"Physician burnout means two things: how dedicated they are to their profession. Second, how ignorant our system of healthcare is towards them!" — Adam Tabriz, MD
Physicians' Early Resignation And Early Retirement Due To Burnout In 2022
According To The Recent MGMA Stat Poll, Despite the well-known Surge Of Burnout-Driven Physician Resignation, Most Healthcare Leaders Still Have No Plan to Counter The Trend
Physician Burnout is not a novel problem in the healthcare system. Its rate has been increasing for the past decade. According to the Medscape report published earlier this year by PR Newswire, physician burnout & depression, stress, anxiety, and anger rose by 5% between 2020 and 2021 alone. That was from 42% in 2020 to 47% the following year.
Despite clear evidence pointing to a fundamental healthcare problem, the increasing physician burnout trend, based on the May 11, 2021, Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) stat poll, 86% of healthcare leaders are still failing to come up with a definitive solution to the physician burnout problem.
Those familiar with the recent healthcare trends and shifting policies around the merit-based physician reimbursement scheme must be aware of the "tug of war" between keeping up with the increasing administrative workload and satisfying patient expectations.
Furthermore, those familiar with physician personality and mindset also comprehend that somewhere between black hat thinking attitude, perfectionism, high job demand, and lack of control and disconnect from individual values system is setting physicians for burnout.
Some call the prevailing physician's professional crisis driven by increasing administrative workload a "moral injury." The same people try to distinguish physician burnout as a problem that primarily originates in an individual (in this case, a physician) who potentially lacks the resources or strength to withstand the work environment. It puts the burden on the physician while it should acknowledge there are always two ends to a "tug of war" metaphor; in this case, the physician is the rope under strain.
Those who side with the concept of moral injury concede with the state of the physician constraint. That is beyond their control despite knowing the challenges and what patients need.
Whether we call it a moral injury or a physician burnout, without a doubt, healthcare leaders have a problem at hand, and for the most part, they are the cause of that impediment. They advocate value-based reimbursement and take away their control in many ways. That is, from policies and technology use cases to payment schemes.
The causes of Physician burnout are multifaceted. However, one can break down the contributors to physician burnout into three significant facets. These are related to the attainability of the job, the challenges of adopting team-based care, and the hurdles of perfectionism.
There is so much a physician can do if healthcare leaders continue piling them up with more and more administrative tasks.
Conceivably, physicians must embrace team-based patient care. However, since medicine has historically been an individualistic practice between a patient and a physician, the recent healthcare trends have forced physicians to take a team-based practice model.
Furthermore, the expanding innovative technology trends associated with a shifting Point Of Care (POC) from physician offices to patients' homes also come as no reliever to the team-based physician practice reform.
That said, the physician's perfectionist mindset leads them to burnout.
Generally speaking, physicians are independent thinkers, which is why they function better in an independent medical practice setting. But, the current healthcare infrastructure, more so that of independent physician practice, does not offer efficient team-based care resources.
Physicians Are Leaving Medical Practice, And That Is Not What Healthcare Leaders Need
Physician burnout due to physician stress, depersonalization, and burden poses a significant threat to healthcare and the economy's future in general.
August 23, 2022, MGMA Stat poll reports that 40% of physicians had retired early or left the organization due to burnout recently.
Healthcare leaders know this very well. Some leaders believe technology alone will overcome this obstacle. Indeed, it can be true if they also eliminate doctors from the healthcare industry and fully replace them with robots that will do everything from diagnosis to treatment. As optimistic as it may sound, at least for the time being, that is more of a fiction than reality.
According to the "Mayo Clinic Proceeding," estimated that each primary care physician resigning or leaving medical practice costs the healthcare system $86,336.
The report also outlines that physician turnover would cost Medicare And Medicaid an excess of $979 million, of which 27% is attributable to physician burnout.
Healthcare Leaders Must Embrace a Decentralized Collaborative Hybrid System, But Are They Willing?
Health equity under the current healthcare turmoil is nothing short of wishful thinking for healthcare leaders. And that, despite their efforts to extend the POC system and reimburse physicians based on value rather than the traditional fee-for-service modality, unless they come to terms with the idea that adding multiple tasks to the physician's chore list will ultimately backfire. And automating the alert system through digital innovation ensures they carry out those assignments as they are told will only add to the risk of physician burnout.
There may be too much financial gain at stake for big companies that fiddles healthcare leaders' role in deciding to reduce physician burnout.
We already know that mainstream healthcare leaders do not comprise the physician community. Regardless, value-based care is already complex work, but expanding the Point of care makes it even harder.
Collaboration and team-based work in the office, while the Point of care is in the office, is one thing. But, once the POC moves to a remote location, collaboration becomes easier if health leaders put forward a digital logistic infrastructure that embraces a transparent workflow process and follows the same workflow as if staff is collaborating physically in person.
Modern medical practice requires a team-based approach to patient care. That is, not merely within the clinic walls but also in remote encounters. That is precisely why such a medical practice will require logistics that would accommodate a hybrid work model with individuals in charge of their personal information and ensure transparency and accountability at every step. Only then must we figure out if healthcare leaders genuinely want to have a solution to physician burnout or if they choose to be part of the problem.
References
- M. "Medscape Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022 Shows Pandemic's Continued Impact." Medscape Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022 Shows Pandemic's Continued Impact. Accessed September 8, 2022. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/medscape-physician-burnout--depression-report-2022-shows-pandemics-continued-impact-301465333.html.
- Healing moral injury: What should your strategy to reduce physician burnout look like? "Healing Moral Injury: What Should Your Strategy to Reduce Physician Burnout Look Like?" Accessed September 8, 2022. https://www.mgma.com/data/data-stories/healing-moral-injury-what-should-your-strategy-to.
- Dean, W., S. Talbot, and A. Dean. "Reframing Clinician Distress: Moral Injury Not Burnout — PMC." PubMed Central (PMC). Accessed September 8, 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6752815/.
- Burnout-driven physician resignations and early retirements are rising amid staffing challenges. "Burnout-Driven Physician Resignations and Early Retirements Rising amid Staffing Challenges." Accessed September 8, 2022. https://www.mgma.com/data/data-stories/burnout-driven-physician-resignations-and-early-re.
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