ACPA Physician Advisor Practice Survey 2025
1.
What is your medical specialty?
Outpatient IM
Outpatient FP
Outpatient Pediatrics
IM/FP Hospitalist
Pediatric Hospitalist
Emergency Medicine
Medical Specialty
Surgical Specialty
Physical Medicine and Rehab
OB/GYN
Orthopedics
Psychiatry
Med-Peds
Other (please specify)
2.
What state do you work in? If several, please select your primary work location.
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Multiple states
3.
How many years have you been practicing medicine post residency/fellowship training?
1-5 years
6-10 years
11-20 years
21-30 years
31-40 years
41-50 years
4.
How many years have you been working as a physician advisor?
New: <1 year
1-5 years
6-10 years
> 10 years
5.
What motivated you to become a physician advisor? Select the
top two
choices.
Alternative modality of impacting patient care
Personal career growth
Desire to participate in “the business of medicine”
Reduction in clinical work
Participating in denial reduction
Passion for education and documentation improvement.
6.
What percentage of your time is spent on physician advisor duties.
7.
What percentage of your time is spent on clinical practice?
8.
What percentage of your time is spent on other administrative duties?
9.
If you work part-time, how many hours per week do you perform physician advisory duties?
<10 hours
10-20 hours
21-39 hours
Variable time commitment
N/A
10.
If you are a part-time physician advisor, what is your hourly salary?
< $80
$80 - $100
$101 - $120
$121 - $140
$141 - $160
$161 - $180
>$180
Case-based rate (___)
N/A
11.
If you are a full-time, salaried hospital/system employee, what is your annual salary?
<$150,000
$150,000 - $200,000
201,000 - $250,000
251,000 - $300,000
301,000 - $350,000
>$350,000
N/A
12.
If you are a full-time, external vendor employee, what is your annual salary?
<$150,000
$150,000-$200,000
201,000-$250,000
251,000-$300,000
301,000 - $350,000
>$350,000
N/A
13.
How frequent do your physician advisor salary increases take place?
Annually
Less frequent than annually
Never/unscheduled
14.
Do you receive any bonuses related to your physician advisory work?
Yes
No
15.
Who funds and budgets your physician advisor’s role?
Clinical Departments/Service Lines (e.g., Department of Medicine, Department of Surgery, etc.)
Hospital Support Services
Revenue Cyle
Case Management/Utilization Management
Clinical Documentation Integrity/Coding/Health Information Management (HIM)
16.
To whom do you report to?
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/President
Vice President (e.g., Vice President of Medical Affairs (VPMA)), Chief Medical Officer (CMO)/Chief Physician Operating Officer (CPOO), or similar
Chief Financial Officer (CFO), or Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Clinical Department Chair
Hospital Department Director (Case/Utilization Management, HIM, Continuum of Care, etc.)
No defined reporting structure
17.
Do you feel supported by whom you report to?
Yes
No
18.
In your hospital, what is the ratio of physician advisor FTEs to bed availability? (e.g., your hospital has 500 beds and there are four physician advisors working 0.5 FTE each for a total of 2 FTEs = 1 FTE: 250 beds.)
1 FTE: 150 beds or less
1 FTE: (151-250) beds
1 FTE: (251-350) beds
1 FTE: 350+ beds
19.
What is your main employment arrangement?
Internal physician advisor (hospital or otherwise system-employed/contracted)
External (vendor) physician advisor
Other – hybrid model, etc.
20.
Have you ever worked on the payor side (e.g., as a payor medical director or similar)?
Yes
No
21.
What other non-clinical credentials do you have? Select all that apply.
ACPA-C
MBA, MHA, MMM, MPH, CPE
CDI - CCDS, CDIP
Coding- CPC, CCA, CCS, CCS-P
CMPC
FACHE, FACPE
JD
None
Other
22.
What is your work setting as a physician advisor?
Onsite at a single hospital
Onsite – covering more than one hospital in a multi-hospital health system
Onsite – overseeing other physician advisors in a multi-hospital health system
Onsite at an outpatient facility or group of facilities (e.g., outpatient clinic, ambulatory surgical center, etc.)
Remote for a single hospital
Remote – covering more than one hospital in a multi-hospital health system
Remote – overseeing other physician advisors in a multi-hospital health system
Remote for an outpatient facility or group of facilities (e.g., outpatient clinic, ambulatory surgical center, etc.)
Combination of onsite and remote at a single hospital
Combination of onsite and remote covering more than one hospital in a multi-hospital health system
Combination of onsite and remote overseeing other physician advisors in a multi-hospital health system
Combination of onsite and remote for an outpatient facility or group of facilities (e.g., outpatient clinic, ambulatory surgical center, etc.)
Remote for a single hospital
Remote – covering more than one hospital in a multi-hospital health system
Remote – overseeing other physician advisors in a multi-hospital health system
Remote for an outpatient facility or group of facilities (e.g., outpatient clinic, ambulatory surgical center, etc.)
Combination of local and system duties (e.g., support a single hospital and system lead)
Provision of physician advisory services on a consultant or educator/trainer basis
23.
What are your primary responsibilities as a physician advisor? Select all that apply.
Second level UR status reviews
Leading/supporting Care Management Department
Peer-to-peer discussions
Participating in UR appeal process (denial review, appeal writing, ALJ hearings, etc.)
