A Transformative Approach to Easing Specialist Burnout

Recently, we’ve talked a lot about burnout among primary care physicians. Yet it’s important to note that specialists are suffering, too.

In the Medscape 2022 Physician Burnout and Depression Report, almost half (47 percent) of the 13,000 surveyed practitioners (representing 29 specialties) experienced symptoms of burnout. Among cardiologists specifically, reports of burnout increased from 20 percent pre-COVID-19 to 38 percent at the peak of the pandemic’s initial surge, according to an article in Cardiology magazine, a publication of the American College of Cardiology.

Unfortunately, the actions hospitals and medical organizations have traditionally taken to address cardiologists’ burnout generally don’t yield sustainable solutions.

“National, institutional, and departmental leadership should not put the burden squarely on staff to ‘do meditation apps, practice mindfulness, get 10% off gym memberships, or count your steps for wellness,’” wrote Dharam Kaushik in a 2021 editorial for the Association of American Medical Colleges. “Instead, they must recognize the insidious nature of burnout and develop the necessary tools to prevent and treat it.”

Why a transformative approach is needed to address burnout

Even before the pandemic, healthcare leaders understood that they needed to think bigger and broader to address the upstream factors that drive burnout among cardiologists. “Reducing high rates of burnout among cardiologists will require rethinking health systems and relieving administrative burdens, according to researchers and leaders in the field,” noted this 2018 article in the American Heart Association’s Circulation magazine.

The transformative primary care at the heart of our ChenMed model offers a vision of what those systematic changes can look like and what they can achieve. These include:

Predictable work schedules

According to a health policy statement issued by the American College of Cardiology in 2022, overwhelming and unpredictable work schedules are significant reasons why cardiologists experience burnout and leave the field—and why physicians-in-training opt for other specialties.

At ChenMed, our cardiologists are not asked to take calls on nights, weekends, or holidays. This ensures they can take time to care for themselves and their families so that they can bring their best to their patients when they're at work.

Team-based approach to patient care

The ACC policy statement posits that “team-based models of care, when properly deployed, can lead to increased practice productivity as well as physician and staff wellness.” At ChenMed, our physicians work alongside team members whose roles are designed to support them and provide an additional layer of care for our patients.

ChenMed cardiologists also work among colleagues from many subspecialties, such as electrophysiology, advanced heart failure, and interventional cardiology. Monthly team meetings give cardiology experts the opportunity to share and learn from one another. There are ample opportunities to share their expertise with ChenMed staff across the company, too.

Focus on quality, not quantity, of care

Because ChenMed does not operate on the fee-for-service model, our physicians aren’t incentivized by billing codes. There isn’t pressure to do more tests and interventions to generate revenue. That means physicians and cardiologists can focus only on what is best for each individual patient—a more ethical and effective approach to care.

This approach has been proven to help improve health outcomes and reduce costs for our patients, and it gives our physicians and specialists a feeling of empowerment and control over their work.

Flexibility to pursue development and leadership opportunities

Service to regulatory agencies, participation in clinical trial steering committees, membership in professional societies, and continuing education are all ways cardiologists stay engaged in their profession. These activities can help cardiologists avoid burnout, but as the ACC policy statement notes, employers need to give them the schedule flexibility to make participation possible.

At ChenMed, our cardiologists have dedicated time separate from the clinical time that allows them to engage in these kinds of activities.

Intelligent integration of technology

“Technology may be the most effective weapon we can use in improving the health care experience for all parties involved,” notes Hernando Celada, ChenMed’s chief information officer. In most healthcare organizations, however, technology presents more hurdles than relief for doctors, introducing additional procedures to learn and follow. “To be successful, technology needs to be implemented with positive patient outcomes and clinician satisfaction as the ultimate goals, not volume and revenue,” Celada says.

With this principle in mind, Celada’s team is tasked with developing and introducing technology tools that are informed by and well-integrated into our specialists’ and care teams’ daily routines, so technology is a help, not a hindrance, to their work.

With the United States facing a massive shortage of healthcare workers—including specialists—in the coming decade, we simply can’t afford to continue losing these essential workers to burnout.

To learn more about strategies for identifying and addressing burnout, download our eBook, “Value-Based Healthcare: Rx for Physician Burnout.”