As an emergency medicine physician, I spent several years working in emergency departments. It is an inherently intense environment, and that intensity is only increasing. For frontline clinicians, the consequences aren’t abstract: that sustained pressure is driving burnout in real time, affecting the people you rely on for care as you read this.
Let’s start with the numbers. At this unique moment in the United States, more than 10,000 Americans turn 65 and age into Medicare every single day. Hospitals are operating on slim margins of roughly 1.5%, with costs increasing and reimbursement tightening. At the same time, a generation of American doctors is nearing retirement. What all this means is that as demand climbs, the US is projected to face a shortage of up to 86,000 clinicians by 2036.
Here’s my diagnosis: we don’t just have a doctor shortage. We have a structural problem.
Did you know that physicians spend only about 27% of their time actually caring for patients? The rest is swallowed by documentation, insurance requirements, inbox messages and regulatory tasks. Much of that work now follows doctors into the exam room, where they’re expected to document everything in real time. If you feel like your doctor hasn’t been making eye contact with you during your exam, you’re not crazy.
