Home Growing Your Practice What big problems do you face in your practice?

What big problems do you face in your practice?

The list includes readmissions and EMR troubles

March 2015

Published in the March 2015 issue of Today’s Hospitalist

WHAT ARE SOME COMMON PROBLEMS that hospitalist face? In our 2014 Today’s Hospitalist Compensation & Career Survey, we asked hospitalists to tell us how often they encounter six problems in their day-to-day practice. Here’s a look at the questions we asked and the responses we received. All responses are from full-time adult hospitalists.

Readmissions
Of the six issues we asked about, hospitalists identified one “readmissions due to lack of follow-up care options ” as the clear winner. When asked how often they see hospitalized patients bounce back due to the lack of such options, 82% said frequently or sometimes.

More than 90% of hospitalists working for national hospitalist management companies and local groups reported seeing this problem regularly. While hospitalists in the Pacific region were less likely to see this as a problem (59% said they see it frequently or sometimes), more than 90% of hospitalists in the South said readmissions due to a lack of follow-up resources is a regular issue.

EMR troubles
The next biggest problem on our list had to do with technology. When asked if EMR systems were having an impact on quality of care, 78% of hospitalists said it was a situation they encountered frequently or sometimes. One interesting finding: More female hospitalists viewed EMR-system problems as a regular issue (90%) than their male colleagues (73%).

Inappropriate transfers
Transfers were another hot topic. When it comes to inappropriate transfers from other facilities, 69% said they see patients who fall into this category frequently or sometimes. Hospitalists working at universities and medical schools were most likely to view this as a problem, with 84% saying they frequently or sometimes see inappropriate transfers.

Premature discharges, specialty care
Fifty-five percent of full-time adult hospitalists reported that they face pressure to discharge patients prematurely either frequently or sometimes, while 53% said they are asked to provide specialist care they don’t feel adequately trained for frequently or sometimes.

Outpatient providers
Finally, 50% of our respondents said that they frequently or sometimes see patients in the hospital because they believe the care of those patients was mishandled by a nurse practitioner or physician assistant in a primary care office.

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