Becker's Spine Review

46 HEALTHCARE NEWS What 600 physicians said about trust in healthcare organization leadership during pandemic By Kelly Gooch P hysicians' trust in healthcare organi- zation leadership declined during the COVID-19 pandemic among 30 per- cent of survey respondents, but increased or stayed the same among the rest, according to research conducted for the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation by NORC at the University of Chicago. e research, released May 21, surveyed a nonprobability sample of 600 physicians be- tween Dec. 29, 2020, and Feb. 5, 2021. It also surveyed a probability-based sample of 2,069 U.S. adults between Dec. 29, 2020, and Jan. 26, 2021, with oversamples for Black, His- panic and Asian respondents. Nine findings: 1. irty percent of physicians surveyed said the pandemic decreased their level of trust in healthcare organization leadership. 2. Eighteen percent of physicians surveyed said the pandemic increased their level of trust in healthcare organization leadership, while 52 percent said their trust remained the same. 3. irty percent of physicians surveyed said the pandemic decreased their level of trust in U.S. healthcare. 4. Forty-one percent of physicians surveyed said the pandemic increased their level of trust in fellow physicians. 5. irty-seven percent of physicians sur- veyed said the pandemic increased their level of trust in nurses. 6. In general, most physicians surveyed (94 percent) reported trusting fellow physicians within their practice. 7. Sixty-six percent of physicians surveyed said they generally trust their healthcare or- ganization leaders and executives. 8. Seventy-eight percent of U.S. adults sur- veyed said they trust their primary physician, with older adults (90 percent), white people (82 percent) and high-income individuals (89 percent) being more likely to say so. 9. Twenty-five percent of surveyed U.S. adults who reported lower trust in their physicians said their physician spends too little time with them, and 14 percent said their physi- cian does not listen to them. e research was released to coincide with the launch of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation's Building Trust initia- tive. n 81% of medical groups say prior authorization demands have increased since 2020 By Carly Behm M ost medical groups have seen an increase in prior authorization requirements since last year, according to polling from the Medical Group Management Association. The association conducted the poll May 18 and re- ceived 716 applicable responses. Eighty-one per- cent said payer prior authorization requirements in- creased, 17 percent said authorizations "stayed the same" and 2 percent said they decreased. The poll also found that some healthcare leaders add- ed full-time positions to handle prior authorization work in the past year. Girard Bullaro, administrator of McKinney, Texas-based Wellness ASC told Becker's ASC Review that hiring a prior authorization specialist helped the center attain 100 percent compliance. "Margins are always going to be tight, and it's worth the extra cost of an additional person," he said. "It more than pays for itself." n ADVERTISINGINDEX Note: Ad page number(s) given in parentheses ADVERTISER Augmedics. augmedics.com (pg. 27) Bone Foam. sales@bonefoam.com / bonefoam.com/acdf / bonefoam.com/sideline / (877) 861-2663 (pgs. 16-19) Kuros Biosciences. findoutmore.kurosbio.com/beckers-spine-21 (pg. 48) National Medical Billing Services. nationalascbilling.com / (866) 948-7673 (pg. 5) Pacira BioSciences, Inc. exparel.com / (855) 793-9727 (pgs. 7-9) Xtant Medical. xtantmedical.com (pg. 13)

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