Why Doctors Should Stop Battling Transparency

Demands for quality and price transparency in all sectors of healthcare have journalists, patients and healthcare companies alike, believing that it could be the cure-all for our broken system.  Billions of dollars have been reported over-spent in the industry and it is clear that we need a solution, so why is it so hard for doctors to accept that transparency could be the first step?

As care providers, there are a number of issues that we could have with the full transparency model. The most apparent is a doctor’s concern with being commoditized, especially if their procedures are considered high-ticket price services. If a patient has to come out-of-pocket to pay for a procedure, the likelihood that the procedure will be put off is high.  This is a common concern for radiologists especially, who have uninsured patients or patients in need of studies for elective procedures. 

What most physicians concerned about commoditization don’t realize, is that by “succumbing” to transparency, they can become more competitive with their pricing strategies. For example, if a patient is able to compare your quality in comparison with your less appealing competition and your pricing is the same, your patient can make their own educated decision and a wiser choice. You can bet 10-to-1 that when pricing is the same, higher quality will win out, even in healthcare where high price does not necessarily point to high quality.

Traditionally, patients have made their care decisions based off of word of mouth. Whether a family member, friend or their physician advises them; other people’s opinions of your practice matter to your potential patients. So, most commonly if a doctor tells a patient they need further care, the patient will go wherever they tell them to go. Times, they are a’changing though. Patients are becoming more consumer-driven which means that having your pricing and quality available makes you more accessible to a growing patient population.

For particularly price-sensitive patients, listing yourself on transparency websites could make all the difference, especially if other similar or competing practices are still batting the need for transparency.  It is equally as helpful to referring offices with patients in need of affordable options, because they won’t have to waste time calling around to various practices for pricing. 

Physicians do not like to change their ways. It is as simple as that. Transparency however, is an aspect of change that is on the horizon for all of us, just as much as EMRs and social media, so the sooner you jump on board, the better. 

Atlantic Health Solutions and Metropolitan Ministries Raise Money for Tampa Community

This year, Metropolitan Ministries will be joining the campaign of community outreach by asking for your help. By joining Team MetroMin you can help “Race 4 Hope” provide 50,000 meals to people in need in our community.

            It is very simple to be a part of Metropolitan Ministries’ Team MetroMin “Race 4 Hope.” All that is required is a minimum $30 donation after registering for any Gasparilla Distance Race. This $30 donation will create 17 meals for people in need in and around our community. In order to register for the Gasparilla Distance Classic visit www.tampabayrun.com. By visiting the Strategies Page of the Metropolitan Ministries website you can give your donation and set up a page to receive more donations from friends and family.  Sharing your donation page is easy and can make a huge difference for so many deserving families in our community.

             Thirteen churches in Tampa make up Metropolitan Ministries, all with the same goal of helping those in the community that have hit a rough patch, to get back on their feet with dignity and become self-sufficient again. Since joining forces in 1972, these churches have helped serve over 520,000 families, given over 350,000 shelter nights for the homeless and created 23 million hot meals for those in need.

            Atlantic Health Solutions is no stranger to Metropolitan Ministries. All of the employees at Atlantic Health Solutions have volunteered at Metropolitan Ministries and believe in serving for the betterment of the community. Those who will be participating in the Gaparilla Distance Classic will be running for MetroMin and “Race 4 Hope.” 50,000 meals is a large feat, but we at Atlantic Health Solutions believe it is a goal that can be reached with your help.  So join us today and help the most influential outreach organization in our community by being a part of one of Tampa’s favorite traditions, The Gasparilla Distance Classic.

If Steve Jobs Redesigned Health Care

A recent Forbes article from yesterday discussed what hospitals would be like if Steve Jobs had redesigned them in the way he redesigned the technology field. The insight was pretty much spot on and called out some pretty blatant ironies and seemingly simplistic changes.

