Overworked Physicians/A New Paradigm

Every physician in America is aware of the report that was released recently by the Physician's Foundation that states that many of America's physicians (specifically family practice and internal medicine) are overworked and feeling stress.

What I'm sure we're all thinking is, "No, really?"

I have been fortunate enough to work with many physicians over the years, and I have to say that the intense stress and feelings of being overworked aren't just felt by family practice and internal medicine. It may be more so among FP and IM physicians due to the apparent shortage of new physicians going into these realms of practice, but the demands of being a physician burden every discipline of medicine.

The thing I find frustrating with the study, though, is the fact that it simply states that the biggest cause in all this stress is the paperwork. Yes, I agree that having to deal with a stack of charts on your desk at the end of the day is extremely frustrating, demoralizing even, but that is just one of many factors that cause the stress. The study left out the facts that physicians are small business owners who have to deal with staff, which includes interpersonal conflicts among those they've hired to make the work go smoother. Even with a great office manager the task of creating a great team can be extremely difficult. Physicians have to ensure their practices stay profitable, maintaining a good steady flow of good patients (their client base), while culling out all the drug seekers or difficult patients who won't cooperate with the physician to ensure they get well. They have to stay focused with a myriad of interruptions so that they can give the highest level of service to their patients. They have to do all this and much, much more while ensuring that they don't get sued by someone in our increasingly litigious society.

Now add to these the fact that physicians must do all this while ensuring that they stay in compliance with Medicare and can get Big Insurance to pay up in a timely manner.

Also add to that the fact that many physicians don't get to spend that good quality time with family, or time alone doing whatever it is that allows them to get back to center, no wonder many physicians want to retire early or quite all together.

Now, the study suggests that EMR will go along way to reduce cost and work levels.
Let's be clear about this. EMR will help reduce work done with patient charts. But the cost for a good EMR system is still quite a lot to swallow. I also feel that EMR doesn't do anything with all the other factors I've just listed.

EMR is one important piece of the solution to reducing the stress that today's physicians' feel. It will take a comprehensive change of behavior, or at least a change in the paradigms that keep all of us in the healthcare community running at a breakneck pace.

What it will take to make life easier on physicians is a change in expectations from all of us who deal with them. Specifically, a physician should expect that his/her life be simplified as much as possible by those they do business with. They should expect that their practice run as smoothly as humanly possible. They should expect that those who do business with them will conduct business in a completely transparent and principled manner. They should expect those of us who do business with them to become partners in helping create a successful practice that allows them to focus on patients. And, they should expect that this kind of relationship will not cost them an exorbitant amount of their hard-earned money.

At Revolution Medical Billing, it is our mission to support our physicians by giving transparent and principled service that goes well beyond industry standard expectations. It is our mission to provide this service at below industry standard fees. We understand the issues that our clients face and are prepared and ready to take an active and leading role in helping reduce the workload and stress that they feel.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Sharon