MANAGED CARE May 2009. ©MediMedia USA
Medical groups have differing pay scales, but when medical directors in hospital-owned practices make 41 percent less than those with other kinds of owners — that is noteworthy, according to a report from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).
“Hospitals tend to have a greater administrative infrastructure, and the directorships may have less overall responsibility,” says David M. Litzau, a survey analyst at the MGMA. That means the hospital medical directors receive less pay.
These findings were presented in the group’s Medical Directorship/On-Call Compensation Survey: 2009 Report Based on 2008 Data.
The greatest discrepancy was among nonsurgical specialists. In non-hospital-owned practices, they received $27,400 more annually than their counterparts in hospital-owned practices.
Medical directors who participated in recruitment and had physician education responsibilities were paid twice as much as their peers for directorship work but not, of course, for clinical work.
Group practice ownership and compensation levels
Source: Medical Group Management Association. Medical Directorship and On-Call Compensation Survey: 2009 Report Based on 2008 Data
“Medical directors would want to make sure that they are receiving equitable compensation for the type of work they are doing,” says Liz Johnson of the Medical Group Management Association.