How Do You Measure Success? While the definition of success is arbitrary to some, there are commonly accepted standards by which the success of a business is judged. A recent article by MasterClass outlined 10 measures of business success, organized into 2 categories: qualitatively and…
A Mission of Quality and a Vision of Success Organizations of all stripes typically develop mission and vision statements at their inceptions. Done right, this exercise serves a greater purpose than providing filler content for a website. These statements can help guide strategies and everyday…
Principled Partnership: Quality and Integrity Matter According to research by social psychologist David McClelland, PhD, who taught and conducted research at Harvard University for 30 years, 95% of your success or failure in life is determined by the people with whom you habitually associate. The…
Trust, Quality and Autonomy are Key Elements of a Successful Partnership The additional stressors of the pandemic layered over the everyday stress of running a medical practice have pushed the level of physician burnout even higher. The Physicians Foundation annual Survey of America’s Physicians has…
Trust is Essential for a True Partnership Trust may be intangible, however, research by Harvard Business Review found that the level of trust between employees and leadership is a key factor to an organization’s success. In fact, in organizations where trust levels are high, 74%…
The True PartnershipSM Model: Working Toward a Common Goal for Mutual Success Recently OSHA released an updated Covid-19 Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) which mandates safety protocols to be enacted in medical facilities. Non-hospital affiliated medical practices are exempt from many of the standards that…
A poll conducted earlier this year by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that Americans have a significantly higher level of trust in physicians and nurses than in public health institutions and agencies. When it comes…
In December, The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) issued a report entitled The Future of Healthcare Quality which highlights a variety of recommendations for the new administration. This report points out an urgent need to create a better system for capturing quality data, with…
The COVID crisis is causing more physicians to take a closer look at partnership opportunities. According to McKinsey’s recent US COVID-19 Physician Survey, 25% of independent physicians say they are now “more likely to pursue a partnership or alignment with a larger organization, primarily for…
Physician Voices are Critical for Quality of Care It stands to reason that the most qualified individuals to make healthcare policy decisions would be those who are trained in medicine. Yet, physician voices have been limited in the decision-making discussions that have far-reaching implications for…
The Long-term Impact of COVID-19 Categorizing these times as uncertain is an understatement. What many people thought would be a few weeks of downtime to “flatten the curve” has evolved into a full-blown crisis that will have long-lasting ramifications – economic and otherwise. It’s ironic…
Bringing Patients Back: Patient Experience During a Pandemic As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, patients’ willingness to seek in-person medical care may best be described as lukewarm. While not all healthcare needs are urgent, delaying care can have serious consequences. In fact, a group of…
Navigating a Crisis: Telehealth & Re-opening The COVID-19 pandemic shut down everyday life for much of the country. In many states, stoppages were even ordered for healthcare deemed non-essential. Dermatology practices were left to figure out how to care for their patients and keep their…
Insurance Hassles & Financial Pressure: The Burdens of Dermatology Physician burnout continues to be a much discussed topic in healthcare circles. Study after study confirms that 1) physicians are burned out; and 2) practice management burdens are largely to blame. Findings from a recent survey…
According to a 2018 athenahealth report, professional isolation is a contributor to physician burnout. Seventy-three percent of the 1,400 physicians surveyed said they have experienced professional isolation, with 25% claiming to feel isolated at least once per week and 6% daily. Further, in the November…
A recent edition of AAD’s Dermatology World magazine featured a piece highlighting the factors dermatologists say most and least contribute to their job satisfaction. The findings, which were taken from the AAD’s 2019 Life in Practice Study, are not surprising. Patient interaction, clinical autonomy, and…
Roughly a decade ago, author Malcom Gladwell declared in his best-selling book Outliers, that to become an expert, one must spend 10,000 hours dedicated to their craft. Numerous counter theories have since emerged. Simply clocking hours does not guarantee expertise…
A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine put a price tag of $4.6B per year on physician burnout. While this massive cost burdens the US health system, the personal toll on physicians is also significant…
The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) has made a concerted effort in recent years to educate the public and payors about the importance of seeing a board-certified dermatologist for skin conditions. Quality of care, as well as efficiency, is best delivered by physicians who are…
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Annual Patient Safety Awareness Week is March 10-16. This initiative was created to promote discussions and encourage actions that will improve patient safety in all healthcare settings. Federal mandates tied to quality of care and outcomes have further increased the…
There’s no shortage of articles discussing how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the world, including the practice of medicine. While some suggest that the human element may soon become obsolete, others argue that mankind won’t be so easily replaced. In fact, a recent article entitled,…
