2009 Coder
Salary Survey:
A Special Report
Dear reader,
This special report includes results from the 2009 JustCoding.com Coder Salary Survey. The survey polled more than 500 coding professionals nationwide on their salaries. It also gathered information about incentive plans, raises, nonmonetary rewards, and whether coders feel that they are compensated fairly for their work.
This report provides a detailed breakdown of how various factors, including geographic region, educa-tion level, and years of experience affect salary.
We hope the report will serve as a useful benchmarking tool for you and your organization. Sincerely,
Doreen V. Bentley, CPC-A Managing Editor
JustCoding.com and ICD-10 Watch 781/639-1872, Ext. 3109
➤ Coder salaries rise, but frustrations linger ...2
– Figure 1: Credentials ...3
– Figure 2: Education and salary ...4
– Figure 3: Salaries by region ...4
➤ How do you compare to the average coder? ...9
➤ What will the future hold for coders once ICD-10 takes effect in 2013? ...10
Table of contents
Despite the recent economic downturn, coders may be pleasantly surprised to learn that salaries for their profes-sion continued to rise, according to the 2009 JustCoding.com Coder Salary Survey. Out of 541 survey respondents, 60% reported that they earn more than $20 per hour ($41,600 annually), up from 55% of respondents who reported that they made this amount in 2008. And 29% earn more than $26 per hour ($54,080 annually), up from 23% in 2008.
An impressive 67% of survey respondents reported that they had received a raise in the past 12 months. Slightly more than half of this group (51%) reported a 3%–4% salary increase. More than one-third (39%) re-ported an increase of 2% or less.
The continued rise in salaries reflects the evolution of the coding professional, from being merely a task-orient-ed position to being a more complex, integral part of the organization’s financial well-being, says Glenn Krauss, BBA, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, PCS, FCS, C-CDIS, CCDS, an independent coding consultant in Milton, WI. “It really stems from the fact that the expectation is that coders will see their jobs as roles and not just tasks,” Krauss says.
The continued rise in salaries could also be a byprod-uct of supply and demand, says Rose T. Dunn, MBA, RHIA, CPA, FACHE, chief operating officer at First Class Solutions, Inc., in Maryland Heights, MO.
James H. Braden, MBA, corporate director of HIM at Health Quest health system in Poughkeepsie, NY, agrees. “I don’t think the supply of coders is keeping pace with the demand,” Braden says. “So consequently, I think that the compensation in the market for a person who has experi-ence and skills around coding is going to increase.” Education, type of coding affect salaries
To put the overall increase in coder salaries in per-spective, other factors, such as the setting and the type of coding performed, should also be considered. Additional factors include:
➤ Education. Predictably, higher education often leads to higher salaries. There is a clear distinction
between coders whose highest education was “some college” compared to those who earned a master’s de-gree. Note the following percentages of respondents who earned more than $30 per hour:
– Some college: 9% – Associate’s degree: 16% – Bachelor’s degree: 21% – Some graduate work: 40% – Master’s degree: 69%
“I suspect that for coders to be further recognized, we might need to encourage them to go on to earn a higher degree than what they have,” Dunn says. That said, Dunn certainly knows many high-quality, certified coders who are respected by their peers but who don’t have a college degree.
“This is an issue of perception by some employers today that unless a person has this piece of paper, they really aren’t worthy of additional pay,” Dunn says. “If there’s any group of employees that this is most wrong for, it’s the coding professionals because of the skill set held and knowledge that they possess.”
➤ Experience. As with many other professions, ex-perience certainly affects salary. Approximately 67% of coders with less than one year of experience reported that they make less than $17 an hour, whereas 38% of coders with 11–15 years of experience make at least $24 an hour. And approximately one-third of coders with more than 20 years of experience reported making more than $30 per hour.
“Experience does count for a lot,” says Roxanne Parrella, RHIT, CHP, CCS, CPC, director of HIM at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie. “We really want to set the bar, so you have to have a creden-tial in order to be recruited here. Having said that, we test anybody who applies or interviews for a coding posi-tion so that we can see their skill level, and a lot of that has to do with experience.”
➤ Inpatient vs. outpatient vs. combination. The type and breadth of records with which coders work also appears to affect salary. Of those respondents who
Coder salaries rise, but frustrations linger
> continued on p. 4
Figure 1: Credentials
What are your credentials? Check all that apply.
