Physician compensation for medical directorships in non-hospital-owned group practices is greater than in hospital-owned practices for all specialties except primary care, according to the Medical Group Management Association’s “Medical Directorship/On Call Compensation Survey: 2009 Report Based on 2008 Data.”
The greatest discrepancy is among non-surgical specialists in non-hospital-owned practices, who received $27,400 more annually than their counterparts in hospital-owned practices.
Physicians looking for other ways to supplement their income sometimes take on a medical directorship, working about five extra hours a week, according to Crystal Taylor, assistant director of surveys at MGMA.
Compensation varies greatly across specialties, according to the survey, with geriatricians receiving the highest annualized compensation ($172,121).
“There is a dearth of information on what it means to be a medical director,” said William F. Jessee, MD, president and CEO of MGMA. “It appears that there are discrepancies among specialties, areas of responsibility and, subsequently, compensation.”
Home health, hospice and medical outreach programs have added medical directors more recently. The prevalence of a medical director has grown in the past few years, especially with more specialties.
There isn’t very much for benchmarking for medical directorships, according to Kristina Ziehler, Survey Analyst for MGMA. Each directorship can encompass any number of duties.
“Oftentimes, hospitals will have a medical director of a particular service line, not just for the whole practice,” she said.
Across all specialty classifications, recruitment and physician education responsibilities yield the highest compensation, according to the survey. Physician education duties increased primary care compensation by 82 percent; surgical and non-surgical specialists reported compensation increases above 100 percent.