The American Medical Group Association announced the release of its 2002 Medical Group Financial Operations Survey, which contains revenue and cost data from its member and nonmember groups for 2001. This report confirmed that physician groups are experiencing significant losses in the midst of an increasingly competitive and regulatory environment. Survey results for medical group financial performance on a per physician basis (for all regions) revealed that the average group lost $16,840 per physician. It is important to note that the data captured in this report do not reflect the cutbacks in Medicare reimbursement that went into effect January 2002, which are having a serious negative impact on the financial performance of many groups.
Among the more interesting findings are that financial performance varied significantly by region and that percent of capitated revenue appears to have an influence on financial performance. When examining the median profit and loss per physician for medical groups according to region, Western groups, which tend to have some of the highest percentages of capitated revenue, reported large declines in financial performance, while the groups reporting from the Eastern region, which have some of the lowest percentages of capitated revenue, improved in financial performance.
The purpose of the report is to assist medical group management teams in operating their practices by providing pertinent and timely cost information from a variety of medical groups throughout the U.S. The 2002 survey, conducted by RSM McGladrey, Inc.'s National Health Care Consulting Group, generated responses from 213 medical groups, representing more than 27,180 physicians. The report presents data on support staff salaries and benefits, physician salaries, staffing profiles, and other key management indicators. Data is summarized by capitation level, geographic region, and specialty grouping. The capitation level summary is on a per physician basis with the geographic region summary being reported on both a per physician and a per square foot basis. The specialty grouping and specialty detail pages present a financial profile on a per physician and per work RVU basis (work relative value unit basis).
The AMGA strives to publish a report that meets the needs of medical groups emphasizing cost management and looking to benchmark cost data from comparable medical groups. The 2002 Medical Group Financial Operations Survey was created through a partnership between RSM McGladrey, Inc. and the AMGA, which also produced AMGA's 2002 Medical Group Compensation & Productivity Survey.
AMGA is an association that represents medical groups, including some of the nation's largest, most prestigious integrated health care delivery systems. AMGA's mission is to shape the health care environment by advancing high quality, cost-effective, patient-centered, and physician-directed health care. The members of AMGA deliver health care to more than 50 million patients in 40 states, including 15 million capitated lives. The average AMGA member group has 186 physicians and 13 satellite locations. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, AMGA is the strategic partner for medical groups providing a comprehensive package of benefits, including political advocacy, educational and networking programs and publications, benchmarking data services, and financial and operations assistance.
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