Leading/supporting Compliance (e.g. Chief Medical Compliance Officer)
Leading/supporting Quality (e.g. mortality review, HAC/PSI work, etc.)
Readmission prevention
Case management (Transitions of care)
Mortality reduction
Full-risk population management
Leading/supporting Utilization Management (e.g. Chair of UM Committee)
Participate in prior authorization
Other hospital committees (Medical Records, Quality, IT Governance, etc.)
Participation in payor contracting
Physician education
CM/UR staff education
CDI/Coding staff education
Participation in multidisciplinary rounds (MDRs)/interdepartmental rounds (IDRs)
IT support (e.g., logistics, EMR template creation, etc.)
Management of physician advisor program (e.g., involved in health system policy creation, etc.)
QI projects (e.g., opioid/antimicrobial stewardship, transfusion safety, etc.)
24.
What type of peer-to-peers do you participate in? Select all that apply.
Acute hospitalizations
Post-acute denials
Prior authorization denials (inpatient or outpatient services)
25.
Do you participate in payor contract negotiation?
Yes
No
26.
Do you educate residents, fellows, or medical students graduate medical education and/or medical students regarding physician advisors’ topics or the business of medicine?
Yes
No
27.
What are the most effective tools you use to improve others documentation? Select all that apply.
Direct conversation (in-person or over the phone)
EMR secure chat
E-mail/EMR inbox
Small group lecture/discussion
Grand rounds
Secure testing platform (ie: Voalte, Tiger Text)
AI applications
28.
What challenges do you face when working with insurance companies? Pick
top two
challenges.
Complex payor policies
Lack of consistency of application within same payor
Lack of consistency of application between payors
High volume of denials
Limited communication
CMS Two-Midnight Rule violations
29.
How do you determine your Outpatient with Observation services versus Inpatient recommendations?
MCG/InterQual criteria only
Medical necessity
Combination of MCG/InterQual criteria and medical necessity
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence and medical necessity
30.
How often do you interact with hospital case management staff?
Always Daily
Sometimes Weekly
Rarely
None Never
31.
Do you participate in Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearings?
Yes
No
32.
How much are you involved with the Revenue Cycle (RC) work? Please choose best selection:
Routine part of my daily duties
Frequently, but not daily
Rarely or occasionally
Not involved – we use an external RC/CDI vendor/contractor
33.
If you are involved in Revenue Cycle, what are your duties? Select all that apply.
Query process/escalation
Clinical validation denial/appeal participation
Medical Staff/CDI staff education
Only higher-level involvement (e.g., member of a Denial Prevention Committee (or similar), etc.)
Not involved so far at this point
34.
How is your performance formally assessed and measured?
Semi- annually
Annually
Every two years
Never
35.
What are the primary benefits of your ACPA membership/involvement? Select all that apply.
Professional recognition through ACPA certification
Career/job opportunities/ physician advisor jobs board
Physician advisor education (e.g., The Learning Center)
ACPA Committees’ information/tools
Networking/peer interaction/mentoring
Newsletter, regulatory updates
Physician advisors program development and management
Other (please specify)
36.
What ACPA resources do you utilize for continuous physician advisor education? Select all that apply.
Conferences (National Physician Advisor Conference (NPAC), others)
Essentials and Fundamentals
Modules
Physical or e-books
ACPA committees resource pages
Committee participation
Town Halls
Publications (e.g. whitepapers)
37.
What is your preferred format for the ACPA’s National Physician Advisor Conference (NPAC)?
Onsite
Remote
Hybrid
Post-conference download
38.
Has your organization implemented budgetary travel restrictions related to conference attendance?
Yes
No
39.
Overall, I am satisfied with my current job as a physician advisor.
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
40.
What is your confidence level that you can proficiently perform all necessary physician advisor duties in your current role?
Very confident
Somewhat confident
Not confident
41.
If you feel burnout related to your physician advisory role, what contributes the most to your feelings of burnout?
Insufficient compensation
Lack of support from colleagues
Lack of support from hospital/health system administration
Lack of collaboration from payors
Overwhelming work life imbalance
I don’t feel burnout in my role
42.
What are the biggest challenges you face in your role as a physician advisor?
Lack of training
Too many responsibilities
Ability to keep up with changes
Dealing with conflicting priorities
43.
My control over my workload is:
Poor
Marginal
Satisfactory
Good
Optimal
44.
What social media do you use for professional activities (education, networking, etc)? Select all that apply.
LinkedIn
Facebook
X (formerly Twitter)
Bluesky
Instagram
Clubhouse
TikTok
None
Other (please specify)
45.
If your organization has already implemented an artificial intelligence (AI) tool, what is its purpose? Select all that apply.
Status management (case selection/review)
Status determination
Denial/appeal process
Prior authorization
CDI
Other (please specify)
46.
How do you anticipate AI will impact future the profession of physician advisors profession in the future?
Positively
Negatively
Neutral effect
Not sure
47.
Does your clinical location have an observation unit?
Yes/open model
Yes/closed model
No
48.
If you have observation unit, what is your role as physician advisor? Select all that apply.
Unit management
Daily round
Status determination
Staff education
Other
49.
Thank you for filling out the ACPA Physician Advisor Practice Survey for 2025. As a thank you, we would like to enter you into a drawing for a complimentary one-year ACPA membership. If you would like to be entered into the drawing, please type your email address in the box provided.