CCA 3% CCDS 1% CCP 2% CCS 31% CCS-P 6% CEMC 1% CMA 1% CPC 24% CPC-A 1% CPC-H 4% LPN 2% RHIA 8% RHIT 28% RN 2%
None. I don't have any credentials. 11%
Source: 2009 JustCoding.com Coder Salary Survey.
code inpatient records, 17% make more than $30 per hour. This is only slightly higher than respondents who perform physician coding (16%). A significantly smaller segment of outpatient coders (only 8%) said they make more than $30 per hour.
In addition, coders who code a variety of records are more apt to be at the higher end of the salary spectrum. For those who perform both inpatient and outpatient coding or some combination of inpatient, outpatient, and physician coding, 22% and 24% respectively reported making more than $30 per hour.
➤ Type of medical record. Likewise, the type of medical record—electronic, paper, or hybrid—may also correlate to coders’ salaries. Of those who work entirely on electronic records, the largest segment of this group in a particular salary range (16%) earned more than $30 per hour. Another 11% reported salary earnings of $19.01–$20 per hour. And collectively, 42% earned be-tween $20 and $30 per hour.
This is in stark contrast to coders who reported that they code only paper records, with the largest segment of this group in a particular salary range (16%) report-ing that they make less than $15 per hour. Although
12% of these coders reported earning more than $30 per hour, the bulk of this group (57%) who coded only paper records said they earned anywhere from $16.01 to $22 per hour.
Of the coders who use hybrid paper/electronic records, 22% reported that they make more than $30 hourly. A glimpse at work habits
Most coders (58% of respondents) indicated that they work 31–40 hours per week. But another significant seg-ment of the respondents (40%) said they typically work 41 hours or more each week.
For coders who work overtime, most of this overtime is concentrated to one or two days per week (36%) and not spread out over the entire week.
Although the majority of coders who work overtime get paid time and a half (53%), 22% said they don’t get paid at all for overtime.
So what does the future hold for coders, and how will the evolution of this profession change work habits?
“As we move toward electronic health records, it takes longer to code a chart. The ease of going through a paper chart that has colors and variations in handwriting has been eliminated with electronic health records,” Dunn says. “So we have the same volume and the same num-ber of staff memnum-bers, but it takes longer, so that contrib-utes to a shortage of coders.”
Some anticipate that a blend of technology and arti-ficial intelligence within electronic medical record solu-tions will leverage the skill set of coding professionals so they move toward a model in which they code by excep-tion, meaning that to a certain degree, coders will func-tion more as editors of automated coding.
“As artificial intelligence engines become more robust, they will be able to process transcribed documents so coders will act more like editors of those records,” Braden says. “I think, in turn, you’ll see that this will apply up-ward pressure on compensation because these are skill sets that are highly sought after. The number of cases a coder touches will diminish, but the scope of what they’re touching will drive compensation upward.”
Salaries rise
< continued from p. 3 Parrella agrees. “Coding by exception will really change the coding industry,” she says.An argument for incentive plans
When asked whether their facility has an incentive plan that encourages productivity with increased pay, the
overwhelming majority (87%) of survey respondents in-dicated that theirs does not. But more than one-third of respondents (39%) said their facility does offer nonmon-etary incentives, such as parties, awards, additional time off, and flex hours.
Figure 2: Education and salary
What is the highest level of education you've achieved? What is the median hourly salary for this education level?
High school $19.01–$20
Some college $19.01–$20
Associate's degree $22.01–$23
Bachelor's degree $23.01–$24
Some graduate work $25.01–$26
Master's degree More than $30
Source: 2009 JustCoding.com Coder Salary Survey.
Figure 3: Salaries by region
What is your current hourly wage?
Less than $15 per hour 5% $15–$16 per hour 2% $16.01–$17 per hour 3% $17.01–$18 per hour 5% $18.01–$19 per hour 3% $19.01–$20 per hour 3% $20.01–$21 per hour 10% $21.01–$22 per hour 5% $22.01–$23 per hour 7% $23.01–$24 per hour 0% $24.01–$25 per hour 5% $25.01–$26 per hour 5% $26.01–$27 per hour 1% $27.01–$28 per hour 12% $28.01–$29 per hour 1% $29.01–$30 per hour 10% More than $30 per hour 23%
On average, how many hours per week do you work?
20 or fewer 0%
21–30 3%
31–40 53%
41–50 41%
More than 50 3%
Do you believe that the salary, benefits, bonuses, and job perks have kept pace with the cost of living in your area?
