Compensating physicians for their time does communicate that their time is valued and respected, says Dr. Combes, but payment does not necessarily guarantee a high level of committee members’ engagement. In addition, he says, if physicians are being compensated directly by the hospital for serving on committees, “this can threaten the perception of their objectivity, in terms of bringing an independent perspective to the board.” A better solution might be for the hospital medicine group to build its own compensation structure for non-clinical work so members retain independence when voicing opinions to the hospital board.
Dr. Atchley admits it’s sometimes a struggle to find people willing to serve on medical staff committees. He advocates compensation for those duties on a per-meeting or hourly basis. His hospital meets attendance requirements by giving credit to doctors who participate on selected medical staff committees.
Through her consulting assignments, Flores has observed that in some organizations where hospitalists are paid based on productivity, committee participation can be assigned a relative value unit so hospitalists are compensated on the same basis as for clinical work.
Flores concurs with Drs. Dallas and Williams: “In most organizations, a certain minimum level of participation in medical staff activities is expected of all staff members. I think that hospitalists should expect to do that to the same degree as other medical staff members, on a voluntary basis.
“If hospitalists truly want to impact how the medical staff and the hospital operate, and to be considered for high-level leadership positions, then their best way of becoming known and respected in the medical community is by participating on committees.” TH
Gretchen Henkel writes frequently for The Hospitalist.
Reference
- SHM’s “2005-2006 Survey: State of the Hospital Medicine Movement, 2006.” Available online at www.hospitalmedicine.org Last accessed April 5, 2007.