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A survey of nearly 5000 US physicians showed that the average doctor spent 16.6% of his or her working hours on non-patient-related paperwork.
This includes tasks such as billing, obtaining insurance approvals, financial and personnel management, and negotiating contracts.
The more time doctors spent on such tasks, the less satisfied they were with medicine as a career.
Researchers detailed these findings in the International Journal of Health Services.
“Our crazy health financing system is demoralizing doctors and wasting vast resources,” said study author David Himmelstein, MD, a professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York.
“Turning healthcare into a business means we spend more and more time on billing, insurance paperwork, and the bottom line. We need to move to a simple, nonprofit national health insurance system that lets doctors and hospitals focus on patients, not finances.”
Dr Himmelstein and colleague Steffie Woolhandler, MD, analyzed confidential data from the 2008 Health Tracking Physician Survey (the most recent data available). The survey included information from a nationally representative sample of 4720 physicians who practiced at least 20 hours per week.
The data showed that the average doctor spent 8.7 hours per week, or 16.6% of his or her working time, on non-patient-related administration. This excludes tasks such as writing chart notes, communicating with other doctors, and ordering lab tests.
In total, patient-care physicians spent 168.4 million hours on non-patient-related administrative tasks in 2008. Drs Himmelstein and Woolhandler estimate that the total cost of physician time spent on administration in 2014 will amount to $102 billion.
Career satisfaction was lower for physicians who spent more time on administration. “Very satisfied” doctors spent, on average, 16.1% of their time on administration. “Very dissatisfied” doctors spent 20.6% of their time on such tasks.
Among various specialties, psychiatrists spent the most time on administration (20.3%), followed by internists (17.3%) and family/general practitioners (17.3%). Pediatricians spent the least amount of time (14.1%) on non-patient-related administrative tasks and were the most satisfied group of doctors.
Solo practice was associated with more administrative work, but small group practice was not. Doctors practicing in groups of 100 or more actually spent more time (19.7%) on such tasks than those in small groups (16.3%).
The researchers were surprised to find that physicians who used electronic health records spent more time (17.2% for those using entirely electronic records, 18% for those using a mix of paper and electronic) on administration than those who used only paper records (15.5%).
The pair noted that physicians in Canada spend far less time on administration than US doctors, and they attributed the difference to Canada’s single-payer system, which has greatly simplified billing and reduced bureaucracy.
The researchers pointed out that the only previous nationally representative survey of this kind was carried out in 1995, and that study showed that administration and insurance-related matters accounted for 13.5% of physicians’ total work time. Other, less representative studies also suggest the bureaucratic burden on physicians has grown in the past two decades.
“American doctors are drowning in paperwork,” Dr Woolhandler said. “Our study almost certainly understates physicians’ current administrative burden.”
“Since 2008, when the survey we analyzed was collected, tens of thousands of doctors have moved from small private practices with minimal bureaucracy into giant group practices where bureaucracy is rampant. And under the accountable care organizations favored by insurers, more doctors are facing HMO-type incentives to deny care to their patients, a move that our data shows drives up administrative work.” 
A survey of nearly 5000 US physicians showed that the average doctor spent 16.6% of his or her working hours on non-patient-related paperwork.
This includes tasks such as billing, obtaining insurance approvals, financial and personnel management, and negotiating contracts.
The more time doctors spent on such tasks, the less satisfied they were with medicine as a career.
Researchers detailed these findings in the International Journal of Health Services.
“Our crazy health financing system is demoralizing doctors and wasting vast resources,” said study author David Himmelstein, MD, a professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York.
“Turning healthcare into a business means we spend more and more time on billing, insurance paperwork, and the bottom line. We need to move to a simple, nonprofit national health insurance system that lets doctors and hospitals focus on patients, not finances.”
Dr Himmelstein and colleague Steffie Woolhandler, MD, analyzed confidential data from the 2008 Health Tracking Physician Survey (the most recent data available). The survey included information from a nationally representative sample of 4720 physicians who practiced at least 20 hours per week.
The data showed that the average doctor spent 8.7 hours per week, or 16.6% of his or her working time, on non-patient-related administration. This excludes tasks such as writing chart notes, communicating with other doctors, and ordering lab tests.
In total, patient-care physicians spent 168.4 million hours on non-patient-related administrative tasks in 2008. Drs Himmelstein and Woolhandler estimate that the total cost of physician time spent on administration in 2014 will amount to $102 billion.
Career satisfaction was lower for physicians who spent more time on administration. “Very satisfied” doctors spent, on average, 16.1% of their time on administration. “Very dissatisfied” doctors spent 20.6% of their time on such tasks.
