Physician-owned practices have lost 40% of their support staff per doctor since the pandemic’s … [+]
Physician-owned primary care practices are still reeling from a loss of support staff since the beginning of the pandemic, down 40% per doctor since 2019, according to a new report from the Medical Group Management Association.
Physician-owned practices had just 3.0 support staff per full-time equivalent physician in 2022 compared to 5.08 per doctor in 2019 as the COVID-19 pandemic and the so-called “Great Resignation” took their toll on doctor practices across the country.
The MGMA study is a snapshot into the labor problems in healthcare, which has been hit hard by the ongoing economic trend of workers quitting their jobs though studies show healthcare, education and hospitality industries have been hit the hardest.
“The lingering post-pandemic staffing shortages continue to challenge medical groups across the country as they miss out on revenue without adequate support staff,” said Ron Holder, chief operating officer at MGMA. “On top of that, many practices are missing the prompt payments they once enjoyed which further impacts the bottom line and forces medical groups, hospitals and health systems to look for creative solutions in navigating these challenges.”
MGMA’s data, which comes from its annual “DataDive Cost And Revenue” report is drawn from more than 4,000 medical groups, doctor practices and other healthcare providers across various specialties and practice types.
MGMA’s data shows the drop in support staff has led to physicians’ inability to keep up with patient demand. For example, medical groups report staffing issues have impacted their revenue cycle management when they cannot deal with claim denials “as well as backlogs of unpaid claims that, when combined, can cause cash flow challenges.”
An MGMA poll earlier this year showed the most difficult revenue positions to hire, based on percentage of respondents, were: medical coders at 34% of respondents followed by billers (26%) and schedulers (18%).
The dip on support staff can vary by time of practice. For example, hospital-based practices, which tend to be a part of larger health systems that employ far more people than physician-owned practices, saw the change in support for primary care practices fall just 6.9% to 4.68 support staffers per full-time equivalent physician in 2022 comoared to 5.27 support staffers in 2019.
MGMA’s Holder said the practice either decided to have less staff per doctor on purpose or is having trouble recruiting or retaining staff. A practice could be outsourcing functions like scheduling or staff to handle value-based care contracts or it may not need as many staffers because the practice is conducting more telehealth visits and therefore doesn’t need in-person support staff.