As with most events generated from the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is seeing a battered and exhausted healthcare industry. The domino effect of this aftermath is causing seismic changes within the healthcare community as well as patients who seek care across the world.
The latest trend is referred to as the “Great Resignation”, which is a phenomenon characterized by significant levels of turnover across all industries, as firms and their workers cope with the economic implications of 2021. A significant number of care teams, physicians, and other support professionals are experiencing levels of burnout that have never been seen before in healthcare. According to a survey, clinicians felt that optimizing their workplace conditions might prevent almost half of the surveyed physicians (46%) from leaving their present job for a new one. Nevertheless, nearly half of physicians (43%) stated they were contemplating early retirement in 2021, a trend that might have a considerable impact on the already diminishing number of providers entering healthcare. According to the Physician Retention Survey, physicians and administrators have a significant disconnect. According to the survey, most healthcare professionals thought their current employer/practice was to blame for their burnout; however, administrators were more inclined to blame physician burnout on the current clinical environment related to EHRs, telehealth and other technologies competing for a physician’s attention.
Many healthcare leaders have stated that the COVID-19 outbreak had a higher impact on physician burnout than non-physicians, but there seems to be mix reviews on how to interpret these results since there continues to be a reduced workforce across many industries. Healthcare leaders point to many factors that need to be addressed and are looking at this problem from a holistic approach to solve the major healthcare delivery issues.
“Having better technology to lower administrative burdens, boosting physician compensation, improving work conditions and transparency with communication are all factors that need to be addressed,” said Tom Luther, Co-Founder Karma Health Partners. “We understand that staff burnout is not isolated to one specific area; it needs to be a focused approach on multiple areas and reinforced with positive engagement. People have more options now than ever before, and the administration needs to see everyone as a valued member of the team in order to run a successful healthcare operation.”
The “Great Resignation” is concerning for the practice of medicine, a field that has been dealing with personnel shortage for years and is seeing a rise in demand as the population ages. According to Bryan Graven, one of the founders of HiLiteMD and healthcare advisor to many healthcare providers throughout the Northeast, this occurrence has created a big incentive for healthcare entities to look at ways to automate workflows typically performed by care teams and staff. “Our platform, HiLiteMD, automates patient communication, financial management and even automates many of the patient acquisition areas. We see healthcare providers struggle with staffing levels and looking at platforms like ours to save valuable resource time while providing equal to or better patient satisfaction. We have been working with healthcare providers for many years in this area, and the uptick of healthcare organizations looking to automate everything possible is skyrocketing.”
The “Great Resignation” is an opportunity to address the shortfalls of today’s complex and challenging healthcare climate. Flexible work arrangements and prioritizing safety and dangerous clinical environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, need to be top of mind for leaders in healthcare organizations. Right now, there is an opportunity to reset what is expected from administrative support staff and healthcare providers. The healthcare culture has been evolving and needs to be equipped with transparent leadership and appreciates all staff as contributors who provide value. The past year has been a humanizing experience for us all and how vital everyone is in the healthcare industry.
“I have never seen anything like this,” says Daniel Contaldi, Co-Founder HiLiteMD. “Healthcare providers are reducing their services and appointments are backed up for months because of staffing shortages.” Mr. Contaldi commented that while technology and automation won’t solve all the problems with the staffing shortages, it does help and may ease the burden on overworked staff and healthcare providers.
HiliteMD’s comprehensive Patient Engagement Platform automates front- and back-room operations including patient communications and education through video; billing and collections; financial management; patient acquisition and retention and more. HiLiteMD removes the barriers of automation with its unique manner in integrating with over 100 clinical platforms. Please visit www.HiLiteMD.com to learn more and to schedule a demonstration.