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One Team United on Access — Did You Know? Physicians May Allocate Time During the Week for Duties Other than Clinical Care

May 1, 2024 by jta6n@virginia.edu

Did You Know ? GraphicPhysicians’ work is measured by a time allocation system called the CART. CART stands for Clinical time, Administrative time, Research time, and Teaching time. For each physician the various components of the CART should add up to 100%. However, the individual percentages might differ for each physician.

For example, for an ambulatory care physician who is 100% clinical, the expectation is that the physician would staff eight (not 10) 4-hour clinic sessions, or 32 hours of patient facing care per week. The remaining time in the workweek can be used for non-patient facing administrative work.

Another scenario might be a physician who has the following CART effort distribution: 50% clinical, 10% administration, 20% research, and 20% teaching. In this example, the physician would be asked to provide 16 hours of patient facing care and, thus, the clinical assignment would be four half-day sessions each week. United on Access is requesting that when this particular physician is participating in their half-day sessions, they are fully devoted to clinical care for the four hours of each of these clinical sessions. This physician would have, outside of their clinical time, the remainder of the work week to complete their other academic obligations.

Of note, the vast majority of physicians have allocated time for the other missions as evidenced by their CART. The average percentage of clinical time of all our physicians in the School of Medicine is currently 60%. This means the average physician in the School of Medicine has 40% of their work week protected to accomplish their other duties. What United on Access is asking is that patient care be the focus during the assigned clinical time.

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Filed Under: Clinical