News: Clinician compensation approached pre-pandemic levels in 2021, according to survey

Clinician compensation and productivity were greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, HealthLeaders reported. Since then, the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) 2022 Medical Group Compensation and Productivity Survey found clinician compensation increased 3.7% from 2020 to 2021. This data was collected from 383 medical groups that employ 183,000 clinicians, and features key findings such as:

• Median clinician compensation increased 3.7% from 2020 to 2021, compared to a 0.1% increase from 2019 to 2020
• Clinicians were compensated 11.0% less for each individual compensation per work unit (wRVU) in 2021 than they were in 2020
• Median total wRVUs increased sharply by 18.3% from 2020 to 2021, compared to a 10.2% decrease from 2019 to 2020

The increase in compensation from 2020 to 2021 is encouraging, comparable to levels before the pandemic of about 1.7% to 3%, according to Fred Horton, MHA, president of AMGA Consulting, who spoke with HealthLeaders. He stated, “Based upon where productivity came in, it more than made up for the reduced compensation per work RVU. It made up for it in aggregate at an increase of 3.7% in compensation. So, even though we have a decreased compensation per work RVU, we have more than enough units in the marketplace to offset that decrease and still produce on average a 3.7% compensation increase for providers.”

The AMGA expects compensation and productivity to further stabilize in 2022, whether it is through compensation, compensation per wRVU, or productivity. Coding weight changes are the most likely to contribute to more stable metrics, Horton predicted, and the underlying visit volume of facilities should only return to pre-pandemic levels.

Editor’s Note: To read HealthLeaders’ coverage of this story, click here. To access AMGA’s compensation survey, click here.