Photo Credit: Vonschonertagen
Addressing stressors like heavy workloads, administrative burdens, and lack of control over work processes can help alleviate physician burnout.
Physician burnout is a significant issue that plagues physicians in today’s healthcare community, affecting their own wellbeing, along with the quality of care they provide to patients. According to Reginald Ross, MD, Louisiana-based internal medicine specialist at CenterWell Senior Primary Care, industry-wide change is necessary in order to combat physician burnout, and switching to a value-based system might be the optimal solution.
According to Dr. Ross, stressors like an over-the-top workload, administrative burdens, and the inability to control work processes often lead to physician burnout. Many physician’s jobs require long hours. This is especially true, notes Dr. Ross, in healthcare organizations prioritizing high patient volumes. For instance, some fee-for-service clinics demand that their doctors take visits with more than 20 patients per day. What’s more, a number of those patients have comorbid conditions, making for complicated diagnoses that necessitate great focus—something lacking in physicians who are burnt out.
Physicians are expected to focus and provide quality patient care, despite working long hours. A Statista survey found that physicians typically work a staggering 50 hours a week. Perhaps even more jarring were the results of a University of Chicago study, which highlighted the unrealistic expectations set upon doctors. According to this study, physicians realistically require almost 27 daily work hours to give patients guideline-recommended primary care. Given that this is an impossibility, it is no wonder that physicians are mentally and physically exhausted.
Dr. Ross emphasizes the critical role of strong support systems in helping physicians to manage workloads and decrease the likelihood of burnout. Support from colleagues is monumentally important, not just in day-to-day work-life but also in times when physicians experience personal challenges. For example, Dr. Ross recalls the benefits of having colleague support when he needed to take leave to care for a family member. Thanks to a value-based support system, he could tend to certain work responsibilities while caring for a loved one.
Having a system in place for physicians to maintain a successful work-life balance is necessary for healthcare organizations to secure quality doctors and keep them from exhaustion. Dr. Ross notes that the value-based care model at his job ensures that each doctor meets with only 10 patients daily, allowing physicians to give patients more attentive, detail-focused care while giving them the time needed to form solid, trusting physician-patient relationships. Physicians have the benefit of flexible scheduling and wellness resources, which helps to foster a balanced work-life for employees.
In Dr. Ross’s experience, the fee-for-service model significantly contributes to physician burnout. By rewarding physicians with greater pay based on the number of work hours they’ve put in and what services they provided during that time, this model increases pressure for doctors to take work home with them, working well beyond a healthy number of hours. Under this model, Dr. Ross found himself exhausted and frustrated. Moving to a value-based model, however, has been “transformative” for Dr. Ross. He finds that having to visit with fewer patients each day gives him more autonomy, along with a greater ability to be fully present at home when he leaves work. As a bonus, Dr. Ross notes that he now experiences more fulfilling relationships with his patients while enjoying more quality time with his family.
According to Dr. Ross, organizational changes provide another key element when transitioning to a value-based model. For instance, Dr. Ross emphasizes the importance of adopting an efficient electronic health record (EHR) system, thereby lessening administrative burdens and stress levels. While organizational-level change is crucial, Dr. Ross notes that industry-wide change via value-based care is the most sustainable solution for alleviating physician burnout. This shift would move the system-wide emphasis from patient quantity to care quality.
