Nearly 1 in 10 physicians reported having suicidal thoughts in 2021, according to Medscape's ''Physician Burnout Report'' published March 4.

Elk Grove-based California Northstate University College of Medicine was put on probation March 1 by an academic accreditation agency, according to a March 3 report by The Sacramento Bee.

Jordan Toman, MD, a radiologist specializing in women's imaging, has joined Green Bay, Wis.-based BayCare Clinic Radiology. 

Medical students identifying as underrepresented in medicine were more likely to report exhaustion-related burnout, a Yale study published Feb. 23 in JAMA Network Open found.

The Yale School of Public Health will transition into a self-supporting, independent school, and its leaders have pledged $150 million of endowment toward the school's teaching, research and practice, they said Feb. 24.

The American Hospital Association has voiced concern that a CMS rule prioritizes health professional shortage areas when distributing new medical education slots to teaching hospitals, according to a Feb. 23 news release.

For many, the ideal healthcare experience involves face-to-face interactions with physicians who listen intently. With the advent of the EHR, however, many clinicians find themselves focusing on their laptops, barely making eye contact with patients as they struggle to document everything that is said.

Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, a professor at Harvard Medical School and founder of the global health nonprofit Partners in Medicine, has died at age 62, according to NPR.

Emergency medicine physicians have the highest rates of burnout among all physician specialties, according to a Medscape's 2022 Physician Burnout and Depression report. 

About 26 percent of public health and preventive medicine physicians are burnt out, the lowest level of any specialty, according to Medscape's 2022 Public Health and Preventive Medicine Physician Lifestyle and Burnout Report. 

About half of infectious disease physicians reported being burned out last year, according to Medscape's Infectious Disease Physicians Lifestyle & Burnout Report published Feb. 18.

The statements some state medical boards adopted to prevent physicians from spreading COVID-19 misinformation are now threatened by political pressure to restrict medical boards' authority in this area, NPR reported Feb. 14. 

Physician care varies widely, with some physicians much more likely to deliver proper care than others, even those working in the same area or organization, according to an analysis published Jan. 28 in JAMA Health Forum.

Healthcare systems have started residency programs and partnerships to address workforce shortages.

Primary care physicians are the gateway to more expensive specialists, and health systems face intensifying  competition for them thanks to insurers, retailers, investment firms and tech start-ups, Bloomberg reports. 

Healthcare organizations and physicians are under tremendous pressure. In addition to the burden of the pandemic, providers must comply with more regulation and provide an improved patient experience while operating with lower margins. Physicians today have more responsibility and stress than ever.

The District of Columbia has the most physicians per 100,000 capita in the country, while Utah has the fewest, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data published Feb. 7.

Physicians in Oklahoma are not prohibited from prescribing unapproved treatments such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for the off-label purpose of treating COVID-19 patients, the state attorney general's office said Feb. 8. 

As public health experts and political leaders construct off-ramps from the highly regulated highway of COVID-19 safety measures, many physicians are encouraging just as much effort toward on-ramps to guide public health measures when the virus picks up again.

There are currently 1,061,141 active physicians in the U.S., according to data published by Kaiser Family Foundation Feb. 7.