Annual physician burnout costs estimated at $4.6 billion

The annual cost of physician burnout is conservatively estimated at $4.6 billion, research published this week shows. The study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, is one of the first attempts to estimate the cost of physician burnout to health systems, hospitals, and physician practices, the researchers wrote.

The $4.6 billion national annual cost of physician burnout was calculated based on two elements:

1. Physician turnover:  The researchers tried to account for two components of the cost associated with burned-out physiciansleaving their jobs. The first component was the cost linked to physician replacement for search expenses, hiring, and new physician startup. The second cost was lost income from open physician positions.

2. Reduced clinical hours: To approximate the cost of physicians lowering their clinical hours, the net cost of turnover was adjusted by a fraction representing the average percentage difference in weekly work hours between physicians who were burned-out and physicians who were not burned out.

The researchers also estimated the annual cost of physician burnout at the organizational level. They found the costs linked to turnover and reduced clinical hours is about $7,600 per employed physician.

The $4.6 billion cost estimate almost certainly understates the economic burden of physician burnout; the researchers wrote, "Our analysis is conservative, omitting other burnout-related costs that are difficult to quantify."

The analysis does not account for several aspects of physician burnout that have financial consequences:

• Physician burnout has been linked to reduced quality of care, lower patient satisfaction, and malpractice lawsuits
• Some of the "friction costs" associated with replacing physicians were unaccounted for, such as the impact on other care team members
• At the organizational level, the cost estimate for physician burnout does not account for patients who leave a practice after their burned-out doctor departs
• The cost estimate does not include indirect revenue losses associated with a physician vacancy such as diagnostic tests and procedures.

Source: HealthLeaders