MGMA: Practices allocating more resources to regulatory burden

Regulatory and administrative burdens on physician practices have increased, and practices are spending more for the resources needed to perform this work. In a study released last week, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) reported a 4.6% increase in spending on total business operations staff—including general administrative staff, information technology staff, general/patient accounting staff and managed care administrative staff—per full-time-equivalent (FTE) physician since last year.

Other key findings from the report included:

• Physician-owned practices used more total support staff than hospital/integrated delivery system-owned practices, regardless of practice type.
• Patient-centered medical home (PCMH) practices spent $42.56 more per patient in total general operating costs than non-PCMH practices, but earned $65.54 more per patient in total medical revenue after operating cost.
• Primary care and surgical single-specialty practices in the Midwest earned almost four times more than their counterparts in Southern regions. Surgical single-specialty practices earned more in each of the geographic sections than primary care and nonsurgical single-specialty practices.

Source: FierceHealthcare, MGMA