Five Outcomes Of ObamaCare You Didn't Think Of

October 1st is only a few short months away and the enrollment will commence on the individual insurance marketplaces, with the small group following in 2015. Our country will soon see a dramatic change to how we receive care. The change comes from the large influx of new patients that the healthcare system will soon see and a future shortage of doctors and nurses. Therefore, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and hospitals will have to adjust their business model to account for all the new patients. Below are five outcomes that will soon happen to the way we receive care.

1) New Business Model

Soon doctors and their staff will have to alter the way they currently conduct business. Everything from compensations, bedside manner, standards of care, and hospital/doctor relationship will have to be examined in order to adjust to the new laws and patients.

2) Shortage Of Doctors & Nurses

According to a study by the Association of American Medical College, “by 2020 our nation will face a serious shortage of both primary care and specialist physicians.” Furthermore, 15 million people will become eligible for Medicare and 32 million young Americans will become newly insured in the next decade. Therefore, by 2020 AAMC says that there will be a shortage of physicians, specialist, and nurses by 91,500.

3) Doctors To Become Performance Based

With millions of new patients that walk through the doctors office in the next decade, doctors will have to be paid based on their performance and not the volume of patients. Therefore, doctors are going to need to focus more on, “patient satisfaction, readmission rates, health risk assessments, and patient wellness, among other benchmarks,” says Bloomberg.Furthermore, hospitals, just as doctors, will need to be concerned with patient satisfaction, because soon both doctors and hospitals will find themselves clamoring for good reviews. According to the New York Times, Practice Fusion, a company that offers doctors cloud-based electronic medical records software for managing relationships with patients, are offering “Yelp-like” reviews of doctors to consumers.

4) No More Independence

According to American Medical News, “a survey of 3,456 physicians released in June, 55% said they work for a hospital, a practice owned by a hospital or health system, or in an independent practice in which they have no ownership stake.” Therefore, we’ll see more and more doctors latching onto hospitals and health systems for a stable career. Moreover, doctors under the age of 45 have never worked for a private practice and do not intend to do so.

5) Teamwork

With a larger patient base, doctor & nurse shortage, lower compensation, and a “yelp” profile that needs careful maintaining, Americans won't see a doctor anymore, they will see a team and not a single doctor. This will be the biggest change that doctors, hospitals, and patients will see, because with all the aforementioned changes it will be the only way to see all those patients efficiently. According to Bloomberg, “If your health-care provider employs a team approach, when you make an appointment with your doctor you may instead see a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, depending on a quick assessment of your health status.”

Health Care Reform isn't just changing the way we get insurance, it is changing the way we will receive care as well. However, with the large number of new patients and changing landscape, it is going to be a requirement for doctors and hospitals to adjust. Furthermore, those who embrace the change and make efficient changes quickly will benefit the most.