Once Lee Health decided to measure physician well-being, the organization finally had a clear picture of what doctors across the organization were experiencing.
Now, as the health system digs into its survey results, they are tackling the harder part: determining what to do with the data to improve physician well-being.
To get started, Lee Health’s leaders are analyzing results to identify priorities, engage physicians in developing solutions and build a well-being strategy that addresses both systemwide challenges and the distinct needs of individual departments.
“We wanted to make sure that physicians understood that we’re not just doing a survey to do a survey and then never following through and making any changes,” said Jennifer Carrion, MD, a family physician and clinician experience liaison for Lee Health.
Follow-through starts with determining where well-being initiatives can have the biggest impact, and then making sure physicians have a say in what happens next. But first, Dr. Carrion needed to establish buy-in and a commitment to invest in well-being efforts from Lee Health leadership. As she had throughout Lee Health’s well-being work, Dr. Carrion leaned into the data to make her case.
“I had the data and information to back it up, so, when I spoke to my leaders about what we needed to improve well-being, they said, ‘Absolutely, that makes sense. We’re here to support you,’” she shared.
From there, Dr. Carrion has been leading the effort to turn findings into a broader well-being strategy across Lee Health, with plans to apply for AMA’s Joy in Medicine® Health System Recognition Program in the next cycle.
“We’re not chasing the award, but I love the road map and framework the program provides,” said Dr. Carrion. “We’re already doing the work, so we should be able to align that with the Joy in Medicine application in January.”
Lee Health is part of the AMA Health System Member Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
Identifying systemwide opportunities
As part of this process, one of Dr. Carrion’s top priorities has been identifying recurrent patterns and themes within the survey results that highlight what affects physician well-being across the system.
Similar to nationwide trends, Lee Health’s physicians reported concerns about staffing shortages, workflow inefficiencies and administrative burden.
“Seeing our responses validated that these issues are affecting our physicians too, and it solidified that we have work to do,” Dr. Carrion said.
But the survey results also revealed opportunities for Lee Health to build upon resources it already had.
One notable finding involved the use of augmented intelligence (AI) scribes to ease documentation burden for physicians.
The survey found that physicians who use AI scribes reported a higher level of professional satisfaction. Yet many Lee Health doctors still aren’t using the technology despite the system making it available to all its physicians.
“I had assumed a lot of people would be using the AI scribes because Lee Health pays for AI scribes for all physicians to use, but not everyone is using it,” said Dr. Carrion. “We were surprised to see just how high professional satisfaction was with the AI scribes. So, now we’re trying to leverage the use of AI scribes across the whole organization.”
Another finding pointed to the role leaders can play in physician well-being. The survey revealed a strong correlation between physician well-being and how physicians feel about their immediate supervisor.
“If leaders live and breathe wellness and believe in well-being and improving systems, it permeates through the organization and improves that culture,” said Dr. Carrion.
That feedback helped push Lee Health leaders to prioritize initiatives that strengthen leadership development. The organization is developing training programs to help leaders learn how to positively impact their teams’ wellness and well-being.
As the leader in physician well-being, the AMA provides organizational solutions that help physicians and health systems optimize practice efficiency, reduce burnout, and rediscover the Joy in Medicine.
Addressing departmental needs
While the systemwide trends have helped establish a solid foundation for Lee Health’s evolving well-being strategy, understanding the broad view of barriers to well-being was just the beginning.
The survey also unearthed detailed assessments of the distinct challenges each department and specialty were facing.
“We’re all interconnected but we also try to break everything down by department or specialty because one size does not fit all,” Dr. Carrion said. “Now, we are identifying each department’s trials and tribulations.”
Rather than simply tasking system leaders to determine each department’s needs, Lee Health has brought the departments’ physicians and leaders closest to the work along for the ride by empowering them to take the lead on interpreting survey findings and agreeing upon priorities.
Lee Health’s Heart Institute is serving as an early model for this approach. The institute has its own well-being committee made up of cardiologists, and this committee will be diving into the institute’s well-being survey results and developing a well-being plan for specifically for the Heart Institute.
“They’re going to figure out the priorities because they know the department and each other best,” Dr. Carrion said, emphasizing that “they know exactly what they need.”
The committee will then bring its priorities and recommendations to leadership, and the groups will work together to develop solutions and a path forward.
This local ownership allows doctors to play a meaningful role in shaping their practices, while also elevating their voices and improving overall physician engagement.
At the same time, this approach helps Lee Health leaders focus the organization’s resources on the issues that matter most to doctors—and those that have the most potential to positively impact physician well-being.
Lee Health is further supporting departments by offering dedicated training and coaching through the organization’s work as part of the AMA Health System Member Program.
“We’re looking at the departmental needs and themes so we can pick the appropriate educational sessions for them,” Dr. Carrion said.
Overall, Lee Health leaders anticipate that the Heart Institute’s approach to well-being will serve as a model for other departments across the organization. While not every department has its own well-being committee, Lee Health leaders are working to identify physician well-being champions who can lead the work within their department, with support from system well-being leadership.
Building on what already works
As Lee Health continues to develop its longer-term strategy, leaders are investing in what is already working well and building upon these strengths. That often centers on the culture that Lee Health has been building around physician wellness and well-being.
“We have a culture of wellness that we want to prioritize,” said Dr. Carrion. “So, supporting initiatives that help improve that culture of wellness is important.”
This includes providing education on wellness and well-being, developing support programs for physicians, ensuring doctors have access to mental health resources, and investing in practice and workplace efficiencies that address physicians’ day-to-day challenges.
But this work is still evolving as Lee Health’s strategy continues to take shape. The organization is using the survey findings as a starting point for ongoing conversations with leaders, departments and physicians to home in on where change is most needed and create a roadmap to guide this journey.
Physician involvement in shaping well-being initiatives is particularly important, according to Dr. Carrion.
“We want to make sure that it’s not only leadership that is looking at these issues, but also the clinicians who are identifying the priorities we need to focus,” she said.
Doubling down on this approach will help Lee Health continue its shift from listening and collecting data with surveys to using that data to guide initiatives that can drive significant improvements in the organization’s physician well-being long-term.
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