Responsive Compensation Arrangements to Battle COVID-19
The effects of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic are far-reaching. During these unprecedented times, we pray that you are staying safe and healthy.You and others in the health care field bear the brunt of the turmoil caused by the spread of COVID-19. We want to do our part to support you and your teams in the areas where our worlds collide.To that end, we have developed a task force to tackle reasonable, workable, and effective solutions to many of the unique provider arrangements you may find crossing your desk in the coming days and weeks. The topics we are discussing include:
- Increasing usage of telehealth services;
- Additional call coverage/availability expectations;
- Impacts on physicians and advanced practice providers (“APPs”) due to the cancellation of elective procedures/visits;
- Using physicians and APPs outside of their typical specialty area to support the COVID-19 response;
- Compensation premiums for overtime/hazard work;
- Time-based payment arrangements for physicians and APPs typically paid on a wRVU basis;
- Potential proxy wRVU credit for work performed during the response that may not have a wRVU value.
The response to COVID-19 may create situations where providers and other personnel are deployed in unique and unanticipated ways to care for patients and those in the community. Contemporaneous, brief documentation of the reasoning behind the utilization of resources in these unanticipated ways will be beneficial. Documentation provides a helpful history for later use in determining compensation, summarizing work efforts, and responding to regulators should questions arise.As the situation unfolds and additional needs evolve, our team is prepared to respond nimbly to help you tackle these challenges. If you and your team do not have a plan in place, we recommend beginning those discussions now, even if you are in an area that is not yet heavily affected.
Please let us know what we can do to help support you and your organization during this time. Contact us today to speak directly with Senior Vice President and Director of Operations, Justin Chamblee.