For years, the federal government has issued mandates in an effort to improve care quality and reduce costs. While some believe these mandates are incrementally moving healthcare in the right direction, many physicians feel otherwise. In fact, only 15% of surveyed physicians agree that value-based…
The Physicians Foundation and Merritt Hawkins recently released their 2018 Survey of America’s Physicians. This year’s results are similar to what was found in the past few years’ surveys: More time is spent on paperwork, instances of burnout are high, and physicians are feeling pessimistic…
Employers can expect to pay almost $15,000 per employee for healthcare benefits in 2019, according to the National Business Group on Health’s Large Employers’ 2019 Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey. The 2019 costs are 5% higher than in 2018. The survey also revealed…
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report highlighting the rate of which small and rural medical practices successfully participated in federally-funded payment incentive programs. The report analyzed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data from 2015, focusing on “legacy” programs –…
“Healthcare is local” has been a mantra among providers for decades. The volume of that mantra increases anytime the industry goes through changes. Recently, it’s gotten louder in the field of dermatology, most likely due to the trend of industry consolidation. While commonalities exist, there…
In a recent issue of Dermatology World, the cover story focused on recruiting and retaining millennial physicians. While how to attract that generation’s best and brightest is a hot topic in many industries, it is especially important in dermatology as the gap between the supply…
It is no secret that the number of independent dermatology practices is shrinking. In fact, the 2017 American Academy of Dermatology Member Profile Report showed that 52% of dermatologists now are practicing in a group setting. While the pressures of practice management and shrinking reimbursements…
At last month’s American Association of Dermatology Annual Meeting, the topic of patient access to care was again a topic of discussion. This year, cost was named as an additional barrier to patient care. This issue is not unique to dermatology. In fact, a Kaiser…
Thousands of dermatologists recently descended upon San Diego for the 2018 AAD Annual Meeting. This conference provides attendees a chance to connect with colleagues, learn about clinical advancements, and discuss the state of their industry. Preparing for change has been a common theme in the…
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the U.S. will face a significant physician shortage by 2030 – up to 100,000 more physicians will be needed to meet patient demand. The dermatology world is already facing a deficit. While the American Academy of…
Forty-six percent of dermatologists say they feel career burnout, according to the 2017 Medscape Physician Lifestyle Report. This sentiment seems to be worsening in dermatology, and medicine in general. Since 2013, the percentage of physicians who claim burnout has risen 25%. During this same period,…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just released the 2018 Quality Payment Program / MACRA Final Rule. This iteration is supposed to reduce burdens and provide flexibility. Yet, the documentation outlining the final rule is thousands of pages long. According to an American…
Over half of surveyed physicians are dissatisfied with their electronic health records (EHRs), according to a study by the Mayo Clinic. Technology, oftentimes touted as the silver bullet for practice efficiency, is in reality giving many dermatologists more headaches than help. In most cases, the…
A recent study found that electronic health records (EHRs) are creating an even greater burden on small physician practices than was originally anticipated. This study defined a small practice as one with 1-4 physicians. Published earlier this year in Perspectives in Health Information Management, this…
The wait time for new patients to get a dermatology appointment is at its highest levels since Merritt Hawkins first began tracking this metric. According to that organization’s 2017 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times, 32 days is the average wait time for a routine…
Physician tiering is another method payors are utilizing to stem rising healthcare costs. This system ranks physicians based on quality and cost. Depending on physicians’ rank, patients’ out-of-pocket costs can widely vary. Attempts to drive down costs will most likely continue. According to a report…
U.S. healthcare costs have skyrocketed. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) places the figure at $3.2 trillion for 2015. That equates to $9,990 per person. CMS also projects these costs will continue to grow at a rate of 5.6% annually between 2016 and…
Succession planning is a hot-button issue for many dermatologists. According to a 2015 report by the Association of American Medical Colleges, 43.5% of practicing dermatologists are age 55 and over. That means that within a decade, almost half of today’s practicing dermatologists will either have…
The number of solo dermatology practices has steadily declined in the last decade. In 2014, just 35% of dermatologists practiced solo, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). There is a generational divide among dermatologists who practice solo and those who choose an alternate…
Industry consolidation continues to make headlines in the healthcare world. A recent Health Affairs report showed consolidation of both commercial payors and physician practices significantly impacts reimbursement rates. According to the report, reimbursement rates for office visits are reduced by almost 20% when a payor’s…
The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) went into effect January 1, 2017. The final MACRA ruling offers two tracks for compliance: 1) Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS); and 2) Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs). However, only MIPS may be used in 2017. For…