In an MGMA Stat poll on Oct. 13, 2026, 62% of 418 medical practice leaders said they feel burned out in their job. Another 22% said "somewhat," so 84% reported at least some burnout.
MGMA last asked the same yes, somewhat or no question in June 2018. That poll found 45% yes and 28% somewhat, a combined 73%. The share answering yes is now 17 points higher, and the share answering no (16%) is 11 points lower.
How the 2026 poll compares with earlier MGMA polls
MGMA has asked practice leaders about stress or burnout in five polls since 2018. The wording changed over time. The 2018 and 2026 rows ask the same burnout question. The 2022, 2024 and 2025 rows ask whether stress or burnout went up during the year.
| MGMA Stat poll | Question | Result | Responses |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 2018 | Burned out in your job? | 45% yes, 28% somewhat (73% combined) | Not stated |
| 2022 | Stress and burnout increased this year? | 80% increased, 6% decreased | Not stated |
| April 2024 | Stress or burnout increased this year? | 75% increased, 16% same, 9% decreased | Not stated |
| Dec. 2, 2025 | Stress level changed this year? | 78% increased, 18% same, 4% decreased | 478 |
| Oct. 13, 2026 | Burned out in your job? | 62% yes, 22% somewhat, 16% no (84% yes or somewhat) | 418 |
Source: MGMA Stat articles dated 12/3/2025 and 10/14/2026. Percentages are shares of applicable responses.
What leaders say is driving it
MGMA read the written comments from the 62% who answered yes. Workload came up in roughly 6 in 10 comments, and many respondents wrote nothing else. About 3 in 10 comments named staffing gaps or turnover. Nearly 1 in 5 named payer friction, which MGMA lists as denials, downcoding and prior authorization.
About 1 in 12 named no time off. A similar share pointed to absent or conflicting leadership, disengaged physician owners or a corporate structure with no autonomy. Roughly 1 in 12 wrote "all of the above."
The comments give a sense of scale. One leader counted 10 departments that each send requests and set deadlines. Another covers a second manager's role and clinic on top of two clinics of their own. Several tied the load to the calendar: 2027 payer changes, Medicare and Medicaid compliance deadlines, a Medicare audit and year-end.
What would help, according to the "somewhat" group
MGMA asked the 22% who answered "somewhat" what would keep them from moving to yes. The answers were uneven. Time off led by a wide margin.
| Request | Approximate share of the "somewhat" group |
|---|---|
| Real time off | About 4 in 10 |
| Another FTE, an assistant or a supervisory layer | Roughly 1 in 4 |
| Delegate a function | About 1 in 5 |
| Fix a workflow | About 1 in 10 |
Source: MGMA Stat, Oct. 13, 2026 poll, 418 applicable responses. Shares are MGMA's rounded descriptions of coded comments.
Staffing limits the options. One HR leader measured the gap at one to nearly three FTEs below benchmark, and others said they cannot hire staff, "especially CMAs." Among the 16% who said they are not burned out, four leaders gave the same answer: they changed jobs. The rest described control over their calendar, such as a four-day week or remote Fridays.
Physician burnout in the same practices
MGMA's April 28, 2026 poll of 344 medical groups found that 33% had a physician retire or leave in the past year because of burnout. In that poll, 61% had no such departure and about 6% were unsure.
| Measure | September 2024 | April 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Group had a physician leave or retire early due to burnout | 27% | 33% |
| Leaders say physician burnout is getting worse | 41% | 49% |
| Leaders say it is about the same | 45% | 38% |
| Leaders say it is improving | 14% | 13% |
Source: MGMA Stat, 4/29/2026.
MGMA's 2026 Regulatory Burden Report, a survey of executives from more than 230 group practices, adds workload detail. In that report, 77% of responding practices named regulatory burden a significant factor in physician burnout. More than half had lost a physician to burnout in the past three years. Another 40% keep at least three full-time administrative staff per physician on prior authorization, denials and quality reporting.
How practice leaders compare with other managers
MGMA cites Gallup's State of the Global Workplace 2026 for a drop in manager engagement from 31% in 2022 to 22% in 2025. In an earlier edition, Gallup reported global employee engagement at 21% in 2024. That edition found about 40% of employees worldwide felt "a lot" of stress the previous day, and 50% in the United States and Canada.
Research on health care administrators is thinner. A Journal of Rural Health survey of 288 executive leaders at two rural health organizations found 40.2% were burned out. In the same survey, 49.8% intended to leave their administrative roles within two years.
The Harris Poll's 2026 Healthcare Workforce Barometer, fielded for Workforce Edge, found 51% of healthcare employers named burnout and emotional fatigue as the top reason staff leave. That is up 15 points from 2025. At MGMA's 2026 annual conference, speaker Jeff Whitehorn cited first-year turnover of 25% to 35% in physician practices. He also cited DDI's Global Leadership Forecast: 35% of frontline leaders find their job purposeful in 2024, down from 44% in 2020, while 67% of C-level leaders do.
Sources
- MGMA Stat, 6 in 10 medical group leaders report they are burned out, 10/14/2026
- MGMA Stat, Stress check for a better 2026, 12/3/2025
- MGMA Stat, Physician burnout and early retirement, 4/29/2026
- MGMA, 2026 Regulatory Burden Report, April 9, 2026
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