When Henry Ford Health earned Bronze-level recognition from the AMA Joy in Medicine® Health System Recognition Program, the moment marked more than a moment of celebration. For leaders across the Detroit-based system, it reinforced that years of work to support physician well-being had made a measurable impact.
The recognition also gave the organization something important: proof that physician well-being had become more than an aspiration. At Henry Ford Health, it had become a real area of focus, supported by leadership, embedded in system conversations and increasingly visible to physicians across the organization.
"We're a large system with many priorities, and physician well-being is truly a core focus for us. That's why we're so excited to earn this recognition," said Lisa MacLean, MD, a psychiatrist and chief clinical wellness officer for Henry Ford Health. "We were early adopters in creating the space for well-being to be a part of our culture."
Bronze-level recognition gave Henry Ford Health a chance to celebrate progress already underway while also showing physicians and leaders that the work was being noticed. It became a major milestone in a larger journey to continue building a stronger, more supportive practice environment.
Henry Ford Health is 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.
Making physician well-being part of the system
A central theme in Henry Ford Health's journey is that physician well-being work cannot sit off to the side. Dr. MacLean described a structure in which that perspective is brought into leadership spaces across the organization, from enterprise-wide communications to committee work to board-level presentations.
This dedication can be seen through leaders amplifying that work in their internal and external communications, while avenues such as the system's daily email newsletters have created additional space to highlight physician well-being efforts and successes.
Dr. MacLean also presents annually to the Board of Directors and serves on several leadership groups where operational and strategic decisions are discussed.
"A system's champion for well-being should sit on a variety of leadership committees so when issues and discussions come up, they can bring up the wellness perspective," she said. "It took time for me to get myself into those spaces. To get traction, you have to be seen and involved in many different conversations."
This includes spaces where clinical operations are shaped. Dr. MacLean said her role on the provider advisory council allows her to weigh in on decisions involving Epic and other workflow changes, bringing attention to how those decisions may affect physicians' daily work.
The result is a broader, more integrated approach where physician well-being is not treated as a standalone initiative. It is tied to leadership, operations and organizational culture. As Dr. MacLean put it, support comes from both directions: "They're pushing down and I'm pushing up, and the two shall meet."
Build pride around progress
For Dr. MacLean, Bronze-level recognition also brought perspective. It created an opportunity to step back and recognize how much Henry Ford Health had already built in this space.
"It helped me say, 'Wow, I'm super excited about how much work we've done.' It's always great to get perspective and see that all our efforts are leading to real results," she said. "Sometimes, you don't see what you've done until someone else calls attention to it."
That reflection appears to have resonated inside the system as well. Because Dr. MacLean's work extends beyond physician well-being into broader community and enterprise efforts, many colleagues already understood that this was an area Henry Ford Health took seriously. So, when the recognition came, it felt like confirmation of something physicians were already seeing.
Showing physicians that commitment is real
Recognition can also reinforce a message that matters to physicians at every stage of their careers: This organization is invested in supporting you. Henry Ford Health spreads that message early, Dr. MacLean said, including during new physician orientation, where she presents on well-being resources and support.
In fact, she recalled that during a recent new physician orientation, doctors were taking photos of QR codes and materials as they learned about the different supports available to them. That kind of engagement, she said, makes the commitment visible from the start and ultimately helps with retention.
Dr. MacLean also sees a direct connection between physician well-being and Henry Ford Health's broader mission. The system's patient-centered culture, she said, is strengthened when physicians feel supported and can do their best work.
"There is a strong link between physician vitality and patient outcomes," she said. "Ultimately, we want to invest in our providers so we can strengthen our core mission, which is to take excellent care of people. And we know that we can best care for others when our own well-being is supported."
That framing is part of what makes recognition from the Joy in Medicine Program so meaningful. It signals that physician well-being is not separate from care quality or organizational performance. It is part of how the system understands both.
Using recognition to strengthen the work
The recognition also reflected concrete efforts already underway at Henry Ford Health. Dr. MacLean pointed to progress in credentialing, leadership development and team member well-being as important parts of the Bronze-level recognition story.
On leadership, Henry Ford Health realized that existing questions in its annual survey were not enough to support the next level of growth. In response, the organization rolled out a leadership index for department chairs to show stronger commitment to development in a psychologically safe way.
"The AMA really called upon us to have a measurement and to really be able to testify to that," Dr. MacLean said.
She also described how survey strategy matters. Henry Ford Health recognized that reducing the number of annual survey questions had left too few team-related items to support future recognition goals. That led to a stronger push for questions that captured team cohesion and collegiality more clearly.
The process helped Henry Ford Health sharpen its thinking, identify what needed to be measured and connect operational decisions with larger well-being goals.
Treating Bronze as a key milestone
What comes through most clearly to Dr. MacLean is that Henry Ford Health did not view Bronze-level recognition as a finish line. The recognition mattered because it validated meaningful progress, but it also gave the organization a stronger sense of what needed to happen next.
That is what makes Bronze such an important chapter in Henry Ford Health's journey. It reflects early commitment, visible leadership support and a growing infrastructure for physician well-being. It also marks the start of a new phase, one focused on building from that foundation and continuing to strengthen the system for physicians.
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.
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