#physicianpractice

Is your clinic leaving money on the table? 🤔

Did you know approximately 50% physicians in the US are dealing with physician burnout? There are several reasons behind it such as, an inherently stressful job, having to deal with non-clinical burdens like billing and documentation, and an inefficient work environment. Emotional and physical exhaustion caused by burnout results in medical errors, clinical effectiveness and low personal accomplishments for physicians.

For a medical practice to grow and deliver quality patient care, it is very important to treat the root causes of physician burnout. The medical community needs to acknowledge as well as address the factors at play and take measurable steps towards solving the issues.

Burnout is a phenomenon that is not restricted to one specialty. It is found in every specialty, regardless of the time demands or stress levels.

 There is no single cause of burnout; however, here are top three reasons that contribute to it significantly:

1.             First and most common reason is that physicians are subject to time-consuming administrative tasks in their office. Most of these tasks are from regulations imposed by federal as well as non-federal insurers. Time demand of EHRs is the single most problematic area for physicians. According to the industry experts, burnout rates spiked at the time of broad adoption of EHRs. Even though electronic health records have been designed to revolutionize health care, they are turning many physicians into clerks.

2.            Not having enough time for personal life is another common reason why many physicians are dealing with burnouts. Physicians are trained for dealing with high-stress decisions on a daily basis. But when work has an impact on their personal lives, such as frequent changes in schedule, emergency cases and so on, then burnout is bound to happen.

3.             It is unfortunate but many physicians don’t like to seek help for anxiety and depression problems. Even though they know that these factors can contribute to burnout, they don’t mention it because most states require physicians to report even minor mental health-related diagnosis to their licensing board.  

Even in the medical industry, it is very important to identify the problem before it is treated. Many researchers are working towards identifying interventions that can ease burnouts. Even academic hospitals and universities are working towards addressing this problem. Only when our physicians are healthy and happy, we can expect to get quality health care.  

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Physician Compensation: Employed vs. Practice Owners

As per the U.S. Physician Employment Report, conducted by Doximity, physician employment opportunities increased by 7% in 2018. In 2017, this employment growth rate was 5.1%. As per another survey conducted by Physicians Foundation in 2017, more that 57% of physicians were employed at hospitals and medical groups, whereas only 32% were independent practice owners. 

Results from these surveys are a clear indication that physicians are opting hospital employment over private practices.

Here are some of the major challenges due to which running a private practice has become a cumbersome task for providers:

Inconsistent     cash flow. Unlike employed physicians,     private practitioners don't have a fixed salary. They also have to deal     with unexpected income loss due to billing errors, collection issues or     patients not showing up at appointments.

Managing both     patients and administrative tasks is another challenge. From looking after     patients, to employee management, accounting, supplies, and paperworks,     everything combined can be very unnerving for physicians in a private     practice.

Overhead     expenses. There is a fixed monthly expenditure in the form of rent, office     supplies, insurances and so on that needs to be paid irrespective of how     much profit the practice is making.

Changing     policies. Regular changes in reimbursement models and data reporting often     results in ineffective management of private practices.

 Physician Compensation Comparison

According to the     2017 Physicians     Practice survey, 75.3% of hospital employed physicians get     more than $200k in annual compensation, as compared to 69.5% of     independent physicians. 

As for the     minimum compensation, the difference is quite stark. 4.1% of employed     physicians bring an annual income of $100k or less and this share is as     high as 8% for private practice owners. 

Another     important take away from the survey was the share of income from     inconsistent sources.  Almost 19% of independent physicians attribute     their income to non-guaranteed sources, whereas this percentage is as low     as 6.8% for employed physicians. 

Even though the compensation is higher for hospital employed physicians, there are certain limitations associated to it. The fact that physicians are not the incharge of their practice schedule when employed, is a major concern for them. Even if they are dissatisfied with certain decisions and changes, they don't have much say being an employee.  There is also a looming fear of change in compensation and rise in competition. So to say that hospital employment will make private practice a thing of the past will not be correct. 

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