It can be exhausting for physicians in private practice struggling with adequate staffing, but there may be an underused member of the care team waiting to step in and help: patients themselves.
“We all know burnout rates are high not only for physicians and nurses and care team members but everybody that's part of that team,” said Niki Panich, MD, a family physician in Calgary, Canada, who holds master’s degrees in data science and analytics, as well as in management and innovation.
With patient-engagement technology, “we've seen a return on investment in terms of staff engagement and also staff satisfaction, and that drives retention,” Dr. Panich said during a session that is part of the AMA Private Practice Simple Solutions series of free, open-access rapid-learning cycles that provide opportunities to implement actionable changes that can immediately increase efficiency in private practices.
The session is available to view on demand, as are all previous sessions in the AMA Private Practice Simple Solutions series (registration required). A follow-up Q&A with Dr. Panich and other experts is scheduled for Sept. 10 at 10:15 a.m. CDT. Register now.
As detailed in the webinar, patient-engagement technology can encompass:
- Appointment scheduling and notifications.
- Secure messaging.
- Completing forms, feedback and other paperwork.
- Sharing records, resources and care plans.
- Bill payments and processing.
- Using "ambient intelligence" to reduce documentation.
“Patients expect to be actively involved in their own care, more and more, and it's getting harder and harder to staff traditional administrative roles,” said Meaghan Nolan, MSc, the co-founder of Mikata Health, which is an EHR-integrated platform that offers automated tools for charting, booking and more. Nolan said patients are ready and willing to take part.
Sign up for Morning Rounds
Get the latest news in medicine and public health delivered to your inbox Monday–Friday, and discover our weekend edition, featuring the best stories of the week.
Rewarding on several fronts
Research shows the positive results of patient-engagement technology, with Nolan citing a 2022 meta-analysis demonstrating that it can help lower HbA1c levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. She also cited a 2019 study showing that empowering patients to collect their own data resulted in a 14.85 return on investment and more than $153,000 in savings.
“There are major benefits for your patients,” Nolan said. “When patients are actively involved in their own care, it's safer, it results in better outcomes, and it makes the experience more patient-centered.”
But it also leads to gains in other areas, she said.
“Patient engagement can increase your revenue,” Nolan said. “It makes patients more satisfied and more loyal to your practice and it reduces your team's workloads, burnouts and costs.”
It takes astute clinical judgment as well as a commitment to collaboration and solving challenging problems to succeed in independent settings that are often fluid, and the AMA offers the resources and support physicians need to both start and sustain success in private practice.
Practical benefits and return on investment
At Dr. Panich’s physician private practice, the implementation of a variety of patient engagement technology has led to a multitude of benefits for patients, clinic staff and physicians.
“Being able to communicate frequently with them [patients] and, in many cases, in a language other than English has been significant in reducing our no-show rates, booking appropriate appointment lengths ... and also just in freeing up our staff,” said Dr. Panich, who has specialized skills in women’s health, antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum and newborn care.
She added that the practice burden of what had previously been between one to two hours a day of phoning and coordinating care with patients has been supplanted by technology. “Now that time is spent more meaningfully—with people and patients and serving needs,” Dr. Panich said.
Automated appointment reminders have helped cut no-show rates by 80% at Dr. Panich’s practice, adding that technology has also changed their pre-maternity appointment communications with patients.
“We're able to allow patients to receive that information in a language of choice. This brings more meaningful discussions at the next visit because they've had more time to understand and truly ingest it,” Dr. Panich said. “It's also helped our informed consent.”
As for depression screening for maternity care patients, Dr. Panich said those who show high scores on the screening are offered a sooner appointment, if they would like it, and are automatically double-booked for a longer appointment to leave an adequate amount of time to provide the level of care they need.
“That has made a huge difference in my day in keeping me on time but also allowing me to feel like I really can meet patient needs,” she said.
Find out more about the AMA Private Practice Physicians Section, which seeks to preserve the freedom, independence and integrity of private practice.
