Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/829284
43 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT Best & Worst Patient Outcomes — Patients May Now Compare US Surgeons by Name By Megan Wood C onsumers will now be able to identi- fy which surgeons are among the best and worst for patient outcomes, thanks to a Nonprofit Consumers' Checkbook/Center for the Study of Services analysis. e analysis includes more than five million cases performed by more than 50,000 phy- sicians, diving into topics such as how oen surgeons' patients die in the hospital or with- in 90 days of hospital discharge; how many patients have serious complications in the hospital; and how many patients are read- mitted within 90 days of discharge for sur- gery-related issues. Checkbook ratings are based on federal gov- ernment records. e company released sur- geons' names on this website. Here are five insights: 1. Patients may compare surgeons for 12 high-risk surgeries, including: • Heart valve and bypass surgery • Vascular surgery • Major bowel surgery • Spine surgery • Pulmonary surgery • Total knee and hip replacement 2. For heart valve and bypass surgery, Check- book found: • Best-rated one-tenth of surgeons had death rates of less than 3 percent in the hospital or within 90 days of discharge • Worst-rated one-tenth of surgeons had death rates of more than 10 percent in the hospital or within 90 days of discharge 3. For major bowel surgery, Checkbook found: • Best-rated one-tenth of surgeons had death rates of less than 6 percent in the hospital or within 90 days of discharge • Worst-rated one-tenth of surgeons had death rates of more than 18 percent in the hospital or within 90 days of discharge 4. For total hip and knee replacement, Check- book found: • Best-rated one-tenth of surgeons had overall bad-outcome rates of less than 10 percent in the hospital or within 90 days of discharge • Worst-rated one-tenth of surgeons overall bad-outcome rates of 24 percent or more in the hospital or within 90 days of discharge 5. Checkbook also offers insight into the lev- el of surgeon experience with certain proce- dures and whether other physicians recom- mend them. n Physician Salaries: Which States' Physicians Earn the Most & More — 5 Key Takeaways By Adam Schrag I n its 2016 Physician Compensation Report, Med- scape polled over 19,200 physicians to determine phy- sician compensation based on specialty, U.S. region, state, gender and more. Here are five things to know: 1. Top three earners in 2016 were orthopedists ($443,000), cardiologists ($410,000) and dermatologists ($381,000). The year's lowest earners were pediatricians ($204,000), en- docrinologists ($206,000) and family physicians ($207,000). 2. Physicians reported the highest earnings ($296,000) in the North Central region (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri) while lowest earnings ($266,000) were reported in the Northeast region (Maine, New Hamp- shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York). Geographic supply and demand largely influences compensation, as does uneven distribution of physicians to patient volume in rural and poor communities. Several government policies seek to improve access to care, resulting in higher income in these regions. Additionally, as urban markets increase salaries, smaller, rural markets add compensation to attract and retain physicians. 3. The three states to repeat as the report's top-earners are North Dakota ($348,000), New Hampshire ($322,000) and Nebraska ($317,000). While North Dakota's oil boom has increased physician salary, current oil prices will likely limit the trend in the near future. Rhode Island ($224,000), Washington, D.C. ($226,000) and Maryland ($231,000) were the three lowest-earning states in the 2016 report. 4. Male physicians earned more than female physicians, whether they were primary care physicians ($225,000 ver- sus $192,000, respectively) or specialists ($324,000 ver- sus $242,000, respectively). Women's earnings increased more between 2012 and 2016 than men's did (36 percent for women versus 29 percent for men). More women physi- cians were employed in 2016 than their male counterparts (72 percent compared to 59 percent). 5. Employed primary care physicians made $207,000 on av- erage while self-employed primary care physicians earn ed $229,000. Employed primary care physicians experienced the highest percentage compensation increase (10 percent) since the 2015 report, followed by self-employed primary care physicians (8 percent) and all specialists (6 percent). n