Solving physician burnout: Healthcare challenges and fixes

Major challenges and software solutions: Addressing physician Burnout and Healthcare Issues

Healthcare reimbursement rates are flat or declining, with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) confirming a 2.9% reduction in average payment rates in the 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.¹ Meanwhile, administrative tasks consume precious time, and competition from larger health systems continues to grow. These pressures make it increasingly difficult for independent practices to maintain financial stability and deliver quality care, contributing to physician burnout and other healthcare challenges.

Fortunately, software innovations provide tangible solutions to these problems. By improving billing accuracy, simplifying workflows, enhancing data sharing, and engaging patients more effectively, the right technology can reduce costs and help practices succeed.

This post explores a list of healthcare frustrations independent practices face today and shows how the integrated capabilities of athenaOne® provide targeted solutions to meet each one.

1. Revenue pressure and declining reimbursements in healthcare: Impact on practice stability

Flat or declining reimbursements are a growing strain on independent practices. Rising overhead and administrative costs only add to the pressure, stretching tight margins that large health systems often manage more easily. The challenge of declining reimbursements in healthcare creates a critical financial hurdle for many providers.

Practice and revenue cycle management software tackles these challenges by reducing claim errors and accelerating payments. Tools like automated eligibility checks and prior authorization cut down on delays and rework, while performance tracking highlights opportunities to optimize workflows across the revenue cycle, including opportunities value-based care (VBC) incentives. Meanwhile, AI-assisted coding improves billing accuracy without adding staff overhead, helping practices protect revenue and maintain financial stability.

Instead of managing multiple disconnected systems, athenaOne gives you one powerful solution designed to simplify workflows, optimize reimbursements, and support scalable growth—all while keeping your focus where it belongs: on your patients

2. Administrative burden and staff burnout: Impacts on patient care

The nonstop administrative workload — documenting visits, managing schedules, and following up on billing — pulls providers and staff away from patient care. This growing burden contributes significantly to physician burnout and turnover in independent practices. Understanding how burnout impacts patient care is vital, as it can lead to decreased quality of care and patient satisfaction.

While many medical practices already have integrated EHR and practice management systems, modern cloud-based platforms take this foundation further by offering seamless connectivity paired with advanced services. These platforms reduce duplicate data entry and frustrations from using multiple systems by unlocking efficiency-driving workflows and automations — from scheduling to patient communication — all through one unified platform and a single login. AI-powered documentation tools, including ambient scribes, cut charting time outside office hours.

Additionally, centralized dashboards replace chaotic spreadsheets with real-time, actionable insights for practice managers. Together, this combination of cloud technology and intelligent services frees up staff time and refocuses energy on delivering excellent patient care.

3. Care coordination and interoperability challenges in patient data management

Patients today often receive care across multiple locations — urgent care, telehealth visits, pharmacy clinics — making it challenging for independent practices to maintain a complete, up-to-date record of where patients have been seen, when, and for what reason. Without a clear view of what happens outside their walls, providers risk missing important details that affect treatment decisions and patient outcomes.

Healthcare’s interoperability challenges are being addressed through health information exchanges like CommonWell and Carequality. Those exchanges, with new standards like TEFCA, make it easier to connect disparate systems and pull together comprehensive patient information. Capabilities such as automated chart synchronization and data reconciliation keep records current, reducing manual chart updates and risk of overlooking important care histories. Clinical decision support systems then use this integrated data to highlight care gaps and patient risks during visits, enabling more informed, timely decisions.

By bridging these information gaps, software strengthens care coordination, improves patient safety, and supports better outcomes across the care continuum.

4. Inconsistent engagement and how to reduce patient no shows

In today’s digital age, patients expect quick, convenient access to healthcare services and their care teams. Yet many independent practices still rely heavily on phone calls and paper forms, contributing to frustrating patient no-shows, late cancellations, and lapses in communication. This inconsistency not only disrupts practice schedules but also impacts patient health outcomes.

Patient portals and mobile apps offer a modern alternative, giving patients easy access to their records, test results, and direct messaging with care teams. Self-service scheduling paired with automated reminders addresses the question of how to reduce patient no shows and lightens the phone load for staff. Automated outreach campaigns help ensure patients stay on track with follow-ups and preventive care.

Flexible payment options and online billing platforms further enhance patient satisfaction while improving collection rates. By aligning practice operations with patient engagement services and expectations around convenience and communication, software helps strengthen engagement and increase patient reliability.

5. Competition from large systems and retail clinics: Overcoming problems in healthcare practice management

Independent practices are competing with hospital-owned networks, urgent care chains, and retail clinics that leverage convenience and scale to attract patients. These larger players often offer online booking, extended hours, and streamlined check-in processes, setting patient expectations that smaller practices struggle to meet. This is one of the many problems in healthcare faced by independent providers today.

The right software tools level the playing field by professionalizing front-office operations, enabling small practices to offer comparable convenience through features like digital check-in and online appointment scheduling. Robust clinical and billing systems free providers to focus on personalized care rather than administrative hassles.

Additionally, reporting and benchmarking tools help practices demonstrate quality outcomes and patient satisfaction, allowing them to compete on value, thereby strengthening their position in a crowded market.

6. Difficulty participating in value-based care: Tackling healthcare issues with software

Value-based care models hold promise for improving patient outcomes while controlling costs, but successful participation requires capturing and reporting detailed data — a significant hurdle for many independent practices. Without the right resources and tools, tracking quality measures and coordinating care can become overwhelming.

Software that supports payer-specific quality metrics helps reveal care gaps in real time, making it easier for providers to meet requirements as part of everyday workflows. Population health management tools identify high-risk patients and suggest timely interventions, shifting practices from reactive to proactive care.

Integrated reporting simplifies the complex task of meeting documentation and performance criteria, enabling practices to earn incentives without adding administrative burden. With these technologies, independent practices can confidently navigate VBC programs and realize the benefits of improved quality and financial performance.

7. Scaling operations without adding overhead: Reducing healthcare frustrations with cloud solutions

Growth is a positive sign for any practice, but expanding services, adding locations, or bringing on new clinicians can introduce complexity that strains systems and staff. Without the right infrastructure, growth can quickly lead to inconsistent workflows, communication breakdowns, and increased administrative costs — a key healthcare frustration for many practices.

Cloud-based platforms offer a solution by centralizing operations and workflows across all locations, allowing practices to maintain consistent processes and oversight as they grow. Clear permissions and tailored workflows ensure that each team member has access to what they need to do their job efficiently.

Virtual support services — such as coding, billing, and authorization teams — can scale alongside the practice without adding more full-time staff. This flexible approach helps independent practices expand efficiently, maintaining quality and control while avoiding issues like duplicated efforts, miscommunications, and ballooning overhead.

Transforming healthcare challenges into opportunities for better patient care

The challenges facing independent practices — from declining reimbursement in healthcare and administrative burdens to fragmented data and growing competition — are real and complex. But with the right platform, these obstacles transform from barriers into opportunities for growth and improved care.

athenaOne is that platform: a fully integrated, all-in-one cloud-based solution that combines clinical, operational, and financial tools into a single, seamless experience. By uniting practice and revenue cycle management, electronic health records, patient engagement, and care coordination, athenaOne empowers your practice to eliminate inefficiencies, enhance patient outcomes, and compete confidently in a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.

Instead of managing multiple disconnected systems, athenaOne gives you one powerful solution designed to simplify workflows, optimize reimbursements, and support scalable growth — all while keeping your focus where it belongs: on your patients.

Ready to see how athenaOne can be the comprehensive solution your practice needs? Learn more today.