1. What is the decision or change (e.g., clinical topic, practice guideline, system design, delivery of care) you are facing or struggling with where a summary of the evidence would be helpful?

In this post-PHE time, the provider landscape is facing a high and rising degree of provider burnout, especially in the primary care space. While this trend was already initially present even in 2019, it has now accelerated, and this degree of burnout is anecdotally and significantly affecting the provider workforce as well as patient access especially in safety net systems including our own in Medicaid.

2. Why are you struggling with this issue?

Reasons could include:

• Studies are conflicting and there is uncertainty about benefits or harms
• There is variation in what healthcare providers are doing in practice
• It is unclear how to encourage people to use an effective treatment or service. For example, our data indicate that not enough people are using an effective intervention or too many are overusing an ineffective intervention

Because of the increasing nature of the predominance of burnout on surveys (survey data itself makes a decent amount of headlines), there is increasing concern of with the downstream implications of what this increasing burnout can be. This includes decreased total providers in the landscape and decreasing patient access and lowered adequacy of coverage networks, as well as decreasing health and mental health of providers.

It would be beneficial to have research that connects the degree of subjective burnout to implications for provider systems and patients. In addition, it will be worthwhile to discuss in such a literature review, what successful interventions have occurred and shown with consistency to counter the effects of burnout for providers.

3. What do you want to see changed? How will you know that your issue is improving or has been addressed?

It would be beneficial to see that the predominance of burnout on surveillance is decreasing. In addition, that access gaps for patients are receding rather than growing.

4. When do you need the evidence report?

Fri, 06/13/2025

5. What will you do with the evidence report?

The report will be able to solidify the real-world implications of the survey data that is being seen. It will act on one hand as context and a call to action, in order to mobilize more and better resources to counter the effects of burnout. If the report can also include what interventions have been able to decrease burnout significantly and reliably, it will also provide a roadmap for interventions that health systems and others in the policy sphere can deploy.

(Additionally, because I was unable to provide narrative to question 4, just a date, please know, this is an area that is continuing to worsen and be predominant. The evidence report is not imminently needed but I think that myself and others will find benefit from it even if it comes in 2 years.)

Optional Information About You

What is your role or perspective? clinician administrator

If you are you making a suggestion on behalf of an organization, please state the name of the organization - Massachusetts Medicaid (MassHealth) on behalf of the Medicaid Medical Directors Network

May we contact you if we have questions about your nomination? Yes