ENGLEWOOD, CO – Physician compensation for medical directorships in non-hospital-owned group practices is greater than in hospital-owned practices for all specialties except primary care, according to the Medical Group Management Association’s "Medical Directorship/On Call Compensation Survey: 2009 Report Based on 2008 Data."

The greatest discrepancy was among non-surgical specialists in non-hospital-owned practices that received $27,400 more annually than their counterparts in hospital-owned practices.

Compensation also varied greatly across specialties, with geriatricians receiving the highest annualized compensation ($172,121).

“There is a dearth of information on what it means to be a medical director," said William F. Jessee, MD, president and CEO of MGMA. "It appears that there are discrepancies among specialties, areas of responsibility, and subsequently, compensation. We are trying to reveal the standards of directorships for our members, who have requested these data for some time.”

Across all specialty classifications, recruitment and physician education responsibilities yielded the highest compensation. Physician education duties increased primary care compensation by 82 percent; surgical and non-surgical specialists reported compensation increases above 100 percent.

The report indicated that in apparent response to the shortage of primary care physicians, primary care medical directors with recruitment responsibilities exhibit the greatest variation in annualized compensation: a reported $27,430 compared with $13,980 for directors without recruitment responsibilities. Most medical directors spent approximately five hours per week on directorship duties, regardless of practice ownership.