059 - The Doctor Whisperer: Transforming Medical Practices and Prioritizing Mental Health To Reduce Burnout

This week on PRACTICE: IMPOSSIBLE, we explore the transformative insights of Sharon Fekete, the renowned Doctor Whisperer, as she delves into her impactful work with insurance-independent physicians. Discover the crucial role of mental health in the medical workplace as Sharon candidly shares her journey of overcoming challenges. Gain valuable insights into the essential elements of leadership, vulnerability, and communication in the medical field. Uncover the significance of hiring and staff meetings for the success of medical practices, and be inspired by Sharon's advocacy for physicians to prioritize self-care. Join her vision for a reimagined future of the medical business, focused on seamlessly serving patients and healthcare providers.

Show Notes

The Broken Road to Mental Health: In Life and in Business by Sharon Fekete  Amazon Link to book

Sharon’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/SharonFekete

Sharon’s Media Company https://www.13thavemedia.com/

Sharon’s Website https://thedoctorwhisperer.com/

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Information - https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asa/foh/bhs/employee-assistant-program/index.html

Alcohol Anonymous 12-Step Program - https://www.aa.org/the-twelve-steps

Are you a healthcare provider with suicidal thoughts? - Contact Pamela Wible, MD for help -  http://www.pamelawible.com

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline - Dial 988 in the United States - https://988lifeline.org/

 

Discover how medical graduates, junior doctors, and young physicians can navigate residency training programs, surgical residency, and locum tenens to increase income, enjoy independent practice, decrease stress, achieve financial freedom, and retire early, while maintaining patient satisfaction and exploring physician side gigs to tackle medical school loans.

Transcript

Coach JPMD (00:00.11)
Well, lucky that you're asking me this question because I've only worked with physicians that have broken out of the corporate model. Okay. So I've never worked with a physician that accepts insurance, ever, in 10 years. Wait, that's not true. I did work with an orthopedic group in Orlando once. So I only work with physicians that don't want to accept insurance anymore. They want to be able to spend more time with their patients.

I miss that point maybe. yeah. Well, that's my doctor that I'm speaking to tomorrow. She's an integrative medicine physician on Park Avenue in Manhattan. She has an accepted insurance in years, not even Medicare. And she's doing very well. It comes with the regular stuff. I mean, she works with VAs now. You know how long it took me to get her to work with a VA?

that transcribes and allows her an opportunity not to fight with the electronic health records. There's a lot that can be done, but it takes a lot of strategic planning in order for that to happen. All right. Welcome to the practice of possible podcasts with your host coach, JPMD. And today we're joined by Sharon Feckety and author of the broken road to mental health and

You're here to tell us about business, tell us about your life because I was intrigued after finding you on LinkedIn and finding you as the Dr. Whisperer. I thought that was really intriguing. And I actually saw your book. I think I saw something on Instagram and that's when I said, hmm, this is interesting. Let me read this book. I actually didn't read it. I heard it. I listened to it. And I always like when the author is actually

read the book, and I'm sure that was hard. I heard your story and it took me, it usually takes me a couple of days to listen to a book. This one I read, I listened to the same day. Wow, thank It's pretty impressive. So kudos to you for being authentic and sharing your story. We may get into it we may not, it's up to you. I would love to. So tell me, tell me about yourself. Tell me what you're doing these days. Yeah, well, thank you first and foremost for having me and thank you for listening to my book.

Coach JPMD (02:24.366)
I know if I mentioned this to you before, or even if I said it in the book, but I would have preferred just to record it. When I wrote my book in 2019, you had to actually write a book before it went to Audible. I that you can go straight to Audible today. But I was very happy to record it because I'm a podcaster too. I love listening, I love learning. I'm a very Audible type. So recording my book was really, really important.

But yeah, the Dr. Whisperer, that is me. Some people like to introduce me as she calls herself the Dr. Whisperer. And I was going, no, no, no, no, I am the Dr. Whisperer. I whisper to them. So how did you get that name? So I was managing a pediatric practice, very close to where we are right now actually, and one of the locations. And I was there eight years. I was never meant to

run one medical practice. I had come from New York, I moved to Tampa Bay 18 years ago. And before I moved here, I was director of operations for New York Medical. So there were 11 offices and 42 satellite offices. So we were busy. But New York Medical is Valhalla? No. No, that's me. No, so it was based, our administrative offices were on Long Island. Okay. But we had offices from Hop Hog in Suffolk County.

