Five Things Patient’s Expect from Your Practice Today
Today’s patient population is taking on new characteristics of a consumer-oriented mindset and as a result, practices need to adapt to support a more customer service-based model where the patient experience is focused on time saved as well as quality of care received. The ease and efficiency a patient experiences when interacting with a practice will become a hefty consideration when choosing a physician. Practices will require these 5 things to engage patients, establish loyalty and retain them.
Physician Burnout: Is this the New Healthcare Crisis?
When a flashlight’s battery goes out, what happens? It turns off. It essentially stops working. Now what if I ask you the same question about a physician? Do they just turn off and stop working? As a physician, when have you ever stopped working? The answer is likely never.
It’s a known fact the healthcare environment – with its long hours, regulatory pressures, quality expectations, and demanding pace – can quickly lead to physician burnout.
Physician burnout not only takes a toll on the provider, but their patients and practices as well. This stressful state can have adverse effects on career satisfaction causing providers to leave a practice they once treasured, and can also negatively impact the quality of patient care.
(Online) Reputation is Everything… Even for Healthcare Providers - Copy
CMS Meaningful Use Overpayments – The Potential Impact to You and Your Practice
Many healthcare organizations were shocked to find that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) overpaid more than $729 million worth of incentive payments to eligible providers that failed to meet meaningful use requirements. This discovery was brought to light after a report was released by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG).
This is almost a quarter of a billion dollars, taxpayer dollars to be specific, awarded to some providers who didn’t deserve it and now all eyes are on CMS to fix the problem.
If you find yourself asking how in the world could this have happened? You are not alone. Thankfully the Office of Inspector General has provided us with a three word explanation: Lack of documentation.
An Intern's Perspective: HIPAA Audits - Helping or Hindering?
After completing my last exam, I began a nostalgic walk through campus (Go Buckeyes!) to pick up my cap and gown from the bookstore. I was starting the final week of my internship at Itentive Healthcare Solutions before immersing myself in the professional healthcare world. As I was about to cross to High Street, I watched a fellow Ohio State student walk across the street in between the gap of cars; I was about to follow her lead, tired of staring at the red hand in the crosswalk across the street, when I saw a police car turn on their flashers and pull up beside her. I watched her get a jaywalking ticket, and firmly kept my feet planted on the sidewalk as a result. When it was finally time to cross I couldn’t shake the parallel of the jaywalking ticket to a HIPAA audit. What can I say, as a health information management graduate HIPAA is on my mind all the time!
An Intern's Perspective: Technology in Healthcare
With little regard to the technology illiterate or novice, the healthcare industry has been pushing towards full technology immersion. In response to that, there is the “run or get off the tracks” argument that our world is rapidly advancing and that those who don’t use technology need to catch up or be left behind. If I am fully honest with you, I have occasionally felt sympathy for that sentiment (usually after showing my grandfather how to start Microsoft Word for the 20th time), but doesn’t seem fair in the healthcare industry light. Many of these patients that struggle with technology are part of the Silent Generation (people born from the mid-1920s to early-1940s, so 71 years and older), which means that they are frequently ones who need more extensive medical assistance and could benefit from telemedicine and online health resources.
Patient Education—Whose Responsibility Is It?
We always talk about empowering the patient, increasing patient engagement in their care, and having it be patient centered, but I don’t think researching and finding information that is accurate, reliable, and answers patient-specific questions is the patient’s responsibility, nor is it the provider’s; it should be the EHRs. Many people don’t know where to look on the internet and have trouble locating reliable information. The patient may not know what’s fact or fiction or whether the author is a “quack” or accredited, and likely aren’t aware of the most trustworthy places to find information. The physician knows what’s valid and most likely knows the best places to look, however they don’t have time to sit down with every patient just to research with them, so whose left? The EHR. The technology should be doing the work for us — and that’s where Meaningful Use comes in.
A New Year Brings a New Outlook on the Ideal Patient Experience
This concept of the ideal patient experience has long been debated over in healthcare, but still I find myself wondering, what is the ideal patient experience? Is it each individual encounter or is it the sum of all interactions between the patient and the physician? I think it is both. If so, what are the key components in building the foundation for such an experience? Some say the building blocks to the ideal patient experience are things like patient-centered care, a sense of connection, efficiency and effectiveness, or courteous and respectful staff. I say all of these play a factor. None of us will argue with the fact that a patient will have a better experience if they receive efficient and effective care, are treated with empathy and share a connection with clinical staff, and are shown respect. So how do we get there and still maintain a healthy practice?
The face of healthcare as we know it is changing and so are the tools that we use to coordinate and facilitate care. When you go to the doctor, there isn’t a paper chart in a bin outside the exam room anymore. Instead, there’s a computer sitting on the counter or a tablet in the doctor’s hands with your health information on it. We have internet access to our records and forms are submitted electronically through a patient portal prior to your visit. But it doesn’t end there; now we have personal sensors for in-home patient monitoring, wearable technology tracking our daily functions, personal health apps on our smartphones, the list goes on and on. It is widely accepted that paper-based anything is a notion of the past, but all of this new technology is being incorporated into our existing healthcare infrastructure and I’m not sure we are ready for it.
Where Do We Go from Here? A Millennial’s Perspective on Healthcare
I found that Millennials worry most about two things; money and the future. And I cannot think of one other facet that is more deeply intertwined with both of these things then healthcare. So why don’t Millennials place more of an emphasis on this? What’s even going through our minds regarding healthcare?