Using Relative Value Units to Measure Faculty Clinical Productivity

The objective of this project was to compare faculty productivity in teaching and nonteaching clinical settings. We hypothesized that teaching activity would have no impact on productivity. A mixed model, repeated measures analysis of variance was used to analyze average relative value units (RVUs) billed and to test for differences between clinics. Data were drawn from 4,956 clinical encounters made within a student, resident, and faculty clinic. Average RVUs per visit were similar in the three settings. Resident supervision increased faculty productivity, while student supervision had no impact on billed RVUs. Thus, RVUs can be used as a measure of faculty clinical productivity in different settings in an academic medical center. Precepting students does not appear to affect clinical productivity.