Practice
Administrators
As our nation’s largest
employer of cardiologists, private practices play an enormous role in
the cardiology workforce in terms of both utilization and planning. They
are among the first to feel the pinch of an insufficient supply as they
attempt to grow their practices to meet the increasing demands of their
communities for cardiovascular care. The ACC, along with strategic partners MedAxiom and MGMA’s Cardiovascular/Thoracic
Surgery and Cardiology Assembly (CSCA),
wants to work with cardiology practices to ensure that the existing cardiovascular
workforce is being utilized at the highest possible efficiency while working
toward increasing the supply of cardiovascular specialists and growing
the workforce to meet demand. The following factors have been identified
by the Task Force as impacting the efficiency of the cardiovascular workforce:
Utilization of mid-level
providers
Policies for physician slow-down prior to retirement
Part-time work opportunities
Utilization of Mid-level
Providers
Mid-level providers (also called non-physician clinicians or physician
extenders) such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants can help
increase a practices’ capacity at a lower cost than hiring additional
physicians while contributing to high-quality care and patient satisfaction.
Job descriptions
Employment agreements
Protocols
Example: role of mid-level
providers at Utah Heart Clinic
Austin Heart Physician
Extender Model
Candidate
search: ACC Cardiology Careers
Articles of Interest
What do PA, NP, and CNM spell? A revolution in health care
Make the most of your staff
How to harmonize with PAs and NPs
Extend your practice: not your liability
Are you collecting illegal dollars for “incident to” services?
Policies for Physician Slow-Down Prior to Retirement
Many senior physicians would like to continue seeing patients but are
not willing or able to maintain the long hours and call toward the end
of their careers. Often times practices are ill prepared when a senior
physician comes to them requesting an altered work schedule to accommodate
their needs; however, it is important to keep these experienced and valuable
physicians in the workforce as long as they are willing to work. Establishing
a policy for reduced work hours prior to retirement requires thought and
planning, and the time to start working on it is now.
Physician retirement and
practice transition self-assessment tool
Sample call elimination
policy
Sample physician retirement
policy
Sample call elimination
policy prior to retirement
Sample policy for reduction
of work hours for shareholder
Can’t retire? Ease
out.
Part-time Work
Opportunities
The younger generation of physicians is seeking greater work-life balance
than previous generations. According to the preliminary findings of the
Association of American Medical College’s (AAMC) survey of physicians
under 50, many are unwilling to work more hours for more pay. The number
of physicians, male and female alike, who is interested in working part-time
at some point in their career is on the rise. In order to attract young
talent, practices will need to think about providing part-time work opportunities
in order to be attractive employers to job seekers.
Sample call elimination
policy
Sample policy for reduction
of work hours for shareholder
The alternative work schedule:
Is part-time possible for a cardiologist?
When a doctor wants to
work part time
Gen X vs. boomer: A call
schedule solution
Get a life—Go flextime
Baby bias: Setting policies
that are fair for workers
Other Resources
for Practices
August 2-3: AAMA Summer Institute: Management Skills for Healthcare Leaders
Summary of all physician
policies
Sample physician employment
agreement
Sample physician employment
contract
Sample physician search
agreement
100 points of recruiting
success
New physician orientation
checklist
New hire orientation checklist
Practice administrator
job description
Recruiting generation X
physicians
When to add—or subtract—physicians |
