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I forgot thhat post..I thought all the main numbers are there. $/hr, $/pt, $/pt charged. What else do you want? What are yours?
I forgot thhat post..I thought all the main numbers are there. $/hr, $/pt, $/pt charged. What else do you want? What are yours?
That seems....at best....inefficient. A lean SDG in my limited experience is around 15-20%. A CMG on the other hand...Asking for a friend...
Would one consider a private group with an overhead of 30-35% (i.e. amount taken off gross income to cover practice expenses) to be good? inefficient? something else?
...A CMG on the other hand...
A lean SDG should be under 15% and that includes everything including billing/coding and med mal. Of course that dpeneds on how much you bring in. In general it will cost $8-12 to bill and code a chart. If you are collecting 100/pt thats roughly 10%.Asking for a friend...
Would one consider a private group with an overhead of 30-35% (i.e. amount taken off gross income to cover practice expenses) to be good? inefficient? something else?
We have a pretty efficient SDG, but if you include scribe and midlevel pay in our practice expenses then we were a little over 20% on our last payroll spreadsheet. If you take those two expenses out, our practice expenses are at 10%
More specifically, why don't SDG's hire business executives to run their groups so that exec can focus on maintaining the contract(s) while utilizing a physician as a VP of sorts to liaison between said business exec and the group at large? To be frank, it seems that most docs don't want to take time to deal with pt/physician complaints, interface with hospital execs, or massage metrics because, presumably, most ER docs go into EM to care for patients. Why not just hire a suit to do "suit" things while keeping him/her firmly under the thumb of the group with the above-stated physician VP as the "hammer so-to-speak? The group can even make said exec an electable position with contingent termination parameters. As a resident I feel the spectre of ignorance lurking over me. Please help me understand why this isn't done?
What you're missing is "to deal with pt/physician complaints, interface with hospital execs, or massage metrics" isn't suit level work. That's what facility medical directors (FMDs) do on a daily basis. The amount of time and effort that would go in to training a non-physician to be good at those tasks in a way that was ultimately favorable for the average pit doc isn't feasible. You can hire companies to do the "real" suit stuff - payroll, scheduling, negotiating with insurance companies, maintaining malpractice, etc. But the second you've got someone that's not you or someone like you at the table when the important decisions are being made, you've already slid into CMG territory.More specifically, why don't SDG's hire business executives to run their groups so that exec can focus on maintaining the contract(s) while utilizing a physician as a VP of sorts to liaison between said business exec and the group at large? To be frank, it seems that most docs don't want to take time to deal with pt/physician complaints, interface with hospital execs, or massage metrics because, presumably, most ER docs go into EM to care for patients. Why not just hire a suit to do "suit" things while keeping him/her firmly under the thumb of the group with the above-stated physician VP as the "hammer so-to-speak? The group can even make said exec an electable position with contingent termination parameters. As a resident I feel the spectre of ignorance lurking over me. Please help me understand why this isn't done?
Agree. The minute an SDG hires an MBA without medical experience, you've just thrown in the garbage 99% of what makes a physician owned group worth having, and while you may technically not be a CMG, you're sleeping with one.What you're missing is "to deal with pt/physician complaints, interface with hospital execs, or massage metrics" isn't suit level work. That's what facility medical directors (FMDs) do on a daily basis. The amount of time and effort that would go in to training a non-physician to be good at those tasks in a way that was ultimately favorable for the average pit doc isn't feasible. You can hire companies to do the "real" suit stuff - payroll, scheduling, negotiating with insurance companies, maintaining malpractice, etc. But the second you've got someone that's not you or someone like you at the table when the important decisions are being made, you've already slid into CMG territory.
I love it. This contract sucks, we're out.Agree. The minute an SDG hires an MBA without medical experience, you've just thrown in the garbage 99% of what makes a physician owned group worth having, and while you may technically not be a CMG, you're sleeping with one.
As an aside, my current group (multispecialty, 100% physician owned) recent had our physician CEO, who had a tremendous amount of outside business experience, step down. We debated whether or not to have another MD do the job, or to do an outside search for a non-medical MBA type. We settled on having the company run by a combination of the physician board of directors and president, along with a non-physician CFO and a non-physician COO, both of whom had 20 years experience with the company. We decided that bringing in an outside non-physician MBA type CEO, without any experience with our company, would risk killing what makes our company such a great place to work. And the other physicians on the board, myself included, all had the option of stepping up and being CEO, if we wanted to. We all turned it down on the grounds that we not only didn't have enough business acumen, but that it would be a pay cut.
