Employed primary care physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, part of Boston-based Partners HealthCare, have roughly 10 percent of their salaries tied to the size of their practice and the complexity of the patients' cases, according to a Boston Globe report.
The 360 employed primary care physicians at the Harvard University-affiliated hospitals currently have annual salaries around $200,000 if they work full-time, but those compensation totals can increase if they see more patients than average or if they treat patients with several medical problems, according to the report. Additionally, their salary can decrease if they treat fewer people.
Timothy Ferris, MD, vice president of population health management at Partners, said in the report this compensation structure is a preparation for the changes to come in how hospitals and physicians are paid. As hospitals and physicians move toward accountable care organizations, the emphasis has been to treat more patients while measuring quality instead of ordering large volumes of tests and services.
MGH and Brigham and Women's also plan to hire more nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants to help primary care physicians with the influx of patients.
The 360 employed primary care physicians at the Harvard University-affiliated hospitals currently have annual salaries around $200,000 if they work full-time, but those compensation totals can increase if they see more patients than average or if they treat patients with several medical problems, according to the report. Additionally, their salary can decrease if they treat fewer people.
Timothy Ferris, MD, vice president of population health management at Partners, said in the report this compensation structure is a preparation for the changes to come in how hospitals and physicians are paid. As hospitals and physicians move toward accountable care organizations, the emphasis has been to treat more patients while measuring quality instead of ordering large volumes of tests and services.
MGH and Brigham and Women's also plan to hire more nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants to help primary care physicians with the influx of patients.
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