Physicians optimistic about next year's profits

Despite the challenges of declining reimbursements and rising healthcare costs, doctors are more optimistic that their practices will make a profit next year than they were in the past, according to a new report.

The third annual Practice Profitability Index surveyed 5,024 physicians throughout the nation about their medical practice operations and financial outlook for the upcoming year. And for the first time in three years, more doctors expect profits to stay the same, rather than decline. While almost one-third of physicians still anticipate a downward turn, optimistic views grew alongside neutral ones.

The report finds most doctors are actively investing in new ways to make their operations more efficient in order to boost profitability.

"Perhaps the single most important insight from the 2015 PPI is that--despite the constant change in the industry and ongoing pressure on profitability--physicians remain resilient and proactive about improving practice performance," said Ken Comée, CEO of CareCloud, which conducted the survey with QuantiaMD, in an announcement.

The biggest threats to profitability across the board, however, are declining reimbursements, rising costs and the transition to ICD-10. In fact, half of the physicians surveyed in the past year identified ICD-10 as a factor that weighed down profitability and 3 in 5 doctors expressed doubts about their readiness for it.

Other key findings:

  • Fifty-nine percent of practice owners said they had no plans to sell or merge. However, one-quarter of those surveyed said they will consider it due to an excessive administrative workload--more than 60 percent of the physicians surveyed say they spend a day a week or more on administrative tasks.
  • Billing, staffing and technology are top targets for improvement. Physicians report that the biggest focus areas for the upcoming year are billing/collection processes (40 percent), staffing (34 percent) and technology (33 percent). And, like last year, only 2 in 5 doctors believe that their current staff, technology and processes are effective at securing quick and proper payment, according to the report.
  • Few practices plan to explore accountable care organizations next year. Only 14 percent said they plan to join an ACO to improve operational performance.
  • Twenty percent of physicians plan to replace their practice management and/or electronic health records system in the coming year because their current systems don't integrate with other technologies (39 percent), are hard to use (37 percent) and are not cost effective (33 percent).

Physicians also expressed interest in patient engagement solutions like patient portals (22 percent), alliances with other healthcare professionals (22 percent) and mobile technologies (19 percent).

To learn more:
- download the report
- read the announcement