The Thursday Report – 12.19.13 – Same Sex Cookies for Rookies

Colonel Sanders Christmas Albums – Colonel Sanders is Coming to Town

Ugly Sweater Contest

How to Get Your Firm’s Share of the $6.05 Billion Class Action Settlement for Merchants Who Accepted Visa and Mastercard from 2004 to Present

16 States and Counting: Changes to the Article on Counseling Same Sex Couples

Medical Practice Wisdom by Dr. Pariksith Singh – Part 1 – Why Have a Strong Compliance Program in Place?

Seminar Announcements: Ave Maria School of Law Estate Planning Conference and The Florida Bar Leadership Academy Conference

Fried Chicken Cookies for Christmas

Basic Asset Protection for Doctors – Part 1 of a 3 Part Series by Alan Gassman

Do You Tweet?  The Florida Department of Revenue Does!

Phil Rarick’s Informative Blog: Before the Wedding: 3 Legal Points Every Parent Should Know (Or Why a Prenuptial Agreement May Be a Smart Idea)

Passing the Bar in 1776

We welcome contributions for future Thursday Report topics. If you are interested in making a contribution as a guest writer, please email Janine Gunyan at Janine@gassmanpa.com.

 This report and other Thursday Reports can be found on our website at www.gassmanlaw.com.

Colonel Sanders Christmas Albums – Colonel Sanders is Coming to Town

We all knew how Colonel Sanders loved to share his chicken with the world, but we didn’t know about his love of spreading holiday cheer.  From 1967 to 1969, KFC released three Christmas albums. These albums featured popular artists of the time singing Christmas music. The three albums are Christmas Eve with Colonel Sanders (1967), Christmas Day with Colonel Sanders (1968), and Christmas with Colonel Sanders (1969). Unfortunately, Colonel Sanders’ taste of music was not as good as his fried chicken. BuzzFeed rated Christmas with Colonel Sanders as the 38^th worst Christmas album of all time. Rounding out the top five worst Christmas albums are Roseanne Barr Sings the Christmas Classics at number five, The Freakscene Christmas Album at four, Conway Twitty comes in at number three with his album A Twismas Story, Twisted Sister with A Twisted Christmas at number two and the number one worst Christmas album was David Hasselhoff’s, The Night Before Christmas.  The only thing worse than that was last week’s edition of the Thursday Report.  Click here to see the entire list of awful Christmas albums.

The United States isn’t the only place Colonel Sanders brings cheer to. When it comes to Christmas in Japan, Colonel Sanders is the guy dressed up in the red suit, not Santa. Turkey isn’t common in Japan, and few people own ovens big enough to cook a large bird. In 1974, when people couldn’t find turkey on Christmas day, they opted for fried chicken. It has become a Christmas tradition in Japan. Sounds like a very merry Christmas for Colonel Claus!

We think some of the best holiday songs are “We Wish Every Thursday Could be Christmas” by Mel Connick, Jr. and “Wish Every Christmas Could Be on a Thursday” by Hank Williams and Al Jolson!

Ugly Sweater Contest

 Join our ugly sweater contest.  This year on December 24, 2013 our staff will wear their ugliest Christmas sweaters and any other ugly clothes they might have.  Please send pictures of your whole office staff and of each individual so that we can see who wins buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken that you can put the sweaters into after you’re done with the chicken.

Our firm personally challenges Phil Rarick’s firm in a contest that can be decided by subscribers to the Thursday Report on Thursday, December 26, 2013.

How to Get Your Firm’s Share of the $6.05 Billion Class Action Settlement for Merchants Who Accepted Visa and Mastercard from 2004 to Present

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has approved a class action settlement suit with an initial fund of $6.05 billion to be distributed among businesses and other entities that accepted Visa or Mastercard charges any time between January 1, 2004 and November 28, 2012.

