Measuring the academic radiologist's clinical productivity: Applying RVU adjustment factors

Rationale and Objectives. To improve understanding of academic radiologists clinical worldoads, the Society of Chair men of Academic Radiology Departm ents (SCARD) performed surveys to collect workload data for radiologists in 20 departments; workload was measured in relative value units (RVUs) per f ull-time equivalent (FTE), Although they were useful for comparisons within some subspecialties, the workload data proved inadequate for comparisons a cross sections, and adjustment factors were needed for each Current Procedu re Terminology (CPT) code. Materials and Methods, All CPT codes for examinations were divided into gro ups with similar radiologist work effort. Focusing on radiologists who work ed almost exclusively in each group, the authors created adjustment factors by using data from the individual radiologists at each institution. Results. The adjustment factors are 0.50 for angiography, 0.58 for computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, and 1.0 for nuclear medicine, p lain radiography, and special procedures ino adjustment needed for these gr oups). These factors are multiplied by the work RVUs for each examination t o create the adjusted workload RVUs. Conclusion. The SCARD survey provided very useful clinical workload data, w ith workload measured in work RVUs per FTE for specific subspecialty sectio ns. The new adjusted workload RVUs allow comparison of radiologists' worklo ad across subspecialties.