all the way to the boogie down Bronx. So I loved it because there was so much going on on a daily basis. There was always something very different and it was a neurologist, orthopedist, internal med docs. And then we had acupuncturist massage therapy and physical therapy, which is really, I didn't know that was going to be what I was more attracted to. But I did know that the Eastern Western

medicine was a very intriguing way to walk into the medical field in the business of medicine because I did see a vast difference between the happiness level of one side versus the other. Practitioner side or the patient side? Like everybody. When I was walking in to see Dr. Kui, our acupuncturist, everybody was very calm and was usually some Buddha and some

Coach JPMD (04:51.51)
rolling water and he would tell me to come, know, Sharon, you look stressed. Let me put some of these in your ear. So, you know, it was constantly treating all of us. It was just very calm, meditative type. And then when you went to the neurology and orthopedic side, was a lot of yelling. was a lot of Patients or doctors? Doctors, doctors. So they weren't whispering. Nobody was whispering, but that is how

I, when it came time to just circle back to how I got to be the doctor whisperer is that I was constantly whispering in their ears, like, you're not, you're not good at hiring, man. Like, I love you. I think you're a fantastic physician, but hiring is not your strong suit or, or PR is not your strong suit or marketing is not your strong suit. So I would, I would always kind of lower the tone.

because I developed trust with a lot of the physicians that I worked with. I'd worked with so many in so many different specialties. And I just realized the pattern was that physicians are really, really phenomenal at so many things. Saving lives, helping others, confrontation not always great, navigating through business not always great, and nor is anybody supposed to be if that's not what you studied.

Right? If that's not your specialty. So I just saw that that was a common denominator. So after I ran a pediatric practice for eight years, I decided to branch out on my own because the thing that I realized were, was that all doctors needed my help, not just the ones that I was working for. Cause it didn't matter if it was an internal med doc, an acupuncturist, a neurosurgeon. It was, it was the same across the board.

And it's similar to the thought process that I had when I nearly burned out a couple of years ago and, you know, crashed and burned in my life. But I found that there was nowhere for doctors to go to understand that they need to help, get help from others that have done it before that are not doctors that are business people. And it was a common theme even on our guests who are non -doctors who say that physicians don't understand and know the business of medicine.

Coach JPMD (07:16.238)
And it was, and it still is that. And so I think we have similar missions, which is why it's great to connect with you and kind of show you what my vision is here with the property and trying to determine how we can create a space for physicians to come in and de -stress, maybe go out in the lake or do some kayaking or do some gardening. And so what are you doing now? Are you consulting?

speaker and you're the author and are you writing any more books? Yes. So, I'll bring you to what happened in 2019 with writing this book, The Broken Roots of Mental Health and Life in a Business because it all intersects with what I was doing for a living as the doctor whisperer. So, I was consulting for physicians from Tampa Bay to Chicago, New York. I still have one of my favorite doctors that I consult. I'll be talking to her tomorrow morning at 730.

my physician in New York City, integrative medicine doctor. And what I was realizing when I was restructuring these medical practices was that I would meet with the staff. Part of what I wanted to always do, yes, I would get hired maybe to help them grow their practice or restructure it. But what I realized is the employees were gonna really give me the answers of what was wrong within the practice. So I would meet with all of them.

and I would always ask them five questions. And one of those five questions was, how do you like to be rewarded? And nine times out of 10, somebody would cry in front of me, who they just met me 20 minutes ago. And they were sharing about how nobody ever says good morning or thank you or I appreciate you. And I think after dealing with that and so many practices, I really started to just see

of how there's not a lot of opportunity for people to be thanked or be acknowledged or be able to be who they are in their personal life and in their business life. That if they were suffering from a loss or they had gotten divorced or they lost their father and they had to come to work a week later and still suffering the pain.

Coach JPMD (09:40.098)
that there was no space for that, that there was just like, okay, you're back to work now, you know? So it was difficult to see that. And what I found was the physicians too were really struggling and stressed, overworked. A lot of physicians, as you know, have gone into medical school and gone through the whole process and started seeing patients. And it wasn't anything like what they dreamed about when they were a kid.

when they decided that they wanted to dedicate their lives to saving others because the business of medicine is very difficult. And if that's not set up and if nobody is walking you through that and helping you navigate through that, that turns into burnout, anger, stress, suicide, depression, all the things, alcoholism, addiction.

So in 2019, I decided to share about myself. I was doing an event. I had all of my physician clients and I was the MC. And I looked into the audience and I saw a few people that I knew that had lost family members to suicide and to addiction. And these were very prominent, successful people in business. And I just decided to tell everybody that I was 25 years sober.

and that I had suffered before from depression. And then I said, well, I might as well tell everybody now. So I wrote a book and then really just shifted my focus towards talking more about mental health, especially in the workplace. Because I think we've gotten a lot better, but we certainly have a lot more work to do. Yeah, I think if we're not stable, if we're not strong as physicians and

as the leaders in the practice and even in the community in some respects. And how do we expect the US life expectancy to increase? I think this is one of the first years last year. It was the first time it actually decreased. Some may say it's related to COVID, but lifestyle, foods that we eat, we're nowhere near the number one country in the world.