Clients and colleagues are already receiving deceptive advertisements provided by non-lawyer services that invite the recipient to sign up for a “free registration” whereby the illicit sign up service will receive a percentage of the settlement for doing almost nothing.

The court has not yet released or approved a claim form, but we will keep our readers posted on this important development.

The Class Settlement can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.

16 States and Counting: Changes to the Article on Counseling Same Sex Couples

In the October 17^th Edition of The Thursday Report, we featured a draft of our article “Counseling Same Sex Couples in a Post-DOMA America.” Since the last publication, three states, Illinois, New Jersey, and Hawaii, have made it legal for same sex couples to get married in their jurisdiction.

As the number of states that allow same sex marriages rise, it becomes increasingly important for practitioners to consider the many aspects of the legal profession that are changing and evolving as a result of the new legislation. To read the new and improved article please click here.

Medical Practice Wisdom by Dr. Pariksith Singh – Part 2 of a Multi-Part Series featuring Dr. Pariksith Singh – Why Should One Have a Strong Compliance Program in Place? 

This is a continuation of a multiple part series featuring the writings of Dr. Pariksith Singh, who is a leading physician, practice and medical business operator and thinker from Spring Hill, Florida – some call it Singh Hill, Florida.

The reasons are many:

1)         It is the right thing to do. It gives peace of mind to everyone in the company, and it is a cultural shift towards quality patient care.

2)         It keeps everyone safe. Health Care providers should be getting paid every penny that they deserve. When this attitude is instilled in every provider and employee, it creates a balance between greed and fear and brings in a safety check to aggressive coding and billing into the workplace. Compliance is the first line of defense against audits and/or lawsuits.

3)         It can make everyone more profitable. Compliance makes certain that a providers goal towards more profit is correctly and ethically achieved.

4)         It is (or should be) the standard that everyone will run their businesses by.

5)         It is the best way to take care of patients. When patients know that they are coming to a facility that places a premium on quality and compliance, they will learn to respect the provider and practice even more and cooperate with the processes, which in turn produces more money!

6)         It is an opportunity and a challenge. The practices that make compliance the standard of care shall be at the forefront of the new shift in health care and shall reap the most benefit. Compliance is business strategy.

7)         It fulfills something deep within us, a need to be good, to be right, to be charitable and conscientious (somewhat akin to Maslow’s fifth level of self-actualization).

8)         It improves communication among the employees and with the patients.

How can a provider group be compliant?

1)         By educating every employee about it. Compliance starts at the top. If the CEO or the person at the top does not believe in it or only wishes to pay lip-service, an organization will be unable to start the ball rolling. It is perhaps better to have no compliance than to have compliance mechanisms in place that are not followed.

2)         By empowering and requiring every employee to immediately inform their superiors anytime someone or something is out of compliance so that it can be fixed immediately. With constant re-enforcement this will eventually become a habit.

3)         By meaning what one says and saying what one means. Communication encouraging compliance should not just be sending e-mails and circulars around.  It should be real and effective communication in which superiors enforce compliance impartially and objectively.

4)         By auditing and re-auditing oneself. Do not be afraid to audit yourself. Just think, it is way better that it is you other than someone from an outside coming in when you have no choice in the matter. Even by being totally open to outside audits from business affiliates (e.g., from HMOs) has its perks, for an organization can use their help, knowledge, and resources as a learning process. By questioning, researching, networking, an organization can assure that it is on the cutting edge of newest changes in health care. Transparency of the system is key.

5)         By honing company processes to perfection. There are two components to compliance: the process and the people. The process should be accountable and accessible. And it should go to the very source of diagnostic criteria, such as ICD-9s, CPT coding, etc.

6)         By creating a system that is intelligent, responsive, and oriented towards patient safety and care. This can be established by being obsessively focused on patient results and care. Integrity is everything.

