Medical Practices Report Increased Spending On Total Business Operations Staff

Medical practices responding to the MGMA Cost Survey: 2014 Report Based on 2013 Data reported a 4.60% increase in spending on total business operations staff per full-time-equivalent (FTE) physician since last year. Multispecialty practices reported $52,009 per FTE physician in median costs associated with total business operations staff. This includes general administrative staff, information technology staff, general and patient accounting staff, and managed care administrative staff. This may be a result of practices placing greater value on employing staff with expertise in the business of care delivery and their ability to strategically align the business and clinical functions of the organization.

“Medical practice executives are an integral part of the healthcare framework and are playing an increasingly important role in serving patients, as there is an entire business and structure behind effective care-delivery models,” said Laura Palmer, FACMPE, MGMA senior industry analyst. “Employing staff with expertise in medical practice management can position the practice for long-term success and sustainability.”

Medical practices may also have increased spending on business operations staff because of the increasingly complex regulatory environment for healthcare organizations. Business operations staff are likely responsible for managing and reporting metrics for disparate government quality programs, negotiating payer contracts, and understanding new plans offered on the insurance exchanges.

“It’s extremely disappointing that medical practices are increasingly being forced to allocate more staff resources to manage onerous government regulations and processes,” said Anders Gilberg, MGMA senior vice president of government affairs. “The complex and overlapping requirements of current Medicare PQRS, Meaningful Use, and Value-Based Payment Modifier programs are cases in point, ironically increasing administrative reporting costs for practices instead of supporting their efforts to improve patient care.”

The MGMA Cost Survey: 2014 Report Based on 2013 Data features data from 2,518 groups and is the largest and most robust cost survey and benchmarking tool in the industry. The report includes data categorized by specialty, organization ownership and geographic section. The report also features data on staffing ratios, medical revenue, total operating costs and accounts receivable. The information is available on DataDive, an easy-to-use Web-based format that allows users to access and drill down data for analysis. Access additional key findings from the report.

Additional resources for physicians and medical practice executives:
MGMA 2014 Annual Conference, Oct. 26-29, Las Vegas. Register (http://www.mgma.com/mgma-annual-conference/registration/register-for-a-press-pass) to attend as a media representative.

MGMA Health Care Consulting Group, offering customized practice solutions on benchmarking, productivity improvement, financial management, revenue cycle analysis, and billing and coding.

MGMA Connection magazine supplement: Striking a balance: Physician-administrator teams

Note: MGMA surveys depend on voluntary participation and may not be representative of the industry. Readers are urged to review the entire survey report when making conclusions regarding trends and other observations.

About MGMA
The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) helps create successful medical practices that deliver the highest-quality patient care. As the leading association for medical practice administrators and executives since 1926, MGMA helps improve members’ practices through exclusive member benefits, education, resources, news, information, advocacy, and networking opportunities, and produces some of the most credible and robust medical practice economic data and data solutions in the industry. MGMA advances the profession of medical practice management with its industry-leading board certification and Fellowship programs through the American College of Medical Practice Executives.

Through its national membership and 50 state affiliates, MGMA represents more than 33,000 medical practice administrators and executives in practices of all sizes, types, structures and specialties. MGMA is headquartered in Englewood, Colo., with a Government Affairs office in Washington, D.C.