Medical staff salaries are on the rise
Medical staff salaries are on the rise
Expect to pay more to keep valued employees
If you want to stay up with your fellow practices and retain your valued employees, plan on giving your staff a raise this year. "The job market is tight right now and in some areas of the country it’s almost impossible to get well-trained workers. Practices are going to have to be a bit more generous in regard to salaries and fringe benefits, especially health insurance," says Dorothy Sweeney, vice president of The Health Care Group, a Plymouth Meeting, PA, consulting firm.
Medical practices anticipate raising their staff salaries between 2.64% and 5.28% in 2001, according to The Health Care Group’s 2001 Staff Salary Survey. The survey includes information on salary and benefits from about 1,100 medical practices across the country, Sweeney says.
Nationwide Hourly Averages for Physician Practice Staff |
|||
Position |
< 2
years |
2-5 years |
>5
years |
Billing Coordinator |
$12.39 |
$13.65 |
$14.65 |
File Clerk |
$7.43 |
$8.01 |
$9.53 |
Lab Technician |
$11.18 |
$13.20 |
$14.31 |
RN |
$15.08 |
$16.12 |
$17.76 |
Source: Staff Salary Survey, 2000 The Health Care Group. |
The salary survey describes the hourly rate paid to medical personnel and what kind of fringe benefits practices offer their employees. According to the survey, 95% of physician practices provide health insurance in some form to their full-time employees and 36% provide insurance benefits for part-time workers. "This is going to increase, especially for part-time workers, because competition is pretty keen for good, part-time health care workers," Sweeney says.
Sweeney advises her physician clients to carefully examine their compensation packages on a regular basis with an eye to retaining good employees who are popular with patients. "There is a lot to be said about how much the staff is a factor in helping a doctor retain patients. Patients don’t really know what makes a good doctor but they do know if it’s easy to get an appointment and if the staff is nice," she adds.
Medical practices have a harder time finding and keeping good personnel in their reception area, Sweeney says. "There’s always more than a 50% turnover ratio. It’s a tough job, it’s not highly paid, and people will leave for 10 cents or 25 cents an hour," she adds.
Personnel costs are the highest expense for the majority of medical practices. That’s why staff salaries present such a balancing act — you need to contain costs but at the same time, you need to hire and retain quality staff. Once a year, physician practices should take a careful look at each position in the practice, the work that is involved, and salaries. Sweeney recommends analyzing the salaries and benefits you are providing and comparing them to industry standards. Look at health insurance, paid vacation, and holidays, not just the salaries.
Here are some tips for hiring and retaining top-notch personnel:
• Don’t make lack of experience a factor in deciding not to hire an applicant you like if the person is intelligent and has a sense of customer service. "You can teach people what they need to know but you can’t always find someone with the kind of personality needed to work with patients. This is especially important at the front desk and in the clinical area," she says.
• Conduct an employee evaluation once a year in conjunction with raising salaries.
• Make sure your work environment is pleasant and that employees will find it comfortable to work in your office.
• Make sure your staff know that the physicians and management team appreciate their efforts. For instance, you might say to your staff, "We’ve had a really tough flu season and we made it through. Thank you for your hard work." "Make them feel like all of you are in it together," Sweeney says.
• Keep the lines of communication open. Discuss any requests for raises with your employee but keep in mind that sometimes you have to say no.
The Health Care Group’s Staff Salary Survey includes regional information organized by zip code. Among the medical practice positions it tracks are office manager, billing coordinator, bookkeeper, clerical/insurance, data entry, file clerk, lab technician, medical assistant, nurse practitioner, receptionist, registered nurse, and x-ray technician. "Practices can get information on salaries for administrators, managers, and nursing positions but our clients kept asking us, What should I pay my front desk person?’ That’s why we got involved in tracking the staff salaries," Sweeney says.
The survey for 2001, which includes salary and fringe benefit information for 24 job categories organized by Zip Code, is available for $195. A summary showing the national averages of some positions is available on-line at www.healthcaregroup.com.
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