Leaders from Bon Secours Mercy Health, RUSH Medical Group, and Rutgers School of Health Professions reject the false trade-off between retention and productivity, arguing well-being and high performance can coexist when clinicians feel valued, heard, and supported with the right environment, autonomy, and team design.

Data from 7,000 physicians showed highly productive clinicians with low turnover risk outnumber highly productive, high-risk individuals, and many low-productivity clinicians still face elevated turnover risk—evidence that workload and compensation aren’t primary drivers. Effective strategies include targeted, proactive engagement using leading indicators; consistent, transparent communication and trust-building; structured, career-stage onboarding and support; team-based care models and optimized staffing (including APPs) to reduce friction around the clinician; operational innovations sourced from frontline input; and selective technology adoption (EHR burden reduction, ambient documentation) to restore clinical joy.

Relationship management and clear expectations are low-cost levers that reduce turnover and protect access and quality without over-relying on increasing volume.

Speakers

• Matt Owens, MD, Chief Clinical Officer for Mercy Health – Lima, Bon Secours Mercy Health
• Karen Shapiro, DrPH, Vice-Dean, Rutgers School of Health Professions
• Luis A. Garcia, MD, FACS, MBA, FACHE, President of RUSH Medical Group, RUSH University Medical Center
• Tiffany Chan, MA, CEO & Co-Founder, Atalan

Key Takeaways

1. Beyond Burnout Myths: Productivity and clinician well-being are not a zero-sum tradeoff; many highly productive clinicians have low turnover risk, indicating drivers of burnout go beyond workload and compensation.

2. Segment-Driven Interventions: Nuanced, data-informed segmentation of clinicians (e.g., by career stage, specialty, and risk profile) enables targeted interventions, from robust onboarding and culture integration early in career to retirement planning and succession support later.

3. Trust-Building Tactics: Low-cost, high-impact actions including consistent, intentional touchpoints; transparent two-way communication; and empowering frontline voices build trust and retention more reliably than volume or pay changes alone.

4. Empowered Team Care: Team-based care models and redesigned roles (e.g., APP integration, strengthened front desk, digital/virtual support) improve outcomes and capacity when paired with autonomy and clear guardrails.

5. Unburdened Clinician Workflow: Reducing non-clinical burden (EHR/documentation, in-basket messaging, scheduling pressure) and adopting enabling tech (e.g., ambient documentation) are priority levers cited by leaders and the audience to lower total cost and turnover without compromising access or quality.

Key Quote

Productivity and well-being don’t have to be 2 ends of a spectrum; they really can coexist.