CPC Practice Staff per Primary Care Clinician in 2016, by Baseline (2012) Practice Size
| Staff Type | All Practices, Mean | By Baseline Practice Size,a Mean | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Clinician | 2-3 Clinicians | 4-5 Clinicians | 6-10 Clinicians | >10 Clinicians | ||
| Staff FTE per primary care clinician FTE | 3.3 | 5.1 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 3.2 |
| Non-administrative staff | 2.0 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 2.1 |
| Administrative staff | 1.2 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Individual staff type FTE per primary care clinician FTE | ||||||
| Primary care cliniciansb (reference group) | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Physicians | ||||||
| Primary care physicians (MDs or DOs) | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Specialty physicians | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| NPs and PAs | ||||||
| Do bill under own NPI | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Do not bill under own NPI | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| RNs, excluding RN care managers | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Nutritionists | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Behavioral health professionals, clinical psychologists, or social workers | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Health educators | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Care managers and care coordinatorsc | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Community services coordinatorsd | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Medical assistants | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| LPNs and LVNs | 0.6 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Pharmacists | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Quality improvement specialists | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Physical or respiratory therapists | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Laboratory or radiology technicians | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.6 |
| Health information technologists or EHR specialists | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Administrative staff (reception, medical records, appointment, finance, etc) | ||||||
| Receptionists | 0.7 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| Accountants or financial managers | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Staff who work in billing, coding, administrative assistance, medical records, payroll, data entry/analysis, or network administration | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Practice supervisors or practice managers | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Other | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
CPC = Comprehensive Primary Care; DO = Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine; EHR = electronic health record; FTE = full-time equivalent; LPN = licensed practical nurse; LVN = licensed vocational nurse; MD = Doctor of Medicine; NP = nurse practitioner; NPI = national provider identifier; PA = physician assistant; RN = registered nurse
Notes: In the survey, we asked for the number of full-time and part-time staff. We estimated that a part-time staff was equivalent to 0.5 FTE. For the denominator of each ratio, we used the number of FTE physicians reported in the November 2016 clinician roster files to CMS; the numerator is the FTE staff reported by practices in the survey. Source was the CPC practice surveys administered April through August 2016.
↵a Practice size was determined using practice-provided rosters of the primary care physicians and NPs and PAs who bill under their own NPI. The roster files were collected in November 2012 and report the number of these clinicians at the practice site in October 2012, the first month of CPC.
↵b The number of primary care clinicians includes primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants who can bill under their own NPI. Practices reported this information to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services each month; the numbers for this analysis come from the roster files reported November of the corresponding year.
c Coordinate care for patients in the practice with other providers.
↵d Link patients in the practice with available services and resources in the community.