What is RVUs Per Procedure?
Like its bigger cousin, RVUs Per Visit , RVUs Per Procedure is a measurement of the average number of RVUs performed per procedure.
Among other things, RVUs Per Procedure provides a great guide for determining the average complexity of visits, as evidenced by the coding used in a practice. PCC's analysis shows that there is a strong correlation between practices with higher RVUs Per Procedure and higher Revenues Per Visit. In other words, the practices that do more complex visits—and code for them—make more money!
Practices with a higher RVU Per Procedure typically do a better job coding (see E&M Coding) and getting their patients in for physicals, the most important role of a pediatrician (see Sick to Well Visit Ratio).
RVUs Per Procedure also makes a great provider productivity benchmark within a practice. Many practice management organizations use the related RVUs Per Visit to determine whether a particular provider is generating enough income. Search for rvu per visit or rvu per encounter online and you will find dozens of articles about this benchmark. A low RVUs Per Procedure may indicate a number of problems, including a lack of coding discipline, lack of coding understanding, or too heavy a focus on lower-level sick visits (at the expense of well visits).
Please note that this measurement exists to help distinguish one RVUs Per Visit from another. One common reason for Provider A to have a higher RVUs Per Visit than Provider B is because Provider A may actually record more codes per visit. When comparing two entities on a RVUs Per Visit basis, make sure to check the RVUs Per Procedure while you're at it. If the latter values are relatively equal, the implication is that the difference between the two entities is related to code-per-visit volume and not complexity.
What is the Pediatric Benchmark for RVUs Per Procedure?
How do I calculate RVUs Per Visit for my practice?
Just as it was with calculating your FACF, the calculation for RVUs Per Visit is easy. It's gathering the data that is difficult.
Simply add up all the RVUs performed during a particular time frame (PCC suggests at least a quarter, but a year is even nicer) and divide that by the number of patient visits during the same time frame.
PCC clients can calculate this number at any time using the PCC Benchmark feature of srs.
