Transcript MEASURING FACULTY PRODUCTIVITY: How?

How to Measure
Faculty Productivity
Steven J. Barker, PhD, MD
Amr Abouleish, MD
John R. Feiner, MD
University of Arizona
Health Sciences Center
OUTLINE -- Goals
Department vs. individual productivity
Focus on department for now.
 Amr Abouleish will refine, and John Feiner
will discuss individual productivity.

Comparative measures of productivity.

Use of such measures to determine salary
budget & individual compensation.
Clinical vs. Academic productivity.
Practice Overhead
for various specialties
Physician Specialty
Anesthesiology
Family Medicine
Internal Medicine
Neurology
OB/GYN
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pathology
Pediatrics
Psychiatry
Radiology
Radiation Oncology
Surgery
Source: MGMA Cost Survey, 1997
Distribution of practice income
% MD Compensation % Overhead
90%
45%
50%
55%
50%
44%
57%
72%
48%
60%
72%
72%
64%
10%
56%
50%
45%
50%
56%
43%
28%
52%
40%
28%
28%
36%
Anesthesiologist Clinical
Productivity:
RVU/provider/yr & $/RVU
for all anesth (MGMA-99) vs. acad anesth (MGMA-00)
Mean
25%-ile
Median
75%-ile
RVU/year(all)
7,611
4,661
8,748
10,025
Comp./RVU(all)
$42.49
$25.80
$30.08
$46.56
RVU/year(acad.)
5,706
2,556
3,593
9,676
Comp./RVU(acad.)
$47.37
$17.83
$42.37
$60.33
*“RVU” data reported to MGMA survey are ASA units.
How to determine your
faculty salary budget
in an academic practice group, using
measured dept. clinical productivity:
1) Find equivalent # of private practice MD’s:
Ideal FTE = (Dept. RVU)/(MGMA median)
Ideal FTE(UAz):
= 320,000/8,748
= 36.6 FTE
By the way:
How do you measure your services in
critical care and pain in RVU?
Closest approximation:
Divide total charges in pain &
CCM by your usual charge per unit.
e.g.: $1,200,000 in CCM + Pain charges, $60/unit 
20,000 RVU’s.
How to determine your
faculty salary budget (2)
2) Find the “ideal” budget for this #FTE
using MGMA median salary:
Ideal Sal Budget = (#FTE) X (MGMA$)
(UAz): = 36.6 X $250,200 (old number!)
= $9,157,320.
How to determine your
faculty salary budget (3)
3) Divide total clinical practice income (all
depts) by total of ideal budgets; get “practice
adjustment factor.” Multiply by ideal budget:
Actual budget = (Ideal budget) X (Adj. factor)
(UAz)
= $9,157,320 X 0.56
= $5,128,099.
Reference:
Barker SJ: “Lord or Vassal?
Academic Anesthesiology Finances
in Year 2000” Anesthesia and
Analgesia 2001; 93: 294-300.
How to measure
ACADEMIC PRODUCTIVITY
What do you want to value?
Grants.
 Publications: papers vs. books.
 Teaching/educational
 Service: university, public, national

How do you assign a “value” to these?

How to compare grants vs. national office?
CONCLUSIONS
There are national norms for clinical productivity
and compensation – use these as tools.
Compare your clinical productivity with other
depts by this method – anesthesiology will look
very good! (Remember the parking lot test.)
Figure how to measure academic productivity –
then call me!
THE END
What Is Your
MAGIC NUMBER?
It’s your cost for one anesthesia unit, or
the conversion factor below which you
should never accept a contract.
To calculate it:
Divide the total department expense
for clinical care by the total number of
RVU produced.
But first . . . . .
MAGIC NUMBER (2)
You should subtract both the income
(numerator) and the RVU’s (denominator)
from contracts you cannot control, i.e.,
Medicare and Medicaid:
Modified Magic Number (MMN)
= ($6.6M - $1.43M)/(320,000 – 95,667)
= $23.05/RVU
Compensation & Charges
Anesthesiology vs. other specialties
1994
Comp.
anes.
Charges
anes.
Comp.
all spec.
Charges
all spec.
FacultyComp
1996
1998
1999
change/yr
$244,600 $237,749 $250,200
0.57%
$475,303 $515,160 $633,591
8.32%
$212,183 $221,544 $231,993
2.34%
$560,000 $654,021 $724,275
7.33%
$167,839 $171,774 $177,161
1.85%
MEASURING FACULTY
PRODUCTIVITY: How?
Steven J. Barker, PhD, MD
Professor and Head, Anesthesiology
University of Arizona