Senate Special Committee on Aging Examines Physician Burnout

On February 11, the Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing titled, “The Doctor Is Out: How Washington’s Rules Drove Physicians Out of Medicine.”  The hearing framed physician burnout as a systemic health care crisis driven mainly by administrative burden and complexity, payment model inefficiencies, and regulatory requirements that significantly reduce physicians’ time spent on high-quality patient care. Witnesses testified that burnout is causing many health care professionals to leave the workforce, exacerbating workforce shortages, particularly in rural and underserved communities. For instance, 45% of physicians say administrative pressures are pushing them towards career changes or early retirement, and administrative tasks like prior authorization are the number one driver of physician burnout.