At the 2023 Joy & Wholeness Summit in Santa Ana Pueblo, our co-founder and Chief Wellbeing Economist, Dr. Sisi Hu, teamed up with Dr. Heather Schmidt of SSM Health to debut our partnership by presenting “Calculating Organization-Specific ROI of Provider Well-Being.” Their session showcased SSM Health’s trauma-informed Care for Caregivers program and made the case that projecting turnover-related savings up to 12 months ahead is key to securing ongoing investment in clinician well-being.
We highlighted our economics methodology, co-authored with Harvard economist Richard Freeman and published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, that treats burnout cost as multi-faceted: new-hire ramp-up time, productivity losses, and impacts on patient satisfaction. When applied to EHR and HRIS data, this model translates burnout into concrete financial metrics, giving health systems the tools to build a robust ROI case for well-being programs.