Tatanka Ledger
wRVU & Physician Pay Guides
Clear, accurate answers on how your production turns into pay.
How wRVUs Work: How They're Calculated and What One Is Worth (2026)
A plain-English 2026 guide to wRVUs: how CMS assigns them to CPT codes, why the Medicare conversion factor is not your pay rate, and how to turn wRVUs into income.
What's a Fair $/wRVU Rate? Conversion Factors Explained (2026)
Typical dollar-per-wRVU rates run roughly $35-85 and vary by specialty and market. Learn how to judge if a 2026 productivity offer is fair and what to compare.
Physician Productivity Bonuses and Draws, Explained
How physician productivity pay actually works: wRVU thresholds, tiered rates, the (actual minus threshold) x rate formula, base-plus-production vs pure production, and recoverable vs non-recoverable draws, with a worked example.
Why Your wRVUs Changed in 2021 — and Why Your Pay May Be Stuck on an Old CMS Schedule
The 2021 E/M overhaul raised office-visit wRVUs sharply. Learn the before/after values and why a frozen CMS schedule year in your contract can quietly cut your pay.
How to Check If You're Being Paid for All Your wRVUs
A step-by-step guide for physicians, PAs, and NPs to track encounters, compute expected wRVUs, reconcile the productivity report, and fix pay discrepancies.
wRVU vs RVU vs the Conversion Factor: A Plain-English Guide
A clear guide to RVU, wRVU, and the conversion factor — what each measures, why your pay rate is not Medicare's ~$33 CF, and how the math actually works.
wRVU Values for Common CPT Codes (2026): 99213, 99214, and More
2026 work RVU (wRVU) values for common outpatient E/M codes including 99213 and 99214, plus how wRVUs convert to pay and how to look up any CPT code.
Claims-Made vs. Occurrence Malpractice Insurance (and What Tail Coverage Is)
A physician's plain-English guide to claims-made vs. occurrence malpractice insurance, tail and nose coverage, who pays the tail, and what it costs.
How to Negotiate Your $/wRVU Rate
Negotiate your $/wRVU rate the right way: learn your specialty's survey range, pin the CMS year, and structure the threshold and tiers. Worked 2026 example.
Physician Employment Contract Red Flags: The Clauses That Quietly Cost You
A physician's guide to the contract clauses that bite: frozen wRVU schedules, recoverable draws, tail coverage, non-competes, without-cause exits, and clawbacks.
Salary vs. wRVU Production Pay: How to Compare
Compare straight salary, base-plus-production, and pure wRVU pay. Model each at your expected volume, find your break-even, and weigh the real risks.
How Many wRVUs Per Day and Per Year? A Reality Check
A plain-English look at typical daily and annual wRVU production, how it varies by specialty, and what really drives the numbers — visit mix and coding accuracy.
Hospitalist, Nocturnist, and Call Pay, Explained
How hospitalist shift pay, nocturnist night differentials, weekend premiums, and in-house vs home call pay work — and how shift and wRVU models combine.
Free tools
Malpractice Tail Coverage Calculator
If you leave your job: your employer's tail-coverage share, what you'd owe, and when full coverage vests.
RVU Calculator
Turn CPT codes into wRVUs and a pay estimate, year-aware across CMS schedules.