Physician Compensation & Recruitment, February 2008

Inside:

Private practices catch up to hospital-owned starting salaries

General surgery comp lags behind that of subspecialists

Pay physicians for call with nonqualified deferred compensation

Offer compensation to encourage medical staff leadership

Top 10 signs of a successful compensation plan

News in brief

How to avoid pitfalls when implementing compensation plan

Private practices catch up to hospital-owned starting salaries

Competition for new recruits, changing physician attitudes lead groups to increase initial offers

Compensation trends that have for a long time distinguished between hospital- and physician-owned practices may now be changing as physician recruitment becomes more competitive across settings. For years, physician compensation distribution across ownership settings has followed a similar pattern: Hospital-owned physician practices-as well as those owned by an integrated delivery system (IDS)-generally offered higher starting compensation levels than private physician-owned facilities, but taken over time, compensation levels in private practices were significantly higher.