RVU cost accounting not just for the 'big dogs'.
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Accounting↗
Biomedical subjects
Kathryn P Glass
Publications and source records attributed to Kathryn P Glass.
Why use cost-based fee schedules?
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Economic Competition↗
Relative value units: from A to Z (Part I of IV).
Relative value units (RVUs), originally developed as a physician payment mechanism, have expanded into a valuable practice management tool that allows common denominator analyses and per-unit comparisons for both clinical productivity and expense data. Use of RVUs in practice management falls into three broad categories: productivity, cost, and benchmarking. These will be covered in a series of four articles. RVU analysis can be readily applied to strategic planning, resource allocation, budgeting, provider compensation, cost-based fee schedules, payer analysis, contract review and maintenance, per-procedure profitability analysis, etc. Exactly what are RVUs? Where did they come from? How do they differ from encounters and fees in terms of measuring provider productivity? How can they be used to increase cost-effectiveness and maximize productivity within medical practices? This initial article discusses RVU basics and sets the groundwork for the series.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.↗
Relative value units and productivity: Part 2 of 4.
The initial article in this series (Volume 17, No. 5: 225-228) discussed relative value unit (RVU) basics and touched on some of the more practical applications of RVUs for managing a medical practice. This article addresses how RVUs differ from encounters and fees in terms of measuring provider productivity and resource consumption. RVUs empower practice administrators to objectively measure and quantify a medical practice's physician productivity and performance data versus traditional productivity measures such as office visits, net charges, net collections, etc. The Resource-Based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS) RVU work component is specifically designed to measure physician (and midlevel provider) effort and the degree of independent decision-making skill required for performing a procedure; therefore, productivity is directly linked to provider coding.
Abstracting and Indexing↗
Relative value units and cost analysis, Part 3 of 4.
In recent years, the interest in relative value unit (RVU) cost analysis has been on the rise. Why all the excitement? RVU cost analysis places the knowledge, and therefore the power, in the hands of the administrator to negotiate revenues, analyze expenditures, and control costs. Cost analysis at the per (relative)-unit level allows for procedure profitability (or loss) analysis, setting internal fee schedules based on costs, contract negotiation based on RVU cost and utilization, equitable provider compensation packages based on productivity and overhead coverage, and tracking ancillary and referral utilization risks. In short, RVU cost accounting uses the Resource-Based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS) instead of stopwatches and clipboards when measuring clinical costs and activity.
Costs and Cost Analysis↗
Relative value units: from A to Z, Part 4.
The previous three articles in this series discussed relative value unit (RVU) basics and touched on some of the more practical applications of RVUs for managing a medical practice. 1-3 This fourth and final article illustrates the what, why, when, where and how of benchmarking RVUs. Benchmarking is often defined as a standard of measurement or evaluation, but in its truest sense, it is the ongoing process of establishing a standard of excellence and comparing activities to that standard. Health care has yet to establish true benchmarks, but it does have performance indicators for better-performing practices based on several criteria.
Benchmarking↗