The latest exclusive AMA data shows that physicians’ job satisfaction now exceeds 76%—up more than 8% from just two years prior—but there is still plenty of room for improvement. Fortunately, there are proven strategies that health care organizations can adopt to boost this and other measures of physician well-being by addressing the systemic drivers of burnout.
Physicians who want their organizations to take big steps in the right direction on doctors’ well-being will find a powerful ally in the AMA. As the leader in physician well-being, the AMA is reducing physician burnout by removing administrative burdens and providing real-world solutions to help doctors rediscover the Joy in Medicine®.
The AMA Joy in Medicine Health System Recognition Program empowers health systems to reduce burnout and build well-being so that physicians and their patients can thrive. It is designed to:
- Provide a road map for health system leaders to implement programs and policies that support physician well-being.
- Unite the health care community in building a culture committed to increasing joy in medicine for the profession nationwide.
- Build awareness about solutions that promote joy in medicine and spur investment within health systems to reduce physician burnout.
The Joy in Medicine Health System Recognition Program is based on three levels of organizational achievement in prioritizing and investing in physician well-being. Each level—bronze, silver and gold—is composed of six demonstrated domains: assessment, commitment, efficiency of practice environment, teamwork, leadership and support.
Organizations must meet five of six domains to be eligible for a recognition level. Domains must be the same across levels.
What commitment to well-being means
The second domain, commitment, involves showing organizational dedication to workforce well-being. Commitment is one of two domains, along with assessment, that are required for all applicants.
Bronze-level organizations are required to have established a formalized well-being committee or office of well-being. They are also required to have estimated the annual costs of burnout to the organization and shared those costs with executive leadership.
Silver-level organizations have also established an executive leadership position devoted to well-being of at least one-half of a full-time equivalent position (0.5 FTE). They also have shared all relevant survey and EHR results—such as burnout assessment, teamwork assessments, and teamwork for orders and EHR metrics—with the executive leadership team.
Gold-level organizations have gone a step further by developing an organizational strategic plan to address physician well-being.
How others have done it
Atlantic Health System is a 2024–2025 bronze-level recognized organization. The organization is also part of the AMA Health System Member Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
Atlantic Health System had established a committee largely focused on physician well-being as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing, however, that the health system’s goal to be the best place for physicians to practice in New Jersey was broader than what could have been achieved through that committee structure, it established new well-being leadership.
One of Atlantic Heath System’s longtime staff physicians, Shai Gavi, DO, stepped into the role of chief medical officer to enhance the physician experience and reexamine the organization’s work on well-being. Dr. Gavi and his colleagues on the committee routinely perform listening tours to hear what physicians and other health professionals are looking for. They also share results from the clinical survey, along with details of what the medical group is doing on the well-being front.
“The important thing for us in this shift is actively listening to our clinicians as to what’s important and what we need to do and working in partnership with them,” Dr. Gavi said in a previous interview with the AMA.
In fact, Atlantic Health System has some 20 committees and work groups that provide opportunities for dialogue. One of those, the Next Generation Work Group, is for physicians who are three years into residency.
“It’s a really exciting work group where they’re meeting together about what it means to go from residency to now being a full physician—that transition to practice,” he said.
The Joy in Medicine Health System Recognition Program is a way for Atlantic Health System to prove the value of its work on physician well-being, Dr. Gavi added.
“It’s an honor and a validation and I’m hoping our clinicians feel supported by the fact that we recognize that there is tremendous work to help support them and it’s validated through the AMA,” he said. “And we absolutely will continue this work towards gold, obviously.”
Commitment tools, resources from the AMA
Download the 2024 AMA Joy in Medicine™ magazine (log into your AMA account to view) to see whether your organization is part of the prestigious cohort of 130 organizations across 35 states that are currently recognized for their dedication to physician well-being.
If your organization is not yet recognized, there are several tools that you and your organization’s leaders can use to further advance physician well-being and get recognition for the work you are already doing to measure and prevent doctor burnout.
An AMA Ed Hub calculator, “Organizational Cost of Physician Burnout,” helps you determine your health system’s projected cost of physician burnout in terms of turnover.
The AMA STEPS Forward® toolkits “Establishing a Chief Wellness Officer Position” and “Chief Wellness Officer Road Map” guide your organization in committing to physician well-being.
Health care organizations interested in the 2026 Joy in Medicine Health System Recognition Program application cycle should view the 2026 Program Guidelines (PDF) to learn more about the application process and criteria. They should also submit an intent to apply today for the 2026 application cycle. All organizations must do so to get access to the application.
The 2025–2026 Joy in Medicine recognized organizations will be publicly announced Sept. 3.
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