Clarifying Staff Costs
In the March 2006 issue of Physicians Practice, in the "Dodging Bullets" article, consultant Elizabeth Woodcock made the statement that staff payroll should be between 18 percent and 22 percent of total revenue. Does staff payroll include the office manager's salary, or are we talking about support staff only? Second, does "revenue" refer to gross or net?
Question: In the March 2006 issue of Physicians Practice, in the "Dodging Bullets" article, consultant Elizabeth Woodcock made the statement that staff payroll should be between 18 percent and 22 percent of total revenue. Does staff payroll include the office manager's salary, or are we talking about support staff only? Second, does "revenue" refer to gross or net?
Answer: That range does include the office manager's salary, and the reference is to net revenue - what you actually brought in the door, not what you billed out.
Of course, the exact percentage would vary by specialty. The medical Group Management Association publishes survey data that breaks this down and gives details for your specialty (www.mgma.com).
HIPAA highlights: 2 disturbing class actions, OCR risk analysis enforcement
April 24th 2025Two class-action lawsuits targeting the University of Maryland Medical Center and the University of Kansas Health System for years-long cyberstalking and unauthorized access to protected health information spotlight massive HIPAA risk-analysis failures and underscore the urgent need for stronger health care cybersecurity safeguards.
