2024 Survey of Locum Tenens Physicians and Advanced Practitioners
necessarily decreased in recent years, many physicians contend that it has not kept up with inflation. For this reason, physicians and their professional associations reacted negatively when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) mandated cuts to its physician compensation formula in both 2023 and 2024 (Unsustainable: Doctors weigh in on CMS’ 2024 physician pay cut proposal. Alan Goforth. Benefitspro.com. September 21, 2023) . In addition to feeling like they are treading water financially, physicians often experience difficulty in obtaining reimbursement, or in accepting the often arcane methods by which they are reimbursed. Medicare and private insurance companies may deny claims submitted by physicians, causing protracted negotiations and frustration. Often, physician compensation is tied to difficult to understand production formulas that are based on goals and metrics physicians do not consider clear or fair. It is not always the amount they are paid that creates physician dissatisfaction and burnout, it is the process by which compensation is evaluated and obtained that is the sticking point. As the survey indicates, 68% of locum tenens physicians and APPs said that “reimbursement challenges” were a very important or moderately important factor influencing them to choose locum tenens. In contrast to the convoluted way many permanent providers are compensated, locum tenens physicians and APPs are paid a per diem rate by the staffing agencies that place them on temporary assignments. As independent contractors, they keep track of time worked, submit payment requests, and typically are paid promptly. Depending on the number of days they work, locum tenens physicians may not earn as much as they would in permanent practice. However, they often find that the locum tenens reimbursement process is more straightforward and “cleaner” than the reimbrusement process in permanent practice.
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