Coach JPMD (12:01.934)
rank, think 47th in the world in terms of life expectancy. Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia, Italy, Costa Rica, all these countries, they live longer than we do. And I think, like you said, stress, physicians committing suicide, 1 .8 times more than the general population. And there's a statistic that actually multiplies that statistic to the number of people that are affected by that suicide. It's multiplied tenfold sometimes.

So you lose a physician that has a thousand patients, two thousand patients. What happens to those patients? Yeah. So I commend you. Thank you. for writing the book and sharing your story because I think that's how we get transformation. That's how we realize that we're not alone. Yeah. And you certainly shared a lot of stories that I don't know if I could share. So hey, kudos to you. you. So what do you think? I'm sorry. No, I just want to...

I have to say because I didn't know this myself until I wrote my book in 2019 that because I was depressed and tried to take my own life when I was 21 years old, I got the right help that I needed. It was my father's EAP counselor at New York hospital, thank goodness for employee assistance programs. And hence why I have such a passion about talking about mental health in the workplace because if it wasn't for that man, I wouldn't be sitting across from you right now having this conversation.

I didn't know that even the language that we use, you know, trying not to say commit suicide, but died by suicide, because it does sound like an act of, like a crime. And we all know, whether we want to admit it or not, that if we know somebody that has lost somebody in their lives by suicide, there's not as many people showing up with a casserole.

There's a lot of whispering, how did they do it? How did he do it? How did she do it? And there's a lot of ignorance surrounding this in particular. And it's a shame because it shouldn't be treated. I mean, I just heard of a trauma surgeon whose son took his own life just last week. And I wonder how this surgeon is gonna go back to work so soon. So.

Coach JPMD (14:24.622)
I needed to interject that. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you. So what do you think was one thing that helped you overcome? You mentioned the EAP or the employee assistance program. Yep. And some big companies have this program, but what about the small companies? If you didn't have that, what would you think that aside from that helped you? What helped me personally? yeah. Well, I got sober. So I got sober at 21 years old.

I had been to two rehabs, a halfway house, and I blacked out at 19 and ended up from New York to Detroit, Michigan and stayed there for two and a half years. So I really shouldn't be sitting across from you right now. I mean, I was homeless. I was addicted. It was a bad scene. And it's a miracle that when I came back that I had the love of my family. had recovery, 12 -step recovery, and I had this wonderful EAP counselor for my father's job. My father worked at New York hospital.

42 years. And he was seeing this man while I was away in Michigan because he was the boss. so he had, thank goodness, he had this man that he was able to talk to while his daughter was, I mean, he didn't know if I was dead or alive. So that's what helped me. But yes, not every company can afford EAPs. Not every company even realizes the impact that they can have on the entire family because those benefits

just aren't talked about a lot. When we think about we're recording this in November, and that's always the time where we start looking at insurance plans, right? And we talk about the copayments and the deductibles and all of those things, but we don't talk enough about the mental health benefits that come with our plans. it always comes down to leadership and vulnerability.

Not everybody is going to talk about as freely as I have about what happened to me. And I don't expect anybody to, but I do expect leaders to speak about how difficult it can be to be a human being, to be in life, to go through tragedy to, we all went through an eruptive time from 2020 till

Coach JPMD (16:49.666)
you know, not too long ago. the world has taken on many different ways of working and living. So we have to address them. We have to talk about them. leadership, vulnerability, and communication are always the three things that I talk about when I am speaking about mental health in the workplace, because most people, I go into a lot of businesses and a lot of people don't know certain things about people that they've been working with for years.

Yeah. Years. Yeah. And I can go in and find out in 20 minutes. Well, you have to care. mean, guess to some degree you have to care and not treat people like they're just, you know, staff or they're just people just taking vitals or drawing blood. So there has to be some level of empathy from this part of the provider, the physician. And sometimes it's just,

realizing that you have the time to do it and not just think about yourself. You have to think about the other person. And I find physicians don't even have staff meetings or team meetings. And that's something I implemented a couple of years ago, where every week we met and until it got to a point where I think I was over managing as a physician. So,

My administrator actually fired me. Congratulations to your administrator. And we'll meet once a month and it has helped. And it's humbling, but I get to see that they can go to someone else and not have everything come to me. And that's something I learned. I learned the hard way. Yeah. Well, you know, I mean, I don't think people realize how impactful it can be when somebody just says, hi, how are you today? And then

participate in some active listening, where you're not waiting for your turn to speak. That to me has been so amazing to witness that I would have my physicians with me and we'd have staff and we'd be talking to each other. And I finally am getting somebody to open up about what's going on in the practice, what's happening, what's wrong and how we can fix it. And they're being interrupted.

