Dr. Bass says that although proceduralists often worry most about how payment reform, such as bundling, may cut their salary, cognitive physicians are more focused on inefficiencies in the current system.
“The issue that is first and foremost in rheumatologists’ minds is the huge amount time wasted on paperwork,” she adds. “Administrative time, filling out preapproval forms to get medications for our patients. That is the thing that bothers [rheumatologists] the most.”
Of course, those frustrations feed into reimbursement issues because the time spent on those tasks takes away from other activities, such as seeing patients.
“If I were to pick one item that was at the top of everybody’s list of priorities, it would be patient access to medications—reducing medication costs and reducing the bureaucracy associated with getting them for our patients,” she says.
To that end, Dr. Bass hopes that rank-and-file physicians see compensation studies from groups like Medscape as a clarion call for action. She believes rheumatologists are engaged in healthcare as a whole—particularly because Medscape’s survey shows that 82% of rheumatologists would still choose to go into medicine if they had it to do over.
But just 72% of those rheumatologists would still choose the specialty, which Dr. Bass attributes to the frustrations of the overall healthcare system. Overall, just 62% of specialists would choose their specialty again, according to the data.
“I don’t see that as a hindrance,” Dr. Bass says. “We’re a happy community. I think it’s, intellectually, a very exciting field, and we have long-term relationships with our patients. It’s a very nice community to be a part of. Those are all great things, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re working within the American healthcare system, which is a challenge—to put it mildly.”
Richard Quinn is a freelance writer in New Jersey.
Reference
- Kane, L. Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2018. Medscape. 2018 Apr 11.
