Primary Care Bonus
I just read that the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) wants Congress to continue bonus payments to primary care physicians, now set to expire in 2015. This reminded me of when I was employeed by a hospital for all those years. I never received this money. This bonus averages about $4-$10K each provider, each year. Go ahead and ask your administrator, “Where is my primary care bonus”? After her puzzled or angry face fades, she will respond with:
- “How about that local baseball team this year?”
- “Your contract allows us to collect all monies from Medicare”.
- “That money is being used for the collective good of the hospital.”
- “You must understand that each family doctor is being subsidized by the hospital so this money is being used to defray that cost.”
- “I like turtles.”
Please feel free to give me some more responses using the language of ADMINISTRALIAN.
Can we make a database online like to NPDB but just to report hospital administrators?
“I like turtles.” You killed me with that one. Keep up the good work and good humor, it’s the only way we’ll make it!
“We still need to get these patients seen…after all, YOU took an oath”.
“Your Press-Ganey scores are down, so, thanks to this bonus, we won’t have to cut your pay as much as we would have otherwise.”
My chronic otitis must be bad again, I can’t hear you.