Print this page
HORNE Survey Shines Light on Physician Practice Salary Trends
JANUARY 2011
As published in the 11 publications of Medical News Inc. Written by Cindy Sanders
In the last quarter of 2010, HORNE LLP released the results of the 18th Annual Medical Office Staff Salary Survey©, which showed decreases in average salary for a substantial number of positions in comparison to the 2009 analysis.
With offices in five states, the large accounting and business advisory firm serves clients nationwide. For the 2010 survey, HORNE solicited responses to questions pertaining to salary levels, turnover, benefits, performance evaluations, utilization of electronic medical records and information technology statistics. The resulting report was based on 330 responses from practices - primarily located in the Southeast - representing a variety of specialties.
A little more than 27 percent of the responses came from practices in Louisiana. Mississippi provided just over 18 percent of responses, 16 percent from Texas, nearly 10 percent each from Tennessee and Virginia, and almost 6.5 percent from Alabama. "Other" states made up the remaining 13 percent of respondents and included data from Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
"The salary survey was born out of a need for data to help our physician practice clients evaluate pay rates for non-physician employees," explained Gregory D. Anderson, CPA/ABV, partner, Health Care Services, for HORNE. "At the time we began the survey, little information was available in the form of independently-compiled data on pay rates in local physician practices."
Becky Englehardt, survey director, noted the report is now an eagerly anticipated tool. "It provides practices with a salary gauge from how to hire in new people for a specific position to what they should be paying an experienced person." She continued, "Physician groups also use this report as a guide during annual performance evaluations."
A number of positions have been added over the years. Englehardt pointed out salary data on athletic trainers and MRI technicians have been included for the last several years as these positions have become increasingly common in the medical office setting. Respondents are given the opportunity at the end of the survey to suggest other positions of interest. This year, Englehardt said there were several requests for information on perfusionists.
Similarly, operational data encompassing other aspects of a medical practice has been added as need arises. "We do have a few other questions in the back of the survey to keep our finger on the pulse of practices," Englehardt said. Data collection on cost and utilization pertaining to electronic medical records (EMR) is now regularly included, and the 2010 survey confirmed an anticipated increase in EMR utilization and e-prescribing.
The latest survey also uncovered an increase in investment per provider in the EMR package. This year, 43 percent of respondents reported spending more than $12,000 per provider as compared to 33 percent in the 2009 survey. Englehardt said that increase opens up a new line of questioning as to whether costs for a basic EMR system have increased, practices are investing in more complex systems or a combination of the two. With the advent of HITECH incentives to expand health information technology, Englehardt said a question would be added to the 2011 survey regarding the annual cost of maintaining the EMR beyond the initial investment.
At the core, however, the survey drills down to look at salary trends. "This basically focuses on the HR function of the practice," Englehardt explained. "For competitive reasons, you want to make sure you are paying your staff adequately to reduce turnover. If you have high turnover, you have low productivity," she pointed out. Salary and hourly wage rates are reported at the 25th, 50th (median) and 75th percentiles for comparison.
Reporting categories included details for 39 general and administrative positions, plus aggregate data on two additional positions. In the clinical realm, 34 positions were reported on in detail with eight more in aggregate. The 2010 survey also included data on 12 upper management and non-physician provider positions plus supplemental benefits information. The broad array of positions detailed range from coders and credentialing coordinators to registered nurses and licensed social workers to practice administrators and chief operating officers. The report also takes into consideration educational levels, certifications and years of experience.
Furthermore, the annual survey provides compensation breakouts by region (Midwest or Southeast), by state, by a broad range of practice specialties, by position, and by size of practice (both number of providers and revenue generated) if there are five or more respondents in each of those areas. "If we don't have at least five respondents that meet all those criteria, it doesn't get reported separately. It would still be reported in broad categories but not in the ever-narrowing ones," Englehardt said of HORNE's efforts to maintain confidentiality of those participating in the survey.
She added the HORNE survey is a great tool to be used in conjunction with the Medical Group Management Association's larger national surveys to get a complete picture of the medical office environment. "While we're not nearly as extensive as MGMA's medical office survey, one of the things we do is to focus more on salary. Because we focus on salary, we're able to further define the positions," she said, noting the HORNE survey includes more positions and details within each position than MGMA. "We try to mirror the process of the MGMA survey," Englehardt continued, "so it doesn't put a burden on the offices to have to complete two survey requests."
For more information on the 2010 data, which was released in November, go online to www.horne-llp.com.
