BURLINGAME, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MD Ranger, Inc. today announced the release of 2018 physician compensation benchmarks for call coverage, medical direction, administrative services, leadership services, hospital-based services, clinical professional rates, telemedicine, and diagnostic testing rates. The release marks the ninth year of publication of 300+ benchmarks used by health care providers to document market rates and negotiate contracts. MD Ranger’s platform is used in over 300 facilities across the United States, including large health systems, urban trauma centers, academic medical centers, critical access facilities, specialty hospitals, clinics, and by physicians.
MD Ranger’s Founder and CEO Penny Stroud says, "The 2018 benchmarks provide the most comprehensive scope of services to date. Our data reflect providers' increasing investment in physician services to ensure high quality call coverage, medical direction, hospital-based physician services, and other physician input and oversight. Our continued growth enables us to report many hard-to-find benchmarks, making it easier for our partners to document market rates and evaluate commercial reasonableness.”
Payments for physician services continue to grow, particularly for hospitalists and other hospital-based services. Hospitals now pay more for hospital-based physicians than for ED call coverage. The MD Ranger survey found that the median total hospital payments for physician services, excluding physician salaries, is $8.3 million, up from $7.2 million in 2017.
“As hospitals align more closely with physicians, expenditures for call coverage, leadership positions, medical directorships, hospitalists, and committee/meeting attendance continue to grow in scope and amount. The trend reflects a number of factors, including more hospital-based service contracts, deteriorating payment rates from government and other insurers, and growing reluctance by physicians to participate in hospital activities without compensation," says Stroud.
Key findings from the new benchmarks include:
- The size and scope of hospital-based physician contracts continue to grow, with monetary support for more specialty hospitalist teams such as psychiatry, OB, orthopedics, and acute care surgery.
- The expansion of stroke center accreditation standards is fueling the cost of coverage for neuro-interventional, interventional radiology, and stroke leadership positions, similar to cardiology initiatives ten years ago.
- 60% of the 51 call coverage median benchmarks rose more than 5% and only 7% were lower, compared to medical directors for which 33% of median rates declined and 44% were unchanged. One-third of hospital-based service benchmarks fell while two-thirds rose.
A selection of the 30+ new benchmarks include:
- Thoracic Surgery call coverage
- Genetics medical direction
- Endoscopy/GI Lab medical direction
- Nuclear Medicine medical direction
- Orthopedic Hospitalists
- Acute Care Surgery
About MD Ranger
MD Ranger partners with leading health care organizations to simplify the physician contracting process. Through its intuitive online platform, MD Ranger helps health care organizations and medical groups set payment rates and document FMV. MD Ranger’s approach streamlines the process and reduces the cost of compliance documentation and negotiation for large and small health care providers.