7)         By making compliance real-time and hands on. In my practice, each chart completed by the provider is reviewed by a coder who makes sure that the “I”s are dotted and the “t”s are crossed before billing goes out. If there are any discrepancies, they are immediately brought to the attention of the provider who either has to justify it or fix it. Any change to the chart should be made within 24 to 48 hours and documented as such.

8)         By showing the people who made an error what the error was and fixing it, one reduces the chances of it recurring. Never let anyone lie, fudge or change documents. It is best to be open about an error than to try to conceal it within or without the company.

9)         By fixing things again and again until it becomes ingrained as a habit in each employee and in each process.

10)       By making compliance the cornerstone of the company. Compliance is not just about rules or arcane laws; it is a culture, a way of thinking, and feeling. It is not just about billing and coding but about every rule in the book, including HIPAA laws, OSHA rules, anti-kickback, and Stark laws.

11)       By making compliance a department of its own.  One that is not involved in daily management, human resources, billing or any other activity. However, it still requires monitoring to insure that every activity and everyone fully conforms to the law. Compliance needs to report directly to the CEO and is answerable to the CEO ultimately. Compliance cannot report to human resources or administration, for the fox cannot mind the coop.

12)       The overall policy should be to take compliance very seriously as the market gets tougher. Compliance is really about quality control. The emphasis should be to be the very best. The compliance officer should behave in a manner that is above reproach, be as fair as humanly possible, and try to create objective criteria with which to evaluate a physician or office. The rules should be for everyone, including compliance officers and personnel.

13)       Employees should be comfortable coming to compliance officers and voicing their concerns. Confidentiality has to be maintained.  The employees should be listened to with respect, and their concerns should not be made light of or ignored. Listening to employees, vendors, and patients is key. Many for disasters could have been averted if someone at the top had listened and acted on the concerns of the employees.

14)       A sign indicating the practice’s commitment to compliance should ideally be posted in each room and on each notice board. Do it right from the first step, and keep it simple. Providers should create a basic compliance manual which can be used to train and as a reference. Furthermore, they should use the help of experts who have experience in the business when in doubt. As many of your attorneys will inform you, ignorance of law is no excuse.

15)       Insist on better record keeping, proper documentation, appropriate billing, and the right coding. Let compliance begin before the patient walks through the door and continue after the patient walks out.

These are only broad guidelines. Details may differ according to the size, scope, and structure of the practice. In the final analysis, compliance should inspire, enable, and promote a higher standard. It should challenge everyone to stretch beyond the status quo. Compliance is a great facilitator if patients always come first.

A Poem by Dr. Singh – see his poetry for children website by clicking here. 

Aspiring to reach the sky

I become the sky

Reaching to hold the rose

I bloom

Dreaming, I grow into that

Which I ardently seek

Seminar Announcements

Friday, April 25, 2015 – Ave Maria School of Law Estate Planning Conference in Naples

March 15, 2014 – The Florida Bar Leadership Academy Conference in Tampa

AVE MARIA SCHOOL OF LAW ESTATE PLANNING CONFERENCE

Estate Planners – plan for a great Friday and weekend in Naples, Florida on Friday, April 25, 2014.

The Ave Maria School of Law will be hosting the inaugural conference of the Ave Maria School of Law Estate Planning Conference.

Laird Lile and Barry Nelson are mainstay pillars of the tax, estate planning and trust community in Florida.  Laird Lile has published many articles on estate and trust topics and has frequently lectured on the same topics.  One of our favorite recent past law clerks Sydney Smith works for Laird, and Barry is renowned for running numbers and for his fantastic depth of detail, thought and analysis.  Please join Laird, Barry and the other speakers and attendees for what will be a very interesting, stimulating, and rewarding conference.

Thanks especially to Jonathan Gopman and his team in Naples for making this great cause an important reality.

