California has about 37,000 fewer allied health professionals than it needs to properly care for the state's population, according to Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Sutter Health. With more than 40% of doctors older than 55, there is an ongoing physician shortage that is expected to rise in the next decade.
Sutter Health, which is headquartered in Sacramento, California, is striving to create new opportunities and introduce more physicians to the field. The health system is expanding its graduate medical education program with plans to increase its number of residents and fellows from 220 to almost 1,000 per year by 2030.
It's just one step in a multi-phased approach at Sutter Health to build a larger physician base. Sutter Health is a member of the AMA Health System Program that provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
"All health systems should be trying to lean in and do this in a very robust way," Thomas said. "We have so many people coming out of medical school that we just don't have enough residency slots. We definitely view this as a way to secure more physicians here at Sutter Health.”
Thomas spoke about what else his health system is doing to attract future physicians and retain the ones who already work there in a recent episode of “AMA Update.”
An “astounding” retention percentage
Physician turnover is at an all-time low at Sutter Health, Thomas said. This is important because, for an organization, the cost of physician burnout can range from $500,000 to more than $1 million per doctor.
Only 2% of physicians across the system's medical groups are opting to leave, a statistic he said is "astounding." Nationally, 35.7% of physicians plan to leave their jobs in the next two years, according to the AMA’s national physician comparison report.
Additionally, about 90% of the offers for physician positions made across the Sutter medical groups are accepted.
So, what's the reason for such staggering numbers? Thomas said there are a few factors.
One is that "people want to work at a place where they see that they can make a difference, that it's growing [and] expanding its impact," he said. "Those are many of the things that we're doing here at Sutter Health."
Thomas also credited communication within each medical group and throughout the larger health system as another factor in its retention and acceptance success. Part of that communication relies on creating a culture where people feel they are included.
Pivotally, such communication flows in both directions. Yes, it's important for health system leaders to explain new initiatives and direction to the individual Sutter Health medical groups and their physicians, but it's also critical for those same leaders to listen to the challenges and opportunities facing those same individuals.
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Learning to leverage technology
At Sutter Health and across medicine, many of those challenges and opportunities relate to technology, particularly with the increased presence and accessibility of augmented intelligence (AI)—often called artificial intelligence.
To best leverage these emerging technologies and others that physicians rely on, Thomas said it's important to step back and make sure they are simple to use.
"We need to make sure that technologies are more intuitive and easier for folks to use, whether it's our online portal systems for our patients, or remote patient management for chronic disease, or just how we stay connected to our patients, or how we make it easier in our exam rooms for our physicians and clinicians," he said. "That's what we have to think about in health care."
From AI implementation to EHR adoption and usability, the AMA is fighting to make technology work for physicians, ensuring that it is an asset to doctors—not a burden.
How tech can help doctors
Technology can help reduce physician burnout. It can also help patients feel more connected and satisfied with their health care experience. According to Thomas, patients digitally connected to Sutter Health's medical groups have satisfaction levels that are two times higher than patients who are not digitally connected.
Thomas understands the importance of technology—for Sutter Health and for every patient at each of the system's medical groups. He also understands that technology will continue to evolve, and it's up to the health system to stay current on how to best apply that technology to help physicians, clinicians and patients alike.
"We're just in the early stages of how the new technologies can impact our ability to take care of patients in the future and impact our ability for physicians and clinicians to work in the practice each and every day," Thomas said. "At the end of the day, it has to be sustainable for our physicians and clinicians. That's a lot of the work we're doing every day to make that an easier situation for them."
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