Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions 

1. Where can I find membership information?
   www.mgma.com/membership
2. Where do I go to claim continuing education credit?
   ceu.mgma.com

Association Content & Consulting

1. How do I submit an article to be published by MGMA? / Where can I find your editorial calendar?
   www.mgma.com/contribute-to-mgma 
2. Where can I get ACMPE credit for reading MGMA articles?
   www.mgma.com/acmpe-article-assessments 
3. How do I get a reprint of an article? / How do I get permission to share MGMA content?
   www.mgma.com/e-print-terms-and-conditions
4. Where do I find past issues of MGMA Connection magazine?
   www.mgma.com/mgma-connection-magazine 
5. Where do I sign up for MGMA Stat?
   www.mgma.com/mgmastat 
6. Where can I find the latest MGMA articles?
   www.mgma.com/all-topics  
7. Where can I find MGMA podcasts?
   www.mgma.com/podcasts 
8. Where can I connect with an MGMA subject matter expert or advisor?
   www.mgma.com/ask-mgma
9. Where can I request chart audit or coding education support?
   www.mgma.com/member-tools/chart-auditing-and-coding-education-services 
10. Where can I request support from an MGMA expert Consultant?
    www.mgma.com/consulting

ACMPE

1. What is the MGMA-ACMPE body of knowledge?
   Visit the Body of Knowledge (BOK) information pages to learn more.
2. What is ACMPE?
   The American College of Medical Practice Executives, established in 1956, supports and promotes the personal and professional growth of leaders to advance the medical practice management profession and is the certification and standard-setting body of the Medical Group Management Association. ACMPE offers Certificates, Board Certification, and Fellowship. Learn more
3. What is ACMPE board certification?
   www.mgma.com/certification/board-certification
4. How do you apply for ACMPE board certification and the requirements to complete?
   www.mgma.com/certification/board-certification/become-acmpe-board-certified
5. How do I register for my ACMPE board certification exams?
   www.mgma.com/certification/board-certification/exam-information
6. FELLOWSHIP
   What is ACMPE fellowship?
   www.mgma.com/certification/fellowship
7. How do you apply for ACMPE fellowship and complete?
   www.mgma.com/certification/fellowship/fellowship-requirements
8. ACMPE CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS
   What are ACMPE certificates?
   https://www.mgma.com/certification/acmpe-certificates

Data Solutions

*Please note: DataDive access requires additional purchase and not included with individual membership.

