Write an Initial post and list what what you feel are the top three challenges facing medical practices today.
As I was recently thinking about the future of healthcare, I started to wonder how my
own thoughts of what’s happening in healthcare aligned with those in the trenches.
Rather than just think about it, I decided to reach out to a bunch of people to get their
perspectives on what challenges they face. In this two part series, I’m going to share the
responses from a medical practice perspective and then from a hospital and health
system perspective.
First up is the medical practice perspective. I sent a number of practice managers and
those involved with practice managers the following two questions:
1. What are the major areas that are keeping practices up at night?
2. What challenges are coming that practices aren’t paying enough attention
to?
Here are the responses I received:
Eric Dalton, FACMPE, CPA, MBA, Chief Administrative & Financial Officer,
Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa
Speaking only for Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa, P.C., I would say that our biggest challenges
include the following:
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An aging population relative to a growing shortage of physicians
The continued decline in reimbursement compounded by rising costs
Navigating the ever changing and speculative healthcare reform waters
Staying independent while participating in partnerships and joint ventures
Continuing to grow by creating new service offerings while adding new
physicians to existing service lines
Coordination of care with other providers in the community
With regards to challenges that practice managers perhaps aren’t paying enough
attention to, I would say the following:
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Utilizing a “slow to hire” approach and ensuring new staff are successfully trained
and mentored
Recognizing the need to work on changing the culture of the organization
Changes in technology that can make processes more efficient
Listening to what their customers (patients) are telling them
Changes in the marketplace
Shereese Maynard, MS, MBA (@ShereesePubHlthl
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What are the major areas that are keeping practice managers up at night?
o Data practices. Mining, aggregation, and how to ensure it’s actionable.
Merit-based programs are keeping docs up at night. I hate to say it but
hospitals are still struggling with interoperability.
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What challenges are coming that practice managers aren’t paying enough
attention to?
o Healthcare organizations are not paying enough attention to long-term
security strategies. We’ve seen more “pinches” this year which is always a
prelude to larger security issues.
Joy Schwartz, RN, DNP, MBA, HCA, Practice Administrator, Atlantic Surgical
Group, P.A.
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The major areas/challenges keeping me awake as a practice manager are
declining reimbursements, participating in the government programs such as
MIPS to avoid any penalties, staffing with the right people, staying complaint with
HIPAA and OSHA and trying to deliver quality care to our patients. So many areas
to worry about however, these are the top areas that appear to impact our
practice the most.
The challenges that are definitely coming that I believe practice managers are not
paying enough attention to are the merging of hospital systems and the forming
of specialty and multi-specialty groups. The merging of hospital systems has a
ripple effect on our physicians and practice, and what these newly formed
systems expect from the private practice physicians. The larger group formations
offer an interesting alternative for the physicians to consider instead of becoming
hospital owned.
Adam Jones, CPA, Chief Financial Officer, NEW Health Program Association
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What are the major areas that are keeping practice managers up at night?
o
Labor shortages for almost all of the positions we recruit for in healthcare.
o
Wages increasing faster than revenue/reimbursement
o
Uncertainty with long-term healthcare reimbursement and political risks
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What challenges are coming that practice managers aren’t paying enough
attention to?
o
Reskilling staff for efficiencies gained w/ automation and/or leaner
workflows
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Ensuring staff are trained/skilled and updated w/ the constant changes we
are going through to ensure their data knowledge is complete (specifically
for managers/executives)
Price creeps from vendors (nonpayroll expenses)
To view IT as overhead rather than a solution
HR analytics
Cristy Good, MPH, MBA, CPC, CMPE, Senior Industry Advisor, MGMA
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What are the major areas that are keeping practice managers up at night?
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Staffing
o Meeting quality and productivity metrics
o Patient volume/panel size which goes along with productivity in a way
o Keeping costs down and revenue up
o
Physician and staff satisfaction
o
How to make sure the culture in the practice is positive and leads to great
patient care
o Time management – how to get everything done that needs to be done
o
How to stay current on what is going on in healthcare and how to be
proactive instead of reactive
o How to stay current with all of the legislative and credentialing
requirements
o How to get done more with less (that includes the financial aspect as well
as the staffing aspect)
o All the paperwork from hiring, onboarding, credentialing, etc
o
Risk and compliance – etc medical chart documentation, OSHA, HIPAA
What challenges are coming that practice managers aren’t paying enough
attention to?
o
Panel size
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Making sure they stay competitive in the market through the services
offered and how they are offered – SWOT
o Telehealth and how it can impact their practice and increase revenue and
patient satisfaction
o Culture of the practice and staff satisfaction
o Reduced reimbursement and increase in quality metric requirements
o Staff education and training
o How to incorporate Al to improve patient outcomes
o Doing things smarter instead of just “how we have always done it”
o Building relationships with others in the community
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Risk and compliance – esp possible cyber attacks
Shortage of physicians
A big thank you to the team at MGMA who helped connect me with many of these
practice managers. They suggested these additional resource might be of interest to
readers as well:
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Practice leaders report their biggest challenges with appointments are no-shows
and appointment availability
10 MGMA Stat polls offer insights into healthcare trends today
While I was familiar with many of the challenges mentioned above, what was most eye
opening to me about these responses was the vast number of challenges they
face. Taken individually, each challenge can be managed. However, in aggregate, it’s
pretty daunting to consider what medical practice managers face.
What did you think of these responses? Is there something missing from the above that
you think is challenging for medical practices? Which of these challenges do you think
is hardest? I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts and to discuss these at the MGMA
Annual Conference we’ll be attending next month.
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