On average, physician work RVUs make up 55% of the total RVUs of a service, with work being composed of what elements?

Physician work represents the effort of the physician in providing professional service. On average, physician work RVUs make up 55% of the total RVUs of a service.

Work is considered to be composed of these elements: time required to perform service, technical skill and physical effort, mental effort and judgment, and psychological stress associated with physician concern about iatrogenic risk to the patient. High scores in some of these areas will work to offset low scores in other areas.  The effort of support staff (such as medical assistants and nurses) is not included as part of physician work. Instead, support staff activities are included under practice expense Physician work is temporally subdivided into preservice work, intraservice work, and postservice work. Preservice work essentially represents preparation for a service or procedure. Intraservice work is the actual performance of the service (for an operation, this is the “skin-to-skin” time). Postservice work includes creation of the medical record and, in the case of procedures, stabilizing the patient.