How physicians feel about their jobs

For the 2025 National Physician Comparison Report, AMA analyzed data from almost 19,000 physicians across 38 states and 106 health systems and organizations that participated in the AMA Organizational Biopsy to determine how they felt about their jobs and their organizational well-being.

Over the last few years, physicians have reported improvements in several key indicators of organizational well-being. For example, job satisfaction reached 77% in 2025, up from 72.1% in 2023 and 67.6% in 2022.

Similarly, physicians who reported feeling valued increased by 1.7 percentage points to 56.2% in 2025 while intent to leave their organizations within two years decreased by 0.8 percentage points to 31.1%. Job stress and burnout also decreased by 2.2 percentage points and 1.3 percentage points to 42.9% and 41.9%, respectively.

However, certain medical specialties had significantly higher rates of burnout than others, with emergency medicine, urological surgery, and hematology/oncology reporting the highest rates of job stress and burnout.

When asked about their top stressors, physicians cited ineffective EHR systems, lack of support and transparency from leadership, and lack of adequate physician and support staff. 

Several organizations have utilized data to create new processes and initiatives aimed at improving physician well-being and reducing burnout. For example, Confluence Health has launched advanced initiatives to reduce burnout and intentionally cultivate a culture centered on well-being. The organization is currently working to address fatigue from EHR-related tasks and electronic patient messages. 

"As the inpatient and outpatient worlds experience increasing pressures due to lack of staffing, payor pressures, regulation and financial constraints on clinics and health systems, these problems culminate in the emergency department in so many ways," said Christopher Davis, an emergency physician at Confluence Health. "Confluence Health has invested in physician well-being in many ways and has been recognized by the AMA for the organization’s ongoing committed efforts to improve physician satisfaction and reduce burnout."

Overall, the report's findings "make clear that improving physician well-being isn't one-size-fits-all — it requires targeted, specialty-specific strategies," Mukkamala said. "By reducing administrative burden and advancing evidence-based solutions, we can help physicians rediscover the joy in medicine while building more sustainable practice environments. The AMA urges health system leaders to use these insights to benchmark performance and accelerate efforts to address the unique drivers of burnout across specialties."