A Medscape Radiologist Lifestyle, Happiness & Burnout Report* found that nearly a quarter of radiologists were feeling burnt out. Among the top contributing factors were:

  • Spending too many hours at work
  • A lack of control
  • Insufficient compensation/reimbursement

In asking radiologists and staff what could be done (outside of reducing hours, raising salaries, etc.), one theme consistently came up: a lack of transparency and trust.

How a Business Operations Platform Can Help

A well-built business operations platform can reduce burnout in ways that are often overlooked. For example, it improves transparency of metrics across the organization and promotes visibility into individual & organizational performance. It also encourages communication between team members and empowers them to take incremental actions that improve their own productivity. These are stress-reducing benefits that drive an increase in job satisfaction, and when are staff are happier, they’re less likely to burnout and are likely to be more productive.

Here are some more examples:

  • It Builds Trust: A business operations platform centralizes data in one place and presents it as interactive visual metrics for staff to use. There’s transparency in how the data is sourced (e.g., which data feeds are used) and how its results are calculated. If needed, the source and calculations can be validated, and the entire organization benefits from the inherited trust.
  • It Highlights Performance and Impact: Leadership and staff have expectations; e.g., hours needed to deliver patient care, radiologists contribution to the business, etc. Many times, these expectations are tied to compensation. A business operations platform can give team members, including radiologists and technologists, quick and easy access to their performance; e.g., the number of studies read, duration of read times, and financial impact. It eliminates surprises because performance metrics are readily available in real-time while people are doing their jobs and not just during performance reviews.
  • It Saves Time: Nobody wants to spend time debating the validity of a report – especially when they have other job responsibilities waiting for them. For example, imagine two reports that are independently produced (e.g., via Excel, data warehouse reporting tool, etc.). They try to achieve the same objectives, but with wildly different results. Now, consider the time, effort, and stress invested in discussing which report is the accurate one. This can be especially stressful and time-intensive when these reports influence performance reviews and compensation. A business operations platform saves time by eliminating these conversations and focusing staff on their job responsibilities. Furthermore, it empowers people to pull their own reports rather than depend on others to pull it for them.
  • Improve Patient Care: Patients get better care when providers are engaged and services are accessible. When a radiology business uses a business operations platform, operational efficiency is improved because it paints a complete picture of its operational health. It provides actionable insights for staff to improve workflows; i.e., staff has more control over their own job performance. This leads to happier team members, increased throughput, and better patient care.

Wrap-Up

A business operations platform is an essential solution for reducing burnout. It does this by building trust, saving time, driving performance transparency, and improving patient care. It improves staff productivity and operational efficiency by reducing hours worked. It also provides personalized metrics for staff to have more control over their own productivity. Finally, it provides transparency around staff performance so that there is a continuous understanding about compensation/reimbursements. Other benefits include an improved sense of accountability, reduced stress, improved morale, and ultimately, increased job satisfaction.

* https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2021-lifestyle-radiologist-6013524#4

HealthLevel is the creator of Foundations™, a radiology business operations platform. By combining financial, clinical, and operational data, it uses analytics to paint a complete picture of a business’s operations. It engages every team member to confidently take actions that improve productivity and increase the bottom line. Learn more.


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