March 29, 2024- Before signing anything, physicians should clearly understand all the provisions of their employment contract and judge whether they reflect what is most important to them personally and professionally, says Steven P. Furr, M.D., FAAFP, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “And the bottom line is, a verbal agreement is only as good as the paper it’s written on.” Repertoire recently asked Dr. Furr to respond to questions about physician contracting. Here are his responses.
Repertoire: Compensation can come in various forms, such as salary-only, salary plus bonus, and productivity-based. How widespread are each of these three approaches today?
Dr. Furr: In a recent survey, AAFP members shared the most common components of their compensation as base salary, bonus, and productivity-based compensation. A majority reported their bonuses were based on quality performance. Anecdotally, members report to us that improvements in payment to their employers are not being passed along to employed physicians.
Repertoire: Of the three compensation models, “salary-only” would seem to be the least risky and “productivity-based compensation” the riskiest. Would you agree?
Dr. Furr: Compensation for family physicians should align with the value provided by primary care’s four core functions (the 4Cs): first contact, continuity, comprehensiveness and coordination of care. It should be based on meaningful quality, value and patient experience rather than productivity. Financial incentives should align with what matters most to patients and their family physicians, as well as the movement toward well-designed value-based primary care payment models.
Read More in the latest issue of Repertoire Magazine.