Coach JPMD (19:08.51)
that is so disempowering and then that person will eventually leave. That's what happens. You know, when I hear that there's turnover within a practice, I know what the problem is. It's not the pay normally. Yeah. It's a person that you work with. It's like who is doing the hiring and what kind of person is that? Are they an empathetic person? Are they going to get to know? they going to ask the right questions on the interview? So

There's so many things that we could do to help, you know, but we have to start with being willing to ask people how they are and who they are. And so do you do this in person? You said you had a couple of clinics in Chicago and. Yes, I don't anymore. Okay. You know, I, the days of me restructuring and watching people cry in front of me are over. Okay. That's just what, you know, it would take a special type of practice to

to encourage me to want to come back and do that because it does take a lot of self -awareness to know that you don't know how to fix something inside of something that you own. Yeah, and especially if they're successful. think one of the things, one of the biggest problems with lot of medical practices is that they're successful, they're making money, they don't need to change anything. Yeah. Okay. And then that's great for them.

You what, you can imagine, have so many people, Sharon, I have this doctor I want you to meet. And I'm like, please don't. Whatever you do, do not introduce me to that doctor. Because I am going to be like a therapist. You need to know that you need help. And I'm going to tell you the truth. That's the only reason why I even called myself the doctor whisperer, because I was whispering the truth to them. So many people because of, you know.

the wonderful work that you do and I value so much physicians that you and so many that I've worked with, amazing. You're amazing human beings. And then you have like all these other talents like you're doing a podcast and all this great equipment. No, it's wonderful. But you're so like brilliant. And then you just take on too much sometimes. Yeah, that's for sure. And I think it's great when there's other people that can help.

Coach JPMD (21:32.536)
help navigate. So I like to do it more on the phone or on Zoom and consult instead of doing the going in and hiring and all of that because that really does take somebody that's really, really understanding that that's not their level of expertise. So what happens when you're trying, you have the right things in place and now maybe speaking for myself and you're doing the things that you feel are

that you've learned, that I've learned, and we're still having the turnover, still having people who are not happy or not satisfied. When do you know it's you versus the person that you hired? Well, in my opinion, the only person that is to blame is the person that owns a practice. Because if they're doing the hiring or they're trusting the person that they hired to do the hiring, it always falls back on the owner.

And the truth is, the interesting thing about hiring is that it's like we're taking a chance. We don't know what somebody is going to be like when they start working for us. Everybody presents well in an interview. And then of course they give references of their three best friends or their mom. It's almost comical. So to me, it's always been about like, who is doing the hiring?

how good is this person at hiring? Because hiring is a skill. Hiring is really like, and if somebody's not good at it, they have to be able to say, you know what, I've made some serious mistakes here. I might not be the best suited to do this job. Let me have somebody else do it and see what we can do. And then when we realize that somebody isn't best suited for a job, we have to be willing to let them go. There's one thing that I see more in the medical industry than any other industry.

is keeping people that we know are miserable Mary or turnover Tom. We know, but we keep them because we'd rather that, what is that saying about the devil is better that you know, God, horrible at sayings. My husband, if he was listening right now, be cracking up. Like, why do you bother doing that Sharon? You could never remember a saying. But it's really true.

Coach JPMD (23:56.462)
I mean, when I joined the pediatric practice that I worked in many years ago, there had been people there for 20, 30, 40, and one was there for 50 years. No joke. And I was told when I started, Sharon, like a lot of these guys, they don't work very hard, but this one's been here for this long, and this one's grandson has autism, and they take on all of the issues of the staff and their families.

Yeah. But that's why I say in life and in business, right? Yeah. We have to be willing to do hard things in the business world. If we want to run a business, then we have to think of a medical practice as one too, because it is one. Yeah, you're right. I think one of the things is I remember, if I can get this thing right, higher, slow, fire, fast. Yes, Gary Vaynerchuk says that all the time.

That is, but I guess you read his don't? I have to read his wow. Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary Vee. It's fantastic. Yes. I have to read him. his book. So what are you doing these days aside from the practice? What do you do for fun? Because I know you're down in Clearwater. Yeah. I know if you're at the beach or... I'm close to it. I'm right over the bridge there. So I ride my bike. I ride about 16 miles every weekend. Nice. I'm a...

