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As the U.S. healthcare system focuses increasingly on value, otolaryngology practices of all types are trying to come up with new ways to improve efficiency. A group of panelists at the Triological Society Combined Sections Meeting discussed how to continue performing academic work in this environment, better deliver efficient cancer care, use physician extenders in private and academic settings, and use the electronic medical record in private practice.
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March 2018“Medical practice efficiency is critical in today’s healthcare environment,” said moderator David Eisele, MD, director of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. “Third-party payers and regulators have created requirements that have increased our practice costs, created increased physician workloads, [and] caused practice efficiency challenges, with both negative impact on our doctor-patient relationship and reduced reimbursement for our care.”
Academic Activities
D. Bradley Welling, MD, PhD, chair of otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said a big challenge in today’s environment is balancing academic work, which is typically something that uses up resources, with clinical activity, which generates resources. “Finding the right balance is not easy,” he said. “If you do too much academic work, the coffers in the department go dry. And if you do too much clinical work, then you don’t meet your responsibilities as an academic department.”