Background: It is unknown how productivity of transplant nephrologists in the U.S. is measured. Methods: We conducted a web-based survey to ascertain the current RVU requirements for transplant nephrologists in the U.S. We invited 414 transplant nephrologists who were associated with 109 academic adult kidney transplant programs to participate. The survey consisted of 11 questions–academic rank, % clinical effort, % transplant activity, satisfaction with compensation, and their opinion on RVU. Results: 109 nephrologists (assistant professor -40%, associate professor-31%, professor-27%) representing 79 transplant programs participated. 60% of the respondents had >70% clinical effort. Most were employees of medical school (62%) or hospital (22%). 3/4 of the respondents had part of their salary supported by the medical school/hospital. 51% of the respondents had no target RVUs while 21% had >5000 RVU target. 60% of the respondents were dissatisfied with their financial compensation. 76% of the participants did not favor the RVU methodology for their work effort. Conclusion: There is a wide variation in the RVU targets for transplant nephrologists in the U.S and a strong objection to using RVU as a metric for productivity. A metric that takes into account both clinical and non-RVU generating activities (MDM, QAPI meetings, protocol/program development, outreach, etc) is likely to gather greater acceptance.

CITATION INFORMATION: Chon W, Pavlakis M, Witkowski P, Chen L.-X, Kadambi P. A Web-Based Survey of Academic Transplant Nephrologists in the U.S. on Relative Value Unit (RVU)-Based Productivity Assessment and Financial Compensation. Am J Transplant. 2016;16 (suppl 3).

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