Physician Engagement in Addressing Health-Related Social Needs and Burnout

Previous research suggests that a greater capacity of health care organizations to address patients' health-related social needs (HRSNs) is associated with lower physician burnout. However, individual physician-level engagement in addressing HRSNs has not been fully characterized, and its association with physician burnout remains understudied.

To characterize physicians' engagement in addressing HRSNs and examine its association with burnout.

This cross-sectional study used the 2022 Association of American Medical Colleges National Sample Survey of Physicians (NSSP), a nationally representative survey of active, practicing physicians in the US conducted from May to November 2022 that measured a diverse array of physician workforce characteristics.

HRSN engagement was defined by physicians' responses to the NSSP item, "During the past 12 months, how often did you spend work time helping your patients meet their social needs?" Engagement levels were categorized as no engagement, low to moderate engagement (monthly or <1 time per month), or high engagement (weekly or daily). Burnout was measured using a single-item measure from the emotional exhaustion domain of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (high was defined as weekly or more). HRSN engagement was examined by physician characteristics, and multivariate logistic regression was conducted to explore associations between HRSN engagement and burnout. Data were weighted by age, gender, international medical graduate status, and specialty group.

In the study cohort of 5447 physicians, the mean (SD) age was 50.9 (11.7) years, and 3735 (68.6%) identified as men or transgender men. Overall, 34.3% of physicians reported high HRSN engagement, with variability based on physician characteristics. Compared with no HRSN engagement, low to moderate HRSN engagement (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.33; 95% CI, 1.03-1.72; P = .03) and high HRSN engagement (AOR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.39-2.27; P < .001) were significantly associated with high burnout.

In this cross-sectional study of 5447 nationally representative physicians in the US, 34.3% regularly dedicated time to addressing HRSNs. The study identified variability in physicians' engagement in addressing HRSNs and found that higher engagement was associated with a greater likelihood of burnout. The findings suggest the need for thorough assessment of the potential unintended consequences of physicians' engagement in addressing HRSNs on their well-being.