As hospitals and health systems affiliate with and acquire physician practices, paying attention to the physicians' professional satisfaction can improve quality of care and ensure sustainability, according to a RAND Corporation report.
Between January and August 2013, RAND researchers gathered data from 30 physician practices in Colorado, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Based on their research, they identified several key factors that influence physicians' job satisfaction.
1. High-quality care delivery. Physicians reported better professional satisfaction if they felt they or their practices provided high-quality care, according to the report. Obstacles to quality care delivery can include internal issues such as unsupportive practice leadership or external factors such as payers refusing to cover necessary medical services.
2. Electronic health records. Conceptually, researchers found physicians approved of EHRs and liked having the ability to remotely access patient information. However, many physicians report the current state of EHR technology negatively affects their professional satisfaction because of issues such as time-consuming data entry and poor usability.
3. Income stability, fairness and transparency. Physicians reported income stability as a significant contributor to their overall satisfaction. Payment arrangements that physicians saw as fair, transparent and aligned with quality care also enhanced satisfaction.
4. Cumulative regulatory burden. Physicians and practice managers reported the cumulative burden of external rules and regulations negatively affected their professional satisfaction. Physicians commonly singled out meaningful use rules for EHRs as particularly burdensome.
Overall, hospitals and health systems affiliating with physician practices should seek to focus on predictable and fair payment systems, quality of care, better EHR usability and regulatory burden reduction to increase professional satisfaction, according to the report.
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