Two Cost Share Models: Calculating an Anesthesia Cost Share Often Lies in Identifying the correct variables  

Category: Practice Management

Most stipend arrangements have components in their calculation that deal with physician compensation, which gives rise to one of the major causes of friction among anesthesia practices and facility administrators.

It is first important to address the use of the word "stipend" in relation to "cost share" for the purposes of this article. The first four synonyms in a word search for stipend are salary, pay, earnings and income. Cost share arrangements are often referred to as stipends because administrators perceive the word to be synonymous with anesthesiologists pay. In a surprising number of occasions, the actual reason for a stipend has little or nothing to do with anesthesiologists compensation. For that reason, cost share seems more appropriate, less aversive and is how it will be addressed.

The first step in quantifying a true cost share is to identify the reasons...