2. SET WORK-LIFE BOUNDARIES
Statistics tell a concerning story about work-life balance, according to TeamStage:
- 66% of full-time employees in America do not have a work-life balance.
- 40% of employees use their devices for work outside of business hours.
- 26% of work performed by salaried employees is done outside of business hours.
Healthcare facilities should strive to establish a favorable work-life balance to discourage physicians from working after hours. Organizations can set boundaries too, such as asking physicians and staff to not check emails or take work phone calls after they leave the office.
“The development of healthier boundaries around one’s time and emotional energy can be challenging, especially when many of these self-sacrificing behaviors have become habits over time,” according to the Society of Hospital Medicine. “Despite these challenges, healthy boundaries are essential for psychological well-being, clinician satisfaction, and the prevention and amelioration of burnout.”
Physicians and office managers should set clear expectations about working outside of established office hours. This allows doctors and others to level-set on what’s required.
3. OPTIMIZE TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL PROCESSES
One area where physicians spend time after hours is with electronic health records (EHRs). Researchers studied EHRs and inbox message volume for primary care physicians at UW Health, the integrated health system at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The study revealed that from 2022 to 2023, doctors spent about 30 minutes more time in their EHRs per eight hours of clinical appointments compared to the 2019 to 2020 period.
Implementing modern technology in a facility, such as state-of-the-art EHRs and dictation solutions, can simplify patient notes and documentations to reduce paperwork—if the technologies are used correctly and employees are properly trained. Likewise, practice management software helps with administrative tasks such as scheduling appointments, improving billing accuracy and assisting in revenue cycle management to save staff time.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI in particular are poised to streamline and accelerate processes to free up providers’ time. The technologies can automate or accelerate administrative workflows to deliver significant time savings.
4. STANDARDIZE WORKFLOWS ACROSS THE FACILITY
Taking a standardized approach to improving operational efficiency encourages—and better enables—work to be done during normal office hours. A standardized workflow is a task that achieves a specific outcome consistently and efficiently.
Standardization uses predetermined processes, procedures and guidelines to reduce errors while increasing productivity. With the right approach and technology, standardization can eliminate unnecessary steps or redundancies to make processes more efficient and less time consuming.
Standardizing workflows also allows facilities to allocate resources where they make the most sense. For example, organizations can allocate technology and utilize staff where they are most needed to complete workloads faster.