1. Eliminate doorknobs in medical establishments. Germ theory and knob-less doors have both been around forever. 
2. Eliminate elevator buttons, cash transactions and other easily replaced vehicles for spreading germs in medical establishments. 
3. Pediatricians tell patients to avoid having their children share toys and books with sick kids.  But what do many pediatricians provide in their waiting rooms?
4. Ban bacon and doughnuts in hospital cafeterias.  Unpopular, perhaps. But how can healthcare providers preach the value of healthy diets when their own cafeterias serve so much unhealthy food?
5. Prevent sleep deprivation among physicians.  Recent focus on medical interns has led to improvements, but healthcare providers still envy the sleep rules imposed on pilots.
6. Hospital patients prefer private rooms. Hospital-borne infections prefer shared rooms.
7. Noise, visual clutter and poor quality lighting are plentiful in U.S. hospitals.  Each one has been demonstrated to harm patient outcomes.
8. Pharmacies are a terrible bottleneck in hospitals. Centralized dispensing pharmacies increase drug delivery time by 50%. Do you want your hospital pharmacist to feel rushed?
9. More talking, less walking. Nurses spend almost 1/3 of their time walking through rectangular, single corridor units to see patients. Radial units allow nurses to visually supervise patients and spend more time on patient care and communication.
10. Disease doesn’t respect office hours. Yet hospital staffing is typical of the Monday-through-Friday, 9am-to-5pm American working culture.  Studies show that patients who enter the hospital with stroke or heart disease at night or on weekends have higher mortality than midweek, 9am-5pm admissions.  It’s hard to understand why such straightforward ways to improve patientmortality outcomes are overlooked.

How these changes could be implemented in hospitals is yet to be determined, the author seems to think that the likelihood of change is minuscule because when you’re dealing with larger operations like hospital systems, small changes get lost in the shuffle. 

So it stands to reason that independent practices and non-hospital-owned physicians could be the ones that take these ideas and run with them! Working mostly with radiology practices and radiation oncology practices, the concerns associated with germs are less of an issue, but if you take the same approach, the Steve-Jobs thinking, when it comes to simplifying the larger patient issues like healthcare costs, comparing physicians and finding quality doctors; we could be on to something.

- Why leave it to patients to have to call around to eight different doctor’s offices looking for prices when you can list them all in the same place?

- Why stress about the one million and half ways to refer patients to specialists if you could do it in one simplistic portal?

- Why spend the time chasing down no-pay patients, if you can let a third party accept payment before the procedure even happens?

- Why can’t checking into your doctor’s appointment be as easy as checking into your flight online?

- If your staff is overwhelmed by various tasks that could be replaced by an application, why wouldn’t you let it happen?

Some food for thought. We’re working on those solutions and if we can fix those things, then what else can we change?

What Healthcare Pros Need to Know About Radiologists

By: Matthew D, Rifkin, MD, FACR

In the past, the radiology profession was seen as a very financially successful specialty, but as every businessperson knows, success often has peaks and valleys.  Radiology residencies are some of the most competitive to obtain, which is due to the combination of expected financial compensation and the assumed quality of life. 

In the early 1990’s, when financial pressures first appeared on the frontier of radiology, RAPS suggested that hospital based physicians divvy up a portion of their financial pie. It was during that time, and again in the early 2000s, that radiology began to see a dip in American graduates showing interest in the field. The nice 9-to-5 lifestyle and never being on call started to fade away, making the stress associated with radiologists lives become more apparent.

Compensation for practicing also started to become severely affected, this applies to both hospital based radiologists and independent imaging center radiologists. Hospitals used to pay a generous stipend to their radiologists, however they are now facing increased financial pressures such as the shutting down of hospitals, emergency room patients being cared for without paying and harsh Medicare cuts.  With all of these stressors, hospitals are additionally requiring 24-hour coverage by radiologists to account for better patient care, while teleradiology services seem to have undercut most hospital based radiologists.

Challenges associated with pre-certifications, decreased reimbursement, decreased referrals due to radiation fears and self-referrals have also been contributing factors to decreased compensation, but more importantly, those radiologists’ morale has begun to suffer. Particularly in the case of outpatient imaging centers, where income reductions in some areas have been as much as 50-75%.

Radiologists are working longer hours and taking less vacation time, which seems miniscule, except that you must take into account the fact that this was unheard of in years past. These same radiologists are now delaying retirement, which leads to the delay of hiring new, younger radiologists. In the cases where positions are offered, the starting salaries in some states have been reduced by as much as 40%. Of course in certain areas of the country, like New York City, this is more threatening and prevalent.

 It is hard to look at healthcare in our country and understand where our problems start and where they end, but as healthcare professionals, it is necessary to take a step back and examine these changes from the care providers’ perspectives. It will help us determine where we are, how far we have come and what next frontier we will conquer. 

The Impact of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act on Americans; Provided by CompHealth