Six Productivity Hacks For Physicians

According to a 2014 physician survey, 58.2% of physicians have worked between 41-60 hours a week. When in the business of providing care to patients, physicians are the most critical aspect of the business. Putting in more hours week after week ultimately results in a plateau phase. The productivity gradually decreases hurting reimbursements and physician status quo.

Here are six simple productivity hacks to avoid a burnout:

1. Single-task.
Each case is different. When seeing a volume of patients, majority of energy goes into determining diagnosis, course of treatment for patients. Focus on a single case at a time without worrying about the previous or the next patient or the number of patients. Focus on the quality vs. quantity.

2. Right people for the right job.
Let go the notion doing everything by yourself. Invest in people. For example, a good MA will make preliminary examinations, an administrator will scrutinize administrative processes, the front desk will take care of the visit related tasks and so on. Right people will know and enjoy their jobs saving you time to concentrate on care.

3. Train staff well.
As any business proliferates, there is a constant need to improvise internal processes and effectively realign with the current. Same is the case with healthcare, there are reforms pushing towards technology acceptance, billing and coding changes every year, it is very important that you and your staff stay in sync with rapid changes. Arrange group training sessions to ensure a continuous learning cycle.

4. Limit your procedures.
A consultation is different from a colonoscopy. Put a cap on the number and type of procedures you are performing each day. This will help you provide quality procedures and also accommodate consultations.

5. Control your work hours.
Now you have prioritized your tasks, have the correct people, you are functioning with a well trained staff and you exactly know the number of procedures, therefore have a much organized operational workflow. As much as possible, stop pushing for more and more work hours. This will help you establish a work-life balance.

6. Adopt technology.
Use technology and process automations wherever possible. For example, invest in an EHR that integrates billing and analytics, use patient portal for patient engagement, automated schedulers that allow patients to book their appointments based on vacant slots and their preferred time.

Have some productivity hacks of your own? Let us know in the comments section below.


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