A crescendo of circumstances burdening physicians to the point of burnout is reshaping the already fragile health care system of the United States.
A mass exodus of doctors from some practices, reduced hours among others, high suicide rates, and an increase in cash-based practices are straining an already stressed system. While some doctors are courageous enough to speak up—often after leaving corporate health care positions because of lack of respect and workplace autonomy—others silently suffer under pressure.
At the heart of it seems to be an inability to offer the kind of care that steered them into their chosen profession—but their departure under duress may ultimately leave their patients even more underserved. It’s a simple supply-and-demand catastrophe that affects anyone who relies on the medical system.
“The reality is, it used to be that the patient–physician relationship was an important one not to be interfered with, having elements of privacy, and the interests of the patients over the interests of the physician. I think that’s really changed,” he said. “There’s also been massive growth in the number of administrators who have never uttered the Hippocratic oath.”
The Price Patients Pay
The effects of burnout—mental exhaustion, depersonalization, and a decreased sense of personal accomplishment—increase the risk to patient safety, decrease quality of care because of reduced professionalism, and lower patient satisfaction, according to a 2018 meta-analysis in JAMA. Physician departures from the system also put more pressure on those left behind to juggle increasing demands.Demands of Insurance
The AMA has launched STEPS Forward, a resource that offers strategies for reducing workload, streamlining administration, and managing inboxes. But there’s an element of health care outside the purview of physician organizations that’s increasingly stifling doctors’ practices: insurance rules and reimbursements.“Maybe you could make it work if you had free rent and everyone volunteered to work for you,” Nikogosian said. “That was a lesson that insurance companies are very unpredictable. They didn’t care whether they paid me enough so that I could make my practice sustainable or not.”
He said that unfortunately, most practices “take what they give you even though it’s not the way you want to run your business.” Smaller clinics have little bargaining power, so they simply adjust the time they spend with patients, cramming up to 10 visits into an hour.
Nikogosian knew a cash practice was the way out, but with his wife expecting their fourth child, the time wasn’t right for such a risk. He closed his clinic and took a position with a U.S. Veterans Affairs clinic while he slowly went to work on setting up a practice. His second son’s autism diagnosis influenced his decision to open a practice geared toward autistic children and adults in 2016, after he saw firsthand that conventional medicine was almost useless for their needs.
He makes less money, and it took time to become sustainable, but the pay-for-service model makes sense to Nikogosian. When patients are happy with what he’s doing, they pay their fees, and there’s no third party influencing care.
COVID-19 Doctor Doubletake
Pressures of the fiduciary obligation to hospital boards and government mandates have put doctor decisions under a microscope for decades. The pandemic revealed the systemic corruption to a watchful public. Hospitals received government kickbacks for COVID-19 cases, including extra funds for the number of patients put on ventilators. Doctors in favor of other medical treatments sometimes lost their positions or licenses for prescribing ivermectin off-label.“When you are working in an environment where you’re strongly encouraged or forced to do things you don’t want, it takes a tremendous toll on one’s physical and mental health and soul,” Backs said, adding that constant demands from many parties are dizzying. “What happens is your moral compass will eventually go on the fritz.”
After years of practicing within the system, Backs is now able to holistically treat his patients—whether for COVID-19 or anything else—without regard for how higher-ups or other doctors might react. In corporate care, he said there’s tremendous peer pressure to stay away from diseases outside one’s specialty.
Weight of Burnout
Burnout is under-recognized and under-reported among doctors, according to a 2017 article in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. It may affect more than 60 percent of family practice providers.Of these issues and more, Ali said there’s “no awareness, no consequences, and no accountability.”
Ali, who grew up in Pakistan, overcame extraordinary hurdles to become a doctor in the United States. But she was blatantly belittled and consistently disregarded by leadership in the hospital where she worked. She was losing sleep, unable to take care of her health, and constantly striving to prove herself. Finally, her husband wrote a resignation letter for her, and she turned it in.
“I wanted to be a healer. I didn’t want to be the person who writes a prescription all the time,” she said. “I wanted to sit with patients and hear their stories. My husband said, ‘Do what you love. Do it with all your heart.’ So that’s what I did.”
Looking Forward to a Better Future
Administrators who acknowledge and appreciate doctors and give them more autonomy in the workplace could reverse some departures. AMA data from physicians showed that feeling valued was strongly associated with lower odds of reducing hours or leaving.It solves the problem many clinics have of a high turnover of primary care physicians, allowing patients to have more continuity of care with doctors who feel appreciated because they have autonomy and forge better patient relationships.
“A lot of doctors realize there’s a supply and demand mismatch. And there are opportunities to take matters into their own hands,” he said. “We have to make it easier for physicians to practice independently again. The health care system, under the influence of corporate interests, is failing both patients and physicians, and the current model is unsustainable.”