are doctors working at the hospital paying for rent?

[batista_123]

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Hi guys
I have always been curious about this. When a doctor sees patients at the hospital, what kind of a relationship does he have with the hospital?
is he employed as an independent contractor?
Does he pay the hospital because they are bringing him all this traffic?
does he pay a monthly fee or a commission based on how many patients he sees?
what about the equipment, for example, when a doctor uses the hospital's syringe or other materials, who pays for all that?

 

[EBTrailRunner]

I think it depends on your specialty. I've heard emergency physicians tend to work for medical groups that contract with hospitals to staff their emergency departments. I think most physicians are obligated to see a minimum number of patients. There's a thread started by an EM resident a few months ago that discusses this in greater detail.

 

[DoctwoB]

Hi guys
I have always been curious about this. When a doctor sees patients at the hospital, what kind of a relationship does he have with the hospital?
is he employed as an independent contractor?
Does he pay the hospital because they are bringing him all this traffic?
does he pay a monthly fee or a commission based on how many patients he sees?
what about the equipment, for example, when a doctor uses the hospital's syringe or other materials, who pays for all that?

The answer varies between specialties, hospitals, and even individual doctors.

Some doctors are hospital employees. You use their facilities, they steer you patients, they pay your malpractice, etc, and you get a nice regular paycheck, usually with production bonuses.

Some doctors are independent contractors, like a private practice surgeon who has privileges in the OR of the local hospital. The hospital gets paid (by the patients insurance) for usage of ORs, nursing staff, inpatient care, etc. and the doctor gets paid for his services separately by the patient. Often as part of this deal the doctor needs to take call for that facility (w/ additional pay).

Some doctors form groups that then contract their services to various hospitals. Like a private group of EM docs can have agreements with 4 local hospitals to staff their ERs for a set fee per shift plus production bonuses, etc.

The answer is that it is entirely variable.

 

[TheMightySmiter]

Most hospitalists and EM docs are part of a private group of physicians contracted by the hospital, and sometimes different physicians in the same group see patients at different hospitals. Each physician may work at one or multiple hospitals in the area. Some hospitals do employ physicians--for example many rehab hospitals employ in-house physiatrists. Then the hospital bill includes the physician salary. Otherwise, the group bills the patient on behalf of the physician separately from the hospital.

A dumb system, if you ask me, but that's what it is. I was in the ED a few months ago and got three different bills for being there a couple hours.

 

[CeeEstee0]

The gastroentorologists I have shadowed are all part of a group, (They all have offices in a building 2 miles from the hospital), but spend about 80% of their day in the hospital doing procedures and stuff. Seems to be the same in the other surgical specialties too.