I'm a mental health workout junkie. So I have a very serious regimen every day because of what I have to do for a living. my mornings are get up, workout, meditate, take a walk in nature if I can, just like your beautiful outside here is like the perfect place that I would zone in on wanting to take a walk around because it's so pretty and peaceful. So yeah, I mean, I'm all about exercise and I'm kind of nerdy.

I've been sober 29 years, so I don't party. I don't go to bars. I don't do any of those things, but I really, really enjoy my husband and my family. My parents live around the corner from me. Also, they moved down from New York. They followed me. they did. they are here. No, they've been here. They've 1 .5 miles around the corner for a while now, yes. I'm sure your dad's happy. Yeah, he is. is. So going to meetings? my God, yeah.

Coach JPMD (26:19.726)
I run a big book study every Friday morning for women. So tell me about that. So as you've been sober for 28 years, is that also the 20 years of going to meetings and doing things related to that? I have never forgotten where I came from. I got sober at 21 years old. I'm 51. I'll be 30 years sober next year, God willing. Congratulations. But the only reason that I am is because I never stopped going and I never stopped listening to what

All those old timers told me when I came in at 21 years old, you know that if you forget where you came from, you're doomed to repeat. So I've always stayed vigilant and I truly believe that, you know, being of service to somebody else is the greatest gift in the world. So how selfish of me not to give back what was so freely given. So I will forever, I hope one day at a time, be a woman of service, of her word,

If I say I'm going to be somewhere, I'm going to be there. I'm so grateful for that recovery journey because it really has taught me how to be a better businesswoman. Everything that I've learned in business is because of my recovery.

Explain that. So, you know, if it was up to me, everybody would be mandated to go into learning about how just to be like a better person. And I, you know, of course, there's so many jokes or stories about what it's like to be a member of a 12 step program, but nobody wants to go. Let me like.

I wasn't skipping my way as a 21 year old who finally became legal to drink to start getting sober. So, but what I learned there was, you know, all of the things that all the self help books talk about, you know, being impeccable with your word, showing up, helping others, making amends to somebody, looking somebody in the eye if you've done something wrong and saying, I apologize. And how can I make this better?

Coach JPMD (28:29.634)
Like I tell people in business too, I say, listen, if you're a leader and you make a mistake and you're the boss, you know how powerful it would be if you sat that person down and said, I really regret raising my voice to you today. And what can I do to make it up to you? Like, come on, they'd fall off their chair. But those things that I learned about business, I learned in recovery. I just learned how to be

a better human being. And because of that, I've been able to encourage others to just be who they are, no judgments. And people open up to you when you're vulnerable. You did a great show, sorry, I can't remember his name, but it was all about shame and vulnerability, but it was such a great episode. - Richard Shaw. Yeah. Richard Shaw. It's so good.

But it's so true, know? I mean, the only reason that people feel so comfortable opening up to me is because I've put it all out there. There's nothing, I'm never gonna judge. How could I judge you? I was homeless at one point in my life. So yeah, it's just You are enough. I remember one of the things he kept saying is, you're enough. You are. You are enough. I am. And no amount of money in the world is ever going to replace the great joy that I feel of

having the opportunity for another day every day. I mean, it's real when you have survived knocking on that door of death and destruction and despair, you're grateful for every horse you get to drive by and see when you're driving from Pinellas County here. So it's just a beautiful gift. I'm so grateful for recovery.

And I also don't think it's the only way. I think that there's many ways that people could become better people. That's your way. And your way is not unsimilar to other ways of getting better. It's just more of a, I think, a very systematic way. it gives you the steps. It's like the baby steps in finances and just like things that we do that's repetitious and involve community. That's how you transform.

Coach JPMD (30:55.884)
Yeah. You can't transform in a corner by yourself. Because people have to be around to show you the holes in your recovery and the things that you're doing, the things that may tempt you, the places you may go. So those are things you can't get by yourself. No. And if I didn't write my book, I would have never faced all of the trauma that I went through when I was a young woman. I never spoke about it because I learned

Growing up in New York and from wonderful Irish immigrant parents in my family, like so many people have it so much worse off. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You know, it was taught by the CEO of New York Medical that you wear a red power suit.

And if somebody asks you a question and you don't know the answer, don't ever tell them that you don't know. Yeah. Man, do I love, I don't know. It's one of my favorite things to say. I don't know. Yeah, you're human. Yes. I don't know everything. I had a resident once tell me, it was a group, think I was third year medical student. And he said, if you're not sicker than the sickest patient on this ward, you better show up to work. And we're all looking around like.

man, these are some sick patients. So you become, you're trained to be invincible. And if you don't know, you don't figure it out. Otherwise we're going to grade you on that. And that's just a medical training. think that's, that's one of the flaws in medical training is that they teach us to be invincible. They teach us to, can know everything. We should know everything. And it's, that's not, that's that's not business, how businesses run. many of those professors are, you know, professors. They're not business owners.

