Compensation for Surgical Practices: Are Investments a Good Idea?

One of the external challenges facing physician practices is the shifting of reimbursement models from fee-for-service basis to include incentives for quality, outcomes, improved patient experience and reduced costs.  The shift can be summarized as paying for value not volume.  Providers will take more financial risk with an unprecedented amount of risk ahead for physician practices.  This exploratory paper provides a review of compensation options for independent surgical practices in addition to reimbursement outside of the quality incentive payment program and patient care method.  It will describe different compensation models, outside income and various potential investments such as real estate, urgent care, ambulatory surgery centers, laboratories, diagnostic services, pain management, medical devices, physician owned distributors, revenue cycle management, health information technology and electronic health records.  The reader will be able to review advantages and disadvantages of each investment option along with the regulatory requirements as it pertains to surgical practices while strategizing for future growth.