Physician Wellness

HCMS encourages physician wellness and a healthy work-life balance.

HCMS advocates for physicians by engaging with our legislators, regulators and payers; providing benefits to achieve work-life balance, and assisting with potentially overwhelming administrative burdens to ease some of the issues which can contribute to physician stress and burnout. Below are some resources available to help bring back your passion for being a doctor.

Helpful Numbers

There are several resources to help you if you are feeling overwhelmed:

• HCMS Physician Wellness Program - Designed to connect physicians with psychiatrists and psychologists who can provide needed help. Click here for a list of providers. (Member login required.) Or if you need assistance, call HCMS at 713-524-4267 and ask for the Physician Wellness Program. This program is not a solution for emergencies. If you’re thinking about suicide, or are worried about a colleague, call 911 or your local emergency department.
• Physician Support line -- For physicians struggling with burnout, and mental health issues, volunteer psychiatrists are offering anonymous peer support seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. EST. Call 1-888-409-0141.
• The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD - 24 hour Crisis Hotline at 713-970-7000, and 24/7 Mobile Crisis Outreach Team at 713-970-7520.  
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - Provides 24/7 free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals. Call 988 or 1-800-273-8255.

Seminars, Events and CME Activities

The programs publicized should be large in scope, focus on solutions, not just the problem, and open to all physicians. The date, location, start time and CME credits need to be provided for the post.  All programs require the approval of HCMS officers.

• TMA partners with Anticipate Joy -- TMA has contracted with Anticipate Joy to provide confidential, online counseling services to physicians licensed in Texas (TMA members and nonmembers) and their immediate family. You can choose from a diverse network of therapists to address work stress, anxiety and depression, relationship issues, and more. Cost is $25 per session.
• Physician health CME courses from TMA -- Courses tackle topics such as resilience, mental wellness during COVID-19, and occupational stress
  • Break the Silence: Physician Suicide, a CME course available for ethics credit, addresses risk factors and warning signs.
  • Overcoming Distress in Medicine, a CME course available for ethics credit, helps physicians recognize sources of distress and adopt resources and strategies to cope with it
• Physician Burnout CME course series from AMA Education Center
• STEPS Forward - AMA's Practice Improvement Strategies
• The Jung Center champions the value of living an examined life and encourages action rooted in reflection and connection, offering a wide range of seminars on a variety of topics that ultimately impacts wellness. 
  • The Jung Center offers free online meditations: Join us for the Mind Body Spirit Institute’s Power of Community meditation series, an opportunity to continue bringing mindfulness into your life, and practice with others as a support. Every week, Alejandro Chaoul and other Mind Body Spirit Faculty will lead these short meditations so we can, as a community, recenter in the midst of the day and our rapidly shifting world, and learn and develop tools for our everyday life. 
  • The Jung Center offers discounted in-person and virtual seminars to HCMS members. To access, visit MBSI Public Programs. Upon registration, enter the coupon code: HCMS-MD-WELLNESS (no spaces, cap sensitive)

Achieving Work-Life Balance - Discounts on Events and Attractions

Achieving a good work-life balance is about taking time away from the pressures of the office and giving your mind a rest by spending time with your family or enjoying some quiet time alone. 

• HCMS has member discounts on theater tickets, sports events, and more. 
• TMA provides a travel program through Gohagan & Company. Travel to some of the most beautiful places in the world and earn CME in the process.
• The Houston Museum District and Hermann Park area have 19 museums and attractions, including the Houston Zoo and The Health Museum.
• With CityPASS, you get to explore the very best attractions Houston has to offer, hand-picked and wrapped up in an easy to use ticket booklet.
• Texas Medical Center Orchestra was founded in 2000 and is one of the few community orchestras in the United States to be based in the medical community.

Help with Products, Services and Employment Assistance

• HCMS Buyers Guide provides products and services for your practice (i.e., billing, collections, cybersecurity, IT, insurance, medical scribes, physician employment/locum tenens, practice management and more.) 
• Practice Resources and Tools  to help ease the stress of operating a medical practice.
• Physician Career Center has current job opportunities in the Houston area.
• Physician Newsletter has a classifieds section which is a great resource for finding current sublease/lease opportunities, job opportunities, items for sale, and businesses that offer products and services.
• Are you experiencing overwhelming administrative tasks in your practice? HCMS would like to help. Click here to let us know.

