MGMA Report Details Financial Impact of Staffing Crisis on Medical Groups

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Medical Group Management Association

Aug 07, 2023, 10:02 ET

Data shows overall decrease in total medical revenue from 2021-2022 at physician-owned medical practices

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Aug. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) released a new report that sheds light on the financial obstacles faced by medical groups due to staffing shortages. These challenges impacting the bottom line of medical practices are further compounded as patients struggle to stretch their budgets in an era of inflated expenses in their everyday lives. Despite these challenges, medical groups are proactively seeking innovative staffing solutions to continue delivering quality care.

As part of the industry leading MGMA DataDive, the 2023 MGMA DataDive Cost and Revenue report reflects data from more than 4,000 organizations spanning a variety of specialties and practice types. The data is expanded upon with further analysis in the summary report, Missing Pieces for Revenue Recovery in the Post-Pandemic Era, which reveals several financial and economic factors driving a major financial impact across the healthcare industry.

High Demands and Staff Shortages Lead to Revenue Ramifications

Due to labor shortages, many practices are adjusting workflows in an attempt to keep up with patient demand. The summary report highlights a recurring trend in physician-owned practices, revealing a four-year trend of decreased support staffing levels, from 5.08 total support staff per full-time-equivalent physician in 2019 to 3.0 in 2022. Among the hardest-hit were physician-owned primary care practices, which saw a decrease of more than three FTE support staff roles in the same period.

Fully staffed practices also struggle to keep up with patient demand. Among the practice leaders who said their support staffing levels stayed the same or increased, more than four in 10 (44%) said their current staffing levels were still not enough to meet patient demand. Ultimately, staffing issues constrain productivity and result in lost potential revenue. MGMA DataDive benchmarks show hospital-owned practices returning to pre-pandemic levels in medical revenue, but physician-owned practices reported across-the-board declines in 2022.

Challenges of Staff Scarcity in Revenue Cycle Management

Medical groups with staffing issues in their revenue cycle management face difficulties managing accounts receivable and claim denials, as well as backlogs of unpaid claims that, when combined, can cause cash flow challenges. A recent MGMA Stat poll showed that 34% of medical group leaders cited medical coders as the most difficult revenue cycle position to hire followed by billers (26%) then schedulers (18%) as of March 2023.

"The lingering post-pandemic staffing shortages continue to challenge medical groups across the country as they miss out on revenue without adequate support staff," said Ron Holder MHA, FACMPE, FACHE, CAE, chief operating officer at MGMA. "On top of that, many practices are missing the prompt payments they once enjoyed which further impacts the bottom line and forces medical groups, hospitals and health systems to look for creative solutions in navigating these challenges."

The summary report includes insights on solutions that health leaders are doing to address these issues. To learn more about the challenges that medical practices are facing, download the report here.

About MGMA

Founded in 1926, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is the nation's largest association focused on the business of medical practice management. MGMA consists of 15,000 group medical practices ranging from small private medical practices to large national health systems representing more than 350,000 physicians. MGMA helps nearly 60,000 medical practice leaders and the healthcare community solve the business challenges of running practices so that they can focus on providing outstanding patient care. Specifically, MGMA helps its members innovate and improve profitability and financial sustainability, and it provides the gold standard on industry benchmarks such as physician compensation. The association also advocates extensively on its members' behalf on national regulatory and policy issues. To learn more, go to MGMA.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

CONTACT: Brad Krebs, [email protected]

SOURCE Medical Group Management Association