Press release

MD Ranger’s 10th Anniversary Benchmarks Reveal Physician Pay Trends

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MD Ranger, Inc. (“MD Ranger”) today announced the tenth anniversary
release of physician contract benchmarks for non-salaried physicians.
The 2019 report highlights the growing significance of physician
contracts as a major component of hospital spending, with particular
growth in payment for hospital-based physician services such as
hospitalists, intensivists and laborists. MD Ranger’s benchmarks include
payments to physicians for providing ED call, medical directorships,
administrative services, hospital-based services, medical staff
leadership, and diagnostic testing.

2019 benchmarks cover more than 320 services derived from over 36,000
contracts from 250 facilities in 32 states across the US, a tenfold
increase since the company launched in 2009. Health care providers use
MD Ranger’s benchmarks to help document fair market value and comply
with federal regulations like Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback
Statute. MD Ranger’s online platform is used in hundreds of healthcare
organizations, including large not-for-profit health systems, urban
trauma centers, medical groups, LTACs, outpatient providers, and
critical access facilities.

Joe Piccolo, Vice President of Corporate Compliance at Inspira Health in
New Jersey, commented, “Working with MD Ranger has allowed Inspira to
standardize and streamline our physician contracting process. Not only
do we have access to the best available market data, but the customer
support in understanding how to best use the benchmarks has been
outstanding. Working with MD Ranger makes my job easier and gives our
leadership team peace of mind.”

While many things have changed in healthcare over the past ten years, MD
Ranger’s benchmarks demonstrate the scope of services that health care
facilities continue to procure from physicians. Key findings from the
2019 benchmarks include:

  • Size matters. While hospitals under 100 beds pay for fewer services,
    their cost per patient day is significantly higher. For example, the
    median payment for Pathology contracts at hospitals with more than 300
    beds is more than twice the payment for hospitals with fewer than 100
    beds, but the cost per patient day is more than seven times higher.
  • Average per diem ED call rates for medical subspecialists have
    increased 40% over the past ten years from an average of $414 per diem
    to $580, compared to less than 8% for surgical subspecialties, from
    $854 to $920. Hospital-based coverage rates have grown from an average
    of $783 per diem to $980, a 25% increase.
  • The past decade has seen a huge growth in the scope, complexity and
    cost of hospital-based agreements. Hospital-based services comprise
    the largest category of physician contract cost; for example, 63% of
    MDR hospitals reported payment for general hospitalists programs at an
    average cost of $1.55 million.
  • Psychiatric hospitalist programs as well as ED per diem payments have
    grown more than any other service, with mean coverage payments
    increasing nearly 95% from $171 to $330 per diem since 2009.
  • Payments for interventional services such as neuro-interventional,
    interventional radiology, and stroke-related services continue to
    grow. For example, in 2015, only 4% of MD Ranger participating
    hospitals paid for neuro-interventional call coverage while in 2019,
    17% paid.
  • Payment rates for medical staff officers and leadership positions were
    relatively constant, with 46% of MDR hospitals paying a Chief of Staff
    an average of $48,000 and 31% paying an average of $20,000 for other
    medical staff officers.

A selection of the 15+ new 2019 benchmarks include:

  • Neuro-Interventional Medical Direction
  • Stroke ED Call Coverage
  • TAVR Medical Direction
  • Heart Failure Program Direction
  • Adult and Pediatric Echocardiogram
  • Intraoperative Neuromonitoring Technical Fees

About MD Ranger

MD Ranger partners with leading health care organizations to make
physician contracting simple, efficient, and compliant. Through its
intuitive online platform, MD Ranger helps health care organizations and
medical groups set non-salaried compensation and document FMV. MD
Ranger’s approach streamlines internal guidelines and reduces the costs
for large and small health care providers.