Why is morale still high among over-extended physicians?
By - One of the main goals of recent healthcare initiatives and reforms is to ensure that people across the country will have the ability to gain access to proper medical care. However, if a recent survey is any indication, that could be a more difficult task than originally imagined.
If medical practice configurations and physician workforce trends continue, patients could find it increasingly difficult to find access to quality healthcare, according to a recent Physicians Foundation survey.
The “2014 Survey of America’s Physicians: Practice Patterns and Perspectives” found that 81 percent of physicians said that they were either over-extended or at full capacity. Additionally, just 19 percent said they have time to see more patients.
The Physicians Foundation interviewed 20,000 physicians across the nation, asking about numerous issues in the healthcare field, including professional morale, doctor shortages, Medicare/Medicaid participate rates, and EMR patterns.
Physicians Foundation board member, Dr. Joseph Valenti, discussed the survey results with RevCycleIntellicence. According to Valenti, most physicians find that their greatest satisfaction is with their patient interactions. However, more doctors are discovering that they are overburdened with administrative work, which takes away from their ability to spend the kind of time they want with each patient.
“In the end we have to still take the time to spend with our patients,” said Valenti who is entering his 17th year of private practice. “Most people are really frustrated with the amount of time they’re spending away from patient care.”
The study found that the majority — 85 percent — of physicians have adopted electronic medical records (EMR), increasing from 69 percent in 2012. However, 46 percent indicated EMR use has detracted from their efficiency while just 24 percent of respondents said it improved their efficiency.
Moreover, the results showed that 69 percent of physicians believe that their clinical autonomy is sometimes or often limited and their decisions compromised.
That was a particularly troubling survey result to Valenti, who added that it is something that he continues to see.
“You may see a trend back toward private practice and away from employed situations once people find out they’re not all they’re cracked up to be and that their autonomy with patients is maybe diminished or lacking or restricted,” Valenti claimed.
Even so, physician morale increased by 12 percent from 2012. Forty-four percent of respondents said their morale and feelings about the current state of the medical profession was positive, with just 32 percent claiming that two years ago.
This is also a career that parents would recommend to their children, with 50 percent of physicians saying they would recommend a career in medicine to their children. This is an increase from 42 percent in 2012 and 40 percent in 2008.
“The outlook is still reasonable for physicians, but physicians aren’t going into it for the lucrative nature of medicine. On a per hour basis, it’s certainly not a lucrative field,” Valenti explained. “So physicians are doing this not for the money; they’re doing it because they really have a genuine and altruistic interest in taking care of patients. If there continues to be economic pressures that limit physician’s ability to have a private practice, what you’re going to see eventually is the diminution of the quality of care.”
While the survey indicated that the future of quality patient care could pose significant health delivery and policy challenges, Valenti said that it’s important for both patients and physicians to take an active role. Patients need to be willing to advocate for change to ensure their physicians are given the necessary tools, but physicians also need to be willing to take that extra step.
As healthcare continues to evolve, and technology is integrated in physicians’ daily routines, doctors need to find a way to make sure it works for them and their patients.
“[Physicians are] going to need to get used to doing things they’re not used to (i.e. data entry),” Valenti said. “They’re going to need to take their data and use it to their advantage. When people are providing high-quality care in an efficient way, they need to use that information as leverage to insurers and other payers, and say, ‘Look, I want higher reimbursement because I’m doing a better job with sicker patients and saving you money. So part of that saving should come to me as the provider.’”
Overall, if physicians continue to provide quality care, Valenti contends it will help all parties. Yet it’s important for the federal government to recognize that and to stop creating roadblocks for physicians to do their jobs, he added.
“As physicians, we have to stay the course and continue to provide quality care,” Valenti maintained. “But we also have to make it clear that we’re not the ones who are the complete drivers of some of these huge cost expenditures. We’re doing our best to keep people out of the hospital because that’s what we do.”
