The data: 43% of primary care physicians in the US report feeling burned out—the highest share of all countries in a Commonwealth Fund survey of 10,895 primary care doctors from March to September in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.

• Canadian and New Zealand doctors were the next-most burnt out, tied at 38%.
• 44% of the US doctors who experience burnout said administrative tasks were the main reason.
• The burned-out doctors cited too much time spent dealing with insurance claims (65%) and time spent on patient visit documentation (57%) as problem areas.
• Only 14% pointed to too many patients or too many complex cases as the main cause of their burnout.

Why it matters: More than half (54%) of burned-out US primary care physicians are dissatisfied with the amount of time they can spend with each patient.

• They estimate 23% of their time is spent on administrative tasks.
• 30% of the burned-out US doctors plan to stop seeing patients regularly in the next one to three years.

Zooming out: Physician burnout and turnover spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, but has since flattened. However, there continues to be a physician shortage crisis, with an expected shortfall of 86,000 primary and specialty practitioners by 2036.

The new Trump budget limits the amount of federal money that graduate students, like those in medical and nursing school, can borrow. The new loan limits set to go into effect in July 2026 will likely worsen both the physician and nursing shortages, the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Nurses Association told NPR.

Implications for healthcare providers and patients: As primary care doctors and nurses continue to face heavy administrative burdens and burnout and new loan limits make medical education less affordable, the clinician shortage will likely worsen. As a result, those who stay in the medical profession, and those who can afford to enter it, may end up with bigger caseloads and even less time to spend with patients. For patients, ongoing high levels of burnout and shortages will translate to longer wait times, rushed appointments, and less personalized care, potentially resulting in delays in treatment or even clinical errors.

This content is part of EMARKETER’s subscription Briefings, where we pair daily updates with data and analysis from forecasts and research reports. Our Briefings prepare you to start your day informed, to provide critical insights in an important meeting, and to understand the context of what’s happening in your industry. Not a subscriber? Click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.