On virtually every visit to a private doctor’s office, I am amazed at the amount of clerical staff that even relatively small offices employ. Having run a law office for many years, I understand that the amount — and productivity — of clerical staff is an important component in the overall profitibility of the office. There is no discernible reason why that principle should be any different in most doctors’ offices.
This NY Times article may explain a part of this phenomenom. Despite pressure from an array of interest groups, only a few dozen medical centers across the country are making full use of the latest computerized patient safety systems. Hospitals and doctors contend that they have good reason to be cautious about the new technology because they believe that the computerized systems will never repay their multimillion-dollar cost, or will be outmoded or cost much less in a few years. Moreover, many doctors complain that using the systems to write prescriptions and order tests diverts them from patient care and running their offices on already stressful workdays.
The coordination of technology with patient care and medical practice business operations is one of the most challenging problems in the complicated field of health care finance at this time. This is an issue that we all need to follow closely.