In the shift toward value-based care, physicians are getting paid by their practices in a variety of ways. Learn six key things about payment trends that physicians should know and see how you stack up. A new AMA report (log in) sheds light on physician payment methods as it examines data on non-solo physicians from 2014. Based on a nationally representative survey of post-residency physicians who provided at least 20 hours of patient care per week, the report highlighted six trends: 1. Slightly more than one-half of physicians (51 percent) reported being paid by multiple methods. Thirty percent received compensation through two methods, and 14.4 percent received payment through a combination of three methods. 2. Salary and productivity-based payment were the most common payment methods. Sixty-one percent said they received a salary, and 53.5 percent reported receiving productivity-based payment. 3. On average, one-half of physicians’ total compensation was earned from salary. Also on average, about one-third of payment was based on productivity, 11.8 percent was based on practice financial performance, and about 5.5 percent was from a bonus or other methods. However, these shares varied greatly depending on the physician’s practice ownership status. 4. Being employed didn’t necessarily mean a salary. Twenty-three percent of employed physicians didn’t receive salaried payments at all. Productivity was a common payment method, with almost one-half receiving at least some pay based on productivity and 13.8 percent receiving payment exclusively based on their productivity. 5. Outside of group practice, salary was more often a key factor than inside group practice. In group practices, 42.4 percent of physicians in a single-specialty practice and 52.9 percent in a multi-specialty practice received more than one-half of their compensation from salary. For physicians not in a group practice (for example, physicians who worked in a faculty practice plan, medical school, or who were employed by a hospital), more than three-quarters relied on salary for more than one-half of their compensation. 6. Physician payment methods vary widely across specialties. The percentage of physicians who were exclusively salaried ranged from 9.4 percent of surgical specialists to 47.9 percent of psychiatrists. Source
