Browsing by Author "Weidemann, Darcy K."

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    Moving the Needle Toward Fair Compensation in Pediatric Nephrology
    (Frontiers Media, 2022-03-10) Weidemann, Darcy K.; Ashoor, I. A.; Soranno, D. E.; Sheth, R.; Carter, C.; Brophy, P.D.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Remuneration issues are a substantial threat to the long-term stability of the pediatric nephrology workforce. It is uncertain whether the pediatric nephrology workforce will meet the growing needs of children with kidney disease without a substantial overhaul of the current reimbursement policies. In contrast to adult nephrology, the majority of pediatric nephrologists practice in an academic setting affiliated with a university and/or children's hospital. The pediatric nephrology service line is crucial to maintaining the financial health and wellness of a comprehensive children's hospital. However, in the current fee-for-service system, the clinical care for children with kidney disease is neither sufficiently valued, nor appropriately compensated. Current compensation models derived from the relative value unit (RVU) system contribute to the structural biases inherent in the current inequitable payment system. The perceived negative financial compensation is a significant driver of waning trainee interest in the field which is one of the least attractive specialties for students, with a significant proportion of training spots going unfilled each year and relatively stagnant growth rate as compared to the other pediatric subspecialties. This article reviews the current state of financial compensation issues plaguing the pediatric nephrology subspecialty. We further outline strategies for pediatric nephrologists, hospital administrators, and policy-makers to improve the landscape of financial reimbursement to pediatric subspecialists. A physician compensation model is proposed which aligns clinical activity with alternate metrics for current non-RVU producing activities that harmonizes hospital and personal mission statements.
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    Trends in the representation of women in the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology program at the Pediatric Academic Society annual meetings 2012-2021
    (Frontiers Media, 2023-04-27) Barani-Najafabadi, Bahar; Selewski, David T.; Soranno, Danielle E.; Weidemann, Darcy K.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Introduction: Women are under-represented in virtually all fields of academic medicine. Even in pediatrics, a field that historically attracts a workforce with a majority of women physicians, substantial gender disparities persist in leadership positions. However, previous studies of gender representation in various academic settings are limited to small studies or aggregate pediatric subspecialties, thereby omitting important granularity within each subspecialty. No prior studies have investigated potential gender disparities in pediatric nephrology. The aim of this study is to determine the representation of women physicians in leadership and speaking roles in the annual American Society of Pediatric Nephrology (ASPN) meeting. Methods: Data were analyzed from the 2012-2022 ASPN annual scientific meetings at the Pediatric Academic Society (PAS). Data were abstracted regarding gender and roles: speaker, chair/moderator, and lifetime achievement awardee. We performed a time series analysis using linear regression, with the year as the independent variable and the proportion of women as the dependent variable. Results: Overall, there were statistically significant increases in the proportion of women speakers per year and percentage of women chairs or moderators. There were no specific trends noted for lifetime achievement awards and no statistically significant changes in the number of lifetime achievement awards. Discussion: We found proportionate representations of gender representation with regards to speakers and chairs or moderators, although our data was limited by comparison to the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) workforce cumulative "ever certified" data. The ABP data include a disproportionate representation of faculty who are men from earlier certification periods who may no longer be actively practicing pediatric nephrology.