The impact of pay on Navy physician retention in a health care reform environment
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Authors
Lane, Michael N.
Melody, Brendan T.
Subjects
Physician compensation and retention
Specialty pays
Health care reform
Specialty pays
Health care reform
Advisors
Mehay, Stephen L.
Cook, Michael
Scaramozzino, James
Date of Issue
1998-03-01
Date
March 1998
Publisher
Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
en_US
Abstract
Physicians are the most difficult health care professional group to retain on active duty beyond their first obligated tour. A major problem is the disparity between military and civilian physician income. In fiscal year 1997, the Department of the Navy spent approximately $135 million in specialty pay on the Navy's 4,000 active duty physicians. Health care reform has altered the demand for specialty and primary care physicians, accelerating the movement toward managed care. In this thesis, the authors quantify the role of the pay differential using a multivariate logistic model and conclude that the civilian- military pay differential has a significant influence on the probability that a physician remains in the Navy. Physician personnel and earnings data were gathered from the Defense Manpower Data Center, the American Association of Medical Colleges, and the Hay Group. Results indicate that recent shifts in demand have resulted in a greater sensitivity of retention to pay for primary care physicians. Specialty specific elasticities can be applied to analyze the expected impact of pay on retention of representative pay plans. Increases in pay to the civilian median level would substantially increase retention, but would be costly. This changing military environment in union with health care reform may be cause for the Navy to re-evaluate its physician pay structure and examine options for the amount, attached obligation, and recipients of medical special pays
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Department of Systems Management
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
xvii, 184 p.;28 cm.
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.