Physician Needs Assessment

SullivanCotter's Interactive Cloud-Based Application

Access to market-specific physician supply and demand data via an updated physician needs assessment is critical as hospitals and health systems look to support growth, enhance value-based care delivery and reassess cost and efficiency concerns. Health care organizations must identify the right amount and type of physician specialties to operate effectively in the markets they serve with the goals of optimizing clinical performance to remain competitive in rapidly evolving environment.

SullivanCotter’s Physician Needs Assessment (PNA) is an interactive cloud-based application that delivers accurate and actionable data-driven insights to help organizations identify, monitor and respond to changing service needs and physician staffing requirements. This product enables our clients to assess evolving workforce needs and model tailored forecasting scenarios with ongoing, real-time access to SullivanCotter’s database of physician supply and demand information.

Our Physician Needs Assessment Methodology

Our proprietary PNA methodology accurately identifies the physician surplus or deficit within a specific market by determining supply and forecasting wRVU utilization according to various demographic factors and payer types to calculate subsequent demand. This approach includes:

SUPPLYDEMAND
Multiple data sources are rigorously researched to identify all physician details and practice locations - including tracking of employment and affiliationsApplies Claritas Pop-Facts® demographic detail
by zip code
Call verification team contacts every office location to confirm practicing physician detailsAnalyzes more than 1 billion unique claims annually to forecast wRVU utilization by zip code
Proprietary algorithm adjusts for clinical full time equivalent based on SullivanCotter’s specialty-specific benchmarksUtilizes SullivanCotter benchmark data from over 1,500 organizations and 400,000 physicians to calculate FTE
Client validation of market-specific providers by specialty and practice locationDefines FTE demand on over 150 subspecialty designations
Ongoing access to updated physician supply database for reporting and data miningCombines data sources and forecasts utilization by market-specific demographics including geography, economic factors, age/gender, payment type and managed care

Physician Needs Assessment: Features and Functionality

SullivanCotter's innovative new PNA application is designed to help organizations dynamically address emerging market changes, identify physician practice patterns, and determine current and future workforce needs.

Key features and functionality include:
  • Market-specific needs assessment to provide accurate and detailed reporting of physician supply and demand and the resulting surplus/deficit by payer type and specialty
  • Interactive mapping tool with the ability to select specific zip codes for strategic consideration and to account for any shifts in demographic mix
  • Predictive modeling to assess the impact of virtual care, urgent care, retail health and more
  • Advanced practice provider calculator to measure utilization across specialties and corresponding effect on physician supply and demand
  • Comprehensive customizable reports with 5-year rolling projections and automatic annual updates to demand and geographic information
  • Archived reports to provide strategic service area documentation and annual Stark compliance reporting for fair market value and commercial reasonableness considerations
  • Ongoing technical support to address application’s features and functionality
  • Consulting support to assist with application set-up, training and reports

Business Intelligence Reports

The application displays results and reports with a number of customizable filters for strategic consideration:

  • Results Overview
  • Service Area Mapping
  • Comparative Market Results
  • Demographic Trends
  • Population Trends
  • Demand by Place of Service
  • Payer Demand by Specialty
  • Predictive Modeling
  • Physician Supply Roster
  • Physician Age Analysis
  • PCP APP Ratio Analysis
  • Calculate Surplus/Deficit
  • Net Need by Population Type
  • Market Share Insights
  • Specialty Summaries
  • Ranked Needs and Priorities

Interactive Mapping Tool

(click to enlarge)

Supply Roster

(click to enlarge)

Market Comparison Report

(click to enlarge)

Surplus/Deficits Report

(click to enlarge)

APP Calculator

(click to enlarge)

Demand by Payment Type

(click to enlarge)
Download PDF

Request a Demo



Physician Affiliation and
Needs Assessment

In order to remain competitive in a dynamic health care environment, health care organizations are seeking to optimize clinical care and enhance performance through a wide range of physician-hospital affiliation models.

Learn more about enhancing your organization’s physician affiliation relationships >


SullivanCotter’s PNA application with interactive cloud-based dashboard helps organizations to:

  • Reduce guesswork regarding population demographics
  • Identify demand by selected services areas, population demographics and payment type
  • Create competitive edge by optimizing physician resources
  • Improve physician staffing and recruiting decisions to help control the cost of employment
  • Pinpoint employed and affiliated market physicians by specialty
  • Inform physician strategy and alignment efforts to enhance performance
  • Gain insight into the influence of APPs and emerging technologies
  • Utilize accurate listing of physicians within a market
  • Identify service line delivery gaps and opportunities

Learn more about our innovative new Physician Needs Assessment application

Contact SullivanCotter

Related Resources

Proactive Workforce Planning: Grounded in Data

Featured in Fierce Healthcare, SullivanCotter’s President and CEO, Ted Chien, outlines the importance of utilizing robust data and benchmarks to build a more resilient workforce model that helps support the delivery of high-quality care and enhance financial sustainability.

Read More

Physician-Hospital Affiliation Strategies

Market pressures continue to test the financial sustainability of health care organizations nationwide. To succeed in a rapidly evolving marketplace, health systems, medical groups and physicians must work together to develop a more intentional and comprehensive affiliation strategy to help drive performance and improve outcomes.

Read More

Utilizing Physician Compensation and Productivity Benchmarks

Changes to the Physician Fee Schedule have materially impacted the most recent set of physician compensation and productivity benchmarks. As a result, year-over-year comparisons of survey benchmarks require special review and must be carefully considered when incorporating insights into workforce planning and compensation decision-making.

Read More