Physician Voice: A Critical Ingredient in Healthcare’s Next Era

Disclaimer: These views reflect industry-wide trends and the author’s experience, not the official position of Trinity Health.

As healthcare undergoes rapid change, from new care models to accelerating AI adoption, one trend is remarkably consistent: physicians want a stronger voice in decisions that shape their work. CHG Healthcare’s 2025 Physician Sentiment Survey underscores the point. The survey was conducted nationwide with 920 currently practicing physicians. It found that while 75% of physicians say they’re satisfied with their professional roles, only 18% report being highly engaged, and just 29% would recommend their workplace to a colleague. The disconnect suggests that the issue isn’t the clinical work itself — it’s the environment around it.

Many physicians point to growing administrative load as a primary driver of that strain. According to the survey, doctors now spend 45 hours per week in clinical care and another 15 on administrative tasks, with 28% saying they have less time with patients than they used to. These pressures have pushed many to reduce their hours — not out of diminished passion for medicine, but because the structure around the work has become unsustainable.

2025 PHYSICIANS AI REPORT

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Where Organizations Are Starting to Move Forward

Even amid these challenges, several health systems are experimenting with approaches that show real promise.

Elevating Physicians into Broader Leadership Roles

Organizations are increasingly appointing physicians to enterprise-level positions — overseeing areas such as digital transformation, workforce strategy, and system innovation. Expanding beyond traditional CMO roles helps bridge clinical insight with operational and strategic decisions. It’s a model that brings clinicians into conversations they’ve historically been left out of.

Using Technology and AI to Reduce Administrative Burden

Systems are also beginning to use technology thoughtfully to reduce clerical load. Early adopters of ambient documentation tools, AI-assisted charting, and streamlined EHR workflows report encouraging reductions in physician documentation time. Clinicians who are engaged early in design and implementation tend to have higher trust in these tools and better outcomes from them.

Creating More Reliable Channels for Input

Some organizations are shifting from episodic engagement to structured, ongoing mechanisms — leadership rounding routines, multidisciplinary forums, shared governance structures — to ensure physicians have a consistent role in shaping decisions. These channels help close the gap highlighted in the Sentiment Survey, where 72% of physicians want leadership to seek their input, but only 40% feel that actually happens.

Partnership, Transparency, and the Path Forward

Improving engagement means more than acknowledging physician frustration. It requires transparent communication and earlier involvement in decisions about compensation structures, workflow redesign, staffing, and technology. Physicians increasingly want to understand not just what decisions are being made, but why. When leaders share the rationale behind changes, survey data shows trust rises — and so does physicians’ willingness to help problem-solve.

For physicians, the opportunity is to lean into governance roles, join key committees, and contribute insight where their experience can be most helpful. For organizations, the responsibility is to create accessible channels for that engagement and ensure administrative processes support, rather than hinder, clinical work.

Why Physician Voice Matters Now

Demand for care is rising. The workforce is constrained. Technology is advancing faster than many systems can adapt. In this environment, clinician insight is not optional — it’s operationally essential. The organizations best positioned for the future will be those that meaningfully integrate physician expertise into decisions that affect outcomes, experience, and access.

Elevating physician voice is one of the clearest ways to reduce burnout, strengthen retention, and build environments where clinicians and patients can thrive. It’s not just a cultural goal — it’s a strategic one for the next era of healthcare.