Among various specialties, psychiatrists spent the most time on administration (20.3%), followed by internists (17.3%) and family/general practitioners (17.3%). Pediatricians spent the least amount of time (14.1%) on non-patient-related administrative tasks and were the most satisfied group of doctors.
Solo practice was associated with more administrative work, but small group practice was not. Doctors practicing in groups of 100 or more actually spent more time (19.7%) on such tasks than those in small groups (16.3%).
The researchers were surprised to find that physicians who used electronic health records spent more time (17.2% for those using entirely electronic records, 18% for those using a mix of paper and electronic) on administration than those who used only paper records (15.5%).
The pair noted that physicians in Canada spend far less time on administration than US doctors, and they attributed the difference to Canada’s single-payer system, which has greatly simplified billing and reduced bureaucracy.
The researchers pointed out that the only previous nationally representative survey of this kind was carried out in 1995, and that study showed that administration and insurance-related matters accounted for 13.5% of physicians’ total work time. Other, less representative studies also suggest the bureaucratic burden on physicians has grown in the past two decades.
“American doctors are drowning in paperwork,” Dr Woolhandler said. “Our study almost certainly understates physicians’ current administrative burden.”
“Since 2008, when the survey we analyzed was collected, tens of thousands of doctors have moved from small private practices with minimal bureaucracy into giant group practices where bureaucracy is rampant. And under the accountable care organizations favored by insurers, more doctors are facing HMO-type incentives to deny care to their patients, a move that our data shows drives up administrative work.”
A survey of nearly 5000 US physicians showed that the average doctor spent 16.6% of his or her working hours on non-patient-related paperwork.
This includes tasks such as billing, obtaining insurance approvals, financial and personnel management, and negotiating contracts.
The more time doctors spent on such tasks, the less satisfied they were with medicine as a career.
Researchers detailed these findings in the International Journal of Health Services.
“Our crazy health financing system is demoralizing doctors and wasting vast resources,” said study author David Himmelstein, MD, a professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York.
“Turning healthcare into a business means we spend more and more time on billing, insurance paperwork, and the bottom line. We need to move to a simple, nonprofit national health insurance system that lets doctors and hospitals focus on patients, not finances.”
Dr Himmelstein and colleague Steffie Woolhandler, MD, analyzed confidential data from the 2008 Health Tracking Physician Survey (the most recent data available). The survey included information from a nationally representative sample of 4720 physicians who practiced at least 20 hours per week.
The data showed that the average doctor spent 8.7 hours per week, or 16.6% of his or her working time, on non-patient-related administration. This excludes tasks such as writing chart notes, communicating with other doctors, and ordering lab tests.
In total, patient-care physicians spent 168.4 million hours on non-patient-related administrative tasks in 2008. Drs Himmelstein and Woolhandler estimate that the total cost of physician time spent on administration in 2014 will amount to $102 billion.
Career satisfaction was lower for physicians who spent more time on administration. “Very satisfied” doctors spent, on average, 16.1% of their time on administration. “Very dissatisfied” doctors spent 20.6% of their time on such tasks.
Among various specialties, psychiatrists spent the most time on administration (20.3%), followed by internists (17.3%) and family/general practitioners (17.3%). Pediatricians spent the least amount of time (14.1%) on non-patient-related administrative tasks and were the most satisfied group of doctors.
Solo practice was associated with more administrative work, but small group practice was not. Doctors practicing in groups of 100 or more actually spent more time (19.7%) on such tasks than those in small groups (16.3%).
The researchers were surprised to find that physicians who used electronic health records spent more time (17.2% for those using entirely electronic records, 18% for those using a mix of paper and electronic) on administration than those who used only paper records (15.5%).
The pair noted that physicians in Canada spend far less time on administration than US doctors, and they attributed the difference to Canada’s single-payer system, which has greatly simplified billing and reduced bureaucracy.
The researchers pointed out that the only previous nationally representative survey of this kind was carried out in 1995, and that study showed that administration and insurance-related matters accounted for 13.5% of physicians’ total work time. Other, less representative studies also suggest the bureaucratic burden on physicians has grown in the past two decades.
“American doctors are drowning in paperwork,” Dr Woolhandler said. “Our study almost certainly understates physicians’ current administrative burden.”
“Since 2008, when the survey we analyzed was collected, tens of thousands of doctors have moved from small private practices with minimal bureaucracy into giant group practices where bureaucracy is rampant. And under the accountable care organizations favored by insurers, more doctors are facing HMO-type incentives to deny care to their patients, a move that our data shows drives up administrative work.”