For nearly two decades, Better Health Group has been a leader in value-based care and operating top-rated primary care clinics. Our network of owned and independent clinics leverage our model to improve care for both Medicare Advantage (MA) and Traditional Medicare patients. Now, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has ranked Better Health Group in the top 5% of Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) for performance year 2023.
At a time when independent clinics face mounting challenges, our providers are exceeding CMS quality goals and maximizing shared savings revenue, in every state in which we operate—Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
What the Numbers Actually Say
That's real progress, but aggregate improvements can obscure what's happening at the front lines, and the structural drivers like administrative burden and workforce shortages, have not materially improved.
For independent practices, that burden lands without a buffer. Small and independent practices often carry the administrative load without institutional backup and among small-practice clinicians specifically, 43% say the workload is far worse than they expected when entering the field.
What's Actually Causing It
The answer is consistent across nearly every major survey: it's not patient care; it's everything around it.
Workload and EHR demands are the top two drivers of burnout, cited by 62% of physicians reporting burnout. Staffing shortages, limited schedule control and long hours round out the picture.
It's estimated that U.S. primary care physicians would need to work nearly 27 hours a day to complete all recommended care and administrative tasks, including three hours just to meet clinical documentation requirements. That's not a personal problem, that's a structural one.
What Doesn't Help — and What Does
Wellness programs and resilience training get a lot of attention. The data is pretty clear on their limitations: they help physicians cope with an unchanged workload. They don't reduce the workload itself.
The strongest evidence points to organizational-level changes — improved staffing coverage, workflow redesign, reduced administrative burden, and greater schedule flexibility. In other words, the interventions that actually work are the ones that take work off physicians' plates, not the ones that help them endure more of it.
For independent practices specifically, that means getting real about what can be delegated, automated, or handled by someone other than the physician. Not every patient message requires physician attention. Team-based inbox triage, where medical assistants or nurses handle routine requests, can meaningfully reduce the volume that reaches providers. Appointment reminders, eligibility verification, and patient intake can all run automatically.
Beyond technology, the model you practice under matters enormously. Value-based care arrangements that include genuine operational support don't just add revenue, they shift work off the physician's desk. Practices working with Better Health Group receive support from practice coordinators who can help alleviate the pressure of some of these tasks and bring the things that matter to your attention.
The Connection to Financial Pressure
Burnout and financial stress reinforce each other in ways that are hard to separate. Burnout doesn't stay personal; it ripples outward into care quality, patient access, and practice sustainability.
For independent practices, the financial picture matters because burnout is partly a symptom of working harder for less. Fee-for-service reimbursement keeps declining, administrative requirements keep growing, and the revenue generated by the care coordination, chronic disease management and preventive work that consumes so much physician time goes largely uncaptured.
Value-based care changes that. Not by adding more to a physician's plate, but by finally paying for the work that's already being done, and building the infrastructure to do the reporting and coordination without it falling on the physician.
What the Numbers Actually Say
That's real progress, but aggregate improvements can obscure what's happening at the front lines, and the structural drivers like administrative burden and workforce shortages, have not materially improved.
For independent practices, that burden lands without a buffer. Small and independent practices often carry the administrative load without institutional backup and among small-practice clinicians specifically, 43% say the workload is far worse than they expected when entering the field.
What's Actually Causing It
The answer is consistent across nearly every major survey: it's not patient care; it's everything around it.
Workload and EHR demands are the top two drivers of burnout, cited by 62% of physicians reporting burnout. Staffing shortages, limited schedule control and long hours round out the picture.
It's estimated that U.S. primary care physicians would need to work nearly 27 hours a day to complete all recommended care and administrative tasks, including three hours just to meet clinical documentation requirements. That's not a personal problem, that's a structural one.
What Doesn't Help — and What Does
Wellness programs and resilience training get a lot of attention. The data is pretty clear on their limitations: they help physicians cope with an unchanged workload. They don't reduce the workload itself.
