Physician well-being tracks higher, but so much more work remains

Encouraging news on declining physician burnout was published in this Mayo Clinic Proceedings study in April co-written by researchers from the AMA, Mayo Clinic, the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Stanford Medicine. Among its most notable findings is that 45.2% of physicians reported experiencing at least one symptom of burnout in 2023, a sharp drop from the 62.8% level reported in 2021. 

Also, the proportion of physicians who said that, if given a chance to revisit their career choice, they would again choose to become a physician was higher in 2023 (65.1%) than it was two years earlier (57.1%). While representing improvement from the pandemic low, an even higher number of respondents (70.2%) said in 2011 they would stick with their decision to become a physician all over again.

It is interesting to note that all these jointly conducted surveys of physician burnout have been assembled during a period of significant disruption in U.S. health care delivery—and not just due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rapid advancements in augmented intelligence in medicine (AI), the growing prevalence of chronic disease, shifts from private practice to more physicians in employed settings, increasing administrative demands tied to prior authorization, shrinking levels of Medicare physician payment—all these factors and others continue to shape how physicians measure their own well-being and professional satisfaction. 

Physician burnout triggers a host of wide-ranging and thoroughly insidious effects that drive doctors away from practice and impose greater stress on a U.S. health care system that already struggles to meet patient needs.

Promoting physician well-being and helping physicians rediscover and re-engage with the deep rewards and outright joy that comes from helping patients is an ongoing commitment for our AMA, and a task we undertake with unmatched energy and enthusiasm. That task extends across three core areas of our strategy: 

• Advocacy to remove obstacles that interfere with patient care.
• Efforts to reduce the stigma associated with mental health care.
• Systems-based reforms.

In the past, some approaches to burnout reduction primarily focused on the individual, telling physicians to exercise more, eat better, and try to reduce stress. By contrast, the AMA has been focused on addressing burnout at the system and organizational levels. 

Surveys show that dysfunction and inefficiencies that plague our health care system are key drivers of physician burnout. Our advocacy focus includes fixing the broken Medicare physician payment formula, reducing regulatory burdens, simplifying EHRs while enhancing their interoperability, and reforming prior authorization requirements. All of these issues directly interfere with what physicians enjoy most—taking care of patients. We are also tackling challenges to public health and advancing the future of medicine by improving medical education and physician training. 

We know that solutions must address the reluctance of physicians to address their well-being without fearing a negative impact on their careers. The AMA has worked at the state and national levels to identify, and reform, outdated stigmatizing questions that ask about “past diagnosis” and replace them with questions that only ask about “current impairment” on medical licensing board, health system credentialing and other applications as well as employment and credentialing applications. 

The AMA is calling upon health care industry executives in all fields to join us in effectively addressing physician well-being. AMA research on burnout prevention prioritizes a systems-based approach to identify areas where change within an organization can improve physician well-being. 

The AMA’s Joy in Medicine™ Health System Recognition Program is helping to create and sustain a culture of wellness that prioritizes professional fulfillment. In the six years since the launch of the program, we’ve learned a lot about what successful hospitals and health systems are doing to prioritize physician well-being.

Each of the more than 150 hospitals and health systems we’ve recognized for their commitment to burnout reduction since the program’s inception in 2019 shares some common approaches and strategies, including:

• The development of a comprehensive physician well-being program plan that presents a clear vision, mission and tactics to follow.
• Creating and implementing a culture in which leaders are routinely evaluated by the physicians and staff who report to them, then developing leadership action plans in response to direct feedback.
• Improving the work environment by shedding administrative tasks and burdens, such as by reducing EHR headaches by using technology software to simplify and accelerate note-taking.
• Establishing peer-support programs that allow physicians and staff to lean on one another for counsel or advice after an adverse clinical event.
• Importantly, urging the elimination of stigmatizing language when addressing mental health and substance use disorders in licensing and credentialing applications.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it illustrates the movement underway in the post-pandemic era to prioritize physician well-being and elevate proven resources and support programs to reduce burnout. 

A full list of current Joy in Medicine recognized organizations can be found here, while details on criteria and the application process are available here.

In addition, our collection of AMA STEPS Forward® open-access resources available through the AMA Ed Hub™ offers practical strategies and tips in specific areas such as streamlining workflow processes and establishing peer-to-peer networking—designed to help physicians and other health professionals achieve more joy in practice. 

These and other factors, including sustained AMA advocacy to remove obstacles to care for more than a decade, are responsible for a steady but significant decline in the burnout rate among physicians since the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, but more work remains. The AMA will continue to employ every resource at our disposal to help physicians reach their full potential and derive the professional and personal satisfaction they deserve from their commitment to helping patients.

Reducing physician burnout not only improves patient outcomes but helps build a more effective and much more responsive health care system. 

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