Healthcare Financial News

The American Medical Association (AMA) has voiced its qualified support for the current healthcare reform bill. J. James Rohack, M.D., AMA president, said the bill is imperfect, but it is the next step toward real health system reform. He said the bill will help patients and their physicians by extending health coverage to the uninsured, improving competition and choice, promoting prevention and wellness, reducing administrative burdens, and promoting clinical comparative effectiveness research.
 
“While the final product is certainly not what we would have devised, we strongly support the parts of this bill that are desperately needed by millions of Americans who are struggling to get or keep health insurance coverage,” Rohack said in a statement.  

A single physician generates an average of $1.54 million a year in net revenue for his or her affiliated hospital, up slightly from an average of $1.5 million in 2007, according to a nationwide survey of hospital CFOs by physician search firm Merritt Hawkins. Neurosurgeons headed the list of hospital revenue drivers. A single, full-time neurosurgeon generates an average of $2.8 million a year for the hospital. Other high revenue-generating specialists include invasive cardiologists ($2.2 million a year), orthopedic surgeons ($2.1 million a year), general surgeons ($2.1 million a year), and hematologists/oncologists ($1.5 million a year).

Primary care physicians also generate substantial revenue for hospitals, the survey found. A general internist generates $1.7 million a year on average, a family physician $1.6 million a year, and a pediatrician $856,154 a year, according to the survey.

Survey findings are based on data submitted by 114 facilities.