A recent survey by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) revealed that 75 percent of medical group owners report that work-related stress levels have increased this year. A previous MGMA poll found that nearly 30 percent of medical groups had a physician leave the practice or retire early because of burnout.
When asked what factors were contributing to burnout in a Harris Poll online survey conducted by HealthDay, 58 percent of doctors and 51 percent of nurses cited the amount of paperwork they must complete daily. Some health care providers reported spending as much as two hours a night working in their office’s EHR, communicating with insurance companies on behalf of their patients, and performing other administrative responsibilities.
The high cost of burnout on your practice
Burnout rates are impacting everyone, from the physicians and nurses caring for patients to the administrative staff tasked with managing daily operations. And it’s not just impacting employee well-being. High turnover rates are costing health care organizations thousands, if not millions, of dollars. Studies show the average cost to replace a registered nurse is $52,350, with recruitment efforts taking anywhere from two to four months to hire an experienced RN.
More than five years ago, the American Medical Association reported that the average cost to replace a physician was between $500,000 and $1 million—a recruiting expense that has likely increased since 2018.
The solution: a high-performing health care technology stack
The primary problem is that many health care providers have relied on ineffective technology platforms that fail to meet their most critical needs. EHRs that lack true interoperability, practice management solutions that are difficult to use and do not integrate with other technology solutions, and a complete absence of patient engagement tools—ineffective technology is leading health care organizations down a seriously detrimental path that negatively impacts everything from patient care and employee well-being to the financial stability of your practice.
So what’s the solution? Medical offices need innovative, intuitive health care technology platforms that drive productivity across the organization, helping to reduce burnout rates for everyone on staff. Instead of creating bottlenecks, a health care technology stack should serve as the cornerstone of the organization, automating tedious but necessary daily operations and streamlining critical workflow processes. A high-performing health care tech stack that enables you to create a thriving medical practice requires four crucial components: interoperability, seamless claims and billing processes, comprehensive patient engagement solutions, and integrative capabilities.
The four components of a high-performing health care tech stack
1. Interoperability. A highly integrative and easy-to-use EHR platform that enables interoperability across various networks, including hospital systems, payor frameworks, and networks belonging to other health care providers.
2. Seamless claims and billing processes. A sturdy practice management solution that serves as the foundation of your private practice, ensuring seamless claims and billing processes, easy-to-manage office schedules, and smooth workflows throughout your medical office.
3. Comprehensive patient engagement solutions. Comprehensive patient engagement solutions that build trust with patients improve the patient experience and enable frictionless telehealth services, giving your practice the tools it needs to keep patients in the loop and engaged in their treatment programs and health care plans.
4. Integrative capabilities. An all-in-one innovative platform that brings together your most critical technology needs, delivering a truly effective and interoperable EHR, practice management, and patient engagement capabilities.
The reality is that the health care technology space is cluttered with inadequate solutions that lack interoperability and fail to support critical documentation workflows. Lackluster technology leads to health care providers and their administrative staff spending hours manually updating patient charts, managing inefficient bill pay and claims processes, and fixing scheduling snafus.
It’s an untenable situation: ineffective technology leads to work-related stress that results in high turnover rates. By having the right technology in place, your staff can gain back hours of their day to focus on the work that matters most to them. The result: a highly productive staff that loves what they do, improved patient care, and a financially stable practice with little to no turnover.
Sherilyn Giauque is a health care executive.
