John Sawyer, PhD, medical director of professional staff experience at New Orleans-based Ochsner Health, told the AMA that physicians are often held responsible for metrics that they cannot reasonably control.
“Metrics are important. It’s like with school — we need grades or we’re probably not going to study,” Sawyer said. “You’ve got to have a target if you’re going to know what to go for,” he added.
He said that some physicians are rated on parking or food in the hospital, despite having no control over these aspects of a patient’s experience, leading to feelings of “distress” among him and his colleagues.
“Something that we need to think about is to what extent is the physician influencing that metric versus someone else, and should they even be accountable to it because they’re not able to influence it,” he said.
Health systems decide which metrics are important for physicians. For example, some metrics measure whether a physician responded within 24 hours, the quality of care and patient experience can be better measured on a team scale, rather than just on the physician.
The intention around having shared goals is that people are aligned,” Dr. Sawyer said, and “sometimes with shared goals, if we have no control over it, then it can also create resentment.”
For that reason, “we need to look at both sides of metric responsibility,” he said. “So, what do we need to really be aligned on? And then what can we do to make sure we’re not feeling as if we’re blamed for stuff that we don’t have any control over?”