Yes 51%
No 49%
Do you feel that you are fairly compensated for the work you do?
Yes 51%
No 49%
Source: 2009 JustCoding.com Coder Salary Survey. Northeast
(CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT)
Salaries by region
(cont.)What is your current hourly wage?
Less than $15 per hour 11% $15–$16 per hour 5% $16.01–$17 per hour 8% $17.01–$18 per hour 9% $18.01–$19 per hour 8% $19.01–$20 per hour 9% $20.01–$21 per hour 6% $21.01–$22 per hour 6% $22.01–$23 per hour 5% $23.01–$24 per hour 3% $24.01–$25 per hour 3% $25.01–$26 per hour 5% $26.01–$27 per hour 4% $27.01–$28 per hour 4% $28.01–$29 per hour 0% $29.01–$30 per hour 4% More than $30 per hour 10%
On average, how many hours per week do you work?
20 or fewer 2%
21–30 2%
31–40 55%
41–50 36%
More than 50 5%
Do you believe that the salary, benefits, bonuses, and job perks have kept pace with the cost of living in your area?
Yes 37%
No 63%
Do you feel that you are fairly compensated for the work you do?
Yes 49%
No 51%
Source: 2009 JustCoding.com Coder Salary Survey. North Central
(IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
What is your current hourly wage?
Less than $15 per hour 8% $15–$16 per hour 3% $16.01–$17 per hour 14% $17.01–$18 per hour 0% $18.01–$19 per hour 3% $19.01–$20 per hour 8% $20.01–$21 per hour 5% $21.01–$22 per hour 3% $22.01–$23 per hour 5% $23.01–$24 per hour 14% $24.01–$25 per hour 0% $25.01–$26 per hour 3% $26.01–$27 per hour 0% $27.01–$28 per hour 0% $28.01–$29 per hour 3% $29.01–$30 per hour 0% More than $30 per hour 31%
On average, how many hours per week do you work?
20 or fewer 3%
21–30 0%
31–40 58%
41–50 31%
More than 50 8%
Do you believe that the salary, benefits, bonuses, and job perks have kept pace with the cost of living in your area?
Yes 31%
No 69%
Do you feel that you are fairly compensated for the work you do?
Yes 33%
No 67%
Source: 2009 JustCoding.com Coder Salary Survey. West
Salaries by region
(cont.)What is your current hourly wage?
Less than $15 per hour 0% $15–$16 per hour 3% $16.01–$17 per hour 0% $17.01–$18 per hour 0% $18.01–$19 per hour 6% $19.01–$20 per hour 9% $20.01–$21 per hour 9% $21.01–$22 per hour 0% $22.01–$23 per hour 12% $23.01–$24 per hour 9% $24.01–$25 per hour 6% $25.01–$26 per hour 6% $26.01–$27 per hour 3% $27.01–$28 per hour 0% $28.01–$29 per hour 0% $29.01–$30 per hour 3% More than $30 per hour 34%
On average, how many hours per week do you work?
20 or fewer 0%
21–30 3%
31–40 58%
41–50 36%
More than 50 3%
Do you believe that the salary, benefits, bonuses, and job perks have kept pace with the cost of living in your area?
Yes 52%
No 48%
Do you feel that you are fairly compensated for the work you do?
Yes 45%
No 55%
Source: 2009 JustCoding.com Coder Salary Survey. Middle Atlantic
(DE, MD, NJ, PA)
What is your current hourly wage?
Less than $15 per hour 12% $15–$16 per hour 2% $16.01–$17 per hour 11% $17.01–$18 per hour 6% $18.01–$19 per hour 8% $19.01–$20 per hour 6% $20.01–$21 per hour 6% $21.01–$22 per hour 5% $22.01–$23 per hour 4% $23.01–$24 per hour 6% $24.01–$25 per hour 4% $25.01–$26 per hour 4% $26.01–$27 per hour 4% $27.01–$28 per hour 1% $28.01–$29 per hour 3% $29.01–$30 per hour 3% More than $30 per hour 15%
On average, how many hours per week do you work?
20 or fewer 1%
21–30 1%
31–40 62%
41–50 33%
More than 50 3%
Do you believe that the salary, benefits, bonuses, and job perks have kept pace with the cost of living in your area?
Yes 40%
No 60%
Do you feel that you are fairly compensated for the work you do?
