As the healthcare landscape changes, local physicians must adapt to new challenges. These challenges include a changing reimbursement model, the need to build a better physician experience, and the need to address social determinants of health.
Traditionally, health care was provided in hospitals and doctor’s offices. But today, more ambulatory, community and virtual services are delivered.
Availability
Availability of services is one of the most important factors that patients consider when choosing a primary care physician. They want to ensure they can see the doctor without traveling long distances or waiting for an appointment.
Patients can often be more prone to diseases or illnesses if they don’t have access to treatment initially. With medical technology allowing for more proactive and personalized therapies, patients can often get their health problems treated before they worsen.
This also means that people in rural areas or those with disabilities won’t have to travel long distances to see their doctors. Having local physicians available will allow these populations to receive the proper treatment they need to live healthier lives.
Flexibility
Flexibility is a crucial strategy for physicians as they work to meet the needs of their patients and increase their productivity. Physicians can offer flexible hours, shift work, or compressed work weeks.
Using these strategies can help improve patient outcomes and enhance their wellness levels, reducing stress on the clinician.
While these practices are gaining market share, there is a growing need to consider ways to support the transition to these new models of care.
Health system governance strategies include supporting networks of local organizational relationships, promoting a shared vision and framework for collaboration, and enabling distributed local control and experimentation.
Coordination
Effective coordination between primary and specialty physicians, hospitals, and other providers is critical to patient care in an increasingly fragmented healthcare system. Value-based payment models, accountable care organizations, and dedicated billing codes encourage broader coordination to improve patient health outcomes.
In addition, primary care physicians, including Medical Doctor Network, play a vital role in care coordination because they have the unique expertise needed to help patients manage their chronic conditions. For example, a patient with diabetes who cannot administer his insulin injections due to a medical problem is often more successful when the team of primary care physicians, pharmacists, and hospitalists work together.
Moreover, partnering with local community partners – such as social services or faith-based organizations – can increase the likelihood that care coordination is founded on knowledge about community needs. This approach can defray costs and extend the impact of care coordination programs through joint investment, thereby increasing the likelihood that collaborations will meaningfully address both clinical and social determinants of health.
Referrals
The healthcare industry has seen an unprecedented transformation driven by payer reform, technology, and consumer demands. These forces force practitioners to develop unique services that better fit patients’ needs, improve their health, and elevate the consumer experience.
One of the most important ways local physicians meet the Changing Healthcare Landscape is through referrals. Referrals help to grow their practices.
While many of these referrals come from patients, they also come from referring physicians. Hospital and health system leaders must recognize that their physician relations efforts will only be practical with positive relationships with area physicians.
Reputation
Online reviews are a significant consideration for potential patients, and a good reputation can make a difference in how much they spend to see you. A recent study found that nearly two-thirds of people search for businesses online at least monthly.
If you’re a doctor, getting great patient reviews is essential to building your reputation and growing your practice. You can automate and integrate ratings and reviews across major healthcare platforms with online physician reputation management tools.
