If you’re a physician, you might be feeling pretty discouraged right about now, according to a new study.
The study found that doctors are drowning under “too many administrative burdens, government interventions and frustrations with electronic health records (EHR) systems,” Goedert writes, and “are lowering physicians’ optimism about their ability to deliver quality care and remain profitable,” according to the survey.
Five hundred physicians, with practices large and small, and different specialties, took the third annual Physician Sentiment Index, from online physician community vendor, Sermo, and physician software and billing firm, athenahealth, according to Goedert.
What the report found is that 81 percent of respondents did not see independent practices as viable in the future; 53 percent believe the Affordable Care Act will have a detrimental effect on their ability to provide quality care, up three points from 2011; 29 percent still don’t understand the reform law’s details and implications; 16 percent would like to see the law remain as is (11 percent last year) and 29 percent want a full repeal (21 percent in 2011).
Depressed yet? EHRs came in for a beating, too. Thirty-six percent say EHRs only weaken patient care; 44 percent say the software is not designed with physicians in mind, and 72 percent report EHRs are a distraction from face-to-face patient interaction.
On the (slim) plus side, 42 percent “are somewhat or very confident of a smooth transition to ICD-10,” Goedert writes.
And last but not least, a majority of the surveyed physicians see payers as “increasingly intrusive on the patient-physician relationship, believe payers inhibit care they’d like to provide to patients, and view pay-for-performance as negatively impacting care quality.”
So much for believing all the good things moving to electronic healthcare was supposed to do. What I find very disturbing is that some doctors are just leaving the field altogether. My original OB-GYN dropped out because malpractice insurance was just too high. Another doctor I know is retiring early because he just can’t take it anymore. And my husband, who is a dentist, fears that, if health reform makes it through the Supreme Court, even more burdens will be placed on the medical community, making it almost impossible to earn a living this way.
The saddest part of all? According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, there will be a 37 percent shortage of primary care doctors by 2025.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