Other speakers and topics include:

• Florida’s New Decanting Statute;
• Greg Holtz on Estate Planning Ethics;
• Barry Nelson on Homestead Portability: Pitfalls, Opportunities, and Traps;
• Jonathan Gopman and Kevin Carmichael on International Asset Protection;
• Al W. King, III on Domestic Asset Protection; and
• Bill Snyder on Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates.
• Jerry Hesch and Alan Gassman on Using Estate Planning Techniques to Optimize Family Wealth Preservation

Please plan on attending this wonderful seminar at Ave Maria School of Law in beautiful Naples, Florida.

FLORIDA BAR LEADERSHIP ACADEMY – MARCH 15, 2014

IDEAS NEEDED!

On March 15, 2014, Alan Gassman will be speaking at The Florida Bar’s Leadership Academy program which was funded recently by the Young Lawyers Division of The Florida Bar to enable talented and promising Bar members to engage the Bar, their communities, and charitable and pro bono causes.

What are your stories and what is your advice on how to give back to the community, and how the community responds.

We are also designing a workshop exercise to help lawyers prioritize and decide what kind of causes to support when taking into account time, costs, and direct and indirect benefits to the community and others.

If you would like to help us develop this workshop exercise please let us know by emailing Janine Gunyan at Janine@gassmanpa.com.

Fried Chicken Cookies for Christmas

 While looking for the secret recipe to Colonel Sanders famous KFC chicken we came across this recipe for Fried Chicken Cookies that we thought we’d pass along to all of our fellow KFC lovers just in time to add to their Christmas cookie repertoire.  These would definitely be a hit at all of your cookie swaps!

Give them a try and send us a picture of your fried chicken cookies, but please send the cookies somewhere else!

Mix up your favorite sugar cookie recipe and create a chicken leg shaped cookie template.  Cut out your cookies and bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

When they are done and have cooled, outline the chicken leg in black royal icing with a #3 tip.

Thin the white & brown/gold icings (reserve a bit for later) with water, a little at a time, until it is the consistency of thick syrup.  Cover with a damp dishtowel and let sit several minutes.

Stir gently with a rubber spatula to pop any large air bubbles that have formed. Transfer to squeeze bottles or a piping bag.

Flood the chicken leg with the thinned icings.  Use a toothpick to guide into corners and edges and to pop and air bubbles.

Let sit overnight.

The next day, mix 1/2 teaspoon meringue powder with 1/2 teaspoon of water.  With a small paintbrush, brush the mixture onto the “meat” part of the chicken.  Sprinkle on crushed cornflakes.  Press lightly to adhere.

Let dry for 15-30 minutes.  Pop into a bucket from KFC…they’ll sell you an empty bucket for about a quarter!

Thanks to Bake at 350 for the idea!

Basic Asset Protection for Doctors – Part 1 of a 3 Part Series by Alan Gassman

The following was adapted from a physician newsletter piece that we wrote several years ago to help doctors understand basic information and motivations for making sure that they have their wealth preservation planning up-to-date.

We find that not a lot has changed from a 30,000 foot standpoint.

We hope that you can use this to help convince physician clients that they need to be as responsible as possible when it comes to planning their estates.

PART I – THE BIGGEST MISTAKES POINT OUT IMPORTANT PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS

This is the first in a series of articles being written at the special request of the Marion County Medical Association by Alan Gassman.

After working so many years to obtain a medical license, to be recognized in a specialty, and to have created a stream of income to provide financial security and support, a physician must make sure that adequate protection is paid to assuring that assets accumulated will not be subject to confiscation or unnecessary expenses.

While most physicians are understandably concerned about making sure that assets are not lost as a result of a malpractice claim, physicians outside of South Florida have other exposures which quite often result in significant problems which should be addressed.

Being a “first article” in a series, we thought it would best serve physicians to have a list of common mistakes which include mention of many asset protection legal concepts and rules that will be covered in more depth in future editions.

