what are the functions of various common organizations you will deal with?

[shikimate]

There'll be a lot of people, businesses and various organizations you'll deal with in your medical career. I just want to kinda give a quick primer on them. It definitely varies by province so check the official records accordingly. Feel free to add to this.

CMPA

- your medical malpractice insurer. Anything medico-legal related to your practice of medicine you can consult their lawyers.

- charges your insurance fees annually. Fees vary by region and specialty.

- you are required to have insurance to practice and almost everyone in Canada uses CMPA.

- generally favorable to physicians since they are in the business of offering you malpractice legal protection.

ROYAL COLLEGE

- establishes training and certification standards and administers exams for specialists.

- maintains a system (MAINPORT) for you to document your Continuing Medical Education credits.

- have minor perks such as scholarships and grants.

- your hospital or employer may require you to be a fellow of RC, but fellowship of RC is not a requirement to get license to practice medicine.

- neutral for physicians, mostly a bureaucratic money sucker.

PROVINCIAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

- establishes standards for various types of medical licenses and grants them.

- registration of your medical professional corporation, if you decide to incorporate.

- investigations of complaints and discipline of physicians.

- maintains provincial registry of physicians.

- you must pay them to get a license to practice medicine.

- generally adversarial towards physicians, acts as a state surveillance and monitoring mechanism for physicians.

MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (national, provincial, local etc)

- often responsible for fee and remuneration negotiation with provincial government.

- supposed to advocate on behalf of physicians.

- membership are often stipulated to be mandatory.

- generally favorable to physicians as a whole but often becomes a cesspool of infighting between physicians.

DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC ASSOCIATION

- generally a place for physicians to socialize and talk about discipline specific issues.

- often offers conferences, courses and CME credits.

- have some role in advocacy and promotion of that particular discipline.

- membership are rarely mandatory, although members often get discount for conferences.

- generally favorable to physicians of that particular discipline.

 

[shikimate]

Here are some people that you may deal with during your medical career:

LAWYER

- helps with paperwork for professional incorporation, and ongoing paperwork of maintaining the corporation.

- wills and trusts.

- other services may include contract negotiation, HR/hiring, real estate transactions, re-structuring of corporation such as change of shareholders etc.

- charges very dearly, so use their service judiciously.

ACCOUNTANT

- may or may not offer bookkeeping service.

- filing of annual tax return for corporation.

- responding to CRA audit.

- may work with your financial planner for cooperate and personal financial planning.

- charges very dearly, so consider keeping a neat financial record of your corporation.

PRACTICE MANAGER

- generally runs the clinic/unit/lab/business that you practice in.

- often involved in hiring and personnel/HR/staffing issues.

- daily business operations such as billing, suppliers, vacations, minor contract negotiations, dealing with regulatory bureaucracy etc.

- a good practice manager can make a physician's life much easier by taking care of the various business matters.

FINANCIAL PLANNER

- works to understand your personal and professional goals when it comes to $.

- may advise you on your revenue, spending, and financial impact of incorporation.

- may help with optimal tax strategy. 

- may consider other things such as insurance, investment vehicles, etc

- financial planning to major life events, retirement and purchases.

- should work with your accountant to come up with a financial plan based on your goals and review the plan periodically.

- may charge by the hour, annually, or per session etc. It's good to have one on your side but not become entirely reliant on them.