Physician burnout is trending downward after years of rising stress and administrative burden, according to American Medical Association data. Job satisfaction remains steady, but the data underscores a critical reality: the work is far from finished.
The AMA’s 2025 Organizational Biopsy found that 41.9% of physicians reported experiencing at least one symptom of burnout, down from 43.2% in 2024 and 48.2% in 2023. Job satisfaction held steady at 80%, with primary care and several specialties reporting reduced stress, obstetrician-gynecologists feeling more valued, and psychiatrists less inclined to leave the field.
Based on nearly 19,000 physician responses across 38 states and 106 health systems, including in Texas, the annual study cited ineffective electronic health record systems and inadequate staffing as key sources of stress. Yet four of five physicians say they are satisfied.
Texas physicians told Texas Medicine Today that leaning into wellness programs and emerging tools like artificial intelligence (AI) are helping to stabilize job satisfaction.
Cristel Escalona, MD, chair of the Texas Medical Association’s Committee on Physician Health and Wellness has called 2026 “the most important year for mental health” yet.
Out of the health systems polled in the AMA study, 11 Texas organizations earned AMA’s Joy in Medicine recognition, which honors dedication to physician well-being and burnout reduction.
Still, the report identified the nine specialties with the highest burnout rates:
- Emergency medicine: 49.8%
- Urological surgery: 49.5%
- Hematology/oncology: 49.3%
- Obstetrics and gynecology: 45.7%
- Radiology: 45.2%
- Family medicine: 45%
- General surgery: 43.8%
- Cardiology: 43.5%
- Gastroenterology: 43.5%
For Dr. Escalona, those individual rates are a warning sign.
“The fear is that there’s not going to be enough doctors pretty soon, and more and more are dropping out or going part time,” she told Texas Medicine Today.
Robert H. Emmick Jr., MD, has seen those obstacles up close. The Austin emergency physician, with 35 years in the field, says what he sees in his colleagues looks less like burnout than “moral injury.”
“It’s the outside elements of the profession, not the profession itself, but the stresses put upon it,” he said.
Dr. Emmick points to packed emergency departments where patients can't be admitted fast enough, plus workplace violence and government intrusion. His advice: Build a life outside medicine.
“You can still be passionate about your profession and your specialty, but you should also find a life balance with some outside activity to help de-stress when things are rough,” he said. “You’ll find the doctors who work forever or work until they die – they have not developed an outside interest, whether it’s travel, photography, running, whatever.”
For Sejal S. Mehta, MD, the next frontier is AI. Her message to colleagues is urgent.
“I can get on the stage and tell our doctors, ‘Wake up, people!’” the Plano psychiatrist said. Her free CME course in TMA’s Education Center, “AI in Health Care: Can It Deter Physician Burnout?” is one of several AI-related courses available to members.
The old model, she says, is gone. “Just seeing the patient, advising the patient and doing that old-school patient-physician relationship is history now,” Dr. Mehta said. “Patients go where the insurance company sends them.”
Patients also arrive having already consulted AI tools like ChatGPT, she says, and physicians who don't engage feel the pressure.
“[Patients] have certain asks, and if you don’t give into that ask, they put up a bad Google review,” she said. “That adds to burnout because it affects us in many, many ways.”
Physicians who get ahead with AI now, she says, will be the ones who thrive.
TMA leadership has made physician wellness a central focus. The association has contracted with Anticipate Joy to provide free, confidential online counseling for physicians licensed and residing in Texas and their immediate families residing in Texas. TMA’s Committee on Physician Health and Wellness has also produced free educational materials about stress, burnout, and substance use disorders.
At TexMed in April, TMA Immediate Past President Jayesh “Jay” Shah, MD, gave physicians a frame for the work ahead.
“The physician you are today does not have to be the physician you are tomorrow,” he said. “Texas physicians are not tired of medicine. They’re tired of obstacles.”
For more information on TMA’s resources, see the list of counseling services available on the Wellness First page online.