Managing MD Absenteeism

Question: Do you have a policy or know a standard for provider absenteeism?

Answer: There is no standard that I'm aware of, but it's certainly worth getting your providers to agree on a policy and putting it in writing.

I would suggest something along these lines:

"Unscheduled physician absences inconvenience patients, staff, and physician partners and should be as limited as possible and occur only when absolutely necessary. If a physician does need to call in sick or not attend clinic for some other sudden reason, he or she should let the office manager know immediately. That physician also is responsible for scheduling extra office hours on his or her normal day off to accommodate rescheduling patients. Physicians who have more than one unscheduled absence per month will face X-consequence (for example, a dock in compensation for every day out)."

The consequence can be whatever you can agree on, but having a policy is a good idea.