MGMA: Salaries Static, Responsibilities Rise

Compensation for practice management administrators held steady or saw only modest gains in 2009, according to Medical Group Management Association’s Management Compensation Survey: 2010 Report based on 2009 data.

Administrators with seven to 25 full-time-equivalent physicians earned 0.3% less, while their counterparts with 26 or more FTE physicians reported a 2.3% increase in compensation, the survey found.

Though compensation was generally static for most practice management professionals, some positions made gains in 2009 by taking on more responsibility, including:

• Assistant administrator
• COO
• Office manager
• Human resources director
• Nursing services director

“Clinical integration and greater complexity in healthcare appeared to drive salary increases for certain medical practice management professionals,” says William F. Jessee, MD, MGMA president/CEO. “These professionals likely took on a broader scope of responsibility in their positions as a result of continued economic pressures and changes in the healthcare environment.”

MGMA executive members reported greater median compensation than nonmember executives, as did senior managers and office managers who held MGMA memberships, MGMA says. Office managers with an MGMA membership earned $13,272 more per year than their nonmember counterparts, and finance directors with MGMA memberships earned $942 more per year than finance directors without memberships.

When affiliated with the American College of Medical Practice Executives, the certification and standards-setting body of MGMA, several managerial positions enjoyed increased compensation as well. ACMPE-affiliated administrators in practices with seven to 25 FTE physicians, and 26 or more FTE physicians earned 21.2% and 24.6% more, respectively, than their counterparts who were not affiliated with ACMPE. CFOs experienced the greatest compensation boost based on ACMPE affiliation, earning $59,328 more than their unaffiliated counterparts.

MGMA has 21,500 members leading 13,700 organizations nationwide in which some 275,000 physicians provide more than 40% of the healthcare services delivered in the United States.