Physician Sentiment on the Rise, AI Adoption Grows, But Challenges Remain

What You Should Know: 

– Physicians are expressing a more positive outlook on their profession compared to recent years, with increasing optimism about the role of AI in alleviating administrative burdens, according to athenahealth’s fourth annual Physician Sentiment Survey (PSS). 

– While concerns about the state of U.S. healthcare persist, the survey reveals a notable improvement in physicians’ day-to-day sentiment, and a decrease in the number contemplating leaving medicine.

– The athenahealth Physician Sentiment Survey reveals a complex picture of physician sentiment. While there are positive trends in physician outlook and growing acceptance of AI’s potential to alleviate administrative burdens, significant challenges remain in U.S. healthcare. These challenges, including interoperability issues, financial concerns, and regulatory burdens, require continued attention and solutions to improve the physician experience and ensure high-quality patient care.

Improved Outlook and AI Optimism

The athenahealth survey, conducted by The Harris Poll, found that two-thirds of respondents look forward to coming to work each day. Significantly, the proportion of physicians considering leaving the medical profession on a weekly basis has declined by 22% since last year.

This year’s results also indicate a shift in physician perceptions of AI. Fewer physicians now believe AI is overhyped or unable to meet expectations (27% this year, down from 40% a year ago). Concerns that AI would further complicate healthcare have also decreased, with only 31% expressing this view, compared to 42% last year. Among physicians currently using AI, 68% reported increased use for generating clinical documentation in the past year.

Valuable AI Use Cases:

Physicians identified transcription services and capabilities (48%) as the most valuable AI use case, followed by streamlining administrative tasks (46%). This aligns with the recent growth of ambient listening applications.

Concerns About AI’s Role:

Despite growing optimism, physicians still have reservations about AI’s role in healthcare delivery. 61% are concerned about AI leading to the loss of human touch, 58% fear an overreliance on AI for diagnoses, and 53% cite the risk of improper diagnoses.

Persistent Challenges in U.S. Healthcare:

Despite improvements in sentiment around technology and AI, the survey reveals that only 3 in 10 physicians are optimistic about the direction of U.S. healthcare, highlighting ongoing challenges:

• Desire for More Interoperability: Seamless data exchange remains crucial, with 91% of physicians reporting that enhanced connectivity between information systems could improve patient outcomes. More than half of physicians express weekly frustration with accessing patient clinical information from other providers, and 80% report that the lack of data sharing between systems increases their stress levels.
• Concerns About Financial Health: Over half of physicians (56%) are very or somewhat concerned about their organization’s financial health, and 49% are considering major changes to their practice’s operations to offset financial burdens. Reimbursement rates (69%) and staffing costs (66%) are the primary drivers of this concern.
• Patient Portals: A Double-Edged Sword: While 73% of physicians report that patient portals facilitate easy communication with patients, and 61% believe they have improved the overall quality of patient care, 83% also believe these portals add to their administrative workload, and 68% feel overwhelmed with patient questions.
• Demanding Regulatory Requirements: Physicians continue to grapple with a complex landscape of regulatory demands, with 91% reporting that compliance burdens are getting worse (a statistic that has remained consistent for three years).

Methodology

The fourth athenahealth Physician Sentiment Survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of athenahealth from January 2-15, 2025. The online survey interviews were conducted among 1,001 physicians (750 PCPs & 251 Specialists), of whom only 6% use athenahealth’s EHR. Results are compared to prior waves conducted from October 23-November 8, 2023, and January 4-26, 2022.