Physician burnout remains a pressing challenge in health care, but there is a prescription that can help: teamwork. Collaborative work environments—ones in which physicians feel supported, valued and connected to their colleagues—can help cut burnout and boost overall well-being, according to the results of an exclusive AMA survey. This underscores how shared responsibility, open communication and a culture of mutual support can improve patient care while also protecting the well-being of physicians.
Nearly 18,000 responses from physicians across 43 states were received from more than 100 health systems and organizations who participated in the AMA Organizational Biopsy® last year. The AMA national physician comparison report—which is exclusive data to the AMA that is not published anywhere else—reflects 2024 trends on six key performance indicators—job satisfaction, job stress, burnout, intent to leave an organization, feeling valued by an organization and total hours spent per week on work-related activities (known as “time spend”).
The purpose of the aggregated data is to provide a national summary of organizational well-being and to serve as a comparison for other health care organizations. The results represent data from all organizations that surveyed with the AMA in 2024.
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®.
Barriers to teamwork
For 2024, 43.2% of physicians reported experiencing at least one symptom of burnout, down from 48.2% in 2023 and 53% in 2022. Contributing to physician burnout are gaps in teamwork that reduce the ability to efficiently and appropriately delegate administrative tasks.
That’s why teamwork is a pillar of the AMA’s Joy in Medicine® Health System Recognition Program, which empowers health systems to reduce burnout and build well-being so that physicians, their teams and their patients can thrive.
In fact, 26.5% of physicians reported a lack of adequate doctors and support staff as a key stressor. There is an ongoing need for more nurses, medical assistants or documentation assistance to help reduce physician workload, according to the survey.
Meanwhile, 13.8% of physician respondents noted excessive administrative tasks as another source of stress. Managing a high volume of inbox messages, calls, insurance claims and prescription refills are tasks that could be triaged. But the lack of support staff, time and payment for administrative work increases stress.
For 2023, when asked what prevents physicians from delegating more order entry, medication review, visit-note documentation, forms completion or processing prescription renewals to support staff, there were common barriers listed. They were:
- I do not have enough medical assistants or nurses—50.1%, down from 55.7%.
- My institution’s culture or policies don’t support or allow such delegation—44.3%, up slightly from 44.2%.
- My EHR isn’t built to support this delegation—30.7%, up slightly from 30.4%.
- I do not trust my medical assistant or nurse to reliably do the work well—19.3%, down slightly from 19.6%.
- State and federal policies don’t allow such delegation—16.1%, up from 14.6%.
Meanwhile, looking at team function, physicians were asked what proportion of time tasks are done by someone other than them in their ambulatory practice.
The tasks done by someone other than the physician more than 75% of the time were:
- Prior authorizations—66.4%.
- Initial triage of patient portal and inbox messages—50.8%.
- Tracking follow-up visits or referrals—45%.
- Conducting medication reconciliation with patient and comparing with medical record—50.1%.
- Helping to process prescription requests—45.7%.
- Entering orders for follow-up visits or referrals—22.5%.
- Communicating test results to patients outside of regular office visits—28.7%.
- Entering orders for diagnostic tests into the computerized order system—19.2%.
Teamwork thrives at health systems
Strong teamwork is essential for improving physician well-being because it fosters collaboration, shares workloads and creates a supportive environment that cuts stress and burnout. By promoting open communication, trust and shared responsibility, effective care teams enhance patient care while helping physicians maintain a healthier work-life balance and greater job satisfaction.
These powerfully illustrative examples from 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—show commitment to improving teamwork and enhancing team-based care.
Advocate Health puts physician feedback into action
- Assessing physicians’ well-being is the starting point in health care organizations’ work to reduce burnout. A critical next step is to let physicians know about the changes undertaken at the organizational level and how they were inspired by doctors’ feedback. Doing so can help doctors feel heard, respected and valued. That is why Advocate Health uses physicians’ feedback to guide well-being initiatives at the health system.
Baptist Health ensures physicians don't return to an endless inbox
- Taking vacations and paid time off (PTO) are key restorative activities for physicians and other health professionals. But the problem is too many physicians work under circumstances in which PTO is really “pretend time off,” and they face too many barriers to taking that much-needed vacation. Even while they are on vacation, many doctors are spending 30 minutes or more catching up on overloaded EHR inboxes and work email, which contributes to—and worsens—physician burnout. This is where Baptist Health Medical Group’s pilot program—called Virtual Acute and Subacute Encounter Resource—steps in to help.
Confluence Health trains care teams to support physicians
- Physician burnout continues to plague the medical profession. But amid the relentless demands of the health care industry, the Confluence Health system in Central Washington is taking bold steps to implement innovative strategies to cut stress, enhance work-life balance and foster a culture of support. And these efforts are being noticed. One way is by offering training for medical assistants, nursing and other care team members to help decrease in-basket burden.
Geisinger works with pharmacy teams to tackle prior authorizations
- Leaders at Geisinger wanted a way to reduce physician burnout. Thanks to a team of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, they are doing just that by tackling one of the biggest headaches in medical practice today: prior authorization. Geisinger created a centralized pharmacy Services team made up of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy support associates to support the prior authorization process in a more efficient and effective way. The team manages about 90,000 prior authorizations a year.
Northwell Health made adjustments to workflows in the EHR
- Northwell Health, which has more than 12,000 credentialed physicians and is New York’s largest health system, fosters a supportive environment that values teamwork through adjustments in workflows in the EHR. For example, Northwell Health has an initiative to make it easier for physicians to delegate certain tasks to medical assistants. This required support from an IT standpoint to update the workflow in the EHR to allow physicians to assign tasks to medical assistants.
Ochsner Health relies on its leaders to show how teamwork matters
- Winning the battle against physician burnout requires more than just awareness, say leaders at Ochsner Health in New Orleans. It requires broad collaboration and a multifaceted approach. But it is important not just to have teamwork but also to make it apparent to everyone in the organization. That is where leadership can help by showing that teamwork is a priority.
Sanford Health focuses on the physician experience
- As the field of medicine continues to battle a national burnout epidemic that only intensified with the emergence of COVID-19, leaders at Sanford Health say one key to unlocking physician well-being is focusing intently on physician experience. A strong commitment to the experience they have has led to improvements for both physicians and Sanford Health. And they are seeing evidence of the usefulness of their efforts.
Sutter Health offers help with documentation
- At Sutter Health, physicians saw a decrease in time spent on the EHR each day, dropping from 54.53 minutes to 46.69 minutes a day—a 14% reduction. This is largely due to help from documentation specialists. Medical assistants at Sutter Health are trained to help with the care experience, from documentation to being a chaperone, ensuring the physician can focus on the patient.
The Southeast Permanente Medical Group has IT at the table
- Bringing IT to the table really began with The Southeast Permanente Medical Group’s previous work to improve operational inefficiencies with its “Pebbles in the Shoe” campaign. This effort set out to identify and reduce inefficiencies and documentation burdens by offering a three-week challenge period for clinicians and staff to submit ideas, or “pebbles,” for improving efficiencies. From there, teams work behind-the-scenes to address these issues throughout the year.
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® 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 develop a culture of well-being through leadership.
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