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Redesign your practice. Reignite your purpose.

Redesign your practice. Reignite your purpose. AMA STEPS Forward® offers a collection of engaging and interactive educational toolkits that are practical, actionable “how-to” guides to transform and improve your practice. EHR-related burnout can overwhelm even the most organized physician. It doesn’t have to be this way. Reduce EHR burden by assessing and prioritizing how to respond more effectively by analyzing the volume and type of inbox messages. An EHR Inbox Reduction Checklist can support your efforts as you embark on this endeavor to eliminate unnecessary burdens and improve workflows in the EHR ...

Physician Burnout Rate Spikes to New Height

New physician burnout research builds on landmark studies conducted at regular intervals between 2011 and 2021 by researchers from the American Medica Association (AMA, Mayo Clinic and Stanford Medicine. Together, these studies found the overall prevalence of burnout among U.S. physicians was 62.8% in 2021compared with 38.2% in 2020, 43.9% in 2017, 54.4% in 2014, and 45.5% in 2011. CHICAGO - The burnout rate among physicians in the United States spiked dramatically during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a newly published study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Researchers found that ...

AMA Resources Focus on Behavioral Health Integration and Physician Mental Health

In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, the American Medical Association (AMA) has released resources to help physicians integrate behavioral health into their practices as well as prioritize their own mental well-being.   The two newly developed guides focus on behavioral health integration in private practices, one for practices serving adult patients and the other for children and adolescent populations. The guides outline key guiding questions relevant to independent practices caring for adult and youth patients who are considering behavioral health integration.   The newly revised “Managing Mental Health During COVID-19” ...

COVID-19 Health Workers Suffer Combat-type Moral Trauma

A Duke University study shows that, amid COVID-19, US healthcare workers (HCWs) had similar rates of potential moral injury (PMI)—a type of trauma-induced wound to the psyche—as military combat veterans. The study, published yesterday in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, surveyed 2,099 HCWs in 2020 and 2021 and 618 military veterans deployed to a combat zone after the Sep 11, 2001, US terrorist attacks about PMIs they may have experienced. PMI is a distressing reaction to exposure to traumatic events that may have psychological, behavioral, social, and spiritual effects. Depression, lower quality of life Of ...

Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act

The Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act was officially signed into law on March 18, 2022 by the president. The law is named for Dr. Lorna Breen, a New York City based Emergency physician who died by suicide in April 2020 during the height of the COVID pandemic. The law seeks to identify and address the causes of burnout in physicians and health care professionals. The law will support a two-year timeline in which the Health and Human Services (HHS) will research best practices for improving the mental ...