Yes 53%
No 47%
Source: 2009 JustCoding.com Coder Salary Survey. Southeast
Salaries by region
(cont.)What is your current hourly wage?
Less than $15 per hour 14% $15–$16 per hour 5% $16.01–$17 per hour 6% $17.01–$18 per hour 6% $18.01–$19 per hour 3% $19.01–$20 per hour 13% $20.01–$21 per hour 10% $21.01–$22 per hour 9% $22.01–$23 per hour 8% $23.01–$24 per hour 2% $24.01–$25 per hour 6% $25.01–$26 per hour 2% $26.01–$27 per hour 0% $27.01–$28 per hour 0% $28.01–$29 per hour 3% $29.01–$30 per hour 0% More than $30 per hour 13%
On average, how many hours per week do you work?
20 or fewer 1%
21–30 0%
31–40 58%
41–50 34%
More than 50 7%
Do you believe that the salary, benefits, bonuses, and job perks have kept pace with the cost of living in your area?
Yes 39%
No 61%
Do you feel that you are fairly compensated for the work you do?
Yes 52%
No 48%
Source: 2009 JustCoding.com Coder Salary Survey. South Central
(AR, KS, LA, MO, OK, TX)
What is your current hourly wage?
Less than $15 per hour 2% $15–$16 per hour 5% $16.01–$17 per hour 2% $17.01–$18 per hour 2% $18.01–$19 per hour 5% $19.01–$20 per hour 5% $20.01–$21 per hour 3% $21.01–$22 per hour 9% $22.01–$23 per hour 9% $23.01–$24 per hour 3% $24.01–$25 per hour 3% $25.01–$26 per hour 4% $26.01–$27 per hour 7% $27.01–$28 per hour 2% $28.01–$29 per hour 9% $29.01–$30 per hour 2% More than $30 per hour 28%
On average, how many hours per week do you work?
20 or fewer 0%
21–30 3%
31–40 63%
41–50 30%
More than 50 4%
Do you believe that the salary, benefits, bonuses, and job perks have kept pace with the cost of living in your area?
Yes 33%
No 67%
Do you feel that you are fairly compensated for the work you do?
Yes 51%
No 49%
Source: 2009 JustCoding.com Coder Salary Survey. Pacific
Dunn says management needs to listen to coders who say they’re under-compensated.
“For those who are doing high-quality work and pro-ducing at high levels, incorporate an incentive plan that further recognizes their quantity and quality,” she says, adding that she disagrees with those who argue this could lead to potential compliance issues. “If management is routinely checking the quality of coding that’s produced, then there is no compliance issue.”
More than half (56%) of the coding professionals surveyed said they are ineligible for any kind of bonus. The next largest group of respondents (20%) said their annual bonus is based on the performance of their orga-nization as a whole.
However, many respondents confirmed that their or-ganizations had initiated salary freezes in the past year due to the economy. “Unfortunately, our compensation comes only in the way of how the hospital performs, and since the economy took such a bad turn last year, we are not getting a raise or a bonus this year. But at least we still have a job,” one respondent noted.
The majority of coding professionals (63%) also ex-pressed that they did not feel that their hospital offered a career ladder that provided them opportunities for ad-vancement or promotions.
“Our administration and manager have lost touch with how involved coding is now. Newer technology is not offered, and coding education is rarely offered,” one respondent said. “All our manager cares about is how quick the records can get coded.”
Krauss cautions against evaluating good coding based on the number of records coded each day.
“I can reach my quota of coding 25 records a day, but what if I’m not leaving any queries even when they’re necessary?” he says.
Instead of focusing on quotas alone, providers may want to consider accuracy-based incentives, Krauss says. “I think it would be good to offer a 5% bonus on a quarterly basis if coders meet their quotas and meet 95% or greater accuracy,” he says. “Hospitals will get
the reimbursement they are entitled to based upon pa-tient clinical acuity and resources spent in managing and treating the patient.”
And although 60% of survey respondents said they did not feel that their salary, benefits, bonuses, or job perks have kept pace with the cost of living, some in-dustry insiders make the case that cost of living should not necessarily determine salary. Providers should be paying for their value and skill set, not cost of living, Krauss says.
Many coders feel under-compensated
Despite the overall increase in salaries, coders are divided on whether they are compensated fairly for the work they do. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they are not fairly compensated for their work, and when asked whether those in the coding profession in general are sufficiently compensated for their work, 55% said they are not.
