We hear a lot about moral injury in health care.
For those unfamiliar, moral injury is the deep psychological and ethical distress that happens when providers are forced to go against their core values, usually due to system limits, lack of time, or money rules.
A lack of autonomy is one of the clearest causes of moral injury. Moral injury leads to burnout. Burnout leads to physician shortages.
Here are some staggering (but perhaps unsurprising) statistics to consider:
Only 14% of doctors report that they are not experiencing burnout.
73% of family physicians say that paperwork and clerical overload is what’s burning them out. Not their patients.
During the pandemic, there was a 157% jump in patient messages sent to the EMR. But that number never came back down after the lockdowns ended.
This has led thousands of physicians to search for a better way to practice. Preferably, without insurance contracts, administrative overlords, data collection and prior authorization requirements, huge overhead costs, and—of course—moral injury.
Dr. Shane Purcell is one such physician.
Fifteen years ago, that search led him to adopt the direct primary care model and never look back. Today, he is a leading voice in the DPC movement.
Please enjoy our conversation as Dr. Purcell explains what makes DPC different, what’s driving its growing popularity, and why it deserves a place in every conversation about health care reform.
