Doctor morale shaky – improvements are possible.

An article by the American Medical News dated January 15, 2007 reports, “according to a new nationwide survey of physicians six (6) in ten (10) doctors have considered leaving medicine because they are discouraged by the health care system.”

As a result more and more physicians suffer from sagging morale, burnout and depression and the support from spouses and other family members is more important than every before.

Unfortunately, most physicians stress out more over circumstances where they have little or no influence such as low reimbursement rates, loss of autonomy and bureaucratic red tape just to mention a few.

What would happen if physicians only stressed out over circumstances they could change? How would our healthcare system and their life quality improve?

Reinhold Niebuhr says, “Grant me the courage to change what I can change, the strength to accept what I can’t, and the wisdom to tell the difference.”

Most of the times we focus too much on the things that we cannot change and bang our heads on the wall instead of focusing on things where we have the power to change and look for solutions.
But we cannot change our situation if we don’t change our mind and belief system first.

As Gregg Broffman, MD, medical director of Lifetime Health Medical Group in Buffalo, N.Y., said "No one ever said, 'Folks, the world is going to change professionally for you, not only technologically, but also in the way that business is done."

It is time to change and to improve if you don’t want to continue complaining about the same things year in and year out. So what can you do to include improvements in your life and boost your morale?

1. Control stress
This might sound trivial to you but if you feel too stressed in your life, you won’t be open for change, you won’t have the RAM capacity in your brain to process new information. Learning more effective ways of living and practicing medicine requires a calm and focused environment with a manageable amount of stress and pressure.
To learn ways to control stress, visit http://www.balancedphysician.com/a-stresscontrol.html

2. Step outside of your box
People who stay inside of their box get stuck. Insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results. So, step outside of your box, try different ways to accomplish a task, read a book that is outside of your usual genre, try out hobbies that you have never done before. Stepping outside of the box gives you a different perspective of your situation and challenges.

3. Learn from accomplished colleagues
Being a successful and fulfilled physician in today’s healthcare environment isn’t easy but also isn’t impossible. So many physicians have developed their own formula for professional success and personal well-being. Learn from them, get in contact with them. Ask them questions. And then develop your own formula.

4. Stop listening to the ‘naysayers’
Some people enjoy complaining. They sometimes get their energy from complaining. But listening to naysayers can be very draining and discouraging. People and their attitude either give us energy or take energy away from us. Naysayers can only complain but in general cannot provide solutions. Therefore the best approach is to stay away from them. Establish your boundaries by letting them know that you do not want to hear their complaints anymore. If they don’t honor your request, step away.

5. Take small actions
Improvements won’t happen without action. Therefore think of one little step that you can do each day that leads you to long-term improvement.

6. Get support from a mentor or coach
It can be challenging sometime to make major improvements by yourself and stay motivated along the way. Our success in life is proportionate to our ability to ask for help. Therefore, if you want to succeed with your action plan, consider working with a mentor or a physician coach. They can assist you in minimizing mistakes and maximizing your efforts. And you will have so much fun along the way.

Medicine has not only become a field with bigger limitations but also with new opportunities. It is up to you if you are open to seize them.

Lost Revenue in a Medical Practice

Last week a friend of mine told me the following story:

On Friday I went for my annual Echo Cardiogram. I was called on Monday to see if I had insurance. A recording called the house on Wednesday to remind me of my appointment saying, "This time has been set aside for you." And then a live person called on Thursday and asked me to call. Or course they call during the day while I'm at work and they're not in office when I get home. On Friday morning at 8.30 am I called to find out what they wanted and after 15 minutes on hold, someone just wanted to make sure I was coming at 10:00 am. I assured them I was.

Okay, I show up at 9:45 am - I'm always early for doctor appointments incase there is paperwork to fill out. As you many know, I'm not a patient person.
At 10:30 am I went to the window and told the receptionist that I was not going to wait any longer and said I'd call later to make another appointment. As I was walking to the door the woman got anxious and snapped to attention trying to get things done.

She managed to stop me and I returned to the window while she frantically looked up my appointment and who was to have done my Echo Cardiogram. She called around and started paging people go get some answers. Two minutes later, the woman who was suppose to do my Echo walked by. The receptionist called to her. "Judy, your appointment is here." As Judy walked out of site she said, "I'm about to get him." and continued to walk out of site.
At that point I told the receptionist, "I'm sorry, 'about to get him,' won't cut it."

As I turned and walk out of the office the counter lady went running after the Echo lady. I haven't felt that good in weeks. I also thinking of billing them for the parking.”

Now, isn’t it a shame that patients, who pay cash for their service – an $800 service – are treated like this? What has been the outcome of this event?
- The practice lost $800 in revenue for a service not performed.
- The practice spent valuable time on this patient that did not get paid at the end: making the appointment, confirming the appointment, registering the patient at the point of arrival
- The patient lost 2 hours of his time away from work.
- The patient feels so dissatisfied about this experience that he will not return to this medical practice.
- The patient told many of his friends and colleagues about this negative experience at this medical practice – I guarantee you that none of them will ever make a visit to them.
- This was a lose – lose situation; the patient lost and the practice lost.

And how many physicians or practice manages will ever hear about incidents happen in their practice and address them to the staff? Probably not many because many times patients wasted already too much of their time that they don’t want to spend more time by filing a complaint.

Being on time has something to do with respect.

Give the patient an option
- While on the telephone at 8.30 am could have said, “we are running behind on schedule.”
- Talk with the patient and inform them upon the arrival.
- Ask them if they would like to reschedule or give them a price break

So many times I hear practice manager complaining that a person would never negotiate the cell phone bill or the bill but patients always want to negotiate a doctors bill or don’t even want to pay a doctors bill.

If a doctor doesn’t respect my time or doesn’t treat me with a service that is worth the amount he / she bills me, then I must admit I have a hard time justifying paying the bill.

If a physician wants to be treated like all the other service providers – they also have to treat their patients like a valuable customer that they respect, care and honor.