Tip of the week: Stipends can be useful tool to compensate physicians taking ED call

The most common form of compensation for on-call service is a stipend. Although the approach hospitals take to paying stipends is evolving just as quickly as the need for on-call compensation is increasing, the following stipend models are the most prevalent:

• Daily stipend: If considering daily stipends, examine benchmarks from other local organizations. Further, determine whether the rate is based on 16 hours, which would typically include covering an evening or a night shift, versus 24 hours of work.
• Weekly stipend: A weekly stipend is simply based on the provision of on-call services for a week.
• Monthly stipend: Although less common, some hospitals determine the call stipend based on the monthly number of on-call hours. This stipend model is most often used to pay a physician group for its on-call services.
• Annual stipend: Like monthly stipends, annual stipends are most commonly used when a hospital compensates a group of physicians for the practice's participation in the on-call panel. Some hospitals bundle a nonclinical administrative stipend, as for a group director, in larger-interval payments.

This week's tip is an excerpt from Emergency Department On-Call Strategies: From Team Management to Compensation Plans by Kimberly Mobley; Richard Sheff, MD; and Bradley Zlotnick, MD, FACEP.