Physician Intent to Reduce Hours and Intent to Leave Organizations

Area of Science:

• Medical workforce studies
• Physician well-being
• Healthcare management

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted physicians, leading to increased intentions to reduce clinical hours (ITR) or leave organizations (ITL).
• Understanding the evolution of these work intentions post-pandemic is crucial for physician retention and healthcare system stability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To track changes in the prevalence of ITR and ITL among US physicians from 2022 to 2024.
• To identify factors associated with physicians' intentions to reduce work or leave their organizations.
• To explore factors that might encourage physicians to maintain their current workload and organizational commitment.

Main Methods:

• A serial, cross-sectional study involving 160 US organizations and over 37,000 physicians across specialties.
• Data collected annually from 2022 to 2024 via the American Medical Association's Organizational Biopsy study.
• Main outcomes measured were physician intentions to reduce clinical hours (ITR) within 12 months and leave their organization (ITL) within 24 months.

Main Results:

• The prevalence of ITR decreased from 25.6% in 2022 to 22.5% in 2024, and ITL decreased from 19.9% to 15.1% during the same period.
• Female physicians showed higher odds of ITR but lower odds of ITL compared to male physicians.
• Part-time physicians had significantly higher odds of both ITR and ITL compared to full-time physicians.

Conclusions:

• While physician intentions to reduce hours or leave organizations have declined since the pandemic, they remain a concern, with over one-fifth reporting ITR and nearly one-sixth reporting ITL.
• Favorable trends in ITL contrast with less favorable trends in ITR, indicating a complex recovery.
• Enhancing workflow efficiency, improving staffing, and increasing compensation are key factors that could help retain physicians and mitigate ITR and ITL.