And if they were business owners, they'd run back to their universities because they couldn't run a business. Right. I'm hoping it's getting better. You know, being a resident, can't even imagine that it's still the same. don't. I'm going to say that it's, I mean, I'm 20 years, 25 years, 23 years out. can't remember. 97, when I graduated. 20 years. It's been a while. Been a while.

Coach JPMD (33:10.05)
But yeah, some of them are still coming out not wanting to be in private practice, not wanting to be in outpatient because they don't want to have to answer a call in the middle of the night. Right. Yeah. Or the first question they ask when they're asking an interview, how much time do I have off? Right. I don't know. I mean, I haven't taken a day off in years. Now, course, taking a day off is, you we've gone on vacation and things, but you're always available to your practice. some...

Many of the physicians that I interview are not wanting to be tied down to practice. They don't really have that love, that passion. So what they do is they go into hospital medicine where they clock in, clock out seven days later and don't want to have to deal with anything. And same with the emergency room. And I don't want to be Debbie Downer in this podcast episode, but it's just reality of what I've seen.

over the past couple of years. So what are you seeing in the future of healthcare? So you've seen it for the past 20 years, what you've done, you've consulted. What do you see for the future? Hopefully people start. One thing I would really wish, I haven't gotten to say this in a long time, but when I was running my pediatric practice, I opened a night division because I realized that we were sending all of our patients to another practice at night. I thought, hmm, well my kid gets sick at night.

Maybe we should open at night. And this practice in particular was open at 630 in the morning. We never closed. We opened 365 days a year. To this day, it's still open 365 days a year on Christmas every day. Now only a few hours in the morning. But the fact that people could come to the office before they had to go to work was huge. So that's why the practice was so successful and had been around for so long. And then when we opened a night division, I mean, we were just running at the market cornered, you know, because

we have to start thinking more about how the human beings live their lives. So nothing is more frustrating to me than me calling a medical office during my lunch hour to try to make an appointment and I get an answering service. It just doesn't make any sense to me because most people work for a living today. It's not a lot of people that don't have to work. And I'm so happy for you that don't, I really am. But we have to adjust more to like,

Coach JPMD (35:37.25)
how life is moving and shifting. Like we are just in such a different world now. Telehealth and doing, I mean, look at us. We have headsets on, there's microphones in front of us. People will be able to look at this wherever they get their podcasts or listen to it or see it on video. We have to adapt to the way the world is moving. So in my world, I would just hope that the medical industry would start

really assessing what it looks like today. And if we've all realized that mental health is important, maybe we could incorporate that somehow into our practice. Maybe we could bring on a licensed therapist into our medical practice as well. I like more of a cohesive world, you know? And I think that

There's so many opportunities, but I would love nothing more to see. If we could just start with the hours of operations for medical offices, I've never been able to understand why. The eight to five, nine to five. so Doesn't make sense. That may help the patients, but how do we help the doctors? Yeah. You hire wonderful extenders, which we know they don't like to be called extenders.

We're calling, what are we, nurse practitioners? Physicians Physicians assistants. I mean, that's what I did. So when I wanted to open the night division, I knew my doctors didn't want to work at night. So I said, great. I said, well, I'm going to figure this out. So I'm going to get, figure out how to get a nurse practitioner in here and an evening staff. And that was something that they had never done. The practice had been open forever, but I wanted them to retire one day. That was my goal. I wanted them to be happy.

I wanted them to own a building, own some real estate. Powerful. Yes. And then I wanted them to have somebody working inside of their organization that was making them money.

Coach JPMD (37:47.458)
Yeah, that's concept. And we did it. And so I think there are many creative ways to do it, but we have to be willing to take risks. It's doing things the same all the time isn't a great idea. And mistakes that happen are fantastic because we learn from them. Right? So I hope that answered your question. I think it did. it's from...

What I got from it is that we need to, in the future of medicine, look to do things that are going to be conducive to the population's needs. what I see is hospitals are coming in doing that for them. How do we stop the hospitals from doing that? I don't go anywhere near hospitals. Well, they're buying urgent cares. They are opening up late.

They're hiring extenders. do you see that these physicians are just gonna give up and not wanna do the business of medicine, give it to the hospitals? Or do you see a trend in I don't wanna be owned by the hospital systems and I wanna do it myself? Well, lucky that you're asking me this question because I've only worked with physicians that have broken out of the corporate model. So I've never worked with a physician that accepts insurance ever in 10 years.

