The PMD Critical List: Physician Burnout on the Rise

Awareness of physician burnout is growing, but that hasn’t yet led to a reduction in the problem. A new survey on the topic tops this week’s PMD Critical List. Also making the list, a new ranking of US hospitals and a list of healthcare predictions for 2016.

• Physician Burnout Getting Worse (Science Codex)

A profession in crisis? A new survey by the Mayo Clinic finds that “burnout and satisfaction with work-life balance among US physicians has worsened over the past three years. Half of all doctors now admit to feelings of professional burnout.

• 2015 Top Hospitals List (The Leapfrog Group)

The Leapfrog Group has released a new list—“considered the most rigorous of its kind”—of the top hospitals in the nation. The best hospitals “have lower infection rates, higher survival rates for high-risk procedures, decreased lengths of stay and fewer readmissions.” See who made it.

• Doctors Have Retirement Readiness Concerns (Fidelity Investments)

A large new survey, Financial Checkup on Physicians’ Retirement Readiness, shows the average doctor has an annual saving rate of only about 9% (15% is recommended). Also, “42% worry about not having enough money to last through retirement.”

• Doctors' Use of Computers During Appointments Leaves Unhappy Patients (Reuters)

Physicians who enter EHR data during patients' appointments did less positive communicating, and patients rated their care much lower, according to a recent report in JAMA. Less time making eye contact = “negative rapport building.”

• 10 Big Healthcare Predictions for 2016 (Fortune)

Here are some New Year forecasts from experts who “focus on healthcare and healthcare-related investment opportunities.” Among them: “The FTC will block a major hospital merger” and “A major hospital system will divest itself from its employed doctors.”

• What Makes Doctors Value Patient Feedback (Harvard Business Review)

“Full transparency—the continuous posting of patients’ numeric and verbatim evaluations—has helped doctors and administrators come together around their shared purpose: improving outcomes, patient trust, and market share in a competitive environment.”

• Annual US Health Spending Tops $3 Trillion (The New York Times)

Total national health spending, averaging $9,500 per person, grew faster than the economy last year, and the federal share of health spending grew even faster, as major provisions of the ACA took effect, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

• Sweeter Diet Brings More Chronic Disease (Minnesota Post)

Nearly 70% of all packaged foods and beverages in America contain some kind of added sugar, and according to research in The Lancet, the rest of the world is catching up—“following our unhealthful lead.” Opportunities abound for physicians to educate their patients.

• Seeing Through Physicians' Eyes: Three Priorities for Pharma (Pharmaceutical Executive)

An interesting report on the growing challenge faced by drug companies seeking physician time and attention. “The objective should be the right message, through the right channel, at the right time. Physicians will reward companies that can see the world through their eyes for a change.”