Administrative work, reimbursem*nt issues, staffing challenges and electronic health record reporting are among the top burdens in medical practice, according to a survey from MedCentral.
The following challenges are the ones physicians most often ranked as very or somewhat significant as they relate to their day-to-day work:
- Administrative work — 66%
- Reimbursem*nt issues — 57%
- Staffing shortages — 56%
- Staff turnover — 50%
- Electronic health record reporting — 50%
- Billing and coding requirements — 49%
- Malpractice premiums — 40%
- Competition from nonphysician practitioners — 33%
- Collecting payment from self-pay patients — 29%
Physicians ranked telemedicine competition, practice mergers or sale issues, and competition with retail clinics or urgent care clinics as their least significant challenges.
Regarding efforts to address these challenges, 56% said they have added nonphysician practitioners to their practice. Others are upgrading technology: 34% reported adding or revamping their patient portals and 32% implemented new scheduling.
MedCentral's survey polled 864 physicians from April 16 to May 19 and was published June 20.
