Each new year brings renewed focus on the challenges and opportunities facing health care organizations. And once again, provider stress and burnout remain urgent concerns. In a December 2025 MGMA-STAT poll, nearly eight in ten medical practice leaders (78%) reported that their stress levels increased this year, underscoring how widespread and systemic these pressures remain. What does that mean for health care?
The impact is significant: According to a 2024 MGMA-STAT poll , 27% of medical groups reported physicians leaving or retiring early because of stress and burnout, highlighting how these issues affect practice stability and patient access.
To build a more resilient workforce in 2026 and beyond, organizations must adopt intentional, sustainable strategies that address the root causes of burnout — not just the symptoms. Here are five actionable resolutions health care leaders can consider in the year ahead to support provider well-being and create a healthier clinical environment.
1. Strengthen Feedback Loops and Listen to Providers
Burnout often deepens when clinicians feel unheard or disconnected from decisions that shape their daily work. Establishing consistent, structured feedback loops can bridge that gap and help teams feel valued.
Regular listening sessions, anonymous surveys, quick pulse checks and open forums offer opportunities to voice challenges and suggest improvements. Key to making this effective is closing the loop by communicating what leaders heard, what will be acted on, and why and when those actions will occur.
When providers see their insights meaningfully influence workflows, scheduling or technology decisions, it builds trust, increases engagement and helps organizations address problems before they escalate.
2. Cut the Clutter: Reduce Administrative Burden
Administrative work and documentation remain the two most significant contributors to clinician stress and burnout. From extensive documentation to complex reporting, time outside patient visits often consumes hours that could be better spent on patient care or on recovery outside work.
Organizations can reduce this burden by streamlining processes, eliminating redundant steps and identifying opportunities for automation. Reviewing documentation requirements, optimizing workflows, and removing unnecessary clicks or manual tasks can collectively save hours per week.
These changes not only help clinicians reclaim time but also alleviate cognitive overload, improving accuracy, attentiveness and overall satisfaction.
3. Empower Leaders To Lead With Empathy
Supportive, emotionally intelligent leadership is a powerful buffer against burnout. Clinicians often look to their managers and medical leaders for cues about cultural norms, psychological safety and expectations for workload and well-being.
Investing in leadership development, especially in the areas of communication, empathetic listening, conflict resolution and burnout recognition, helps leaders more effectively support their teams. Encouraging honest conversations, checking in regularly and acknowledging emotional strain can make a measurable difference in how providers experience their work.
When leaders model empathy and transparency, it fosters trust, reduces stigma around seeking help and strengthens team resilience.
4. Improve Access to Tools That Work
Technology that doesn’t align with clinical workflows can quickly become a source of frustration. Outdated systems, clunky interfaces or tools that require workarounds add unnecessary friction to already demanding days.
Emerging evidence suggests that modern documentation tools can make a meaningful difference. In a 2025 multicenter quality-improvement study published in JAMA Network Open, ambulatory clinicians who used an ambient AI scribe for just 30 days saw burnout rates fall from 51.9% to 38.8%. Participants also reported less after-hours documentation, lower cognitive load and more time focused on patients — all contributing to reduced stress.
For health care organizations, these findings highlight the importance of investing in reliable, intuitive technologies that support care delivery rather than slow it down. Involving clinicians early in evaluation and implementation ensures tools truly meet their needs. Many practices are beginning to explore AI-assisted documentation, including those like Greenway® Clinical Assist, as part of broader efforts to reduce the documentation load and support provider well-being.
5. Use Data To Drive Purpose and Progress
Clinicians want to see that their work is making a difference. Visibility into meaningful data, quality outcomes, care efficiency, documentation improvements and patient feedback can reinforce a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
By pairing metrics with real stories of patient impact, organizations can help teams connect the dots between daily tasks and broader outcomes. Data can illuminate progress, validate improvement and highlight areas where support or resources are needed.
When providers understand how their work contributes to positive organizational and overall outcome change, it strengthens motivation, confidence and professional fulfillment.
Conclusion
Reducing burnout requires more than quick fixes; it demands intentional leadership, thoughtful investments and an ongoing commitment to building healthier environments for providers. By strengthening communication, simplifying administrative tasks, supporting empathetic leadership, modernizing tools and highlighting progress, health care organizations can take meaningful steps toward a more sustainable future.
As organizations look to reduce stress and burnout and build more sustainable care environments, technology will play an increasingly important role. To explore how automation, intuitive workflows and data-driven insights can transform the modern medical practice, visit greenwayhealth.com.
