Posted by: AtlasMD

May 19, 2014

Direct Care Blackup Plan: 8 Reasons To Go Locum Tenens

We know that physicians are unhappy with the way things are going in healthcare.

Some even believe that up to a third of the US physician work force is planning to leave the profession in the next 3 years

Direct primary care practices are the single best way to restore patient and provider satisfaction. Those brave enough to cut the red tape (i.e. health insurers, both public and private) find a remarkable reduction in billing paperwork, unrecovered fees, and electronic documentation requirements.

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Posted by: Josh Umbehr, M.D.

April 23, 2014

Yes, Being A Doctor Became Miserable. That’s Why I Became A Direct Care Doctor Instead.

Originally posted on KevinMD.com

“Nine of 10 doctors discourage others from joining the profession,” writes Daniela Drake on the Daily Beast.

And stats say that by the end of 2014, ~300 physicians commit suicide.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

April 1, 2014

45% Of Physicians Say EMRs Make Care Worse And Cost Practices Money

It’s another case of hate to say we told you so. Looks like for too many doctors, their worst EMR fears have come true, proving to be expensive, a drain on staff and technically inadequate. A total of 45% of respondents to a study said that in fact, patient care is worse since implementing EMR.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

March 31, 2014

Welcome To The Broken American Healthcare System. Where Dissatisfied Docs Can’t Provide Quality Care.

According to Afshine Ash Emrani, MD, the worst news in healthcare isn’t antibiotic resistance, drug-drug interactions, hospital-acquired infections, and definitely not the alarming rate of obesity in our youth.

No, the worst news is the increasing number of dissatisfied physicians.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

July 9, 2013

LINKS: Oh No, Everyone’s Worried About Doctor Shortages

First we came across an article in The Atlantic that discussed how doctor shortage could be the result of burnout caused by a lack of training in how to “deal with work pressures.” It was a stretch in our opinion, but we’re keeping an open mind. Unfortunately, we were not mentioned in the article as a force KEEPING doctors from retiring or getting out of practicing medicine altogether. Included within the article were some helpful links to leading publishers writing about doctor shortages. Thanks to the author Maureen Miller for directing us to this premium content.

Sunday Dialogue: Will Training More Doctors Improve Health Care? | The New York Times
One med student is one hundred percent behind insuring more Americans. Still, he asks, what’s the point if you can’t find a doctor. READ MORE

“How some states are addressing doctor shortages” | Yahoo News
An informative article comprised of blurbs about projected doctor requirements, current funding for programs, and other relevant info. It spans more than ten states including California, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, The Dakotas and more. READ MORE

Posted by: AtlasMD

July 8, 2013

Why Are Doctors Divorcing Their EMR?

folrb8zb22vh7mstm55jSo what’s driving dissatisfaction with EMR? While surveys document dissatisfaction among physicians, experts advise on the costs of doing so in a new article from Medical Economics. The statistics are sobering and have been validated by multiple surveys.

In the post, MGMA Healthcare Consulting Group’s Derek Kosiorek says, “This is an odd point in history, where we have asked physicians to take processes they have done their entire professional career and change them. We are taking the paper chart and every piece of information in that paper chart and we are shuffling it up like a deck of cards and putting it on a computer screen in different places.”

Nice job, Derek. We couldn’t have put it better ourselves. Check out the complete article below. The data’s eye-opening and writer Daniel R. Verdon includes sound advice for doctors looking to marry an EMR with their practice.

More Reading
“EHR divorce: What’s driving dissatisfaction?” | Medical Economics
Photo of Derek Kosiorek (@kosiorek) courtesy of Twitter

Posted by: AtlasMD

June 29, 2013

Why Do 30% of Concierge Medicine Patients Want To Switch Practices?

Why Do 30% of Concierge Medicine Patients Want To Switch Practices?

Our industry’s trusty watchdog, Michael Tetreault over at CMT, conducted some helpful surveys to get to the bottom of patient dissatisfaction. He says, “… Most concierge medical practices maintain a very high patient retention average of approximately 92%-94%*…” But adds that patients are writing in weekly looking for new doctors in their area. So what’s the deal?

He then analyzed over 1,000 prospective concierge medicine patient search requests that were submitted to CMT’s website and he found that nearly 30% of patients are leaving one concierge doctor and seeking another. Something’s obviously wrong here. Patients are sticking with concierge medicine, but what’s forcing patients to leave one for another? It looks like it all comes down to the “front desk” so to speak.

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