Biomedical subjects

M F Berlin

Publications and source records attributed to M F Berlin.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

Incentive-based physician compensation models.

Measuring productivity is important for determining appropriate physician compensation, as indicated by the current emphasis on benchmarking. A combination of benchmarking and individual profiling data may prove useful for developing productivity-based compensation plans. However, while tying physician compensation to multiple indicators is prudent, it is also cumbersome, since indicator values may not be comparable. A compensation model that scales indicators to a common measure, such as a relative value scale, may allow the visual representation of resource utilization, and peer comparisons can assist in adjusting to the accountability demanded by managed care.

Budgets↗

PubMed1997

RVU costing in a medical group practice.

As risk-and-reward reimbursement arrangements proliferate, medical group practices should use cost accounting to measure costs of services delivered by physicians. The resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS) is a method of determining physicians' fees on the basis of the various resources used to provide procedures or services. Two cost-per-procedure methods can be used in RBRVS cost accounting. One method uses relative value units (RVUs), and the other uses component RVUs, which comprise work, practice, and malpractice costs. Though the two methods produce different calculated costs, using both together can produce a cost range medical practice administrators can use to ensure that the costs of delivering services are reimbursed adequately.

Accounting↗

PubMed1997

RVU costing applications.

Relative value unit (RVU) cost accounting which uses the resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS), can be used to determine the cost to produce given services and determine appropriate physician fees. The calculations derived from RVU costing have additional applications, such as analyzing fee schedules, evaluating the profitability of third-party payer reimbursement, calculating a floor capitation rate, and allocating capitation payments within the group. The ability to produce this information can help group practice administrators determine ways to manage the cost of providing services, set more realistic fees, and negotiate more profitable contracts.

Accounting↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Using cost accounting in a medical group practice. An application using the resource-based relative value scale.

With the presence of managed care increasing in our health care environment, today's practice administrator needs a method to determine whether the negotiated fee schedule, capitation rate, etc., is adequate. The only true method to make this determination is to undertake a cost study of physician activity. However, this approach could be tedious, cumbersome and beyond the resources of the practice. The author demonstrates a method to approximate the cost of a physician's activity by identifying the cost of a relative value. The relative value scale used is the resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS). The article also proposes other applications: comparative analysis, allocation of capitation payments and fee schedule development.

Accounting↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Financial applications using the cost per RBRVS methodology.

In this article, the resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS) is used as a basis to allocate physician salaries, malpractice insurance and practice expense to determine the cost of providing physician services. With this information, practice administrators can readily apply this cost accounting methodology to fee schedule analysis and managed care contract evaluation. Other applications of this method include determining floor capitation rates, allocating the capitation payment among the group and third party payer profitability analysis.

Capitation Fee↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Budget variance analysis using RVUs.

This article details the use of the variance analysis as management tool to evaluate the financial health of the practice. A common financial tool for administrators has been a simple calculation measuring the difference between actual financials vs. budget financials. Standard cost accounting provides a methodology known as variance analysis to better understand the actual vs. budgeted financial streams. The standard variance analysis has been modified by applying relative value units (RVUs) as standards for the practice.

Accounting↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Efficiency and effectiveness: beyond internal practice operations.

Physician group practice management teams (physician-administrator teams) have had to become creative in developing efficient and effective practice operations as a result of managed care. For physicians that must use entities outside of the group to deliver care, these physicians must demand that these facilities provide a program that adheres to the principles of "operationally effective and efficient design (OEED)." Programs that comply with the six principles of OEED offer physicians the opportunity to maximize their monetary value of time. Programs that do not follow the OEED principles negatively impact the physicians' monetary value of time. As a result, physician-administrator teams must demand operations improvement from such entities, otherwise alternatives will be sought. Therefore, managed care may not be bad news for physicians.

Efficiency, Organizational↗