The strongest evidence points to organizational-level changes — improved staffing coverage, workflow redesign, reduced administrative burden, and greater schedule flexibility. In other words, the interventions that actually work are the ones that take work off physicians' plates, not the ones that help them endure more of it.
For independent practices specifically, that means getting real about what can be delegated, automated, or handled by someone other than the physician. Not every patient message requires physician attention. Team-based inbox triage, where medical assistants or nurses handle routine requests, can meaningfully reduce the volume that reaches providers. Appointment reminders, eligibility verification, and patient intake can all run automatically.
Beyond technology, the model you practice under matters enormously. Value-based care arrangements that include genuine operational support don't just add revenue, they shift work off the physician's desk. Practices working with Better Health Group receive support from practice coordinators who can help alleviate the pressure of some of these tasks and bring the things that matter to your attention.
The Connection to Financial Pressure
Burnout and financial stress reinforce each other in ways that are hard to separate. Burnout doesn't stay personal; it ripples outward into care quality, patient access, and practice sustainability.
For independent practices, the financial picture matters because burnout is partly a symptom of working harder for less. Fee-for-service reimbursement keeps declining, administrative requirements keep growing, and the revenue generated by the care coordination, chronic disease management and preventive work that consumes so much physician time goes largely uncaptured.
Value-based care changes that. Not by adding more to a physician's plate, but by finally paying for the work that's already being done, and building the infrastructure to do the reporting and coordination without it falling on the physician.
What the Numbers Actually Say
That's real progress, but aggregate improvements can obscure what's happening at the front lines, and the structural drivers like administrative burden and workforce shortages, have not materially improved.
For independent practices, that burden lands without a buffer. Small and independent practices often carry the administrative load without institutional backup and among small-practice clinicians specifically, 43% say the workload is far worse than they expected when entering the field.
What's Actually Causing It
The answer is consistent across nearly every major survey: it's not patient care; it's everything around it.
Workload and EHR demands are the top two drivers of burnout, cited by 62% of physicians reporting burnout. Staffing shortages, limited schedule control and long hours round out the picture.
It's estimated that U.S. primary care physicians would need to work nearly 27 hours a day to complete all recommended care and administrative tasks, including three hours just to meet clinical documentation requirements. That's not a personal problem, that's a structural one.
What Doesn't Help — and What Does
Wellness programs and resilience training get a lot of attention. The data is pretty clear on their limitations: they help physicians cope with an unchanged workload. They don't reduce the workload itself.
The strongest evidence points to organizational-level changes — improved staffing coverage, workflow redesign, reduced administrative burden, and greater schedule flexibility. In other words, the interventions that actually work are the ones that take work off physicians' plates, not the ones that help them endure more of it.
For independent practices specifically, that means getting real about what can be delegated, automated, or handled by someone other than the physician. Not every patient message requires physician attention. Team-based inbox triage, where medical assistants or nurses handle routine requests, can meaningfully reduce the volume that reaches providers. Appointment reminders, eligibility verification, and patient intake can all run automatically.
Beyond technology, the model you practice under matters enormously. Value-based care arrangements that include genuine operational support don't just add revenue, they shift work off the physician's desk. Practices working with Better Health Group receive support from practice coordinators who can help alleviate the pressure of some of these tasks and bring the things that matter to your attention.
The Connection to Financial Pressure
Burnout and financial stress reinforce each other in ways that are hard to separate. Burnout doesn't stay personal; it ripples outward into care quality, patient access, and practice sustainability.
For independent practices, the financial picture matters because burnout is partly a symptom of working harder for less. Fee-for-service reimbursement keeps declining, administrative requirements keep growing, and the revenue generated by the care coordination, chronic disease management and preventive work that consumes so much physician time goes largely uncaptured.
Value-based care changes that. Not by adding more to a physician's plate, but by finally paying for the work that's already being done, and building the infrastructure to do the reporting and coordination without it falling on the physician.