Knowledge can aid in call negotiations
What specialists want for ED call
A growing number of specialists are negotiating hard for payment for taking ED calls. If you're involved in such negotiations, it helps to know what the other "side" is looking for.
In the August 2006 edition of MGMA Connection, Hobart Collins, CMPE, principal with Englewood, CO-based MGMA Health Care Consulting Group, notes that "given human nature, the specialist probably wants as much money as he or she can get, and the hospital probably wants to pay as little as possible; this is a typical starting point in negotiating price."
He goes on to outline specific goals for payment arrangements for specialists who take ED calls. Those arrangements, Collins notes, should:
- satisfy legal and regulatory considerations;
- be fair for both parties — defined as an acceptable compromise;
- be objective — based on concrete and measurable criteria;
- be manageable;
- be easily updated.
- Objective criteria for establishing specialist remuneration for ED calls, says Collins, include consideration of:
- market-based compensation for specialists;
- specific time commitments of ED calls;
- restrictions the call obligations may impose (for example, the specialist's time on call must be exclusively dedicated to the ED);
- historic frequency of active engagement of the specialist in the ED caring for patients vs. availability in "standby" mode. (In other words, the frequency with which the specialist is actually called to the ED);
- potential private-practice income forfeitures for specialists taking ED calls;
- how the cost of the stipend arrangement with voluntary specialists compares to the cost if the hospital employed an adequate number of specialists to provide the same service. For a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year exclusive service, this would require roughly five full-time physicians per specialty;
- market comparables, i.e., what similar organizations in similar markets pay for similar commitments.
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content