ECG Management Consultants

Hospital-Based Physician Relations

Recently, the healthcare industry has seen significant changes in hospital-based physician specialties, including anesthesia, radiology, and emergency medicine.

Anesthesia Contracts

In anesthesia, the supply of providers has diminished, while hospitals have experienced an increased volume in surgical services and anesthesia sites. Compensation has increased dramatically, with approximately 70 percent of hospitals providing subsidies to their anesthesiologists.

Radiology Contracts

For radiology, changes in technology combined with a shortage of providers creates significant challenges, both in compensation of providers and in provision of imaging services. Freestanding imaging centers and physician office-based services are in direct competition with hospitals for diagnostic and interventional studies. Radiology equipment continues to be a high-dollar investment.

ED Call Coverage

In the emergency department, provider shortages are less acute than in some specialties; however, the rise in uncompensated care coupled with increased emergency department utilization requires more financial support from the hospital. Furthermore, the recent trend toward hospital payment for on-call services results in dramatic cost increases for the hospital with little or no increase in revenue.

What Should You Do?

ECG thoroughly understands the challenges of managing relationships with hospital-based physicians and can help you preserve positive physician relationships while improving the hospital’s competitive position. Our areas of competence and experience for hospital-based physician services include:

  • OR efficiency evaluation.
  • Group operations assessment.
  • Compensation evaluation and benchmarking.
  • Subsidy calculation, including service and quality incentives.
  • Service agreement development and negotiation.

ECG has in-depth knowledge and experience that combines technical expertise with sensitivity to the relationships within your organization. Our focus is on solutions that will preserve organizational resources while enabling stable, long-term relationships with hospital-based physicians.


Selected Projects


Developing an anesthesia group contract. Expand Minimize

ECG was engaged by the hospital to assess the structure and operations of an anesthesia practice prior to contracting with the group. After performing a comprehensive study and evaluation, ECG helped the hospital develop the contract with the anesthesiologists and successfully execute the new business arrangement.

Negotiating contracted financial arrangements with a physician group. Expand Minimize

ECG worked on behalf of a large tertiary, trauma center hospital to negotiate a contract with an anesthesia physician group. Specific analytical tasks included determining fair market value and evaluating the underlying financial arrangements.

Developing solutions for emergency department (ED) call coverage. Expand Minimize

ECG assisted a health system with the development of an analytical model to measure and understand the burden of ED call coverage, while successfully engaging the emergency physicians in the data gathering and analysis process. Once the scope of the call situation was identified, ECG helped the hospital collaborate with the physicians to craft operational solutions to mitigate the call burden.