Another interesting aside: We used to have 4 ED contracts. 3 of them got gobbled up by greedy CMGs and hospital CEOs who undercut us for cheaper labor, while threatening us with loss of contract every year. With the final EM contract, we actually told the hospital to pound sand, walked away and terminated them.
How ya like them apples?
Because we're a physician group. We don't want a non physician suit (other than our legal counsel) at the table in negotiation, handling issues with patients, nurses, etc. We have necessary non physician staff, including our PAs, HR department, credentialing department, and a couple other admin staff, but our physicians own the group and are in all leadership roles, and they are paid to do it.More specifically, why don't SDG's hire business executives to run their groups so that exec can focus on maintaining the contract(s) while utilizing a physician as a VP of sorts to liaison between said business exec and the group at large? To be frank, it seems that most docs don't want to take time to deal with pt/physician complaints, interface with hospital execs, or massage metrics because, presumably, most ER docs go into EM to care for patients. Why not just hire a suit to do "suit" things while keeping him/her firmly under the thumb of the group with the above-stated physician VP as the "hammer so-to-speak? The group can even make said exec an electable position with contingent termination parameters. As a resident I feel the spectre of ignorance lurking over me. Please help me understand why this isn't done?
Bumping again.
One thing I still don't understand is whether in an RVU-based reimbursement structure (i.e. 100% RVU, "eat what you kill"), are you paid per your work RVUs generated or total RVUs generated? Or does this depend on the specifics of your individual contract?
I understand how the Total RVUs equation is generated:
[(Work RVUs x Work GPCI) + (Practice Expense RVUs x Practice Expense GPCI) +
(Professional Liability Insurance RVUs x PLI GPCI)] = Total RVUs
Total RVU x Conversion Factor = Medicare Allowable Payment
For example, a level 5 (99285) chart is worth 3.8 wRVU and 4.9 total RVU. Assuminng I am getting paid for RVUs generated (not collected), and assuming a conversion factor near Medicare's rate of $36, by generating a level 5 chart am I making 3.8 wRVU x $36 = $137, or am I getting paid 4.9 tRVU x $36 = $176?
I can't seem to find this information anywhere.
Bumping again.
One thing I still don't understand is whether in an RVU-based reimbursement structure (i.e. 100% RVU, "eat what you kill"), are you paid per your work RVUs generated or total RVUs generated? Or does this depend on the specifics of your individual contract?
I understand how the Total RVUs equation is generated:
[(Work RVUs x Work GPCI) + (Practice Expense RVUs x Practice Expense GPCI) +
(Professional Liability Insurance RVUs x PLI GPCI)] = Total RVUs
Total RVU x Conversion Factor = Medicare Allowable Payment
For example, a level 5 (99285) chart is worth 3.8 wRVU and 4.9 total RVU. Assuminng I am getting paid for RVUs generated (not collected), and assuming a conversion factor near Medicare's rate of $36, by generating a level 5 chart am I making 3.8 wRVU x $36 = $137, or am I getting paid 4.9 tRVU x $36 = $176?
I can't seem to find this information anywhere.
Outside of the inner group in a SDG or upper management in a CMG, where are you going to get to see that data?Forget RVU-based, go to true eat-what-you-kill income-base P&L accounting... one less middle step 😉
Ours is open-access from the first day you work for us. You don't have a "traditional" buy in or probationary period, and get your "profit" starting day one.
But agreed, it can be hard to see your earnings in most other practice settings. Other edge of the sword-- having completely open books, I see how damn much malpractice and all those nice health/dental/disability insurances cost. 🙂
Forget RVU-based, go to true eat-what-you-kill income-base P&L accounting... one less middle step 😉
In this model, if you see a patient who cannot pay, do you not get paid? Or is all collections put in a bucket and then distributed based on RVUs?
If you're gonna do this, why not MSE them in triage and discharge?If you see a patient who doesn't pay... you don't get paid!
This all averages out amongst us docs who see thousands of patients a year...
If someone was cherry picking patients by insurance status they'd have a rapid opportunity to seek new employment elsewhere. Thats just not how we work. We are staffed well enough that patients are getting picked up very rapidly when they get brought back... you get the next patient. Or you get the sickest patient if a couple come back at once. If its the end of your shift, cherry picking something good to "knock out" and not sign out is fine, assuming you aren't leaving a critically ill patient hanging.
