The demands on physicians continue to increase with no letup. Indeed, more than half the physicians in the workforce experience burnout. To help alleviate the stress, one healthcare compliance expert suggests practices outsource some of the work.
“By shifting compliance tasks to an outside expert, organizations can free physicians and staff to spend more time with patients--not only improving quality and enhancing value for the practice, but ensuring that staff concentrate on the parts of their job that bring them satisfaction,” writes Richard Best, a regulatory compliance expert, in Medical Economics.
Practices must take a hard look at their operations and get a solid understanding of how staff are spending their time, recommends Best.
If practices aren't ready to outsource and want to perform all core administrative functions in-house, they could consider delegating some of the tasks that physicians perform to other team members. But Best suggests they bring in a trainer with compliance or waste management expertise to work with the team. While physician practices have a wealth of clinical expertise, many aren’t as well schooled on developing policies and procedures.