Posted on August - 18 - 2010
Baptist Memorial’s group management unit lets physicians focus on medicine
Jim Boswell (left), CEO of Baptist Memorial Medical Group, checks in with Dr. Phillip Mintz and radiology technician Linda Stewart at the Baptist Memorial Medical Group-Forest Hill Family Practice on Winchester.
The health care system can be complex and fractious, especially between doctors’ offices and hospitals.
Simplifying that specific relationship is the strategic cornerstone of Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp.’s doctor group management unit, Baptist Memorial Medical Group.
The group practice was created in April 2009, yielded $150 million in gross revenues in the year and has partnerships with 176 physicians throughout West Tennessee, North Mississippi and Arkansas. And BMMG has remained in growth mode ever since.
The model is vaguely similar to other group practices, like Memphis’ biggest medical group, UT Medical Group, which has roughly 366 physician members. But it is different because Baptist’s group is backed with financing, infrastructure and know-how from the 14-hospital system.
“They don’t teach doctors much about practice management in medical school,” said Jim Boswell, CEO of BMMG. “So, we want to be there with all the resources he or she needs to practice medicine and not have to worry about the specifics of (managing a practice). That’s our job.”
Baptist collaborates with doctors to find an appropriate clinic space, leases the facility, designs it and builds it. Baptist hires nurses and support staff and trains them in all aspects of the practice, from billing to using an electronic medical record.
The Medical Group Management Association reported in June that hospital-owned practices were the most successful in attracting physicians in 2009. The study said 65 percent of established physicians were placed in hospital group practices as were 49 percent of physicians hired out of residency.
Why? Well, the MGMA survey said the answer is simple: money.
“There is uncertainty of reimbursement for the future,” said Brenda Lewis, a member of MGMA’s survey committee. “Physicians are looking to sustain income to pay office overhead and have a paycheck to take home, and those with large Medicare populations are more likely to want to move to hospital-employed positions.”
First-year guaranteed compensation for doctors employed by hospital groups finally eclipsed first-year pay from other clinics in 2009, the MGMA report said.
Median pay for a first-year primary-care physician in hospital-owned groups was $164,000, just beating the $160,000 per-year median pay by other groups. Specialists in hospital groups got a median salary of $240,000, while those in nonhospital-owned groups made $230,000, the study said.
Boswell said Baptist is looking for physician partners in every market close to its hospitals. That growth is pegged to need, not a number, but Boswell said expect to see a significant BMMG expansion in the next three-to-five years.
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