Home From The Editor Are you being rewarded for the value you bring?

Are you being rewarded for the value you bring?

January 2008

Published in the January 2008 issue of Today’s Hospitalist

What can you as a hospitalist do to prove your value, and how can you make sure the value that you bring is being rewarded appropriately?

In today’s measurement-obsessed world, physicians everywhere must wrestle with these questions. But because of the unique nature of their work, hospitalists need to pay even closer attention to these issues. While other physicians operate under a fairly straightforward business model “they see patients and bill payers like Medicare “life is much more complex for hospitalists.

Two articles in this month’s issue give hospitalists advice on how they can navigate the complexities of their unique employment arrangements.

The first article, How much do you boost your hospital’s bottom line?, describes how hospitalists can show hospital administrators the value that they bring to the table. It’s packed with very specific examples of how hospitalists can put a dollar figure on services that boost a hospital’s bottom line, whether it’s freeing up beds or reducing the amount of time the ED is diverting patients.

The second article, How to design quality incentives, takes a slightly different view of the value equation for hospitalists. It identifies strategies that groups can use to reward physicians for the value they bring to their group and hospital. From paying hospitalists for their productivity to rewarding their participation in quality improvement plans, this article gives some very specific examples of how to make sure that hospitalists are recognized financially for their hard work.

The level of detail and number of examples in these articles make them the best I’ve seen on the topic. That’s why I think that both should be on every hospitalist’s reading list.

edoyleEdward Doyle
Editor and Publisher

edoyle@todayshospitalist.com