Dealing With Doctor Burnout? ilumed Can Help.

Is work burnout affecting your medical office? It's not surprising that, since the Covid-19 pandemic, an unprecedented number of healthcare professionals are experiencing doctor or nurse burnout.

According to a HealthDay-Harris poll, nearly 63% of doctors and nurses said they’re facing a moderate to great amount of work burnout. And it’s not just doctor and nurse burnout that’s the issue, healthcare clinical (54%) and non-clinical staff (46%) also report high levels of work burnout.

This feeling of work burnout is having real implications. One survey found that, since the start of the pandemic, nearly one in five health care workers quit their job and that an additional 31% had considered leaving.

What is contributing to healthcare burnout?
Healthcare professionals identified three key factors leading to their burnout.

1. Understaffing Many medical offices, hospitals and other healthcare providers are understaffed. About 66% of primary care physicians and 75% of nurses cite it as the largest issue when it comes to work burnout. Without enough staff, existing healthcare workers must take on increased workloads, making it harder to provide proper patient care.
2. The hassle of electronic paperwork Daily paperwork is another major factor in doctor burnout, affecting 58% of doctors. It was also listed as a big issue for nurses, with 51% saying it contributed to their burnout. A big part of the problem is the transition to digital medical records or Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Electronic health records have pushed a lot of the paperwork from support staff to doctors, nurses and physician assistants. Formerly quick tasks now take much longer, meaning healthcare providers work extra hours to keep up with the paperwork demands.
3. Dealing with insurance companies Another factor contributing to work burnout is the time healthcare providers spend communicating with insurance companies to ensure their patients’ treatment is covered. This issue affects 38% of primary care physicians and 20% of nurses. The administrative load of handling insurance takes away from direct patient care and adds to the overall stress and workload of healthcare professionals. Haggling with insurance companies over getting patients the tests or care they need can be draining for healthcare professionals.

The affect doctor burnout has on healthcare
All these issues, understaffing, extensive paperwork and going back and forth with insurance companies, make it difficult for physicians to provide the right care for patients, causing many doctors to become disillusioned with the healthcare process.

According to a New York Times article, some doctors are suffering from a moral injury. That’s an emotional issue caused when someone feels like their work is transgressing their core values. America’s profit-driven healthcare system is working against their core values of trying to help sick patients.

How ilumed can help alleviate work burnout
What can we do about these issues? How can we help physician and nurse burnout? At ilumed, we’ve embraced the value-based care model, which helps doctors and nurses focus on the quality of care provided rather than the number of tests or procedures they perform. We have come up with a variety of tools and systems to make healthcare more personal and streamline the process. Here’s how we do it.

Improving how medical offices operate
For standard healthcare, people usually wait until they’re sick or have health issues before they go to the doctor. Doctors then must play defense; they react to the patient’s issues once they’re sick. The ilumed playbook recommends physicians see patients regularly, about four times a year instead of just once annually. This allows doctors to be more proactive in treating patients—to recognize health issues at the onset, instead of waiting to treat the issue once it becomes a problem.

Helping patients stay out of the hospital
Proactive patient treatment helps decrease the number of visits to the ER and the amount of time they spend in the hospital. But if a patient does end up in the hospital, ilumed provides extra support for physicians and patients. We alert doctors when their patients are admitted and assist after discharge to ensure patients understand their treatment plans, have their medications and have other needs met. This includes arranging meal deliveries through Mom’s Meals and providing transportation for follow-up appointments. This kind of post-hospital care is designed to help patients heal so they don’t end up back in the hospital.

Providing the right systems and insights to target patient needs
Another way we help providers is by helping patients receive care. Keeping slots open during the day for last-minute appointments means patients don’t have to wait days or weeks to receive care, allowing you to provide treatment when they need it.

Creating value in paperwork
While doctors find the system of electronic medical records to be a bigger hassle, having digital records makes providing healthcare easier and more personal. With ilumed’s technology, Brainstream, we help providers get insights into patient and population health using electronic medical records. Providers get more transparent and frequent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reports on a weekly or biweekly basis rather than by month or quarter.

All the work put into electronic medical records is helping target at-risk patients to provide the care they need.

ilumed provides extra staff support
Our ilumed teams offer extra patient support to alleviate some of the burden on doctors, nurses and healthcare staff.

• Case and disease managers: They help patients stay on track with their treatment plans between doctor visits, whether it’s medication adherence or adjusting to live a healthier lifestyle. This takes the burden off your staff from having to follow up.
• Social workers: They help patients find resources to improve quality of life, whether that’s helping them connect to mental health or community resources or help them find food banks or senior centers.
• Outreach team: We work as an extension of your staff by providing services to patients like scheduling patients or booking transportation for them to and from the medical office so they don’t miss appointments.

We’re happy to offer an engaged team who are excited to make healthcare more personal and easier for providers and patients. As Helene, a Licensed Master Social Worker at ilumed, said, “Working at ilumed gave me a chance to be part of the change I longed for.”

ilumed is offering a better way to healthcare
Working with ilumed has had a positive impact on our providers’ staff, patients and financial stability. It allows physicians to provide the proactive care that helps patients and allows their healthcare professionals to feel good about doing their job.

If you’re ready to offer the support your staff needs and provide the care your patients want, let’s talk. Get connected today.