healthcare were being challenged as never before. OnRamp is an opportunity to find new ways to meet today’s challenges and to be prepared for the inevitable new challenges we will see in the future.

“It is hard to change when you are nose to the grind stone… it even feels guilty to go away from your practice. But, you do not know what you are missing if you don’t know it exists. At OnRamp, you learn that there is a whole group of people out there trying to deliver care better – more easily, more economically and better for everyone.”

It’s clear that attending OnRamp changed one business’s future, and that business has since been changing people’s lives for the better.