1. When is the new data available? How often does MGMA release updated data?
   The following is the annual MGMA DataDive product line schedule.
   • May – MGMA DataDive Provider Compensation
   • June – MGMA DataDive Management and Staff Compensation
   • July – MGMA DataDive Cost and Revenue
   • August – MGMA DataDive Practice Operations
   • September – MGMA DataDive Procedural Profile
2. How can I participate in the MGMA Surveys? When are the MGMA surveys available for participation?
   The MGMA Surveys are conducted annually and open/close under the following schedule.
   • MGMA Compensation Survey – Opens in early January and closes in mid-February
   • MGMA Cost & Revenue Survey – Opens in late February and closes in early April
   • MGMA Practice Operations Survey – Opens in late February and closes in late April
3. How is the MGMA total compensation defined? What is included/excluded from total compensation?
   Participants in the MGMA Compensation Survey are given the following total compensation instructions.
   • Box 5 on a W-2
   • Box 1 plus Box 4 minus Box 12 Minus Box 13 from a K-1 form 1065
   • If a provider/employee receives both a W-2 and K-1; Box 5 from the W-2 plus Box 1 minus Box 11 minus Box 12 from the K-1 form 1120-S.
   • The compensation would be inclusive of base or straight salary; incentives or bonuses, on-call compensation, medical directorship compensation, paid time off (PTO) employee contribution to 401(k) or other retirement plans, employee contribution to health or life insurance, and other voluntary salary reductions.
   • The compensation would exclude benefits such as employer contribution to a 401(k) or retirement plans, employer contribution to health or life insurance; expense reimbursement; employee contribution to a flex spending account (FSA).
4. What is the difference between work RVUs and total RVUs? How are RVUs defined? 
   • Total RVUs consist of three components.
     • Work RVUs = professional services
     • Practice Expense RVU = cost to service patient
     • Malpractice RVU = risk involved
   • The work RVU (wRVU) is the value of the service provided to the patient; practice expense RVU (PE) value is the cost to the practice for servicing the patient; and the malpractice RVU (MP) is the value related to the risk involved in servicing the patient. 
     • A straightforward way to remember the difference is to use a mechanic as an analogy. The bill you receive from a mechanic may be broken into two components: labor and parts. Work RVUs represent ‘labor’ with practice expense and malpractice being the ‘parts’ component. The total RVUs is going to be the sum of labor (wRVUs) plus part (PE + MP).
5. How does MGMA define a full-time equivalent (FTE) provider/employee?
   A measure based upon the number of actual hours worked regardless of whether it’s spent in clinical or nonclinical activities. A 1.0 FTE provider/employee works the number of hours the practice considers the minimum for a normal workweek, which could be 37.5, 40, hours, or some other standard. Regardless of the number of hours worked, a provider/employee cannot be counted as more than 1.0 FTE.
6. When I divide the MGMA median total compensation by the MGMA median work RVUs, why doesn’t the ratio match the ratio MGMA reported as the MGMA median compensation to work RVU ratio?
   The reason users are unable to recreate the ratio is due to the median values not likely coming from the same source. Trying to divide the median total compensation by the median work RVUs and we are in essence dividing provider A’s total compensation by provider B’s work RVUs and trying to match up to providers C’s ratio. The MGMA ratios are calculated for each participant providing both their compensation and work RVU productivity. The results are then reported back from lowest to highest.
7. Why are there asterisks (*) in the table?
   An asterisk indicates we were unable to meet the minimum sample requirements to publish data.
8. How do I get percentiles greater than the 90th percentile?
   The MGMA DataDive product line will only report percentiles between the 10th and 90th percentiles. Percentiles outside of the 10th-90th are available via a custom analysis; however, there is an additional charge for the data. The fee is variable depending on the number of specialties, filters, etc.
9. Where can I find definitions for the provider specialties?
   The MGMA Surveys are self-defining surveys, so MGMA does not have a specialty definition listing.
10. Where can I find investment/subsidy/support per FTE physician?
    The MGMA DataDive Cost and Revenue will contain the ‘Net income/loss, excluding financial support (all practices)’ per FTE physician. The net income/loss metric will be the amount +/- of revenue minus expenses. For physician owned groups this will be break even or slight profit. For hospital-owned groups this will be a substantial loss. Though MGMA refers to the metric as a loss this will be the amount of money a hospital needs to ‘invest’ in a physician for the specialty to become profitable.
11. I thought the 90th percentile was the ‘best’ percentile, why are total expenses so high at the 90th percentile? 
    • MGMA always reports the data from lowest to greatest, regardless of the metric. In the MGMA DataDive Cost and Revenue, where we find positive benchmarks such as revenue and negative such as expenses, the percentiles can become inversed. For expenses, the 10th percentile becomes the ideal percentile as it will be the least amount spent. 
    • A straightforward way of thinking of the percentiles is for money coming into the practice we would want to be at or above the median and for money going out of the practice we would want to be at or below the median.
12. Where can I find a list of participants in the MGMA Surveys?
    Due to the confidentiality agreement MGMA signs into with participants in the MGMA Surveys, MGMA cannot publicly acknowledge participation without the participant's consent.
13. How do I access the MGMA DataDive?
    data.mgma.com
14. What is the difference between ‘per FTE physician’ and ‘per FTE provider’?
    MGMA defines a provider as a combination of both physicians and advanced practice practitioners (APP). A practice employing three physicians and two nurse practitioners would be defined as a three-physician practice and a five provider by MGMA.
15. Where can I find compensation for locum tenens? Where can I find compensation for residents?
    Currently, MGMA does not capture the compensation/cost for locum tenens; residents or fellows.