Because of both my work with clinicians and the miracle of the internet, this past year has seen my deepest dive yet into the rabbit hole that is the clinician experience.
Based on the top trends in clinical practice I identified in 2017, below are seven specific predictions on how they will affect you in 2018 and beyond.
- Your electronic health record will be upgraded this year.
Although it will change your workflow a bit, this upgrade will add no real value to your personal efforts in value generation for yourself or your patients. It will, however, transiently slow down your workflow and when you finally adapt, you’ll find your time at the keyboard every day to be just a little bit longer.
- Your inbox will become 10% busier.
- The AMGA salary survey for your specialty will reveal compensation growth less than the rate of inflation.
- You will be asked to attend several meetings about your preliminary performance status under MACRA.
As a result of these meetings, you will understand neither the actions you need to take to impact your performance nor the impact that performance will have on your compensation.
Bonus prediction
In 2019 you still won’t understand MACRA or what specifically you need to do to improve your performance—but boy-oh-boy will you understand the impact on your compensation.
- Physician wellness programs will become more cursory as healthcare delivery organizations rush to expand their workforce to meet demand.
And they’ll continue to be structured to approach burnout prevention through clinician efficiency training and the breaking bad habits rather than fundamentally changing the design of care delivery or compensation.
- You will be asked to see more patients, review more after-visit data and spend more time on uncompensated care.
- Telehealth will be further introduced by your organization and touted as a great time and cost-saver.
It won’t be.
(To paraphrase The Fat Man in The House of God, “Show me a telehealth benefit that only triples my work and I will kiss his feet.”)
If you see these predictions as fairly obvious and par for the course, it may be you yourself rather than your organization that’s in need of an intervention. Taken as a whole, the predictions above are not the characteristics of an organization in which your passion can long survive.
Some personal reflection may be in order.
Get off the treadmill for a few days and promptly do so—before it’s too late.
Bonus prediction:
During one of those rare times where you can pry yourself away from your keyboard, you will be touched by the humanity of the patient sitting across from you—the devoted spouse, the determined disabled, the terminally-ill dying with dignity.
You will be humbled, encouraged and, for a fleeting moment, you’ll reconnect with your own heart for patient service—and realize why you are doing this whole “medicine thing” in the first place.
Need unbiased guidance finding your ideal medical practice? Contact me, no obligation just help and value.