Kaufman Hall's October Physician Flash Report shows record high productivity in recent years, but physicians are seeing less pay per relative value unit.
The provider wRVU per full-time employee was 4,657, up 4% year over year for the quarter. Physician wRVU was 5,820, up 6% year over year. However, the total compensation for full time physicians increased just 2 percent to $358,753.
The amount spent on support staff per 10,000 provider wRVUs also dropped 5% to 3.21.
"Investment/subsidiary per provider continues to increase, but the pace is slowing," wrote Matthew Bates, service line leader, physician enterprise, and Erik Swanson, senior vice president at Kaufman Hall, in the report. "Expenses are still rising faster than revenue, but the gap is closing compared to 2022. The pace of change in revenue is gradually stabilizing."
Net patient revenue per provider FTE was $377,970, up 3% year over year, while the net patient revenue per provider per wRVU dropped 4% to $77.18.
Labor costs were up as a percent of revenue even while the number of support staff per wRVU dropped because it's challenging to recruit and hire support staff.
"Organizations should strategically deploy their support staff to support their most productive providers," Mr. Bates and Mr. Swanson advised. "In addition to recruiting support staff like medical assistants, organizations should focus on developing their own, including creating career paths for them to advance within the organization from lower skilled roles."