Physicians feel reimbursement, EMRs and hospital employment as key factors to limiting physician pay according to a recent survey by Medicus Firm. The survey entitled, 2013 Physician Practice Preference and Relocation Survey was conducted with over 2,500 doctors revealed several workforce trends and practice preferences.
Compensation seemed to be a sore subject for many physicians. When asked what they feel limits their income the most, 30.3% of physicians selected “declining reimbursements” from a list of several factors. However, many physicians wrote in answers to this question rather than choosing one from the list provided.
16.4% of physicians answered “other” as the second highest response when asked what limits their income the most. The most common reasons submitted as to what limits physician pay were “hospital employment” and “EMR”. Physicians expressed frustration with the limits of hospital contracts and pay structures. About a third of the write-in responses to that question were devoted to physicians expressing the following frustrations with EMRs :
- Too much time spent on activities related to implementing, learning, training, and using EMR
- Time spent negatively impacted the amount of (billable) productive/clinical time they could spend with patients
- Reduces productive face-time with patients
Many physicians reported flat or declining income, but a few specialties experienced some income growth, such as hospitalists, emergency medicine, ob/gyn, and general surgery.
For a copy of the complete report, please visit www.TheMedicusFirm.com
Featured image credit: JoshuaDavisPhotography via cc
