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Post Payment for physicians on consult service
Author: rtusan
Date: Jul 1, 2008 1:28 pm
We have a mix of faculty physicians and private physicians that are interested in being part of our new palliative care consult service. Physicians on the consult service will be expected to respond to pages Monday - Friday from 9am-5pm. We are unsure of how to structure payment for the physicians on the consult service.

Should they be paid for call similar to other specialties? For example, payment for number of pages answered and payment for number of times physician has to travel to hospital for consult? Or should we not pay for call and just tell physicians that compensation for their voluntary participation in the consult service is part of their previously negotiated salary and revenue from billing? We are curious to know how other palliative programs deal with this issue. Thank you!

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+ Re:Payment for physicians on consult service (by Weissman on 07/22/2008)
Hi--thanks for the great question. First off, your physicians should be paid, having the service run by volunteers undermines the profesional nature of the work--I don't think there are many cardiologists taking call on a voluntary basis.

There are several different models of MD payment depending on the financial relationship between the physicians and the hospital. What is the relationship at your hospital--are the PC docs employees of the hospital? How are their billings handled now?

David Weissman, MD
Professor & Director of Palliative Care
Medical College of Wisconsin
Palliative Care Leadership Center
Milwaukee, WI

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