Covid-19 Aftermath: Medical Practitioners Closing Shop Due to Pandemic Strain
Financial woes and Covid-19-related stress have forced medical practitioners across the United States to call it quits. Thousands of medical practices have closed as doctors and nurses decide to retire early or shift to less intense jobs.
The Physicians Foundation, a nonprofit group, did a surveyin July involving 3,500 doctors. As per the group, at least 8% of the doctors reported closing their offices in recent months. The foundation estimated could equal some 16,000 practices. Another 4% said they planned to shut down within the next year.
Longer Safely Treat Patients
One such practitioner is Dr. Kelly McGregory, who opened her own pediatric practice just outside Minneapolis two years ago. McGregory lamented that she could spend as much time as she wanted with patients, and parents could get all of their questions answered. However, just as her practice was beginning to thrive, the coronavirus hit the United States and began spreading across the country. At one point, she had only three surgical masks left and worried that she could no longer safely treat patients. Families were also staying away, concerned about catching the virus. Dr. McGregory said:
“As an independent practice with no real connection to a big health system, it was awful […] I did some telemedicine, but it wasn’t enough volume to really replace what I was doing in the clinic.”
Planned To Leave the Practice
The Larry A. Green Center with the nonprofit group Primary Care Collaborative conducted another survey in September. They found that nearly one-fifth of all primary care physicians planned to retire early or have already retired because of Covid-19. 15 percent said they know someone who had left or planned to leave the practice. The clinicians painted a grim picture of their lives, with 50% claiming mental exhaustion was at an all-time high as the pandemic enters a new robust phase. Dr. Joan Benca, 65, who worked as an anesthesiologist in Madison, Wis., said:
“Honestly, if it hadn’t been for the pandemic, I would have still been working because it was not my plan to retire at that point. It wasn’t the way I wanted to end my career […] I think for most of us, we would say, you would fall on your sword for your family but not for your job.”
As Covid-19 continues to spread across the globe, the crisis’s ongoing weight is bearing down on healthcare workers. A Medscape survey recently found that about two-thirds of physicians felt burned out, and 50% were feeling lonely. The survey polled 7.500 physicians from the U.S., U.K., Mexico, Brazil, France, Spain, Germany, and Portugal was polled; more than 5,000 were U.S. physicians.
Burnout
While most healthcare workers say self-care is important, 53% feel guilty making time for it. Almost 70% haven’t taken a vacation in six months or more, and more than half don’t plan to take one this year, per a Healing Hands survey. Medscape found physicians in the U.S. are among those more likely to eat more and drink alcohol to cope with stress. But U.S. doctors and their close family members were less likely than doctors in other countries to contract Covid-19, per Healthcare Dive.
Burnout is referred to as the lack of enthusiasm for work and a low sense of personal accomplishment. Burnout can result in poor work performance and, ultimately, can cause some providers to quit medicine. Burnout can also harm doctor-patient relationships and lead to medical errors. Telemedicine, when adequately reimbursed, can help them address these challenges. Here’s how.
Time Savings
The convenience of telemedicine visits can lead to fewer missed appointments and allow providers to work more efficiently. By handling some routine health issues remotely, they can make the best use of their work schedule and call hours. Doctors say greater flexibility in their work schedules could help avoid burnout. One way to provide that flexibility is through telemedicine. This allows me to telecommute and save about an hour of total travel time. This can be a nice break from the rat race.
More Dedicated, Consistent Care
Another way to reduce burnout is by increasing doctors’ sense of control and autonomy. Telemedicine can provide help there, too. Telemedicine can also help reduce the burden of chronic disease management on both patients and providers. Because patients cannot or do not always see their doctors when they have chronic disease exacerbations, they may make unnecessary visits to the emergency department. Remote patient monitoring can often prevent these ED visits by allowing providers and care managers to keep tabs on these patients.
Increased Patient Access to Care
Nineteen percent of the surveyed physicians said burnout could be reduced if more emphasis is placed on patients over profits. Telemedicine can help their organizations do that by increasing rural patients’ access to care.
Solve.Care, a blockchain-based healthcare solutions provider, launched the Global Telehealth Exchange, a telemedicine App, in July. The Global Telehealth Exchange (GTHE) is intrinsically different from other telehealth services. It is not just an extension of existing doctor-patient relationships, nor is it simply a replacement for an in-person visit with an online consultation.
The GTHE opens new relationships by effectively matching doctors and patients worldwide, based on parameters and criteria they themselves set, relationships that were previously unavailable or impracticable before GTHE. GTHE unlock a global “liquidity” for the healthcare market, ensuring that both healthcare buyers and sellers can get the best value per their own preferences.
There is interest from physicians from all over the world. Why? With the GTHE ID, doctors are granted automated appointments, automated billing, automated instant payments, and can customize the revenue parameter (i.e., decide how much to charge, etc.) and the visibility parameter (select time availability, accept patients from all over the world or only from selected areas). On the Global Telehealth Exchange, doctors enjoy better work-life balance, more effective use of their time, and they get to practice medicine the way they want to, with whomever they want.