Despite ongoing staffing struggles and patient access issues, about seven medical group practices in 10 report their physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) hit productivity goals in 2024.
In a Feb. 25, 2025, MGMA Stat poll, 69% of medical group leaders said their clinicians’ 2024 productivity was on target (45%) or exceeded (24%) goals for the year, while three in 10 (30%) reported productivity was below expectations. The poll had 218 applicable responses.
Medical group practices commonly measure physician productivity by patient volume, relative value units (RVUs, especially work RVUs, which quantify complexity and the value of services), and hours worked. In recent years, these metrics have fluctuated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rapid technological advancements and workforce trends impacting provider schedules and patient access.
A closer look at what influenced productivity in 2024
Practices exceeding goals
Among respondents who reported that their physicians and APPs exceeded productivity expectations, most credited these gains to stronger scheduling practices, expanded capacity (staff, clinicians, hours) and targeted technology use (AI, telehealth, virtual scribes). However, many leaders pointed out the ongoing challenge of sustaining these improvements while managing burnout and maintaining staff satisfaction, emphasizing delicate balance between increasing productivity and avoiding excessive strain on clinicians and staff.
Specifically:
- Practices that exceeded productivity goals often credited improvements in centralized scheduling, online patient scheduling and standardized templates.
- Multiple respondents noted that patient demand remains very high, to the point of often outpacing available staff. Some of these practice leaders told MGMA they are working to bolster support at a time when staff attrition is rising and staff satisfaction scores are worsening.
Practices that were on target for their goals
Respondents whose clinicians met but didn’t exceed productivity goals largely credited their success to increased staffing stability, selective use of AI and scribes to enhance physician productivity, schedule refinements and targeted service expansions to meet patient demand. Practice leaders who shared the top factors influencing productivity in 2024 tended to note they made incremental steps rather than large, transformative overhauls of workflows or schedules.
Specifically:
- Maintaining staffing equilibrium through limited turnover and the addition of new providers helped many of these practice leaders balance workloads.
- Expanding specialty services and chronic care management (CCM) programs created ways to capture additional revenue, supporting adequate hiring and overall financial sustainability.
- Increasing availability of same-day appointments helped some practices without significantly extending work hours.
- Aligning financial incentives, well-communicated productivity standards and compensation models with productivity goals also led to success.
Practices that were below goals
Practices that failed to meet productivity goals faced a combination of staffing shortages, administrative burdens, financial difficulties and provider burnout. Many struggled with retaining staff and providers, managing insurance-related disruptions and ensuring a steady flow of patients due to no-shows, missed appointments and coverage gaps. Additionally, while scheduling flexibility supported work-life balance, it often reduced available provider hours, further contributing to the shortfall.
Unlike practices that met or exceeded goals, these groups lacked adequate staffing, stable leadership and operational efficiencies necessary to maintain strong productivity levels.
Specifically:
- Staffing shortages among the ranks of nurses, medical assistants and support staff were noted as hurdles to maintaining patient volumes.
- High attrition among physicians and APPs led to vacancies, further reducing capacity. Some respondents cited turnover and burnout among remaining providers and staff as contributing factors to instability and inefficiency.
- One practice leader told MGMA their organization experienced an increase in patients being unwilling to see APPs.
- Insurance denials, authorization burdens and other administrative burdens were frequently noted as major factors in lower productivity.
Additional resources
- MGMA DataDive Provider Compensation offers essential benchmarking data to help your healthcare organization attract, retain and fairly compensate providers. Covering salaries, productivity and incentives across specialties and practice types, this federally recognized resource enables data-driven decisions to optimize staffing and financial performance. Access the 2024 data report on this data set to see our most-recent benchmarks and trends ahead of the 2025 data set’s release later this year.
- The Financial Optimization for Physician Practices series, by John Rezen, MBA, MHA, FACHE, LSSBB, provides a strategic roadmap for improving medical group financial performance. This 12-part series offers quick, actionable insights on revenue growth and cost management, covering key areas like contract negotiation, revenue cycle management, provider productivity, and overhead reduction. By implementing these targeted strategies, medical practices can enhance financial sustainability and operational efficiency. For a look at optimizing provider encounters and productivity, access Part 5, “Optimizing Encounters Per Provider/Provider Production.”
Do you have any best practices or success stories to share on this topic? Please let us know by emailing us at connection@mgma.com.
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