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Q&A: Is there a national standard for ED call compensation?

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, June 9, 2009

Last month, HCPro hosted a live Web cast with John Nelson, MD, FACP, and John Maa, MD, FACS, about the rise of surgical hospitalists. When discussing one of the catalysts for surgical hospitalist programs—ED call—we asked if there is, in fact, a national ED call compensation rate. Hear what the physician leaders had to say about paying for call.

John Nelson: Is there a national standard? The answer is really, no; it’s very community dependent. There are huge variations. There are still some hospitals that don’t pay for ED call, but they are becoming increasingly rare. The amount of payment varies all over the place. I think there’s a tendency, for convenience, to start discussions for pay for call around a $1,000 per day. That’s an easy number to think of; it’s a simple number to talk about. Payment does tend to approach $1,000 for general surgeons, but, it’s all over the place.

John Maa: We’ve witnessed a number of programs, and the range has been about $400 a day to $3,500 daily as a maximum, with many programs ranging around $1,000 a day for call. Generally speaking, there is not yet a national standard. Interestingly, at a larger level, call stipends for other specialties, such as urology and ophthalmology, are also emerging as a source of debate. At [the University of California, San Francisco], the stipend, since its inception, was minimal so that it was never a primary motivator or stimulus of the creation of the [surgical hospitalist] program.

The above excerpt is adapted from the Surgical Hospitalist Practice: Strategies for Building and Operating a Successful Practice Web cast, which aired on May 28, 2009. To purchase a CD-ROM, please visit HCMarketplace.com.

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