There’s good news on burnout. Exclusive data from the AMA shows that physician burnout nationwide has fallen below 45%, which is the lowest rate since the COVID-19 public health emergency. Still, health care organizations have plenty of work to do to drive down the incidence and severity of burnout in all physician specialties. Many are happy to learn there are now proven strategies they can follow to improve physicians’ well-being by addressing the systemic drivers of burnout.
Physicians who want their health care 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 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 teamwork means to well-being
The fourth domain, teamwork, involves measuring and encouraging teamwork.
Bronze-level organizations are required to assess teamwork once within the last two years.
Silver-level organizations have also measured teamwork via Orders with Team Contribution (TWord).
Gold-level organizations have gone a step further by implementing an intervention based on a teamwork assessment or TWord.
How others have done it
Confluence Health is a 2023 silver-level organization. It is also a 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.
The COVID-19 public health emergency certainly drove up stress levels at Confluence Health, “but we’ve worked on trying to band together and keep community,” said Makrina Shanbour, MD, a hospitalist and director of provider well-being at Confluence Health, in Central Washington.
“One of the biggest impacts has been to decrease in-basket burden, and there’s been a huge strategy for how to do that—utilizing the team to offload some of the messages,” Dr. Shanbour said.
A key element in making this change has been medical assistant training.
“We found that during COVID there was such a shortage, and they were hiring people and doing new training every week, but they weren’t getting the amount of training that they had previously,” she said, noting that Confluence Health’s clinical development team has gone back and retrained medical assistants.
Since the training started, medical assistants and nursing staff have taken on much of the in-basket work. In fact, they now handle 70% of patient requests submitted through the in-basket, taking a huge chunk of administrative burden off of physicians’ plates.
“That’s something that we’ve been celebrating recently,” Dr. Shanbour said, noting that “we have also done a big campaign to re-educate our patients about using the patient portal and what appropriate use is. That’s also been helpful.”
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Confluence Health’s burnout rate dropped from 46.4% in 2021 to 37% in 2023, well below the nationwide burnout rate of 53% that was reported by the AMA’s Organizational Biopsy®.
“The Joy in Medicine program provides a great road map for developing a program. It’s been helpful for us to see what the next steps are and what other organizations are working on,” she said. “It has provided a nice road map for us from the beginning and also looking forward at what we may aspire to.”
Teamwork 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.
Three AMA STEPS Forward® toolkits, “Team-Based Care,” “Daily Team Huddles” and “Team Documentation,” explore strategies for streamlining processes, boosting productivity and improving efficiency of EHR documentation.
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.
