Creative ways to add staff

Physician-owned primary care practices have reported four straight years of decreases in total support staff for their doctors.

Physicians’ offices today have fewer workers to handle business, the front office, and clinical support, according to the Medical Group Management Association’s (MGMA) “Missing Pieces for Revenue Recovery in the Post-Pandemic Era,” Datadive – Cost and Revenue report published Aug. 7.

The number has dropped from 5.08 total support staff per FTE physician in 2019 to 3.0 in 2022.

In theory, having fewer workers might save money for doctors’ offices. In reality, prices for information technology, building space, administrative supplies and services, and insurance expenses all are going up, while productivity, morale, and patient satisfaction go down.

The problem gets worse considering revenue cycle management: No workers available to collect means no money coming in.

The MGMA report included a half-dozen ways for organizations to be creative in staffing, particularly for revenue cycle positions.