“Coders are largely responsible for the reimburse-ment to a facility,” wrote one respondent. “They need to be paid for the vital service they provide and for the vast amount of continuing education [CE] they must participate in to keep up with ever-changing regulations.”
Many others echoed these sentiments. “A worker sits there at a desk for eight hours or more and works through lunch and does not achieve any benefit, but rather only a feeling of burnout and frustration, especial-ly when you’re in cramped working environments and receive negative feedback from supervisors,” one respon-dent wrote.
“I feel certified coders are woefully undervalued,” wrote another respondent. “My son makes more than I do delivering pizza.”
If coders expect higher wages, they need to demon-strate why their wages should be higher, Krauss says. “Coders who want to get more money need to differenti-ate their skill sets from everyone else’s and demonstrdifferenti-ate their value to the organization,” he says.
Compensation can mean many things
Dissatisfaction regarding salaries may simply be a sign of the times. Dunn suggests that a poll in any other in-dustry would reflect a similar response.
“Because reimbursement is down and we’re losing seg-ments of revenue, employers are being very conservative in pay increases because they don’t want to commit to a future expense of ongoing pay at a certain level when there may not be the revenue there to cover that expense,” Dunn says.
It’s a challenge for a number of healthcare systems to keep pace with where the compensation trend line is going, Braden says, but it’s important to recognize that compensation comes in different forms.
“Compensation is not just money, but also opportunity and job enrichment, and so I think that there are a num-ber of different reasons that organizations are challenged with enriching coders’ job satisfaction,” Braden says.
When organizations can’t afford to shell out more cash, sometimes simple gestures of appreciation can make all the difference. “It doesn’t cost anything to let people know that you appreciate them and let them know they’re doing a good job,” Krauss says.
For example, one respondent said, “The facility where I am employed does not realize the importance of coders and the fact that we can make or break the financial side of the institution. For so long, coding has been a necessary evil to get the bill to finance and drop, but now the tide is turning and institutions need to realize how valuable a good coder can be.”
Financial compensation is one-dimensional, but re-ward and recognition—feeling appreciated and having
ongoing educational opportunities that nurture and en-rich professional development—are also forms of com-pensation, Braden says.
“Career ladders, opportunities to advance, and aware-ness among the organization of the contribution and value coders bring to the table are all dimensions of what I would view as compensation,” he says.
Many organizations fall short when it comes to main-taining an ongoing CE program among their coders, Parrella says.
It’s important for managers to take into account that certified coders must pay annual dues, which can be quite costly. “If the organization recognizes that and rou-tinely gives coders courses they need to get their CEs, it’s showing them that they’re important to the organiza-tion,” Parrella says.
Unfortunately, some organizations don’t view CE op-portunities as long-term investments. “It’s pennywise and pound foolish. Frankly, at some point, if the investment is not made to continue to nurture and develop these people who possess these skill sets, those people will go other plac-es where they will get that rplac-esource,” Braden says.
Ultimately, employees value rewards and recognition as well as awareness that they are making a valuable contribution, Braden says. When their contribution is recognized throughout the organization, people truly feel like they’re viewed as major contributors to the health and success of that organization. And when they receive ongoing opportunities for growth and develop-ment as well, Braden says, you have a perfect blend of compensation. n
How do you compare to the average coder?
Below are the median values for the answers we received to each of the following questions:
What is your current hourly wage? $21.01–$22
In what age range do you fall? 41–50
How long have you held your current position? 3–5 years How many years of coding experience do you have? 11–15 On average, how many hours per week do you work? 31–40 What was the percentage of your most recent raise (within the past 12 months)? 3%–4%
What will the future hold for coders once ICD-10 takes effect in 2013?
The ICD-10 countdown is on. Although some facilitiesmay be relieved at the thought that it won’t be implemented until October 1, 2013, in reality, this date should motivate providers to throw their implementation efforts into high gear. CMS representatives have repeatedly warned providers that implementation will take place without delay and with-out exception.
Many HIM and coding professionals are bracing them-selves for the obvious initial decrease in coder productivity. But what are industry insiders’ expectations in terms of how ICD-10 will affect the coding profession and, in turn, salaries?