Wait, that's not true. I did work with an orthopedic group in Orlando once. So I only work with physicians that don't want to accept insurance anymore. They want to be able to spend more time with their patients. I miss that point maybe. yeah. Well, that's my doctor that I'm speaking to tomorrow. She's an integrative medicine physician on Park Avenue in Manhattan. She has an accepted insurance in years, not even Medicare.

And she's doing very well. It comes with the regular stuff. I mean, she works with VAs now. You how long it took me to get her to work with a VA that transcribes and allows her an opportunity not to fight with the electronic health records. There's a lot that can be done, but it takes a lot of strategic planning in order for that to happen. So.

Coach JPMD (40:09.026)
I love nothing more than a doctor that's ready to give up the insurance model.

There's so many people that want to have great medical care. I'm willing to pay for great medical care. And I will tell you that my husband works for UPS for 31 years. We've all seen the TikTok videos about how much money they're making. It's a funny joke now, but they have the greatest health insurance. I pay for care out of my pocket.

I go see a therapist, I pay him cash, I drive to St. Petersburg to see him in person because I know I'm going to get great care. Now, listen, disclaimer alert everybody, that doesn't mean that insurance isn't okay, but in my opinion, I've never gotten great care with my insurance card. And Starbucks doesn't mean as much to me as my health.

So I won't do to the starbies and I will take care of my health. I think it's, yeah, there's so much. I work with a lot of therapists that don't accept insurance and physicians and I'm all about opening up meditation spaces and places that are really gonna help. And you asked too about like what could help doctors. I'll tell you what can help doctors. Hanging out in your backyard on retreat, that could help.

Like very seriously, I don't know any other profession that needs it more. Like all you do is give to others. So if you are not serving yourself first, you cannot give to others. Like burnout, yes, that's a whole new fad term. I hear about all the time, there's even like an ICD -10 code about burnout. Is there? Yeah, there is. But it's a real thing. I think that we need to really

Coach JPMD (42:06.316)
reconsider. Now, listen, you and I both know there's not a lot of people that can come out of med school that can just afford to open up their own business. Most join a hospital or join a big group. I get that because the loans are outrageous. Yeah, take a deep breath with that one, unless you get it forgiven by your administration, right? So yeah.

I think that it is, it's a very bold thing to do, but I say do it. I say credit card, it up. Practice impossible. Yes. Practice impossible. Yes. You know what I'm talking about. I know what you're talking about. Season two is all about that. And I didn't actually, you know, it didn't click until you told me that that's what you do. And that's what people are looking for. They need that guidance because there's a lot of...

lot of physicians are afraid of doing it. And I've thought about it, to be honest. I'm still seeing insurance, insured patients, and I love what I do. We do very well. And I think like in any profession, there's gonna be a need for someone to take care of grandma and grandpa. The 65 plus year old patients who need care, I wanna provide that care. But there are some physicians who don't have the...

don't want to. So we should teach them how to do it. So that they're not stuck doing something that they don't want to do in a system that they don't understand. Yeah. I mean, it's heartbreaking for me sometimes to tell the doctors that I charge more than they do for a consult. But that's the truth. And it's not because I dropped out of freaking college people. I wrote about it in my book.

I'm not proud or not proud about it. The fact is that I was running businesses. So I realized that I was going to learn more running the business than I was going to learn in that college that I was attending at night while I was running this business. there's so much. I mean, there's so many things that physicians can do. Sometimes I feel like, y don't know sometimes the value that you have because of probably

Coach JPMD (44:29.378)
the system and what we're told and that you should do it this way and blah, But. That's what we're here for. We're to educate. We're here to let them know that there is a possibility of doing it other ways and being happy and being successful and being, you know, helping others in a way that's meaningful as opposed to giving pills and pushing drugs. there is other ways of doing things and your time is valuable. Yes.

I mean, someone reached out to me on LinkedIn and wanted me to consult on Medicare Advantage plans and the industry. And they said, please fill out this form. So I fill out the form. And at the end, it says, what is your fee? is it default fee is $125 an hour. I'm like, no. So they sent me the contract with $125. I said, are you kidding me? I'm going to give you an hour of my time after 23 years of experience. No, the rate is actually $500.

There you go. And it was as if it was nothing for them. Yeah. That's the thing that should boggle your mind. You have to ask for it. You have to ask for it. If you believe you're worth it. You should. Yes, of course. If you're worth a thousand dollars an hour, sure. Amen. Yes. And you did. You do deserve it. Of course I do. Of course we do. Yes. So I thank you for that. No, I'm so...

proud that you're doing the work that you're doing. I am I am hopeful and I'm more excited about encouraging physicians because I mean, you know, I joke all the time about all the docs that I've worked with. I love them. And I came here and I'm telling you everybody, if you're listening or watching, he's got a serious setup here. My podcast is on zoom. It's got nothing on this guy. Okay. But

Seriously, like you guys are like you speak other languages. You're playing soccer tomorrow. Did I hear you say you're playing soccer? Yeah, like you have all these other incredible skills. have kids, have so many things going on and you help us with our health. Like it's fantastic. We should be living our best life because really like we don't have that much time. We're here for a blip. We might as well make the most of it, right?

