BFMV Attended 2026 AAPCP Conference

The American Association of Provider Compensation Professionals held its annual conference in Nashville last week, and there was no shortage of thought leadership at the many relevant breakout sessions. One interesting session was a discussion on the lessons learned from a health system that created a Provider Compensation Advisory Committee (PCAC). The health system had struggled to cultivate trust with the physicians, the contracting process was inefficient and prolonged, and the communication was fragmented. The health system developed a partnership through a physician-led committee of 20 physicians, representing different regions and medical specialties, to create a venue for their voices to be heard on compensation issues. 

The results were overwhelmingly positive, leading to increased physician engagement and alignment with the health system’s goals and objectives. Under the prior process, each physician went directly to hospital administration members to discuss their concerns, resulting in a lot of time spent on each physician’s particular issues. With the advent of the PCAC, physicians provided their feedback to dedicated representatives, creating a much more efficient process with fewer meetings and more productive administrative time. The PCAC created an opportunity to educate physicians on how compensation models were developed. This transparency increased goodwill between the parties, and by the time the contracts were issued, the physicians were ready to approve them because they had been involved throughout the process. It also became a major selling point for physician recruits who found the process and representation refreshing. The panel went on to discuss that one of the biggest wins of the PCAC was the ability to lead the way in advancing the new physician fee schedule for adoption in the compensation models.

The PCAC wasn’t without its conflicts and tension, but with strong administrative leadership and engaged physician partners, it fostered trust and alignment and created a much more efficient, smoother process for physician contracting.