Average wait times for physician visits are 20 minutes, down five minutes from last year, while average wait times at hospital-owned practices are down from 20 minutes to 17 minutes, according to a Medical Group Management Association survey released Wednesday.
The 2017 MGMA DataDive Practice Operations Survey involves more than 1,200 U.S. health systems and practices.
Here are eight findings.
1. The survey found physician-owned practices can see established patients within three days compared to five days for hospital-owned practices.
2. Multispecialty practices said they answer incoming calls within 49 seconds compared to 13.5 seconds for surgical specialties.
3. Among patients who visit hospital-owned practices, 30 percent use the portal. This compares to 10 to 15 percent portal usage for physician-owned practices.
4. Overall, the survey found patients at hospital-owned practices use portals twice as often as patients in physician-owned practices.
5. Primary care practices report 35 percent portal use among patients, the highest among specialties.
6. MGMA said "accessing test results" was the most popular patient portal function at 29 percent. This was followed by 28 percent for categories such as "bill payments," "communicating with providers and medical staff," "downloading or transmitting medical records" and "scheduling appointments."
7. Seventy-four percent of practices said they conduct patient satisfaction surveys following each patient visit, according to the survey. Only 3 percent never do them.
8. Billers at practices said they post more than 130 claims daily, on average. The survey showed less than 5 percent of those claims are initially denied.
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