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Podcast Recap | AMA Update: Getting rid of stupid stuff to make your private practice more efficient

September 20, 2023

Before becoming an AMA director, Dr. Chen had been in private practice for many years, later transferring to Kaiser Permanente before returning to private practice. After experiencing a worsening environment and a second bout with burnout, Dr. Chen found the opportunity at the AMA and set out to help his colleagues still in private practice to avoid a similar fate.

Following are 5 key takeaways from the discussion:

1. While private practice offers a level of autonomy that may be protective against burnout, there are numerous non-clinical responsibilities not found in traditional hospital settings that should be considered.

Noting that private practitioners must often take on these non-clinical tasks singlehandedly, Dr. Chen explains that increased administrative burden, business operations, personnel management and marketing—all activities that contribute to a successful private practice—can lead to burnout. These and other factors should be considered when weighing the pros and cons of running a private practice.

2. Repetitive, daily tasks should be carefully evaluated to determine if they are necessary or just contributing to inefficiencies.

According to Dr. Chen, inefficiencies in private practice mirror that of every practice, but the small size of the average private practice amplifies these inefficiencies. He reasons that private practitioners should review all repetitive tasks, e.g., logging into the electronic health record system multiple times an hour or signing non-legal documents, to determine if they can be managed differently or if they are even necessary at all. To conduct this review, Dr. Chen recommends a validation process his practice transformation colleagues use, called “GROSS,” or “Get Rid of Stupid Stuff,” which aims to reduce or eliminate inefficiencies.

‘Team-based care,’ an approach where tasks that don’t require physician attention are executed by other valuable team members, is another practice approach Dr. Chen recommends. These and other tips are outlined in the AMAs Private Practice Simple Solutions webinar series.

3. Reducing the strain of paperwork, in part, comes down to preparedness.

In private practice, Dr. Chen says, the burden of paperwork comes from every angle, including paperwork patients must fill out at the front desk, like HIPAA, consent and medical intake forms; employee forms like intake forms, job descriptions, expense reimbursement requests, and time-off forms; and a plethora of back-end paperwork. While physicians in private practice have typically had to generate these forms, a better approach would be to compile and upload all required forms and form templates to electronic medical record systems, practice management software, and patient portals for ease of access and use.

Dr. Chen’s Practice Sustainability team has collated many common forms into a Private Practice Playbook available on the AMA website.

4. Since business and marketing courses aren’t typically offered in medical school, private practitioners must seek out continuing education to gain these vital skills.

Dr. Chen shares that many business and marketing resources can be found in the AMAs Private Practice Simple Solutions webinar series, but there are lots of resources elsewhere as well. A few areas of focus he recommends are marketing and branding to promote the practice, increase patient awareness and get referrals from other doctors; and connecting with peer private practice physicians in forums and specialized communities to gain different perspectives and learn from experiences in different practice settings, locations, etc.

5. The AMAs STEPS Forward® Resources site is a collection of interactive educational toolkits designed to provide actionable guidance to transform private practice. The AMA is leveraging the STEPS Forward forum to hopefully reform Medicare payment policies in support of private practices.

The AMA’s STEPS Forward® Resources site is a repository of useful tools Dr. Chen and his team designed to enable private practice transformation and sustainability. The resources include everything from how to reduce administrative burdens by eliminating repetitive tasks to preventing burnout and regaining time to focus on patients. The site is free and available to all physicians.

Unger notes that the STEPS Forward forum, in which private physicians share their unique experiences and best practices, has provided a unique opportunity to assist in enacting reformed Medicare payment policies through the House of Delegates. Specifically, it has helped to highlight the concerns and obstacles that private practices are facing.

Unger invites listeners to learn more about the AMA’s Medicare payment reform work at ama-assn.org/recovery.

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this podcast recap are solely that of the host and guests and do not reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of epocrates and athenahealth.

Source(s):

(2023, Sept. 11). AMA Update. Getting Rid of Stupid Stuff to make your private practice more efficient with Sea Chen, MD, PhD [Podcast]. https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/private-practices/getting-rid-stupid-stuff-make-your-private-practice-more-0