Practice Management
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) now allows any state-licensed physician to perform medical exams for the half a million private and recreational pilots flying certain small noncommercial aircraft in the U.S., as long as they follow a simple FAA checklist. So far, more than 20,000 pilots have been qualified to fly under the program, called BasicMed. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is actively promoting the program to its members and to medical associations in …
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The upside of patients continuing to flock to urgent care is obvious: They get the care they need when they need it, instead of having to choose between waiting for days to see their primary care provider or heading to the emergency room with a complaint that isn’t actually emergent (meaning they’re clogging up the works there, and incurring higher healthcare costs to do so). The downside of this evolution is that sometimes PCPs are …
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The Urgent Care Association of Michigan, working with the Urgent Care Association and the College of Urgent Care Medicine, is laying the groundwork for its regional conference, scheduled to take place July 17 and 18 at The Henry Hotel in Dearborn, MI. Built around the theme of Drive Change!, the conference will feature 30 sessions broken into four tracks (Midwest Clinician, UC Management, Clinical Support & Super MA, and Hands-on Lab). Content is designed for …
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There may be a certain amount of prestige to be aligned with major teaching hospitals in Boston, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but physicians on the outskirts of medium-size cities are fetching higher pay these days, according to data just released by Doximity, a social network for clinicians. Researchers found salaries to be highest in rural, low-cost areas within medium-sized metropolitan areas. Doctors and advanced practice providers in the Charlotte, NC metro area are …
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Upheavals among payers, an unsure future for a national health plan, and evolving payment models have not dampened physicians’ enthusiasm for what they do for a living—in fact, most are happier than ever with their choice of profession, and are making more money at the same time, according the 2017 Medscape Physician Compensation Report. The data put average physician compensation at $294,000 annually, taking into account both the full array of specialties and primary care. …
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Geisinger Health System is turning away from industry trends that see physicians being paid bonuses tied to quality and patient satisfaction, instead vowing to pay them straight salaries that are at or above national averages for compensation. Previously, Geisinger has paid their 1,600 physicians—including those staffing their urgent care centers—based on a formula of 80% salary and 20% performance bonus, as is common these days (though the percentages may vary somewhat from system to system). …
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By 2030, there will be a significant gap between the number of physicians who are practicing in the U.S. and the number needed to care for our aging population, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). At best, it would amount to a shortfall of 40,800 providers—at worst, 104,900, the association says. For primary care, the estimated shortage will be between 8,700 and 43,100 physicians by 2030. Emergency medicine, anesthesiology, …
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