Is There A Solution For Physician Burnout?


I don't know about you, but I don't remember hearing much about physician burnout before the Covid pandemic of 2020.

And lots of people have weighed in giving their opinions of the causes of physician burnout.

So, I will add my two cents worth here as well.

These are the main factors I see causing physician burnout:

1. The increase in physician employment - I don't think it is coincidental that the rates of physician burnout have increased along with the shift of physicians toward being employed. Employment sounds great with an agreed upon compensation rate plus benefits. No worries about what you don't know about running a business. No worries about payroll. Etc. However, it all comes with a complete loss of control. As an employee, you do what the employer requires. You are just one small part of the big system. Your opinion means less, or nothing. And, as an employee, you almost never have access to additional streams of revenue from such ancillary services as ASC's, Imaging centers, pharmacies, rental income within the medical facility, DME, etc. 

2. Decreasing reimbursement - In my opinion, the rise in physician burnout tracking along with the decrease in reimbursements is also not coincidental. Physicians view their reimbursement as a measure of the value they provide their patients and society. As the reimbursements decrease, physicians feel devalued. When that is combined with hospital leaders or insurance company leaders having little use for physician feedback, they feel even less respected and less valued. Therefore, they face a major dilemma. Since no one seems to care about them, they want to expend less time, effort, and mental energy in their work. They resent missing their kids' activities and other family events because of work. However, they are conscientious. They can't just give less effort. The patient's well-being depends on them. So, they grow more resentful of this frustrating dilemma they are forced to face every day. They feel trapped. They feel stuck. It is a grind they can't stop.  Yet, they fear they can't make the same money they currently do if they leave clinical care.  And they struggle to deal with whether they can really walk away from a career they wanted and for what they went to school forever to achieve.  They really do feel trapped. 

3. Malpractice risk - It is also not coincidental that the rates of physician burnout have increased along with the rates of malpractice claims against physicians. It has become accepted that, if you haven't been sued, you must not be very busy. That fact is not easy to accept. When you do your best to take care of patients. yet you get blamed for a bad outcome, it makes you want to quit.  Talk about feeling devalued! And the experts say you shouldn't take it personally. Well it is personal! And then add to that that the insurance company to whom you've been paying large monthly premiums for protection tells you they will review the case to determine whether they will cover you. What?  What have you been paying for? And the fact is the insurance company doesn't care if you provided great care or not. They only care what it will cost them. And, if they can settle the case for less than or equal to what it would take to try the case, they will settle, even if you don't want to. You want exoneration!  They don't care. It's all about money to them. That makes you become calloused. Again, you have been devalued!  

Those are the three big reasons I see causing physician burnout.

Is there a solution for it?

Yes, there is!

The Solution To Physician Burnout

My view is that the solution to physician burnout is for physicians to reach financial independence. 

To justify my point of view, just answer these questions:

How would your practice change if you were financially independent and didn't need the income?

How many rude patients would you treat if you were financially independent?

How would you view lawsuits if you were financially independent?

How many family events would you miss if you were financially independent?

How many repeated disagreements with partners would you put up with if you were financially independent?

How much time off would you take if you were financially independent?

How worried would you be about your kids' college expenses if you were financially independent?

How worried would you be about your 401k if you were financially independent?

How would your practice change if you could walk away anytime you choose?

Did you answer those questions?

Do you agree that financial independence is the solution to physician burnout?

If so, then the next question is how to achieve it.

Well, it requires more than just the income from your practice.

You need to create additional streams of revenue outside of healthcare.

Here at RTR Practice Advisors, we help you achieve this goal.

And it is well worth it!!



​Ben Holt, M.D.