One of the most valuable things I have learned in more than two decades of working with physicians is this:
You cannot educate every professional the same way.
Physicians are trained to think clinically. They evaluate evidence, question conclusions, look for inconsistencies, and want to understand the reasoning behind a recommendation.
Yet those of us on the business side of healthcare sometimes walk into physician education expecting them to communicate the way we do.
I know I did.
And I learned—sometimes through painful experiences—that I had to change my approach.
They Want the Why
When I tell a physician that documentation does not support a code, I should expect the next question to be:
“Why?”
When I recommend changing a process, I should be prepared to explain what problem we are solving.
When an audit identifies a concern, I need more than a finding. I need evidence.
That isn’t resistance to education.
That is exactly how physicians have been trained to think.
Consider how clinical medicine works. A physician doesn’t make a diagnosis simply because someone says, “I think this is the problem.”
There are symptoms. Findings. Tests. History. Differential diagnoses. Clinical judgment.
There is a process for reaching the conclusion.
Why should we expect them to abandon that way of thinking when we start talking about coding, documentation, compliance, or revenue integrity?
Bring the Data
If you want a physician’s attention, give them something meaningful to evaluate.
Instead of saying:
“Your documentation needs improvement.”
Tell them what you found.
“We reviewed 50 encounters. Twelve required a coding change. Nine involved the same documentation issue.”
Now we have something to discuss.
Show the pattern.
Show the applicable guidance.
Show examples.
Explain the financial or compliance impact.
Then explain what needs to change.
Physician education becomes much more productive when we move from generalized feedback to evidence-based education.
I Had to Take My Emotions Out of It
This was the harder lesson for me.
Physicians can be direct.
“Where does it say that?”
“I disagree.”
“Show me.”
“Why can’t I bill it?”
Earlier in my career, I sometimes heard more in those statements than was actually being said.
Was the physician upset with me?
Did they think I didn’t know what I was talking about?
Should I soften my response?
Should I explain myself differently?
Over time, I realized how much unnecessary emotional weight I was adding to conversations that were often simply professional exchanges of information.
They weren’t necessarily taking it personally.
Why was I?
That realization changed the way I educate.
Direct Language Has a Place in Physician Education
Being physician-friendly does not mean avoiding the issue.
It means communicating the issue accurately, respectfully, and in a way that is useful.
If the documentation does not support something, I can say that.
If I disagree with an interpretation, I can explain why.
If an external payer auditor could reasonably reach a different conclusion based on the operative report, the physician needs to know that.
My responsibility isn’t to make every finding feel comfortable.
My responsibility is to make the education clear, defensible, and actionable.
And there is an important difference between being direct and being disrespectful.
The focus should remain on the documentation, evidence, requirements, and risk—not on the physician personally.
Don’t Just Tell Them What to Document
This distinction is particularly important in compliance education.
Our job isn’t to teach physicians how to manufacture documentation that produces a particular code.
It is to help them understand what their documentation needs to communicate about the care they actually provided.
That changes the conversation.
Instead of:
“Document this so you can bill this code.”
The education becomes:
“Here is what the documentation currently communicates. Here is the requirement. Here is the gap between the two. If this work was performed, the medical record needs to accurately reflect it.”
That is education.
Speak to the Clinical Mind
The best physician education I provide today is different from what I provided earlier in my career.
I explain less emotionally and demonstrate more objectively.
I bring examples.
I bring data.
I bring authoritative guidance.
I explain the reasoning behind the finding.
And when a physician challenges my conclusion, I don’t automatically interpret that challenge as conflict.
Sometimes they are doing exactly what years of medical training taught them to do:
Question the conclusion. Examine the evidence. Understand the why.
Those of us responsible for educating physicians should be prepared to meet them there.
Because effective physician education isn’t simply about knowing the rules.
It’s about knowing how to communicate them to a clinical mind.