Major advances are frequent in the arenas of diagnostic testing, therapeutics, and pharmaceuticals. Modern information transfer technology has made physicians’ ability to access information about these advances easier and contributed to patients being more aware of changes in many aspects of health care. At the same time, physicians may be called on to limit utilization of health care resources to services that are judged to be “medically necessary.”
Yet both as a contribution to health care costs and as a key element in patient-doctor relationships, there is reason to believe that it deserves more attention. Furthermore, with an increasing emphasis on value and efficiency in health care delivery, quality time between physician and patient is an increasingly valuable resource. Physicians spend time in face-to-face contact with patients gathering information, and developing a relationship, doing administrative work related to visits, and maintaining their knowledge base. Importantly, time is always finite: no matter what demands a physician faces, there are only 24 hours in a day.
In the current practice environment, physicians face mounting demands on their time. Increasing administrative requirements for health care delivery (e.g., service and authorization requests, utilization review processes) encroach on time spent with patients.
Components of Care Affected by Time
- Patient Satisfaction
- Outcome of Chronic Diseases
- Prescribing Practices
- Physician Satisfaction
- Risk of Malpractice Claims
