Even a small shift can signal meaningful progress. The rate of physician burnout has edged down again, continuing a gradual decline that suggests efforts to improve well-being are taking hold across the health care system. That momentum matters. After years of rising stress, administrative burden and workforce strain, even modest improvement points to the impact of sustained investments in physician support, workflow redesign and culture change. But the data also underscores a critical reality: The work is far from finished.
Systemic drivers—from administrative burdens to staffing shortages—continue to shape the day-to-day experience of physicians. And while the downward trend is encouraging, maintaining progress will require ongoing commitment, measurement and action to ensure that gains are not only preserved but expanded.
Nearly 19,000 responses from physicians across 38 states were received from 106 health systems and organizations who participated in the AMA Organizational Biopsy® last year. Of the organizations who participated, 34 health systems were recognized in 2024 and 2025 from the AMA Joy in Medicine® Health System Recognition Program.
The National Physician Comparison Report is exclusive data to the AMA and the Organizational Biopsy. The report reflects 2025 trends on five key performance indicators—job satisfaction, job stress, burnout, intent to leave and feeling valued—as well as additional analysis of drivers and key findings.
For 2025, 41.9% of physicians reported experiencing at least one symptom of burnout, down from 43.2% in 2024 and 48.2% in 2023. The data from the AMA report shows that doctor burnout continues to drop since its peak during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Here are the other key performance indicators of physician well-being highlighted in the 2025 AMA national physician comparison report. Also highlighted is the ongoing well-being work at health care organizations that 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.
Job satisfaction remains stable
From 2024 to 2025, physicians’ job satisfaction remained stable, moving from 76.5% to 77%, which was not statistically significant. This is also up from 72.1% in 2023 and 67.6% in 2022. Meanwhile, 75.9% of physicians who are working full-time hours reported being satisfied with their jobs compared to 78.1% who are considered part-time.
The AMA national physician comparison report also provided insights into variations across gender, physician specialty and years in practice. Those figures will be published in upcoming AMA news articles.
Job stress continues to see a decline
Physicians continue to experience job stress but continue to see positive movement on this key performance indicator. Last year, 42.9% of physicians expressed feeling a great deal of stress because of their job—down from 45.1% in 2024 and 50.7% in 2023.
The most cited source of that stress? Key themes when asked to submit sources of stress include ineffective EHR systems, concerns about leadership transparency and support, inadequate staffing, and excessive administrative tasks.
Health systems are turning data into action
Survey data is most useful when leaders treat it as a road map, not a scorecard. The goal is not simply to see how one organization stacks up against others, but to understand what physicians are experiencing in their day-to-day work and where change is possible. Used well, survey results can help health systems move past broad measures of burnout and toward the operational realities shaping physician well-being—whether that is administrative burdens, workplace inefficiencies, trust in leadership or lack of supportive culture.
As Heather Farley, MD, MHCDS, has noted, the value of tools such as the AMA’s Organizational Biopsy is that they help organizations see where they stand and, more importantly, where attention is needed most.
This has been the case for Baptist Health. Trying to improve the physician experience has been a journey that has been deliberately multipronged, grounded in—and powered by—data, processes and partnerships. Through the data, Baptist Health uncovered the need to get better engagement from senior leadership, successfully implement a unified plan across the organization and secure local champions for physician support.
At The Southeast Permanente Medical Group, one of the tenets of patient care is using data to inform clinical decisions, while considering individual values and a holistic understanding of your patients’ needs. The commitment to improving physician well-being and addressing burnout at the group is grounded in this same data-driven, human-centered approach. This led to The Southeast Permanente Medical Group making feeling valued a North Star for well-being, as well as ensuring their commitment was visible beyond leadership and into day-to-day clinical settings.
Confluence Health offers another example of how sustained, focused work can make a difference. Under the leadership of Makrina Shanbour, MD, an internist and director of provider experience at Confluence Health and Wenatchee Valley Medical Group, the organization has advanced initiatives aimed at reducing burnout and intentionally building culture centered on well-being. Those efforts include addressing fatigue from EHR-related tasks and electronic patient messages, as well as identifying best practices to share across the system.
Leaders at Dallas Nephrology Associates also turned to data through its first physician well-being survey, hoping for meaningful insights. With about 70% of physicians participating, the survey results offered both affirmation and clear opportunities for improvement. While 33% of physicians reported symptoms of burnout, the findings also gave leaders a stronger foundation for working with the AMA to map the group’s well-being journey and better address sources of job stress.
Download the 2025 AMA Joy in Medicine magazine (log into your AMA account to view) to see whether your organization is part of the prestigious group of 164 organizations across 40 states and the District of Columbia that are currently recognized for their dedication to physician well-being.
AMA STEPS Forward® offers real-world solutions to common challenges in health care today. Explore a variety of innovative, physician-developed resources designed to help prevent physician burnout, optimize workflows, improve well-being and enhance patient care.
