Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

September 28, 2016

Physician survey paints worrisome picture, doctors' group says

By John Stearns

U.S. physicians continue to struggle to maintain morale levels, adapt to changing delivery and payment models, and provide patients with reasonable access to care, a survey of 17,236 U.S. doctors has found.

Because of these factors, a majority of physicians feel that they lack time to provide the highest level of care, according to the Physicians Foundation, which commissioned the biennial survey that has been conducted since 2008.

Eighty percent of physicians report being overextended or at capacity, with no time to see additional patients and 54 percent of physicians rate their morale as somewhat or very negative, with 49 percent saying they are either often or always feeling burned out, the survey found.

In response to these and other challenges, 48 percent of surveyed physicians plan to reduce hours, retire, take a nonclinical job, switch to “concierge” medicine or take other steps that will further limit patient access – an increase from those who answered similarly in the 2014 survey, the foundation said.

These patterns are likely to reduce the physician workforce by tens of thousands at the time that a growing, aging and more widely insured population is increasing overall demand for physicians, the foundation said.

“Many physicians are dissatisfied with the current state of medical practice and are starting to opt out of traditional patient care roles,” Dr. Walker Ray, foundation president, said. “…This trend is to the detriment of patient access. It is imperative that all healthcare stakeholders recognize and begin to address these issues more proactively, to support physicians and enhance the medical practice environment. ”

Physicians identified regulatory and paperwork burdens and loss of clinical autonomy as their primary sources of dissatisfaction. Respondents indicated that they spend 21 percent of their time on non-clinical paperwork duties, while about two-thirds (72 percent) said third-party intrusions detract from the quality of care they can provide.

What is consistent in each biennial survey since 2008 is physicians’ primary source of professional satisfaction: the patient relationship. In the 2016 survey, 73.8 percent of respondents listed this as the most satisfying aspect of their jobs, followed by “intellectual stimulation” at 58.7 percent.

Only 43 percent of physicians surveyed said their compensation is tied to value. Additionally, only 20 percent of physicians surveyed are familiar with the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), which will greatly accelerate value-based payments to physicians. A Hartford Business Journal story last month found Connecticut doctors wary about the effect of MACRA.

The survey also found the new ICD-10 system, which added thousands of new codes intended to allow physicians to be more efficient, bill more precisely and improve patient care, has had little to no impact in practice efficiency, revenue or patient care.

Similarly, more physicians said electronic health records (EHR) detract from patient interaction compared to findings of the 2014 survey. Only 11.9 percent of respondents indicated EHR has improved patient interaction, while the remaining 89.1 percent say it has had little or no impact or has detracted from patient interaction.

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF