Physicians are adapting inside a strained system

What the 2026 physician sentiment survey reveals about the next year of care delivery

I have never met a physician who experiences healthcare as a policy debate or a technology roadmap. We experience it in the exam room, in the inbox after hours, in the charting that takes longer than it should, and in the patient who cannot afford the medication we know would help. After two decades in practice and clinical informatics, I have learned that what shapes a clinician’s day is whether the systems around care reduce friction or add to it.

The 2026 Physician Sentiment Survey makes that tension easier to name. Physicians are increasingly open to new tools and new ways of working, yet confidence in the broader U.S. healthcare system remains persistently low. Real progress is happening inside practices, while structural barriers around them continue to shape the day-to-day experience of care delivery.

We surveyed 1,045 physicians nationwide. We’re seeing some improvements in frontline optimism, but those incremental gains are constrained by affordability pressures, care fragmentation, information overload, and financial pressures — even as technology adoption accelerates.

Access to affordable healthcare has overtaken documentation as the top policy priority.

Administrative burden remains a defining challenge for physicians, and concerns about access to affordable care have risen sharply.

In 2026, access to affordable healthcare is the leading issue physicians want policymakers to address (52%). That figure is up from 44% in 2025 and 38% in 2024 — a 14-point rise in two years. Documentation requirements are still a top concern (46%), but they’ve been overtaken.

Two groups signal this most strongly:

• Millennial physicians: 59% cite access to affordable healthcare as the top policy issue
   
• Rural physicians: 63% cite access to affordable healthcare as the top policy issue

This shift is worth sitting with, because it suggests physician stress is no longer experienced only as “too much work.” It’s experienced as “too many patients can’t get what they need,” and clinicians are absorbing the downstream consequences.

Rural physicians also report higher levels of stress across multiple measures.

• Access to affordable healthcare: 63% rural vs. 51% urban/suburban
• Minimizing excessive documentation: 60% rural vs. 45% urban/suburban
• Feel constantly burned out: 67% rural vs. 52% urban/suburban
• Feel daily workload is unsustainable: 56% rural vs. 44% urban/suburban
• Have considered leaving medicine: 69% rural vs. 51% urban/suburban

Optimism remains low, even as tools improve

Only about one-third of physicians (32%) are optimistic about the future of U.S. healthcare. That’s essentially unchanged over the last three years (29% in 2025; 30% in 2024).

Meanwhile, daily pressures remain widespread:

• 45% say their daily workload is unsustainable
• 44% report rushing through patient appointments

One of the most important leadership takeaways is that physicians are separating “workflow progress” from “system progress.” A practice can improve its tools and still feel trapped inside a larger environment that isn’t improving fast enough.

Comfort with AI increased, and that increase appears alongside differences in optimism

The most notable positive movement is rising comfort with AI.

• 54% of physicians are comfortable with AI in their practice, up from 46% in 2025
• Comfort is higher among Millennial physicians (65%) than Gen X/Boomer+ physicians (49%)
• Comfort is highest in enterprise organizations (65%) and lowest in clinician-led practices (1-5 clinicians) (43%)

There’s also a correlation worth noting: physicians comfortable using AI are more likely to be optimistic about the future of U.S. healthcare (42% vs. 20% among those not comfortable with AI). The survey doesn’t prove causation — but it suggests that confidence in tools and confidence in the future may be linked.

Physicians report increased use of AI across several areas:

• Generating clinical documentation: 38%
• Clinical/patient use: 31%
• Non-clinical/administrative use: 23%
• Patient outreach/communication: 21%
• Revenue cycle management: 13%

Another meaningful shift: fewer physicians think AI will add complexity. In 2026, 30% say AI will complicate healthcare, down from 42% in 2024. Concern about loss of human touch persists and remains stable at roughly six in ten physicians.

Healthcare industry leaders should read this as cautious pragmatism. Physicians want relief. They also want guardrails.

EHR sentiment is improving, but not evenly

We’re seeing incremental improvement in how physicians feel about their EHR:

• 62% say their EHR makes them more efficient (up from 56% in 2024)
• 59% say it simplifies clinical workflows (up from 52% in 2025)
• 55% say it helps them make better patient care decisions

But the improvements are not evenly distributed. Rural physicians are less likely than urban/suburban physicians to say their EHR helps them make better care decisions (39% vs. 57%) or reduces administrative time (23% vs. 45%). That disparity should be a flashing light for anyone focused on access, equity, and the stability of the rural workforce.

Patient portals show the same complexity:

• 82% report portal use in their practice
• 75% say portals make it easier to communicate with patients
• 63% feel overwhelmed by portal questions
• 62% feel expected to respond at all hours

Portals can improve access and continuity — but without operational design, they can also move work in ways that erode boundaries.

Care coordination still breaks down between systems

Interoperability remains a daily stressor.

• 73% report difficulty sending and receiving information across different EHR platforms (down from 79% in 2024)
• 80% say gaps in cross-system data sharing increase their stress
• 69% struggle to stay current on care delivered outside their practice

For three consecutive years, physicians have held steady at near-universal agreement that stronger connectivity would improve outcomes (92%) and the physician experience (91%). Frontline perception hasn’t meaningfully shifted.

A key tension: Interoperability friction may be shaping AI confidence

Physicians who report greater difficulty exchanging data across EHR systems also report markedly lower comfort with AI across clinical and operational tasks — and are less likely to believe AI reduces administrative burden.

The survey doesn’t establish causality, but it supports a practical hypothesis: trust in AI depends on trust in the underlying data. If information is fragmented, delayed, or hard to validate, clinicians will tend to be slower to delegate decision support or workflow steps to automation.

Information overload is now the core usability problem

Physicians continue to say more data isn’t the answer.

• 80% agree that access to more clinical data isn’t always the path to higher quality care
• 92% say getting the right data at the right time is what matters

At the same time:

• 63% say they are overwhelmed by the amount of information in patient charts
• 59% say information overload increases stress

This is not just a workflow inconvenience. It’s a care quality and safety issue. It affects how quickly clinicians can find what’s relevant and act on that information.

Financial health looks stable, but feels precarious

Two things can be true at once:

• 67% believe their practice is on solid financial footing
• 52% are concerned about the financial health of their organization

And three in four (75%) worry at least once a year about the financial feasibility of running their practice, including many who say they’re stable today.

Physicians’ definition of stability is also shifting. The strongest contributors are upstream, patient-driven factors:

• Patient loyalty and retention: 59%
• Growth in patient volume: 50%
• Payer diversity: 47%

Traditional billing mechanics rank lower:

• Timely claims submission: 29%
• Minimal billing errors: 25%
• Clean claims performance: 16%

Half of physicians (49%) are more concerned about claim denials than declining reimbursement. Concern is highest among smaller practices (66%) and decreases with operational scale (large enterprise organizations: 36%).

Physicians who prioritize denials also report higher worry across regulatory requirements, technology upgrade costs, equipment and supplies, malpractice insurance, and maintaining appointment volume. Denials aren’t just a back-office problem. They’re a proxy for financial fragility.

Value-based care interest outpaces risk tolerance

Physicians are curious about value-based care but hesitant about risk.

• 69% want to learn more about VBC
• 55% believe VBC has potential financial benefits
• Only 36% are comfortable with shared risk
• Only 33% are confident VBC will improve sustainability long-term

The blockers are practical: administrative burden, uncertain revenue, and patient engagement challenges that amplify when care adherence is now tied to risk. VBC adoption will likely accelerate when organizations provide operational support, clearer risk protections, and evidence that VBC can work without adding new layers of work.

What physicians say would help most points to a single theme: Better synthesis

When physicians describe what would simplify care, they point to administrative burden and fragmented visibility as two sides of the same issue.

To simplify care delivery:

• Products and services that reduce administrative tasks: 50%
• Enable electronic prior authorizations: 44%
• Improve connectivity between systems: 40%
• Surface relevant patient information at the right time: 39%

To improve care quality:

• Find clinical data easily: 54%
• Improve connectivity between systems: 47%
• Curate charts with relevant information: 46%
• Documentation and scribe support: 45%

Administrative burden often results from poor data flow — manual prior authorizations, duplicate entry, chasing documentation. Throughout this survey, physicians return to a consistent request: less time documenting and more time caring for patients. AI will earn trust only if it meaningfully reduces that burden and supports clinical judgement at the point of care.

Read the full report

This post highlights what stood out most for clinical and organizational impact. The full report includes deeper breakdowns by generation, practice size, and rural vs. urban/suburban settings — plus expanded findings on burnout, care coordination, financial anxiety, and readiness for change.

Read the full 2026 Physician Sentiment Survey report.