Physician Satisfaction

Documents http://www.groupz.net/PracticeResources/Consult... Document This document is clearly a commercial site, but it represents the growing industry that has developed to meet some of the problems physicians are facing in managed care. This particular document offers a service to help physicians report their costs effectively. They are basically selling cost reports as a way to make physicians marketable to managed care. For instance it offers them the ability to calculate costs of various procedures as a way to win contracts. It is clear that the stress of surviving in this environment has created a need for these services. NCQA HEDIS Document NCQA now has the results of their HEDIS measures available on line. There is a secction for member access and satisfaction. I included this site as a futuristic resource. To date HEDIS does not look at physician satisfaction, but there are some indirect descriptive measures being considered. Ideally, physician satisfaction will appear as one of the HEDIS measures in the near future. Physician's Health and Well-being Document This document is a physician's guide to managing stress. It starts with a section called recognizing the symptoms of stress, and includes topics about developing buffers, altering the way physicians think to cope with stress, and finally includes a section on suggestions for how to cope with the stress of being sued. Ten years ago this kind of a page would never have existed and much of the information in it relates to the stresses and problems of coping in the current health care environment. PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE PWC Document This document is written by the President of an association called Physicians Who Care. He has written several position papers on the Web about managed care and medicare. This document relates ot physician satisfaction because this term includes satisfaction with the kind of care that is being delivered. The paper is an example of several that calls for not limiting patients' choice in the selection of health care. Specifically, it calls for no limits on patient choice or access and vows to fight for patient's rights in any health care reform. If nothing else it provides physicians with similar concerns with an organization with which to allign in what some doctors consider the battle of health care reform. STUDY REVEALS LONG WAITS, FAST EXAMS Document: This article appeared in the July 11 1995 issue of the St. Louis Post- Dispatch. A recent study commissioned by the RWJF found that managed care members were three times more likely to believe that the level of care was wrong or inappropriate, and two and a half times more likely to believe their doctor did not spend enough time with them. There are several other findings that indicate overall patient dissatisfaction, which certainly has an impact on physicians. U.S.News Online: NYCU--How Your HMO Could Hurt You Document This is an article in U.S. News Online, called How Your HMO can Hurt You: Managed care doctors concerned about their incomes have incentive to stint care. The article presents the point of view of the patient advocate, but raises a number of issues for the physician. The famous case of Dr. Himmelstein is discussed and many issues such as incentives, carrots, gags are presented. Physicians who are dissatisfied with managed care take issue with these same problems. The broad area of doctor-patient credibility is also discussed, and as is suggested in the article, many physicians now feel this depends on disclosure of payment arangements. There is also a discussion about another area of dioctors' concern, that of ER pressure. The article looks at the dilemma of new ecomnomics and putting the needs of the patient first. This article, in summary gives good insight into some of the factors that play into overall physician satisfaction. Writings of CCME Alumni and Associates Document This siteis a collection of documents on ethical issues in medicine. One of the articles is an article published in the NEJM by David Himmelstein on a proposed solution for the current health care dilemma. There are several other articles in the list that tangentially relate to issues of physician satisfaction as it overlaps some of the ethical issues that are emerging.
Sites NAMCP Site: Four stars The mission of the NAMCP is to provide practicing physicians and other health care professionals through education, research and communication, ways to succeed in manged care environments. Benefits of membership are cited as belonging to the most advanced and progressive associations for managed care physicians. It provides easy access to nationally recognized experts in managed care and integrated delivery systems for confidential advice and assistance, among many others too numerous to list. This site relates to physician satisfaction because even the formation of such an organization indicates that physicians feel they need to form alliances to cope with the rapid change in the health care delivery system. It certainly provides an easy way for communication to take place. PGI - Life in Medicine Forum Site: Three Stars This is a privae site for physicians. It is designed to give physicians an opportunity to share and discuss issues that affect them personally and professionally. All particiapants are required to first get a password. There is even consultation available with a health and medical educator to whom you could confidentially e-mail problems. The life in medicine forum guarantees confidentiality. It was easy to use and allows physicians to discuss areas of frustration or dissatisfaction with eachother. Physician's Guide to the Internet Site: Four Stars This site is designed for physicians who want to take advantage of the internet. I found it particularly unique however, because it contained a sub section called Physician Lifestyle! This includes tips on stress management, psychiatric referral and counseling on personal finance. There was even a breathing relaxation exercise that you could do while waiting for the next screen. Other sections included Clinical Practice, Postgraduate Education, FunStuff, and a section for the new physician. Physicians' Home Page Site: Four Stars The physicians home page is a web site that has a number of functions. Their mission is to provide physicians with a convenient way to get relevant, authoritative, rapid and up to date answers to the questions faced during the practice of medicine. It relates to physician satisfaction because it provides physicians a way to communicate with each other about practice in managed care. There were many such relevant discussions going on when I visited. It contains sub-headings called MD Answers, MD Drugs, MD Opinions (where doctors ask themselves questions about various topics), MD Digests, MD Internet Library, MD CME, and MD Elsewhere. I found it very easy to use, with quick simple graphics and absolutely loaded with a wide variety of information. The Doctors' Home Page Site Four Stars This site is designed by a physician for physicians. It includes links to medical sites that are likely to be useful for practicing physicians, patient education materials, quotes on mediciane and life and medical humor. It includes a general interest site that includes government sponsored sites and primary care sites. The online publication section is very impressive, and includes popular press and professional journals. A lot of information about physician satisfaction can be tangentiallly retrieved in a number of these subdirectories. Physicain satisfaction is addressed in a subdirectory called The Society for Professional Well-Being, which is an organization devoted to teaching and encouraging self-care behaviors to health professionals, with an emphasis on constructive approaches to handling stress in the era of health care reform and avoiding burn-out among health care professionals. The site is very user friendly.

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