Production emphasis for new physicians - Short Takes - Brief Article

Physician Executive, Nov-Dec, 1998 by James A. Hawkins

A somewhat different look at physician compensation comes from The Health Care Group, Inc. It has found that changes affecting medical practices are impacting the compensation packages they offer to starting physicians. Increasingly. practices are abandoning "salary-only" compensation formulae in favor of "salary and production/bonus" formulae.

A survey of starting salaries found that 29 percent of reporting practices used only salary factors to determine new physician compensation, while 69 percent used the hybrid salary and incentive compensation method. This was a significant change from the 1997 survey finding that 39 percent of practices used salary only while 60 percent used the hybrid approach.

The survey also found that practices in rural areas tend to pay higher starting salaries to new physicians---primary care and specialists alike--than do comparable practices in urban and suburban settings. The physician shortages that are common in rural areas force those practices to pay higher salaries. More detailed information about the survey can be obtained by contacting The Health Care Group at 800/473-0032.