VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Sitting behind a computer is something most doctors dread.
“I don’t love doing paperwork, I don’t love doing prior authorizations and I don’t love the administrative side of medicine that has become a common day occurrence for us,” said Dr. Robin Anderson of Sentara Family Medicine Physicians.
Anderson will spend one to two hours per day on paperwork, and nearly another hour returning messages, and that’s after seeing patients for 10 to 12 hours.
“The Doximity survey from a year or so ago shows that 93% of primary care providers are overwhelmed,” said Dr. Steven Pearman, Sentara’s vice president and chief medical officer for primary care. “Right now, our primary care physicians are trying to do everything for everybody all the time, and we just need to kind of create a team model so that we can increase access.”
doximity-physician-compensation-report-2023 Download
Sentara plans to do that by doubling the number of what it calls advanced practice providers (APPs) from 270 to 540 over the next three years. These are better known as physician assistants and nurse practitioners.