An increasing burden of paperwork, tied in part to healthcare reforms driven by Obamacare, now consumes about one-sixth of a typical America physician’s day — impinging on the time doctors can spend caring for patients.
That’s the upshot of a new study led by Harvard Medical School researchers who found the average doctor spends 16.6 percent of his or her working hours on non-patient-related paperwork.
The findings, which are based on a nationally representative survey of physicians, tied the trend to changes in U.S. health policy — including a shift to employment in large practices, the implementation of electronic medical records as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the increasing prevalence of financial risk sharing.
In a report on the study, published in the International Journal of Health Services, the researcher said the trend is likely to continue, increases doctors’ paperwork burdens, cutting into time spent with patients, and decreasing career satisfaction among those in the medical profession.
Lead researchers Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., and David Himmelstein, M.D., are internists in the South Bronx who serve as professors of public health at the City University of New York and lecturers in medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Their conclusions are based on an analysis of confidential data from the 2008 Health Tracking Physician Survey, which collected information from a nationally representative sample of 4,720 physicians who practiced at least 20 hours per week.
Read more at NewsMax.com…
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