Before talking about how patient engagement can help, it is important to know what burden means in healthcare. There are two main types: administrative burden and ExcessDoc Burden.
Administrative burden means many tasks that are repeated, old, or complicated that slow down care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) say it includes processes that delay good care or add more paperwork for doctors and nurses. This affects healthcare workers’ well-being and makes it harder for patients to get care on time.
ExcessDoc Burden is about extra stress and work on clinicians because of too much paperwork. Leaders at the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) describe it as taking attention away from patient care. This can cause burnout and lower the quality of care.
Both types show the need to make healthcare processes better so clinicians can spend more time with patients and less time on paperwork.
Getting patients involved in their care helps reduce burdens. Patients are not just receiving care; they help make care delivery smoother, improve data accuracy, and get better health results. This idea is supported by federal programs, healthcare groups, and research.
CMS is making patient and caregiver involvement a priority. When patients help design care and paperwork processes, healthcare can find problems and fix them better. For example, CMS’ Optimizing Care Delivery Framework listens to patients to lower the difficulties in getting care. One area helped by patient involvement is managing care transitions on time and without problems.
The National Burden Reduction Collaborative (NBRC) led by AMIA says patients must be partners in fixing documentation and paperwork problems. Patients’ ideas can make systems simpler and more useful.
Patient Experience Data (PED) is a helpful tool for patient partnership. Drug companies and regulators collect PED carefully to understand and lower patient burden in clinical trials and ongoing care. At the 9th Annual Patients as Partners Europe meeting, it was shown that using PED in study design helps enroll more patients and keeps them involved by making study protocols less complicated and repetitive.
In clinics, PED helps doctors find gaps or problems from the patient’s view. When this feedback is combined with health IT systems, it can improve scheduling, resource use, and communication. This reduces frustration for patients and healthcare staff.
Good patient partnership needs a long-term plan, not just one-time talks. Drug companies moving from patient focus to full engagement show this change. Constant talking, honesty, and trust-building help patients feel safe and willing to take part.
Healthcare leaders should do the same by setting up regular ways for patients to give feedback and by having patients advise on practice improvement. This lowers problems caused when rules are made without patient views.
Technology and AI can help reduce burdens on healthcare workers and help patients get involved. Clinic owners and IT managers can use new tools that automate tasks, make workflows better, and improve communication.
Artificial intelligence plays a big role in cutting down ExcessDoc Burden. Dr. Sarah Rossetti of AMIA says AI can stop unnecessary manual paperwork so clinicians focus more on patient care. AI automates jobs like billing, coding, and managing messages in Electronic Health Records (EHRs). This lowers the time clinicians spend on paperwork.
Dr. Howard Landa adds that AI helps redesign care by handling lots of data and patient needs without stressing clinicians. AI tools quickly get and sort data, freeing clinicians from entry tasks and giving them useful clinical insights.
For example, Simbo AI uses AI to automate front-office phone work like scheduling, patient questions, and triage calls. This automation lowers the workload on office staff so they can focus on more important work.
AI can analyze a lot of data fast, which helps with patient engagement. In clinical trials, AI predicts who might leave early or who wants to join based on many factors. In outpatient care, AI supports personalized communication plans that fit each patient’s needs, improving how well they follow treatment and how happy they are.
AI also helps with health IT projects like CMS’ Health IT Interoperability 2 (HTI-2). This allows patient information to be shared securely and smoothly between systems. It stops the need to enter data again and improves care coordination. For administrators and IT teams, this means less time fixing inconsistent patient records and better decisions.
Reducing burden helps patients but also protects care teams’ health and efficiency.
CMS’ five-year Optimizing Care Delivery Framework highlights that well-being is very important. High administrative work leads to burnout, which lowers care quality and causes staff to leave.
Good training and IT support, backed by KLAS research, help clinicians use EHRs better. When healthcare workers get regular training and AI tools that handle routine work, they feel better about their jobs and do more.
Using patient partnerships and technology together creates a cycle where better data and patient input cut down unnecessary paperwork and duplication. Working better means fewer interruptions and more time for patient care.
Lowering burden through patient engagement and technology needs teamwork between medical practices, policymakers, regulators, and tech vendors. The National Burden Reduction Collaborative brings people together to share what works and support solutions that can grow.
Rules like the 21st Century Cures Act support patients by giving them better access to electronic health info. This lets patients take part more and cuts down calls and visits about small questions.
Public-private partnerships backed by CMS help bring new ideas to all parts of healthcare. These partnerships encourage medical groups to share what they learn and use burden reduction methods that work.
By using these strategies, medical practices in the United States can move toward a healthcare model that respects both patients’ and clinicians’ time, cuts down extra tasks, and improves care quality. Patient involvement and technology form a framework that handles paperwork and administrative issues while keeping the focus on health results and patient health.
ExcessDoc Burden refers to the stress and undue workload placed on healthcare professionals when documentation systems do not effectively support patient care delivery. It highlights the excessive documentation requirements that detract from patient interaction and care.
AI can assist in alleviating documentation and in-basket management burdens by automating secondary tasks like billing and administration, enabling healthcare professionals to focus more on patient-centered care.
Measuring documentation burden is crucial for benchmarking and monitoring the impact of policies and initiatives aimed at reducing unnecessary administrative work in healthcare.
Patients are seen as essential partners in burden reduction initiatives, actively participating in their care journey and influencing how healthcare providers deliver services.
The 21st Century Cures Act aims to enhance patient access to electronic health information, facilitating easier engagement and management of their health with less effort.
KLAS research indicated that proper training and support for clinicians positively impact their experience with EHRs, contributing to reduced administrative burdens.
The Health IT Interoperability 2 (HTI-2) initiative and the Optimizing Care Delivery Framework are federal efforts aimed at improving the efficiency of information-sharing and care delivery in healthcare.
Rising patient expectations and a consumer-focused healthcare environment can add to clinician burdens, creating a need for adaptable care delivery models that align with these expectations.
The National Burden Reduction Collaborative (NBRC) aims to address documentation burden and clinician burnout through collaboration among various healthcare informatics stakeholders.
Technology needs to improve to align with changing care models that consider both patient preferences and clinician practices, ensuring efficient care delivery.
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