AHA Notes Administrative Burden on Hospitals
A new report issued by the American Hospital Association delineates the overburdened workforce in U.S. hospitals that are drowning in paperwork and administrivia. Administrative tasks that hospitals must address include requirements delineated by government regulators, payors, and other stakeholders in the healthcare arena.
A report published in the journal Health Affairs from 2005 indicates that over one-fifth of all hospital costs are related to administration. This is decreased to ten percent for private insurance companies, but significantly increased for physician groups at one quarter of all costs. The time to complete such utilizes precious resources.
One concern highlighted in the report is the amount of time spent by clinicians focusing on paperwork and regulatory compliance. This concern stems from the diminished time available to tend to patients. Approximately $465 million was recently spent on healthcare administration costs in just one year.
Figures are most striking in the emergency room setting. For every hour spent treating patients, clinicians spend another hour completing administrative tasks. The burden reduces for other specialty areas; it stands at over half an hour of paperwork for every hour of patient care for inpatient services and surgical care.
One explanation of the significant administrative costs is the variety of different requirements for each payer. More than 1,000 health insurance companies provide coverage across the U.S. The public payment system, too, is complex. This is made exceedingly more complicated by the broad range of auditing bodies that must be dealt with.
In addition, the recent addition of performance and quality reporting efforts has added to the administrative burden on hospitals. These are most complicated because of the huge array of performance measures continually implemented though data collection approaches may be similar.
The report delineates an array of options to reduce the administrative burdens on facilities. Specifically, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) includes approaches to streamline data reporting. Collaboration between public and private payors could further reduce administrative burden.