“I’m confident that salaries will go up because the major-ity of this additional clinical learning that will be required for ICD-10 will not occur while coders are on the job,” says
Glenn Krauss, BBA, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, PCS, FCS, C-CDIS, CCDS, an independent coding consultant in Milton, WI. “Coders will need to take the initiative to read lots of handouts and attend seminars, and if I’m taking the initiative to learn more, I would hope that the payback will reflect the wages that go with it.”
Most coders don’t have time to do a lot of reading or study on the job, so they can use this as an opportunity to demon-strate their initiative to learn the new content on their own, starting by recognizing their own deficiencies, says Krauss.
ICD-10 will prompt the healthcare industry to recognize the value of competent coders. However, the necessary clini-cal expertise required to code with ICD-10 might invite oth-ers to join the coding profession, says Rose T. Dunn, MBA, RHIA, CPA, FACHE, chief operating officer at First Class Solutions, Inc., in Maryland Heights, MO.
“Clearly, our existing coding professionals would be wise to expand on clinical knowledge now as much as possible so that they can effectively compete with others who may have this clinical expertise,” Dunn says. “I think salaries will have to go up with ICD-10. I think supply and demand will push that.”
Take into account age distribution
The current age distribution among coders may also fac-tor into how ICD-10 will affect the profession. Consider the breakdown of the survey respondents by age:
➤Under 20: 0% ➤21–30: 5% ➤31–40: 17% ➤41–50: 36% ➤51–60: 35% ➤61–70: 7%
The fact that only 5% of coders fall into the 21–30 age range but more than 70% of respondents fall into the 41–60 age range suggests that, overall, the supply of younger cod-ers is not going to keep pace, says James H. Braden, MBA,
corporate director of HIM at Health Quest health system in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Also, when people retire or move on to other careers, this will just exacerbate the current coder shortage, Dunn says. “However, the implementation timetable of ICD-10 corresponds with the electronic health record initiatives and the possibility of using artificial intelligence and natural lan-guage processing to support computer-assisted coding [CAC]. CAC may also help relieve some of the supply and demand issues,” she adds.
“There needs to be more awareness of coding as a profes-sion among young people,” says Roxanne Parrella, RHIT, CHP, CCS, CPC, director of HIM at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Krauss agrees. “Someone who has been coding for 29 years will probably not stick around for ICD-10,” he says.
Others view the anticipated mass exodus of a signifi-cant number of coders as more of a myth. “I just see it as another transition to another coding system,” Parrella says. “I have heard people say, ‘That’s it for me. I’m going to retire.’ But I don’t think you’re going to see that. I think that it will be no different from when we went from ICD-8 to ICD-9.”
What is more certain is that coding schools will be over-whelmed with the need to train new coders and retrain exist-ing coders in ICD-10, Dunn says.
“Skill sets will change, so job descriptions will change, requiring clinical courses and clinical expertise,” explains Dunn. “This will in turn change the value assigned for that job title, thereby increasing the rate of pay.”
Don’t underestimate transition management Managing the transition to ICD-10 will play a greater role in job satisfaction than coder salaries, Braden says.
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“I don’t think that there will be a direct correlation be-tween ICD-10 and financial compensation,” he explains. “I think that the degree to which we manage the transition will have a direct correlation to job satisfaction and the ability to maintain talented staff.”
If organizations do not devote the resources and time to effectively engage their coders and nurture them through this change, they will lose these valuable staff members, Braden says.
It’s important to consider that 35% of survey respondents said they were 51–60 years old.
“This is more than a third of your coding resources. They may say that ICD-10 brings too much change, and the transi-tion is not well managed, so it’s time to bail,” Braden says. “This tells me that we have to do a very good job of manag-ing and preparmanag-ing people for change. A good process has to be in place to support people at what is clearly the last trimester of their professional careers.”
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This special report is published by HCPro, Inc., 200 Hoods Lane, Marblehead, MA 01945. • Copyright 2010 HCPro, Inc. All rights reserved. Except where specifically encouraged, no part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without prior written consent of HCPro, Inc., or the Copyright Clearance Center at 978/750-8400. Please notify us immediately if you have received an unauthorized copy. • For editorial comments or questions, call 781/639-1872 or fax 781/639-2982. • Opinions expressed are not nec-essarily those of the editors. Mention of products and services does not constitute endorsement. Advice given is general, and readers should consult professional counsel for specific legal, ethical, or clinical questions. HCPro, Inc., is not affiliated in any way with The Joint Commission, which owns the JCAHO and Joint Commission trademarks.