Here are common catastrophic errors that we often find when reviewing a new client’s “protection planning”:

1.         Having significant gaps or deficits in insurance coverages.  Automobile ownership and driving, ownership of rental properties, and many other non-medical practice related liability risks present significant exposure to many physicians.  We know from experience that very serious lawsuits can result from these exposures.  Many clients fail to recognize that a $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 umbrella policy can be placed “over” other coverages to help assure a physician and his or her family that they will not have a significant threat of asset loss as the result of a non-medical malpractice related catastrophe.  A personal umbrella liability policy will not cover many types of activities.

2.         Failure to have a financially solvent state-registered malpractice insurance carrier and appropriate malpractice coverages.  Many clients have “placed their bets” on small and sometimes unstable or even non-identifiable malpractice insurance “carriers” who offer substantially lower premiums and are somehow reinsured and registered, if at all, in an offshore jurisdiction.

Many of our physician clients have been left “high and dry” while defending suits where the carrier went bankrupt or into receivership, causing personal bankruptcies or personal payments to settle cases.

Even where a carrier has reinsurance through Lloyds of London or other carrier, a review of the reinsurance contract may show that the reinsurance company is not required to renew the reinsurance coverage and that the offshore carrier would have to pay a significant tail policy charge to ever make the coverage permanent, if permanency is even offered.

Further, having coverage with a “substandard” carrier not approved by the State of Florida is the equivalent of going bare from the point of view of the Florida Statutes, which require a doctor who does not have a state registered malpractice insurance policy to post notices to the effect that he or she is “going bare” or to post escrow deposits which are $750,000 if the doctor has medical staff privileges at a hospital or an ambulatory surgical center (with exposure of the escrow account up to $250,000 per claim).  Those doctors taking the risk of not following the “going bare” statute while using a substandard carrier also face the risk of loss of the ability to go bankrupt and potential forfeiture of their medical license.  We are shocked at how many physicians are putting themselves into this potential risk.

3.         Failure to procure a permanent tail or proper retroactive coverage when changing carriers.  Many clients switch malpractice insurance carriers without making sure that they have good “tail” or continuing coverage.  One big chasm can occur where a doctor switches carriers without telling the prior carrier or the new carrier about a patient event that has occurred, which could result in neither carrier having responsibility if the patient brings a lawsuit.  It is vitally important to inform a new carrier, and the prior carrier, of any incident that would rise to the level of being reportable.

4.         Failure to keep assets out of the doctor’s individual name.  We are always surprised to find doctors who have significant assets in their individual names, totally unprotected.  Oftentimes this is inadvertent, or simply the result of not having time to even know how an asset is titled.  It should go without saying that no practicing physician should have assets in their individual names that are not creditor protected.  A future column will briefly discuss the creditor protected assets, which are also covered on our website at Gassmanbateslawgroup.com under the Asset Protection Planning tab.  These include homestead, life insurance policies, annuity contracts, IRA’s, 401K and pension plans, and 529 plans, assuming proper titling has occurred.

Single physicians who cannot make use of tenancy by the entireties or other mechanisms can consider family limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and special trust arrangements that can provide some degree of creditor protection.

5.         Confusion over tenancy by the entireties.  Most married physicians understand that if assets are owned as tenants by the entireties with their spouses, then they can be protected from creditor claims as long as both spouses are not sued by the same creditor.  Many clients own assets jointly, but not as tenants by the entireties.  It is important to have a qualified advisor review joint assets to be sure that they will qualify as tenants by the entireties.  Common mistakes include deposits made on contracts to purchase real estate where the contractual rights themselves are not held as tenants by the entireties, investments in private companies, and ownership of out of state real estate.  Special measures can be taken to help assure that almost any joint asset qualifies under tenancy by the entireties, but this needs to occur before problems arise, and not after.

