From compensation hassles to compliance hurdles and staff burnout, independent practices have a myriad of obstacles to overcome. Now, with the start of the new year, physicians are finding themselves on the front line of evolving technology, policies, and patient expectations, while struggling with spending adequate time on patient care.

Here are the top challenges physicians can expect to contend in 2020:

• Cybersecurity

Newer technological solutions come with a cost: the vulnerability of confidential healthcare data. Independent physicians are the prime targets for hackers seeking medical records data, and the problem is only expected to grow in 2020. to stay protected, it is essential to establish information access policies and procedures, enforce strong passwords and maintain adequate information security measures, ensure data backup and maintain business continuity plans in place, while maintaining the operating system and adequately patching all software in use.

CureMD’s HIPAA compliant hosting and application security cover all that you need to protect your information on the Cloud. Independent providers can also utilize practice level security services from our partner organizations to apply additional safeguards at their facilities.  You can email security@curemd.com to learn more about how we can help deploy strategies to deploy high-class security in place.

• Payer Contracts

Negotiating good payer contracts is the key to an independent practice’s survival. This year, physicians must focus on payers that provide the best contracts. It is also imperative to maximize revenue from additional services and to create a better value proposition after considering patient volume, specialty, location, and local availability of services.

CureMD can help negotiate better rates to maximize revenue. Please contact credentling@curemd.com for more information.

• Avoiding Malpractice Lawsuits

Not all physicians that malpractice lawsuits are deliberate offenders; many struggles with a lack of knowledge about policies and regulations. Research shows nearly half of all physicians face a lawsuit at one point in their careers. The average payout for a medical malpractice claim is $309,908, while the average time spent on a lawsuit can be over five years. This means that the average physician spends over ten percent of their medical career dealing with litigation. To avoid this challenge, physicians must acquaint themselves with updated regulations and requirements, document everything accurately and timely, review medications, religiously follow up on tests, and focus their time and attention on patient care, among other vigilant strategies.

Attend CureMD webinars to learn more about applying safeguards for malpractice lawsuits or obtain “Malpractice Safeguards Handbook” from your CureMD support analyst to mitigate possible malpractice lawsuits.

• Ease of Use

Research shows that most practices switching EHRs are not able to achieve better performance. as independent practices make the transition to newer EHR’s, they continue to struggle with a complex interface and poor system user experience. It not only creates management challenges but also compromises patient care and subsequently results in staff burnout.

CureMD is founded and designed by physicians to ensure simplicity and efficiency comes pre-loaded with specialty content while offering advanced customization capabilities to avoid usability challenges.  

• Staff Burnout

Electronic systems are meant to streamline processes and allow staff to spend more time on patient care. Yet, the core reason for burnout remains the time and effort it takes to implement and master a new system. Independent practices find themselves struggling with newer technology while trying to provide the desired care, usually neglecting their own physical and mental wellbeing. For practices to excel, it is essential to effectively deal with burnout. Physicians are advised to practice mindful self-compassion while making sure the technology they choose is the right one for their practice and staff.

• Patient Experience

As patients become more informed, they have more options and are actively involved in their own wellbeing. Patient experience remains the most critical determinant of practice growth and sustainability as patients are more likely to compare service quality and convenience. Recent research reveals that practices with high review scores tend to grow their patient base by up to 40% over practices with a lower score. Patient experience should be the top priority for independent practices. Most patients today thoroughly research healthcare providers and leave negative review comments if not served well. They desire up-front cost estimates, and demand online services like scheduling, refills, referrals, accessing medical records, paying bills and communicating with the provider and staff.

CureMD brings advanced technology to optimize the patient experience. Integrated patient portal, text alerts, practice web site, and check-in KIOSK helps streamline communication across all pre and post-visit services.  learn more.

• Increased Competition

With the exponential increase in medical marketing, the competition for independent practices is expected to be at the highest this year. The online proliferation of physician directories and search services have enabled patients to shop for services on the go, now they seek the same convenience in healthcare that they do with retail outlets. While urgent care centers and minute clinics are putting pressure on private practices, on-demand services like online appointment booking and confirmation, refills, and test results, direct communication with physicians, minimum waiting times, comfortable reception area and streamlined customer service matter more than ever.

CureMD is designed to help your practice stand out among the competition and comes fully loaded with the tools that you need to provide high-quality personalized service. to learn more please contact sales@curemd.com