Coach JPMD (46:54.062)
And I think it's that serving others is what drives a lot of us, most of us as physicians. And the minute you can't serve that person, minute that you're frustrated, the minute that you're unhappy to go to work is the minute that you have to figure it out. Because, like you said, life's short. It's short. And we want to live long. And stop caring so much what other people think about you going on social media. I'm not talking to you specifically, but...

The conversation that I have with so many doctors like, I don't know. And I don't look good or I won't sound good or what will they think? Ain't nobody thinking about you that much. one. You're right. But also we need to hear it. You know, I joke all the time and I say, if I was an MD, I'd have that tattooed across my forehead. I would be so dangerous. I would. Thank God I'm not. But really like you guys have gone through so much to get to where you are today and

I don't think enough people realize the sacrifice. So I only want for the physicians that I know and love and care about to, you know, just be able to be happy and live the best life that they can and be happy about the work that they're doing, you know, because it's, we need you. And they're enough. You are enough. Yes, you are. It keeps coming back to my brain. So I've been doing some things with our

in studio guests, fire. I like it. 10 questions. We'll try to do one word answers if possible. Okay. We've done different things in the past. So first question, your favorite book? Lost Connections by Johann Hari. Okay. We're going to put some of these things in the short notes as well. if you don't get that. Favorite vacation spot?

there's so many. There are. let me hear one. I'll just give you Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Really? So you're a music, is that a music town? it's a, you know, a girl from New York. The fact that I'm saying that my favorite place is Gatlinburg, Tennessee is a miracle of an evolved human being. It's just being able to sit in a beautiful chateau with my family on a porch in a rocking chair and seeing the mountains.

Coach JPMD (49:18.35)
Nothing like it. Awesome. If someone gifted you $10 million, what would you do with the money? Find a way to give back. Find a nonprofit that isn't screwing people. Do something about this mental health system. What time do you wake up in the morning? Five thirty. Name one spiritual habit that you practice. well.

All of my spiritual practice is inside of me. So hard to explain that. I meditate every morning. I'm forever crying with gospel music when I'm riding my bike, a little CC one, you know? Yeah. So that's a big question. I have a very big spiritual practice, but it all is inside of me.

One thing you would want to see happen in 2024 in your business life. That I'd be able to speak in Ireland about mental health in the workplace. It'll happen. Thank you. I believe it. Your favorite podcast guest and why on your podcast. Definitely Hort Schultz, the former CEO of the Ritz Carlton. Yeah, I believe in hospitality and health care in the biggest way.

And I think that if we could learn anything about ultimately patient care, it's learning how to encourage hospitality and healthcare. It's big. I should tell you what my brother does and maybe after this. Okay. One thing your husband really loves about you. My sense of humor. One thing that most people don't know about you. That I can sing.

Really? Mindy Peltz is someone I started listening to. she wrote the book Fast Like a Girl. My wife read the book and she, she has something that she says in her podcast. says, she asked her guests, what is your superpower? What would you say is your superpower? And I think I know the answer to this.

Coach JPMD (51:39.786)
I would say it would be vulnerability and say being able to speak my truth and not be worried about what somebody thinks about me. I see that. Thank you. Anything else you want to tell our audience? you know, it's okay not to be okay. And it's always okay to ask for help and that you're not alone. That so many of us go through hard times.

And that if we just hold on another minute, another day, we have no idea what divine intervention has in store for us. So speak your truth and speak whatever you want in your life into existence. Awesome. So where do we find you? If someone wants to hear you, listen to your podcasts. So I would just say, you know, Google Sharon Feckety.

There's an obnoxious amount of information out there. So the Dr. Whisperer, the broken road to mental health, you can find me in a whole bunch of places. And we'll link all that stuff in the show notes, of course. Thank you. will you be back if we invite you back? I would love to. I want to come to retreat here. yeah. Maybe we can get you on the kayak. definitely. For sure. Well, thank you to our audience for listening. Thank you for sharing this podcast.

yet done so, leave a review for us. That's my biggest ask really. Just leave a review. Tell me what you think, what you think of this episode and what you think about what we've been doing. That's how we get the word out. And thank you Sharon for being here. Thank you for coming out. Thanks so much. I appreciate what you're doing. Welcome.

Coach JPMD (53:25.725)
you