The latest webinar as part of HealthLeaders' The Winning Edge program focused on ways to boost physician well-being.
This week's The Winning Edge webinar included three takeaways for healthcare providers to promote physician well-being: using AI tools to support physicians, establishing a sense of community among physicians, and launching system-level interventions to address the root causes of physician burnout.
Although physician burnout has decreased from a record high during the coronavirus pandemic, it remains at a concerning level. The Physicians Foundation 2025 Survey of America's Physicians found that the percentage of physicians reporting feelings of burnout fell from 60% in 2024 to 54% in 2025.
This week's Winning Edge webinar featured a three-member panel of experts:
- Thomas Campbell, MD, MPH, chief wellness officer, Allegheny Health Network
- Suzanna Fox, MD, executive vice president and chief physician officer, Advocate Health
- Tricia James, MD, director of clinician experience, Providence health system's Oregon market
The video of the one-hour webinar will be available Feb. 20 on the HealthLeaders website.
Using AI Tools to Promote Physician Well-Being
The panelists said AI tools can have a profoundly positive effect on physician wellness.
AI tools such as AI scribes that record encounters between clinicians and patients then generate a clinical note increase physician efficiency and improve the quality of patient visits, the panelists said.
AI scribes such as MicroSoft Dragon Copilot are effective at reducing administrative burdens for physicians because they generate documentation and a patient visit summary, one of the panelists said.
Other AI tools that improve physician experience include tools that analyze charting, generate discharge summaries, and produce automated responses to questions in physicians' electronic in-boxes, the panelists said.
While most physicians find that AI tools are saving them time, another benefit is reducing cognitive burden for physicians, the panelists said. Decreasing cognitive burden makes physicians happier in their work and helps to address burnout, they said.
Establishing a Sense of Community Among Physicians
Particularly at large health systems, the panelists said promoting a sense of community among physicians has several benefits, including burnout reduction as well as better recruitment and retention of physicians.
Health systems and hospitals can take several approaches to community building among physicians, the panelists said. These approaches include arranging dinner events for physicians, reinventing physician dining areas in hospitals, breakfast clubs, virtual book clubs, and events designed to show appreciation for physicians.
Health systems and hospitals should strive to have structured connections between physicians, one of the panelists said. These structured connections can be established in several ways, including events for physicians and their family members, recognition programs where staff members can nominate physicians for recognition, peer-to-peer support programs, and mentoring programs.
It is helpful for structured connections to feature bi-directional feedback between a healthcare organization's senior leadership and clinicians. Structured connections also help ensure that physicians do not feel alone when they face challenges, one of the panelists said.
System-Level Interventions to Address Physician Burnout
The panelists said the first step toward launching system-level interventions that address the root causes of physician burnout is measuring physician well-being and burnout.
They said healthcare organizations should use validated measurement tools such as the Stanford Medicine Professional Fulfillment Index and the American Medical Association's Organizational Biopsy.
Measuring key elements of physician well-being and burnout provides a foundation for targeting problematic areas in a way that generates benefits for the largest number of physicians in a healthcare organization, one of the panelists said. Measurement also helps assess physician well-being and burnout at the local level and in particular care settings such as inpatient versus outpatient settings, the panelist said.
One system-level intervention that is particularly successful in addressing physician burnout is optimization of the electronic health record, the panelists said.
For example, there are AI tools that can be embedded in an EHR to summarize complex information and avoid physicians from becoming overwhelmed with the volume of data, one of the panelists said.
For health systems that use Epic as their EHR, there is a tool that summarizes a patient's clinical chart, which can save physicians time and reduce cognitive burden, one of the panelists said.
EHR optimization efforts should include reducing the number of clicks that clinicians must make when they use the EHR, the panelists said. For example, one of the panelists said their health system was able to reduce the number of clicks required in the management of diabetes patients from 35 to four.
The Winning Edge series is an extension of the HealthLeaders Exchange program. The HealthLeaders Exchange is an exclusive, executive community for sharing ideas, solutions, and insights.
Please join the community at our LinkedIn page. To inquire about attending a HealthLeaders Exchange event and becoming a member, email us at exchange@healthleadersmedia.com.
Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Although physician burnout has fallen from a record level during the coronavirus pandemic, it remains at a concerning level, with one 2025 survey finding that 54% of physicians reporting feelings of burnout.
Artificial intelligence tools such as AI scribes can have a profound impact on physician well-being.
System-level interventions to address the root causes of physician burnout include optimization of the electronic health record.