Patients-per-day Norms

Question: I am wondering what is the average number of patients seen per day by a general/primary care internal medicine physician? I am having trouble locating this specific information.

Answer: I don’t know of published norms, but, anecdotally, I see practices treating anywhere from 25 to 45 patients a day. The “norm” is 20 to 25. It really depends on a physician’s personality type and what that physician needs to do to make ends meet. Some people are maxed out at 25. Others breeze through 60, no problem.

A more nuanced and credible standard might be to measure relative value units, or RVUs. According to data from the Medical Group Management Association, the median RVUs per year for general internal medicine is 7,716, excluding technical component charges and nonphysician practitioner work.

Your management software should be able to run a report for you on RVUs per year.