Physician compensation and productivity increased from July to October 2020 as patient volumes rose after the initial wave of COVID-19 restrictions lifted, according to a KaufmanHall report.
The report includes data from more than 68,000 physicians and 28,000 advanced practice providers from across the U.S.
Five takeaways:
1. Physician compensation per full time employee increased 1.5 percent from July to October 2020 reaching $319,826. Physicians saw increased compensation due to higher patient volumes, as most organizations were at pre-pandemic volumes, or within 10 percent of expected volumes.
2. Physician compensation per work relative value unit (wRVU) dropped 4.5 percent because fixed compensation drove down the compensation per wRVU.
3. The total direct expense per physician FTE was up 1 percent over the report period because reduced staffing expenses offset the physician compensation increase.
4. The rise in physician productivity between July and October 2020 coincided with a drop in support staff productivity as staff were furloughed and practice sites consolidated. However, staff productivity was up 11.4 percent when compared with the same period in 2019.
5. KaufmanHall recommended physician practices develop actionable key performance indicators to support recovery efforts and go beyond data gathering to monitor performance and progress.