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Nearly 25% of Trauma Centers Shut Down Services Due to Lack of Physicians Available to Provide On-Call Coverage Yahoo! News (press release) - USA |
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Sullivan, Cotter and Associates, Inc. has published its second annual survey of physician on-call pay rates and practices, the 2006 Physician On-call Pay Survey Report. A total of 109 healthcare organizations from across the U.S. participated in the survey. Overall, 78% of the survey participants provide on-call pay to at least some of their physicians who are required to take call. The survey report outlines the physician on-call pay practices of the participants and reports data on the on-call rates paid for twenty-three physician specialty areas. The on-call rates paid are divided into restricted on-call (required to stay on the premises) and unrestricted on-call (not required to remain on the premises, but must respond to call within a specified time period). According to the survey, trauma centers pay higher on-call rates than do non-trauma centers and nearly one-quarter (24%) of trauma centers and 13% of non-trauma centers have had to shut down a service due to a lack of physicians available to provide on-call service. Furthermore, the survey distinguishes an emerging distinction between on-call pay for providing trauma coverage only versus general emergency department coverage. Only a few specialties are likely to be compensated for providing trauma coverage only, while the provision of call pay for emergency department coverage spans a broader range of physician specialties. The survey identifies a significant variance in the on-call rates paid by specialty and some specialties are far more likely to receive on-call pay than are others. The specialties that receive the highest on-call pay rates include neurosurgery (median daily stipend of $950), orthopedic surgery (median daily stipend of $900) and trauma surgery (median daily stipend of $1,100). Kim Mobley, the survey director and principal with SullivanCotter, notes that "these data represent national market norms and there can be differences in the local market rates paid to physicians providing call coverage". According to Mobley, "There are some highly compensated specialties that receive relatively low on-call rates of pay. These same specialties are often the ones that are also not as likely to receive on-call pay. While physician on-call pay is still an evolving market trend, it appears that there is some relationship between the likelihood of being called in to work and the on-call rate paid." Mobley notes that organizations are becoming creative in terms of encouraging physicians to provide call coverage. Some of the practices that are being considered or recently implemented to encourage physicians to take call include a guaranteed level of payment for services provided, subsidy for malpractice when called in, fee for service payments for uninsured patients, hourly rates when called in, and payments based on work Relative Value Units when called in. |
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