(2009-07-26) Bassett Hospital Network Salaried Docs

Bassett Healthcare uses Salaried Physician-s in its hospital and clinics. Barack Obama sees this as a key technique in Healthcare Reform. But for some, wages are not enough. Dr. J. Turner Stauffer, a gastroenterologist in Thomasville, Ga., left Bassett 10 years ago. He has four children, including two of college age. "To provide for my family, I felt I needed to be reimbursed on a fee-for-service model," Dr. Stauffer said. "I make three to four times what I was making there, although I don't know what my salary at Bassett would be now." Dr. Stauffer would not reveal his pay. A recent national survey found that gastroenterologists earned $457,000 on average, with the top 10 percent making $715,600... The share of doctors in one- or two-physician Small Practice-s dropped to 33 percent in 2005, from 41 percent in 1997, according to the Center for Studying Health System Change. Just 10 percent of doctors in their early 40s work in one- or two-doctor practices, compared with 38 percent of those 60 and older.