Stipends From Hospitals To Emergency Medicine And Anesthesiology Clinicians Increased In California, 2002-21

In lieu of hiring physicians, hospitals often contract with medical groups and pay stipends to clinicians to supplement professional services reimbursements from insurers and patients. We measured the prevalence and magnitude of stipends from California hospitals to emergency medicine and anesthesiology clinicians in Hospital Annual Financial Disclosure Reports from the period 2002-21. The prevalence and average magnitudes of stipends, even standardizing for service volume, have risen in both specialties. In 2021, stipends to emergency medicine and anesthesiology clinicians were paid by 81 percent and 57 percent of hospitals in California, respectively. The mean amount hospitals spent on stipends were $4.1 million for emergency medicine and $2.9 million for anesthesiology annually in 2021, among hospitals with any stipend. Standardizing for service volume, the mean amount across all hospitals was $91.42 per emergency visit and $40.11 per fifteen minutes of anesthesiology services in 2021. These findings inform policy discussions on hospital labor costs and professional reimbursement.