Every practice leader knows the feeling, when even one or two physicians are out, for however long and for whatever reason, “you feel nothing but dread. How am I going to get my patients cared for? Who is going to cover the clinic?” Sarah Cowley, associate director of clinical strategy for Humana, said during a session at the 2025 American Conference on Physician Health™ in Boston.
That stress is only one of many causes of burnout and its unfortunately common aftermath: turnover.
It’s a crisis that is eroding the stability of practices everywhere and it has a proportionally outsized impact on large, fast-growing organizations. But, Humana and its practices, CenterWell Senior Primary Care and Conviva Senior Primary Care, are getting ahead of the problem.
Humana and its care centers are 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.
A strategy targeting senior care, with major investments in technology, integration and interoperability, supports Humana’s more than 342 primary care centers serving more than 447,000 seniors in 15 states.
Growth was rapid. The physician workforce doubled from 600 to 1,200 in just three years, which presented challenges around recruiting and retaining physicians.
“We knew that they would be key to our transformation because they would be driving culture change,” Cowley said. “We also knew that the voices of the physicians leading that shift had to be heard.”
Potential physician burnout wasn’t the only issue. A survey by Humana’s people analytics team found that doctors sought professional growth opportunities and to align their work with the company’s mission.
“That told us that development wasn’t just a nice to have,” Cowley said. “Instead, it could be a lever that we could pull to directly improve engagement.”
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®.
Building the business case for development
Senior leadership needed reliable return on investment data to authorize investment. So Cowley’s team calculated the combined costs of recruiting, losing patients and the strain caused by unfilled roles to determine the financial impact of physician turnover, which added up in the millions.
“That was what got leadership buy-in,” she said. “We showed that developing our physicians was an investment, not an expense.”
This convinced decision-makers to OK the development of the Physician Leadership Development Program (PLDP).
Physicians wanted mentorship, coaching and to develop their business acumen. Executives wanted that too, along with operational skills that would help doctors become more dynamic and effective leaders. However, structuring a program would have to address such practicalities as work schedules since participants could not realistically spend more than one or two hours a week away from their clinical duties.
The result was a six-month program comprised of four core components:
- Executive mentorship circles. Groups of five physicians meet monthly with a senior executive mentor for group and one-on-one discussions.
- Individual coaching. Delivered through MD Can Help led by Gail Gazelle, MD, to offer personalized guidance from a fellow physician.
- A business education series. Features 90-minute sessions with Humana leaders such as the chief medical officer and the president of the insurance company.
- Online learning modules. Offers education through Humana’s partnership with the American Association for Physician Leadership.
Better yet, the cost of a single cohort of 15 physicians is less than a quarter of those incurred by the loss of a single physician.
Leadership is one of the six pillars of the AMA Joy in Medicine Health System Recognition Program, which empowers health systems to reduce burnout and build well-being so that physicians and their patients can thrive.
Results that speak for themselves
Any physician who is not in a leadership position with Humana and its medical groups—CenterWell and Conviva—is eligible to participate in the leadership development program. Since launching in 2023, the program has received 115 applications, completed three cohorts and engaged nine executive physician mentors.
To date more than 90% of participants have said they would recommend the program to their peers, and there is even more tangible proof of success.
“Forty percent of the physicians from the first two cohorts have advanced into new roles,” Cowley said. “Some through promotions, others through lateral moves that expanded their scope or responsibilities.”
Additionally, three participants have received enterprise-wide leadership recognition while the physician retention rate is a remarkable 93%.
The Physician Leadership Development Program “gave me a comprehensive understanding of Humana’s business model and how my role as a physician is crucial to carrying out the company’s mission to improve the health outcomes of every patient we serve,” said Aaron Saunders, MD, an internist and one of the early participants. “The experience helped me understand the great impact that I have as a physician leader.”
Enthusiasm for the program also extends beyond the cohorts.
“Leaders who’ve been through the program discuss it in job interviews,” Cowley noted. “In fact, it’s become a selling point for joining our organization.”
Expanding leadership at every level
The leadership program’s success sparked a pilot program for physicians already in formal leadership roles. The structure is largely the same but with one-on-one mentorship, and participants are required to design an original quality improvement initiative and present it to the executive team.
“That program has been incredibly rewarding,” Cowley said. “In fact, some of those mock initiatives have been developed into actual quality programs in our clinics.”
Another positive effect is the increased visibility that the organization has given the program. Humana hosted the first in person graduation ceremony at its Louisville headquarters for the third cohort in May 2025, and it included a StrengthsFinder assessment, workshop and dinner with senior executives.
It was the first time since the COVID-19 public health emergency “that many of our physicians had been together in person,” she said. “That made it even more meaningful for everyone involved.”
A culture of connection and belonging
The ongoing cultural shift at Humana includes a focus on measurable outcomes, especially as leadership development and operational agility are now recognized as genuinely interconnected.
“This isn’t just about preventing burnout,” Cowley said. “It’s about creating a sustainable, thriving environment in which physicians can grow, lead and feel ownership.”
She acknowledged that one program alone cannot eliminate physician burnout. A broader clinician recruitment and retention plan spearheaded by Humana’s chief medical officer brings senior departmental executives together to dive deeper into the systematic drivers of burnout. Legacy technology was identified as one, for example, which led to the adoption of a new EHR system.
A lasting cultural shift
Success was really driven by a shift in mindsets. What began as a well-researched and pragmatic response to turnover has quickly evolved into a model for organizational change. The combined powers of mentorship, coaching and executive engagement have done more than provide relief from burnout, they have helped create an environment that nurtures purpose, growth and relevance.
“Investing in physicians as leaders has shown that the best cure for burnout must be more than just one more initiative or incentive,” Cowley said. “It must also recognize that caring for patients requires caring for the physicians too.”
AMA STEPS Forward® open-access resources offer innovative strategies that allow physicians and their staff to thrive in the new health care environment. These resources can help you prevent burnout, create the organizational foundation for joy in medicine, improve practice efficiency and cultivate leadership.
