Resource-based relative value scale analysis between teaching and nonteaching hospitalist services

Resource-based relative value scale is an objective estimate of physician work that allows comparisons of physician productivity, yet few studies have explored its use to compare the productivity between teaching faculty and nonteaching hospitalists.

Demographic and billing data of patients assigned either to a resident-staffed teaching service or a hospitalist service, the number of encounters per provider, relative value units (RVUs) generated, and total charges were obtained from billing records (November 2006-April 2007). Age, race, sex, insurance status, case mix index, and length of stay were also analyzed.

The mean RVUs generated per unit of encounter and the mean charges generated per unit of encounter were not significantly different between the 2 services. However, mean RVUs generated per full-time equivalent provider and mean charges generated per clinical full-time equivalent were significantly higher in the teaching service.

Based on a resource-based relative value scale analysis, the clinical productivity of teaching faculty was superior to that of nonteaching hospitalists. The difference may be attributable to lower time requirements of the teaching attendings compared with full-time hospitalists.