Clinician Leaders See Tech as an Answer to Clinician Burnout – BDO Survey

BDO USA:

Survey Highlights:

• Clinician leaders’ top three clinician morale challenges in the last 12 months were clinician turnover and understaffing (63%), compassion fatigue/burnout (61%), and challenges using digital solutions (39%).
• In the next 12 months, clinician leaders plan to boost clinician morale by implementing systems to improve effectiveness and efficiency (54%), meeting with clinicians to gain an understanding of their needs (49%), and investing in clinician mental health resources (42%).
• Clinician leaders will fill clinician staffing gaps in the next 12 months by increasing automation of patient communications (51%), offering patients more telemedicine options (48%), and increasing full-time headcount (47%).
• The top two greatest patient engagement challenges in the past 12 months were encouraging patient compliance with treatment plans, and increasing complications from other comorbidities and deferral of care.
• To increase patient engagement in the next 12 months, clinician leaders plan to introduce or encourage patient self-scheduling and other self-service tools (61%), increase accessibility of telehealth appointments (56%), and increase and customize communications to defined patient communities (51%).

Clinician leaders look to address widespread clinician burnout

This summer, BDO USA, one of the nation’s leading accounting and advisory firms, fielded a survey of 153 clinician leaders and executives that demonstrated the importance of improving the clinician experience.

According to the survey, healthcare leaders are facing serious workforce challenges, citing their top three clinician morale challenges in the last 12 months as clinician turnover and understaffing (63%), compassion fatigue/burnout (61%), and challenges using digital solutions (39%). Fortunately, healthcare leaders have practical plans to address these issues over the next 12 months. Their top strategy, cited by 54% of respondents, is to implement systems that improve effectiveness and efficiency with the hope of creating a better clinician experience across their organizations. Respondents also plan to meet with clinicians to gain an understanding of their needs (49%) and invest in clinician mental health resources (42%).

“The best healthcare outcomes are often achieved when the experience of clinicians is seamlessly integrated with the capabilities of technology,” says Julie McGuire, RN, MSN, Managing Director in the BDO Center for Healthcare Excellence & Innovation. “By combining the art of medicine with the capabilities of technology, we pave a new era for healthcare excellence and quality while minimizing the burden on the clinician.”

Addressing persistent staffing gaps is top of mind for healthcare leaders as they seek to reduce the workloads straining clinicians. Technology will play a major role in addressing staffing challenges, with 51% of respondents planning to fill clinician staffing gaps in the next 12 months by increasing automation of patient communications and 48% planning to offer patients more telemedicine options. However, healthcare leaders know that technology is only a partial answer, which is why 47% plan on increasing full-time headcount in the next 12 months.

When it comes to technological solutions, healthcare leaders are taking several steps to support a better clinician experience. For one, healthcare leaders are focusing on improving the integration of their technologies to allow for true interoperability. At the same time, they’re also seeking opportunities to automate communications, between not only patients and providers, but also clinicians and other clinicians. Other technological solutions clinician leaders are exploring include predictive staffing, cloud connectivity, and AI and analytics to enable clinical decision support.

The survey also explored challenges to patient engagement, with respondents citing encouraging patient compliance with treatment plans, and increasing complications from other comorbidities and deferral of care as their top two patient engagement challenges in the past 12 months. Healthcare leaders are seeing technology as a possible solution to these challenges, with 61% planning to introduce or encourage patient self-scheduling and other self-service tools over the next 12 months. Respondents also plan to increase the accessibility of telehealth appointments (56%) and increase and customize communications to defined patient communities (51%).

“Digital patient engagement tools have become essential for patient acquisition and retention,” according to Brad Boyd, National Co-Leader of the BDO Center for Healthcare Excellence & Innovation. “Additionally, these tools support more efficient practice operations, which have become critically important as practices face labor challenges.”

To read the full report and see how these findings differ by provider type, click here: www.bdo.com/insights/industries/healthcare/2023-clinician-experience-survey

BDO’s 2023 Clinician Experience Survey is a survey of 153 clinician leaders, including clinical directors and executive leaders, on their organizations’ top clinician experience challenges and their plans to address them. The survey was fielded by HIMSS Market Insights in June and July 2023 in the United States.

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