Plus when they redesigned our EMR, to actually get into a patient's insurance status involves about a dozen obscure clicks... I don't think most of the staff know how.
There are other ways to cherry pick. We used to have this straight FFS model but when we moved to an RVU model it got so much better. In any system there are ways to "game" the system. The gaming is a lot less in the RVU model. There is no perfect way to do this.If you see a patient who doesn't pay... you don't get paid!
This all averages out amongst us docs who see thousands of patients a year...
If someone was cherry picking patients by insurance status they'd have a rapid opportunity to seek new employment elsewhere. Thats just not how we work. We are staffed well enough that patients are getting picked up very rapidly when they get brought back... you get the next patient. Or you get the sickest patient if a couple come back at once. If its the end of your shift, cherry picking something good to "knock out" and not sign out is fine, assuming you aren't leaving a critically ill patient hanging.
Plus when they redesigned our EMR, to actually get into a patient's insurance status involves about a dozen obscure clicks... I don't think most of the staff know how.
1) your hospital may not let you.If you're gonna do this, why not MSE them in triage and discharge?
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1) your hospital may not let you.
2) an MSE will get you bad publicity.
3) sometimes even if it harms you financially you should do the right thing
4) you do not obsolve your med mal risk
5) we all make decent money, so see #3
6) if you dont want the news plastering your bad stuff dont do bad things.
Who should pay?
There are other ways to cherry pick. We used to have this straight FFS model but when we moved to an RVU model it got so much better. In any system there are ways to "game" the system. The gaming is a lot less in the RVU model. There is no perfect way to do this.
Who should pay?
I've never heard of a system where the collections per patient are individualized to the doctor who saw them. Every productivity place I've worked pools the collections, and then just pays out fairly based on how productive each person is.
So lets be clear assuming you are an SDG "the group" is everyone. An SDG can decide how they want to do this. The issue is the MSE has very few RVUs. Cause by definition you arent doing any testing. Why in gods name would anyone do that? In a FFS model obviously you would get 0.
Here is the deal. Give me a system and I will tell you how to game it. the key is to not have POS partners. Most SDGs have an abundance of great options and with a thorough job up front with hiring, strong leadership and overall a good work environment it lmits the tomfoolery you may see.Man I would not trust human beings to work in a real FFS model. That’s just me
Hi, says the unicorn in the room.
None of us reliably works in a place where there isn't another patient to be seen. So any patient that takes up time is taking it from the next. Sure, and night sometimes this happens, but even at the places I've worked that slow down at night or on Christmas morning, the number of times there were literally zero patients waiting to be seen was in the single digits. So if you MSE the non-emergency, then you have more time for the emergencies.So lets be clear assuming you are an SDG "the group" is everyone. An SDG can decide how they want to do this. The issue is the MSE has very few RVUs. Cause by definition you arent doing any testing. Why in gods name would anyone do that? In a FFS model obviously you would get 0.
I will say the straight FFS which my current group had had its issues. Dig deeper and I bet you will find major chart picking especially if you have the typical 12-20% self pay.
Because poor people get sick too?If you're gonna do this, why not MSE them in triage and discharge?
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I'm talking the sniffles bruh. High horse.Because poor people get sick too?
"High horse"? Unnecessary.
One nice thing about collections-based, aside from removing a couple steps of math and RVU compilation-- when you leave our group, you still get your tail of collections paid out for the next couple quarters. Its a very nice parting gift. I suppose in an RVU system you could try to do that too, but I've never heard of it.
In general, your E&M codes are going to make up 80% of your charges with the procedures making up the other 20%. I can’t think of many quick procedures that would bill well but not reimburse well. What kind of procedures would you perform and bill that wouldn’t get paid?As an aside, if one worked in a system where billed RVU is what earns you pay... could you not bill ridiculous things which will never get paid, but still "earn" from them?
For your CMGs it is usually 10-20%. The answer depends on payer mix and how aggressive you are with your charge master.Does anyone have any ballpark numbers for what the average pre-reconcilliation (i.e. Billing) and post-rec (collections) numbers are for amount billed/collected per RVU?
I understand there must be a wide range for what amount is ultimately billed or collected per RVU based on the ED's payor mix, but I'm curious to hear what a typical amount might be.