What Is an Income Guarantee? How Does an Income Guarantee Work?

Many of the hospitals and large facilities we work with offer 'income guarantees' to attract the most qualified physicians for their openings. However many new resident and fellowship graduates are not familiar with what exactly an income guarantee is and how it is determined.

Typically an income guarantee is not a salary, but is more like a loan, or an advance, that is forgiven over time, to help a physician get started in his or her own private practice.

About.com has offered some insight into dissecting an income guarantee, the pros and cons. Read the full article here:

http://healthcareers.about.com/od/compensationinformation/f/IncomeGuarantee.htm

Here is also a good article from About.com comparing physician salaries/ compensation vs. population and town size. Read the article here:

http://healthcareers.about.com/od/compensationinformation/f/DocSalaryTownSz.htm

Physician and Surgeon Job Outlook for 2010 and Beyond

According to reports from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, in the ten year period ending 2018, approximately 26% of all new jobs will be in the healthcare and social assistance industry, which includes public and private hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities, and individual and family services.

Physicians and surgeons make the BLS list of the 30 occupations with the largest projected employment growth. During the ten year period from 2008 to 2018, the BLS projects 144,000 new physician jobs will be created – an increase of 21.8% (a rate classified by the BLS as "much faster than average").

The physician career outlook for the next year and future are positive according to these findings, although the jobs may not be in ideal locations and the workloads may increase.

Read the full article on MD Search, or click here:

http://www.mdsearch.com/physician-career-outlook/default.aspx

How has the Recession Affected Physician Recruiting?

The New England Journal of Medicine has reported on a survey conducted by AMN Healthcare on how the recession has affected physician and other healthcare recruiting.

The survey has provided a distinction between how the recession has affected physician recruiting relative to other clinical areas. In general, hospital CEOs reported that their physician recruiting efforts have been less constrained by the recession than have been their efforts to recruit nurses, pharmacists, and allied health care professionals such as therapists and imaging technologists. In some cases, rather than causing them to cut back on physician recruiting, the recession has caused hospital CEOs to accelerate their physician recruiting efforts.

The majority of CEOs indicated that the recession has not caused them to change their recruiting efforts in any clinical area, but a significant number (over 24 percent) said the recession has caused them to decrease their nurse recruiting efforts, while only 12 percent said the recession had caused them to increase those efforts.

The survey also indicates that the recession has not made physician recruiting any easier for most hospitals, and that in some cases, recruiting doctors became more difficult during the economic downturn.

As for the next six months, the majority of CEOs (over 54 percent) said they expect physician recruiting activity at their facilities to increase, while 38 percent said they expect no change. Only 7.5 percent said they expect physician recruiting activity to decrease.

Read the full article in The New England Journal of Medicine, or click here:
http://www.nejmjobs.org/rpt/recession-and-physician-recruiting.aspx

2010 Healthcare Predictions: PricewaterhouseCoopers

PricewaterhouseCoopers publishes an annual study that looks at issues it expects to affect the health care industry. Here's what was predicted for 2009 and what is predicted for 2010:

2009 predictions
-The economic downturn will require a back-to-basics approach for health organizations.
-Underinsured will surpass uninsured as providers' headaches.
-Big pharma will turn to mergers and acquisitions to build the drug pipeline.
-From vaccines to prevention, prevention will be on the rise.
-Genetic testing will reach a price point for the masses.
-Technology will be a powerful health extender.
-Hospitals will be forced to improve performance to get paid.
-Payers and employers will move the needle on health living through incentives.
-The transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 will begin.

2010 predictions
-Intense industrywide efforts to reduce health care costs will take hold.
-If Congress passes health system reform, major adjustments will be made to the entire industry.
-Physicians and hospitals will scramble to adopt health information technology.
-A greater emphasis will be placed on Medicare fraud and abuse recovery.
-The technology and telecommunications sectors will become leading players in health care.
-Big pharma's role will grow.
-Physician groups will join health systems.
-Alternative care delivery models will emerge.
-H1N1 will elevate emphasis on readiness of the public health system for outbreaks.
-Community health will be a new social responsibility.

Read the full article at PricewaterhouseCoopers, or click here:

http://pwchealth.com/cgi-local/hregister.cgi?link=reg/top-ten-health-industry-issues-in-2010.pdf

Top 10 Predictions for Healthcare IT in 2010

Healthcare IT News has published their top 10 predictions for healthcare IT in 2010. Here is the list, read the full article for an explanation of each item:

1) HITECH Act Suffers Birthing Pains

2) Hospitals and Large Practices Bite the Bullet, EMR Vendors Cheer, Small Practices Look on with Jaundiced Eye

3) Consolidation will Accelerate

4) Regulatory Crackdown Increases

5) Second Gen mHealth Apps Enter Market -- Melding of Smartphones and Devices Remains Nascent

6) CMS Still Twittles its Thumbs Regarding Remote Monitoring, Payers and Large IDNs Step-up

7) Baby Boomers Struggle Caring for Their Parents- Seek Solutions

8) HealthVault Continues to Put Distance Between Itself and Other Personal Health Platforms

9) Telecom Companies Struggle to Define Their Role in the Healthcare Sector

10) The Health Internet is a Stillbirth as Beltway Bandits Maintain Tight Control of the NHIN

Read the full article in Healthcare IT News, or click here:

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/top-ten-predictions-healthcare-it-2010

Physician Offices Projected to See Significant Job Growth Over the Next Decade

The number of physicians, administrators and allied health professionals employed by medical practices is expected to increase substantially from 2008 to 2018. Hospital employment will grow more slowly, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics projections.
Experts are concerned that these projections will mean that current shortages of doctors and nurses will get worse.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, a division of the U.S. Dept. of Labor, projected on Dec. 10, 2009, that from 2008 to 2018 the civilian labor force will grow by 12.6 million and total employment will increase by approximately 15.3 million jobs. Health care and social assistance will add approximately 4 million positions, with 772,200 of these in physician offices. About 109,300 of these new jobs will be for physicians, and 106,500 for registered nurses. In addition, 107,600 additional medical assistants will be needed, along with 248,700 office and administrative support positions.

Hospital job growth is expected to continue, but on a more modest scale. Hospitals will add 571,000 staff over the next decade, including 274,200 registered nurses, but only 9,600 physicians and surgeons, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects.

Read the full article in American Medical News, or click here:

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/01/11/bil20111.htm

Congress Proposes New Physician Payment System

Both the House and Senate bills include provisions to encourage the creation of accountable care organizations, or ACOs, as a way to test a new payment system for physicians. The ACO project, which would be limited to Medicare, is similar to the model of building contractors: If all the doctors who take care of you - your primary care physician, any specialists and your hospital - worked together and their financial fates were somehow connected, almost like business partners, you'd get better care and it wouldn't cost as much. These affiliated provider groups could earn bonuses if they met or exceeded certain quality and cost targets for their Medicare patients.

Congress is not proposing that all physicians accept these global payments. In fact, the accountable care organization program included in the health care overhaul bills is quite flexible. But lawmakers and health system reformers, though, are optimistic there are enough incentives in the bills for physicians to at least give it a try.

Read the full article on NPR, or click here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122217323

Protecting Yourself when you want to Leave Your Practice

When Physicians want to exit their current practice situation, contracts pay a huge role in protecting both parties. A seasoned healthcare lawyer provides advice and information physician's should consider before and during exiting their practice situation.

Read the full article in American Medical News, or click here:

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/01/04/bicb0104.htm