ENGLEWOOD, Colo., June 3, 2010 - Hospital-owned practices were the most successful in attracting physicians in 2009. More than half (65 percent) of established physicians were placed in hospital-owned practices and almost half (49 percent) of physicians hired out of residency or fellowship were placed within hospital-owned practices, according to the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Physician Placement Starting Salary Survey: 2010 Report Based on 2009 Data.
Higher starting compensation could be one of the drivers for this trend as primary care and specialty care physicians in hospital-owned practices were offered more in first-year guaranteed compensation than in not hospital-owned practices. Historically, not hospital owned practices have offered higher first-year guaranteed compensation to specialty physicians. The gap between first-year guaranteed compensation offered for specialty care physicians had been shrinking since 2007. Primary care physicians reported median first-year guaranteed compensation of $160,000 in 2009 while specialists reported $230,000.
MGMA's data also shows that first-year guaranteed compensation has decreased by 2.1 percent since 2006 for specialists in single specialty practices whereas primary care first-year guaranteed compensation has increased by 17.4 percent in the same timeframe. Meanwhile, first-year guaranteed compensation for specialty care physicians in multispecialty practices has increased 3.2 percent since 2006. During this same period, first-year guaranteed compensation for primary care physicians in multispecialty practices has increased 14.3 percent.
"Physicians are moving to hospital-owned practices for a number of reasons," said Brenda Lewis, president of B.E.L. & Associates, Inc., and MGMA survey advisory committee member. "There is uncertainty of reimbursement for the future. Physicians are looking to sustain income to pay office overhead and have a paycheck to take home, and those with large Medicare populations are more likely to want to move to hospital-employed positions."
The MGMA Physician Placement Starting Salary Survey: 2010 Survey Based on 2009 Data produced in conjunction with the National Association of Physician Recruiters includes complete data on more than 4,100 providers categorized by specialty and starting salary for more than 1,500 physicians directly out of residency. This year the report includes a new table that displays first-year guaranteed compensation by U.S. Department of Health & Human Services regions, new tables for loan forgiveness amounts and expanded key findings offering analysis on location of placement trends.
If you are a press member and would like to request additional data or information from the report, please contact Liz Boten, media relations representative, at 303.799.1111 ext. 1332 or [email protected].
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Note: Because MGMA surveys depend on voluntary participation, they may not be representative of the industry. Readers are urged to review the entire survey report when making conclusions regarding trends or other observations.
About MGMA
MGMA is the premier membership association for professional administrators and leaders of medical group practices. Since 1926, MGMA has delivered networking, professional education and resources, and political advocacy for medical practice management. Today, MGMA's 21,500 members lead 13,700 organizations nationwide in which some 275,000 physicians provide more than 40 percent of the healthcare services delivered in the United States.
MGMA's mission is to continually improve the performance of medical group practice professionals and the organizations they represent. MGMA promotes the group practice model as the optimal framework for healthcare delivery, assisting group practices in providing efficient, safe, patient-focused and affordable care. MGMA is headquartered in Englewood, Colo., and maintains a government affairs office in Washington, D.C. Follow our Twitter list to find out which medical practices are using social media.