6.         Purchasing the wrong investments because of biased advice.  We are sorry to say that there are advisors who will encourage physicians to make financial moves that are to a great extent motivated by commissioned or similar transaction related fees.  This has commonly occurred in the insurance, retirement plan, and, to some extent, in the real estate industries.  Doctors making any potential purchase or investment commitment would be well advised to consult with a team of qualified advisors, which would normally include a CPA who does not accept commissions on the sale of investments, a lawyer who does not accept commissions on investments, and a qualified pension advisor who does not sell investments.  There are conscientious investment advisors who work on a commission basis, and they are usually known of by other advisors who can make appropriate referrals.

The Florida Medical Association CAPS asset protection program may be one example where insurance products and high professional fee mechanisms will cause more harm than good to physicians, in the author’s opinion.

7.         Failure to make sure that medical practice assets are protected.  It is becoming more and more difficult to convince Plaintiff’s lawyers to settle for policy limits in catastrophic cases, especially where the hospital may no longer be a deep pocket because of the elimination of joint and several liability.  There is nothing in the law to prevent a physician from borrowing monies secured by medical practice assets, or having medical practice assets owned by separate entities that can lease them to the practice entity.  It is essential, however, that competent tax and legal advisors be consulted in how to best structure medical practice strategy.

8.         Failure to coordinate estate/trust/asset ownership/beneficiary designation planning.

Many physicians come to us after having engaged in estate planning with significant exposure resulting from failure to follow through, failure to have appropriately structured trusts, and by reason of common errors that occur.

Examples of this are as follows:

(a)       Many clients are the direct beneficiary of their spouse’s life insurance or make their spouse the direct beneficiary of their life insurance.  While life insurance is creditor proof if owned by the insured spouse, the beneficiary is not protected from creditor claims.  Life insurance should usually be payable to a trust that can benefit the surviving spouse without being subject to creditor claims.  Oftentimes this is called a “bypass trust” or a “family trust.”

(b)       Failure of a bypass trust or a family trust to provide creditor protection.  Oftentimes the surviving spouse will be the sole trustee of the bypass trust, and the trust will require that all income be paid to the surviving spouse.  The trusts often do not have the appropriate spendthrift provisions that are necessary to keep creditors out of them.

(c)       Failure to have proper homestead planning.  In most cases the homestead should be owned jointly by a husband and wife, but in some cases the physicians have been advised to have the home owned by them only so that on the first death a bypass trust can be funded.

Unfortunately, the Florida Constitution has archaic provisions which indicate that if one spouse owns the homestead and dies, the children own a vested remainder in the home, and the surviving spouse only takes a life estate.  This means that the spouse would not be able to sell the home without getting permission from the children, and paying them a significant portion of the sales proceeds.  This can be avoided by having the non-physician spouse sign a special consent form before the death of the physician spouse.

Many planners are unaware that even jointly owned assets can be used to fund a bypass trust, notwithstanding that they are owned as “tenants by the entireties.”  Florida disclaimer rules have to be understood when physician clients are planning with bypass trusts and significant joint assets.

Do You Tweet? The Florida Department of Revenue Does!

 The FL Department of Revenue does.  In fact, they have three official Twitter feeds relating to all things FLDOR. MyFLDOR_TaxInfo reminds business owners to pay their sales tax, provides floating interest rates, and other helpful links about tax information.  MyFLDOR_PTO is the feed for property tax, and lists course offerings and updated information about property tax.  Finally, MyFLDOR_CSE updates followers on child support options and tax tips.

Of course, we recommend following the KFC Colonel @kfc_colonel for all things related to fried chicken.

 Phil Rarick’s Informative Blog: Before the Wedding: 3 Legal Points Every Parent Should Know (Or Why A Prenuptial Agreement May Be a Smart Idea)

The Big Announcement:  your daughter tells you she plans to marry Hank, a great guy. She is so excited – and in love!  The last thing you want to do is discuss “practical issues”.  But, at the right time, it will be important to discuss  these issues to help prevent future heartbreak – and hardship.  There are three legal points your daughter  should know – and you should know and discuss before the big day.

