Patterns in Physician Burnout in a Stable-Linked Cohort

IMPORTANCE: Physician burnout is widely reported to be an increasing problem in the US. Although prior analyses suggest physician burnout is rising nationally, these analyses have substantial limitations, including different physicians joining and leaving clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence of burnout among physicians in a large multispecialty group over a 5-year period. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This survey study was conducted in 2017, 2019, and 2021 and involved physician faculty members of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization. Participants represented different clinical specialties and a full range of career stages. The online survey instrument had 4 domains: physician career and compensation satisfaction, physician well-being, administrative workload on physicians, and leadership and diversity. EXPOSURE: Time. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Physician burnout, which was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. A binary burnout measure was used, which defined burnout as a high score in 2 of the 3 burnout subscales: Exhaustion, Cynicism, and Reduced Personal Efficacy. RESULTS: A total of 1373 physicians (72.9% of the original 2017 cohort) participated in all 3 surveys. The cohort included 690 (50.3%) male, 921 (67.1%) White, and 1189 (86.6%) non-Hispanic individuals. The response rates were 93.0% in 2017, 93.0% in 2019, and 92.0% in 2021. Concerning years of experience, the cohort was relatively well distributed, with the highest number and proportion of physicians (478 [34.8%]) reporting between 11 and 20 years of experience. Within this group, burnout declined from 44.4% (610 physicians) in 2017 to 41.9% (575) in 2019 (P = .18) before increasing to 50.4% (692) in 2021 (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Findings of this survey study suggest that the physician burnout rate in the US is increasing. This pattern represents a potential threat to the ability of the US health care system to care for patients and needs urgent solutions.