Helpful Articles and Documents

• Join the Physicians Foundation's Suicide Awareness Crusade - TMA
• Medical Burnout: Breaking Bad: Five Ways to Tackle Burnout - TMA
• Physician wellness at TexMed: Build your resilience toolkit - TMA
• Reduce stress and run your practice better - Physicians Practice
• Improve your work-life balance with these simple steps - TMA
• It takes a team to prevent doctor burnout. Meet the players - AMA
• Working Toward Wellness: TMA's Physician Health and Wellness Exchange tackles burnout - TMA
• The Physicians Foundation 2018 Physician Survey - The Physicians Foundation
• Physician burnout: contributors, consequences and solutions - Journal of Internal Medicine
• Executive Leadership and Physician Well-being - Mayo Clinic
• Work-life balance behaviors cluster in work settings - BMJ Quality and Safety
• Simpler logins, voice recognition ease click fatigue at Yale - AMA
• Battling burnout - Texas Medicine
• Take practical steps toward a healthier culture for medicine - AMA
• These tools, resources address physician burnout at systems level - AMA

Helpful Publications

• HCMS 2020 Wellness Survey Executive Summary -- The HCMS Executive Board decided to conduct a survey about physician wellness during the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results were compared to the wellness survey conducted in 2017.
• Personal Crisis Management Plan for Physicians--Physicians Foundation has created a plan which consists of a short series of questions to support physicians and their colleagues in assessing their coping strategies in times of crisis.
• HCMS Physician Wellness Framework - Do you want to share what your hospital is doing or learn about what other hospitals are doing to alleviate burnout, the Physician Wellness Framework can help. Programs listed should have details of the program including links to websites or points of contact and should be easily duplicated.
• Leadership Survey: Why clinicians are not engaged, and what leaders must do about it - Clinician engagement is vital for improving clinical quality and patient satisfaction, as well as the job satisfaction of clinicians themselves - NEJM Catalyst 
• Progress Report: Weber State University Study of Primary Care Physicians - A team of four researchers at Weber State University is conducting a study of primary care physicians. Click here for the Executive Summary
• TMA Knowledge Center - Request journal articles from TMA Library Services.
• Resident Life - Articles and guidance from American Medical Association (AMA).
• Stanford Medicine WellMD - Publication of the Stanford School of Medicine.
• National Academy of Medicine (NAM) - Perspectives, papers and education series and initiatives and action collaborative on clinician well-being and resilience.
• National Academy of Medicine (NAM) - Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout

 

Alleviating Regulatory and Legislative Burdens

HCMS and TMA advocate for you with state and national legislators.

• Top victories for the 2021 Texas legislative session, TMA
• Physician Advocacy, Texas Legislature and 86th Texas Legislature Testimonies and Letters, TMA

Wellness Website Resources

There are several websites to help you combat stress and burnout:

• Physicians Foundation - Vital Signs - Attend to your wellbeing
• The Happy MD - The Creative Destruction of Physician Burnout  
• Institute for Physician Integration - Physician Well-being Programs 
• Mayo Clinic - Physician Well-Being Program
• RENEW - Work and live with more focus, energy and resilience 
• The Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (ISHI)
• Columbia University Medical Center - Program in Narrative Medicine
• Center for Mindfulness in Medicine - UMass Medical School
• Federation of State Physician Health Programs (FSPHP)

Resources for Financial Help

• Physician Assistance - Financial assistance programs from the Texas Medical Association (TMA).
  » TMA Physicians Benevolent Fund (PBF) helps physicians and their families with personal expenses such as rent, utilities, and medical bills.
  » TMA PBF Wellness Fund (formerly the Physician Health and Rehab (PHR) Assistance Fund) provides financial help to physicians for treatment for depression, substance use disorders, or other potentially impairing conditions.