Click here to read more. 

Passing the Bar in 1776

Lawyers across the country know the pain and suffering of the dreaded bar exam.  Studying for months on end from dusk til dawn has become a rite of passage for lawyers. But it hasn’t always been that way. The Multistate Bar Exam wasn’t created until the 1970’s. Written bar exams weren’t given until the late 1880’s. So how were the bar exams given?

John Adams was admitted to the Bar in October 1758. He recalled his bar admission in his autobiography. He was an apprentice for over two years before seeking admission to the bar. His master was supposed to present him to the Court of Common Pleas in Worcester for his Certificate of Oath and Admission, but had forgotten to do so before Mr. Adams moved to Boston. Mr. Adams went to see a Mr. Gridley about presenting him to the Court in Boston. Mr. Girdley stated that Mr. Adams’ master had mentioned him and proceeded to ask him questions like how long he had practiced with his master and how many books he had read. After a conversation about the books Mr. Adams read, Mr. Gridley lent him one of his own. At the end of the conversation, Mr. Gridley told Mr. Adams to be at the courthouse on the last Friday of October and he would present him to the Court.

On the last Friday of October, Mr. Gridley presented Mr. Adams to the Court. A man asked whether anyone knew him well enough to satisfy the Court and Mr. Gridley answered that he knew Mr. Adams

In the 19th Century, bar exams were oral and the requirements minimal. Applicants would meet with a bar examiner in person and answer a set of questions. A famous illustration of these loose standards was the admission of Mr. Jonathan Birch. Mr. Birch was admitted to the bar by simply answering a few questions, such as what books he has read, and obtaining a certificate to the court by a local attorney. Who was the local attorney that interviewed him? It was only the future president of the United States of America named Abraham Lincoln.

Applicable Federal Rates

Below we have this month, last month’s, and the preceding month’s Applicable Federal Rates, because for a sale you can use the lowest of the 3.

The 7520 Rate for December is 2.0% and for November was 2.01%.

Seminars and Webinars

THE FLORIDA BAR – REPRESENTING THE PHYSICIAN

Date: Friday, January 17, 2013

Location:  The Hyatt Hotel, Orlando, Florida

Additional Information: The annual Florida Bar conference entitled Representing the Physician is designed especially for health care, tax, and business lawyers, CPAs and physician office managers and physicians to cover practical legal, medical law, and tax planning matters that affect physicians and physician practices.

This year our 1 day seminar will be held in the Hyatt Hotel near Walt Disney World.

A dinner for the Executive Committee of the Health Law Section of The Florida Bar and our speakers will be held on Thursday, January 16, 2013, whether formally or informally.  Anyone who would like to attend (dutch treat or bring wooden shoes) will be welcomed.  Your tax deductible hotel room to start a fantastic week near Disney, Universal, Sea World and most importantly Gatorland, can include a room at the fantastic Hyatt Hotel for a discounted rate per night, single occupancy.

PINELLAS COUNTY CHAPTER OF THE FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN LAWYERS SEMINAR

Alan Gassman will be speaking on Same Sex Marriage and Associated Laws We Should All Know About Anyway.

Date:  January 30, 2014 | 5:30 p.m.

Location: Stetson Law School, Gulfport, Florida

Additional Information: For more information on this event please contact agassman@gassmanpa.com.

FLORIDA BAR HEALTH LAW REVIEW 2014

Alan Gassman will be speaking on What Healthcare Lawyers Need to Know About Tax Law and Business Entities at this excellent annual Florida Bar conference that is attended not only by those who are taking the Board Certification exam but also healthcare lawyers and other advisors.

Other speakers will include Lester Perling who is the co-author of A Practical Guide to Kickback and Self-Referral Laws for Florida Physicians and a number of other books and publications.

