A new Medical Group Management Association report reveals physician on-call pay varies based on specialty, geographic region and practice size.
Primary care physicians and nonsurgical specialists had the highest median daily rate for on-call coverage in the West, while surgical specialists in the South had the highest pay rate.
Additionally, practice size affected on-call compensation. Surgical specialists in practices with 76 or more full-time equivalent physicians had the highest rate, while nonsurgical specialists in practices with 25 or fewer FTEs had the highest on-call coverage pay.
Some physicians don't get paid at all for on-call coverage: 37 percent of survey respondents reported receiving no additional compensation for their time. However, 33 percent of those physicians did receive additional time off for being on-call.
"On-call rates for physicians are influenced by a number of factors, and compensation methodologies will likely continue to evolve," said Jeffrey Milburn, MBA, with MGMA Health Care Consulting Group, in a news release. "Healthcare organizations are working to recruit physicians in a competitive marketplace, so they may be extending opportunities for additional compensation to attract physicians."
The survey is based on data from 2,513 providers in 252 medical organizations.
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