The US Healthcare scene is undergoing a paradigm shift. And the buzzword is ACO. But how many of the physicians are actually buying the argument that ACO is a step in the right direction for the healthcare industry. The Deloitte 2013 Survey throws some light on the same.
The Survey: Positives
1. Most agree that the present state of healthcare is below par and ACO is a step in the right direction, both for patient accessibility and curtailing costs.
2. Most physicians are driven by the goal of patient satisfaction.
3. Clinical decision-making technologies that reduce redundancies are piquing physician interest.
4. EHR adoption encompassing the entire clinical workflow including revenue cycle management is expected to increase.
5. Connecting with patients using mobile technologies is expected to increase.
The Survey: Negatives
1. The autonomy of the medical profession may be at risk.
2. Physicians are concerned about malpractice reforms.
3. Many believe that Medicare and Medicaid payments may become increasing tough to secure.
4. Solo physicians may be increasingly forced to integrate due to payment issues.
The NUMBERS
The numbers gleaned from the survey in general presents an ambivalent picture. The one unifying point though is that almost all physicians, be it PCPs, surgical specialists, non-surgical specialists etc, consider patient relationships and promoting individual health as the most satisfying part of their jobs.
a. 51 percent believe their income will dramatically fall over the next one to three years.
b. 90% of those worried about bundled payments believe the reimbursements will be inadequate and they will be made to pay dearly for factors beyond their control.
c. 0% of the specialists believed that the business angle contributed to any job satisfaction.
d. 57% of physicians feel that Medicine is in trouble.
e. Nearly 80% believe it will cease to be an attractive career option in the future.
THE INFERENCE
The Deloitte 2013 survey results can be interpreted in many ways, but what can be readily seen is that physicians are less and less interested in spending time on the business aspects of their practices.
But sooner or later all of them will be forced to enter the ACO landscape. Thus, the only panacea seems to be the one which has worked in the past, outsourcing your non-core activities to a medical billing vendor or a revenue cycle specialist.
