The survey is an annual census of MGMA's medical group practice members. Factors affecting compensation, according to the report authors, include individual provider characteristics, such as years in practice and gender, as well as characteristics of the medical practice, such as group type, geographic region and the degree of at-risk managed care within the practice. No compensation figures were provided for the nine psychiatrists practicing in single-specialty groups. Like that of the AMA, the MGMA survey examined the effects of managed care on physician compensation. When practices first accepted at-risk managed care contracts, the median income of psychiatrists gradually increased.
Residencies can last up to eight years.
Generally, physicians worked a median of 48 weeks per year in 1998 and 55 hours per week, of which 50 hours were devoted to patient care. Psychiatrists also worked 48 weeks in 1998, but spent fewer hours per week in professional activities. In the MGMA survey of physicians in group practices, psychiatrists worked a median of 46 weeks per year, while child psychiatrists worked 48 weeks. Psychiatrists reported a median of 1,796 ambulatory patient encounters and 324 hospital encounters in 1997. Information in the cited surveys has been presented from several perspectives to address needs of physicians and various health care service providers, medical practice consultants, and hospital and group practice administrators, among others.