The perennial question: What’s the going rate for GP locums and associates?

We recently published our annual GP remuner-ation survey report for locums and associates, which is based on 342 responses from 245 – mainly GP-owned – practices.

In 2020, 64 per cent of practices engaged their locums and associates as contractors (down from 72 per cent in 2019) and 36 per cent as employees. Payment methods varied between contractors and employees as follows:

• Of the contractor GPs 44 per cent were paid a sessional rate; 33 per cent an hourly rate; 21 per cent were paid a commission; and 2 per cent paid a dollar amount per patient seen.

• For the employee GPs 39 per cent were paid a salary; 36 per cent paid an hourly rate; 19 per cent paid a sessional rate; just 5 per cent were paid a commission; and 1 per cent paid a dollar amount per patient seen.

The survey median rates (without considering experience) were as follows:

• For contractor GPs the median hourly rate range was $116–$120, the median sessional rate range was $476– $500 for a four-hour session and median commission rate was 55 per cent.
• For employee GPs the median hourly rate range was $96–$100, the median sessional rate range was $400– $425 for a four-hour session and the median commission rate was also 55 per cent.
• For salaried employee GPs there was a median full-time equivalent (40 hours per week) salary range of $191,000–$200,000.

Median contractor hourly and sessional rates were 18 per cent higher than employee rates (see table).

This difference is in line with what we would expect given that contractors do not receive employee benefits such as annual leave, statutory holidays, sick leave, or KiwiSaver employer contributions, and have more risk without protections under the Employment Relations Act.

As previously, most practices stated they value experience over other factors and our survey (see table) confirmed that most rates are lower for less-experienced GPs.

When engaging a GP, either as a contractor or employee, you should be clear on how much time you expect will be spent on patient contact and how much will be paid paperwork time.

Our survey results showed the median patient contact time over a paid four-hour session was three hours 15 minutes and the median number of patients expected to be seen in a four-hour session was 12.

These rates are a general guide only and there will be many other factors that influence GP remuneration.

MAS staff are happy to send you a copy of the MAS GP remuneration survey report or answer any questions you have on practice issues or dilemmas. Email business@mas.co.nz

Shaun Phelan is business advisory manager at MAS