Does Your Doctor Need to Collect That Much Data?

We’ve all sat in a doctor’s office filling out form after form providing personal information and running through symptom checklists. Once the doctor finally sees you, they continue documenting, scribbling notes and inputting information as they talk to you. The real question: What is all that data for, and why do clinical physicians collect so much of it? The short answer is that insurance companies require it. That’s why the data collection process – including what data is collected and used for – is vastly different for direct primary care physicians. A direct primary care physician collects the data to improve overall health, not to appease insurance providers and hospital administrators.

Clinical Care Data

Doctors and nurses have reported that EHRs (electronic health records) and charting are their number one source of frustration in the workplace. They are required to spend countless hours sitting in front of a computer screen documenting electronic health records. This menial task takes away time with patients and reduces efficiency. A recent study surveyed doctors and nurses on the impact tedious record-keeping has on their ability to provide health care services. The findings are as follows:

• 54% of doctors believe EHRs have had a negative impact on the physician-patient relationship.
• 61% of doctors believe EHRs have a negative impact on efficiency and productivity.
• 61% of doctors believe EHRs have a negative impact on workflow.
• 86% of doctors reported a neutral or negative experience with an EHR vendor service.

Most doctors find EHR and documenting in general negatively impact their ability to do their job and treat their patients. There is only so much time in a day, and when hours upon hours are needed documenting health records, that leaves minimal time for actual patient care.

What EHR Data Is Used For

Unfortunately, the data collected by clinical physicians is due to the bureaucratic nature of dealing with insurance providers and hospital administrators. Since insurance providers are responsible for covering services, they require doctors to record a wide range of information for the patient to receive financial assistance. When you visit a clinical doctor or hospital, the office may collect the following information:

• Administrative information
• Demographic information
• Medical history
• Symptoms
• Health surveys
• Diagnosis
• Treatment
• Prescription drugs
• Laboratory tests
• Physiologic monitoring data
• Biometric data
• Hospitalization
• Patient insurance
• Lifestyle

Insurance companies use this information to determine what types of treatments they will cover and what the patient will be responsible for. Clinics and hospitals also collect this data for business and legal reasons.

The Direct Primary Care Data Difference

The documenting demands that insurance providers and hospital administrators have on clinical doctors do not exist for direct primary care doctors.

What Direct Physicians Collect

While direct physicians do not have to spend countless hours checking electronic health boxes and submitting information to insurance companies, they do collect two types of data: business-oriented metrics and patient-oriented metrics.

Business-Oriented Metrics

Monthly enrollment, growth trajectories, cancellations, and the value of each patient are (or at least should be) analyzed by direct physicians. This data is used to keep direct primary care practices in business. A stable practice means they can care for more patients more efficiently.

Patient-Oriented Metrics

These metrics are where the real value is. Patient-oriented metrics keep direct physicians zeroed in on a patient’s health, working to prevent hospitalizations, ER visits, and urgent care visits. Health-related data is collected to reflect a patient’s health journey and better treat their concerns. This data includes:

• Wellness check results
• Bloodwork and toxicology reports
• Chronic and new symptom records

By only recording data pertinent to patient care, direct physicians have more time to treat their patients appropriately and paint a better picture of what is needed to keep patients healthy.

The Data Decision

When choosing a family practice doctor, data and record-keeping may be something you want to consider. A clinical physician will spend more time documenting your case than treating it. A direct care physician will only note what is needed to better treat you, allowing them to spend more one-on-one time with you and develop the best treatment plans. Those looking to switch to direct care should consider Elevated Health, where we routinely meet and treat patients with genuine support and care.