Heather Lavoie: Health IT and Physician Mental Health
Recently, Janae sat down with Heather Staples Lavoie, President and CEO of Geneia, to discuss everything from physician mental health to the future of health IT. Geneia is a healthcare analytics and data science corporation focused on improving health outcomes and quality while reducing costs. The technologies and predictive models they create help reduce the amount of time clinicians spend on documentation so they can spend more time working with their patients.
In 2018, Geneia sent out their second survey on the Physician Misery Index, which measures national physician satisfaction with their job. The survey found that nearly 80% of physicians said they were personally at risk of burnout, even before the pandemic hit. 89% said that the business and regulation of healthcare has changed practicing medicine for the worse, while nearly 2/3 of respondents said today’s challenges have caused them to consider a career change outside of clinical practice.
These data highlight the need for a focus on physician mental health, which has only gotten worse since COVID-19 began. “We have watched in dismay at the erosion in professional satisfaction that occurred pre-covid. Given the disproportionate burden physicians faced on the front-lines, getting real about addressing physician mental health is no longer an option, it is an imperative if we are to keep people in the profession,” says Heather.
Janae and Heather discussed how technology presents both challenges and opportunities for reducing the documentation burden on clinicians while improving patient outcomes. Though interoperability, cost, and ease-of-use issues run rampant, there is hope for technology to revolutionize the future of healthcare. “To realize the potential of health IT where we are predictive, person-centric, portable and equitable, interoperability must be a central tenant to both health care policy and business practice,” says Heather.
You can watch full video of Janae and Heather here: Heather Lavoie, Geneia