Date:    March 7 – 8, 2014

Location: Hyatt, Orlando, Florida

Additional Information: We thank Jodi Laurence and Sandra Greenblatt for all of their hard work in making this conference as successful as it is.  For more information please contact Jodi at jl@flhealthlaw.com or Sandra at sg@flhealthlawyer.com.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION HEALTH LAW SECTION LUNCHEON

Alan Gassman and Christopher Denicolo will be speaking at the Hillsborough County Bar Association’s Health Law Section Luncheon on the topic of Tax and Asset Protection Basics for Those Who Represent Physicians and Medical Practices

Date:    March 12, 2014

Location:  Chester H. Ferguson Law Center in Tampa, FL

Additional Information: For additional information please contact Co-Chairs Sara Younger at sara.younger@baycare.org or Thomas Ferrante at tferrante@carltonfields.com.

1^st ANNUAL ESTATE PLANNER’S DAY AT AVE MARIA SCHOOL OF LAW

Speakers: Speakers will include Professor Jerry Hesch, Jonathan Gopman, Alan Gassman and others.

Date: April 25, 2014

Location: Ave Maria School of Law, Naples, Florida

Sponsors:AveMariaSchool of Law, Collier County Estate Planning Council and more to be announced.

Additional Information: For more information on this event please contact agassman@gassmanpa.com.

THE FLORIDA BAR ANNUAL WEALTH PROTECTION SEMINAR

Date: Thursday, May 8, 2013

Speakers: Speakers will include Barry Engel on Offshore Trust Planning and Developments Over the Past 2 Years in Asset Protection, Howard Fisher and Alex Fisher on “Designer Entities – The Cutting Edge in Asset Protection”, Denis Kleinfeld on The Roadmap to Wealth Protection Planning and Alan Gassman on Structuring Business and Investment Assets and Entities – Wealth Protection 401 for the Dedicated Planner.

Location: Hyatt Regency Downtown, Miami, Florida

Additional Information: For more information please contact agassman@gassmanpa.com

NOTABLE SEMINARS PRESENTED BY OTHERS:

48^th ANNUAL HECKERLING INSTITUTE ON ESTATE PLANNING SEMINAR

Date: January 13 – 17, 2014

Location:  OrlandoWorldCenter Marriott, Orlando, Florida

Sponsor:University of MiamiSchool of Law

Additional Information: For more information please visit: http://www.law.miami.edu/heckerling/

16^th ANNUAL ALL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL ESTATE, TAX, LEGAL & FINANCIAL PLANNING SEMINAR

Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Location: All Children’s Hospital Education and ConferenceCenter, St. Petersburg, Florida with remote location live interactive viewings in Tampa, Sarasota, New Port Richey, Lakeland, and Bangkok, Thailand

Sponsor: All Children’s Hospital

THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA TAX INSTITUTE

Date: February 19 – 21, 2014

Location: Grand Hyatt, Tampa, Florida

Presenters:       Martin McMahon, Jr., C. Wells Hall, III, Abraham N.M. Shashy, Karen L. Hawkins, Lawrence Lokken, Stephen F. Gertzman, James B. Sowell, John J. Rooney, Louis Weller, Ronald Aucutt, Karen Gilbreath Sowell, Herbert N. Beller, Peter J. Genz, Stephan R. Leimberg, John J. Scroggin, Lauren Y. Detzel, David Pratt and Samuel A. Donaldson

Sponsor:  UF Law alumni and UF Graduate Tax Program

Additional Information:  Here is what UF is saying about the program on its website: “The UF Tax Institute will provide tax practitioners and other leading tax, business and estate planning professionals with a program that covers the most current issues and planning ideas with a practical, informative, state-of-the-art approach.  The Institute’s schedule will devote separate days or half days to individual income tax issues, entity tax issues and estate planning issues.  Speakers and presentations will be announced as the program date nears to ensure coverage of the most timely and significant topics.  UF Law alumni have formed the Florida Tax Education Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, to organize the conference.”