Measuring Physician Well-Being in Canada
For Canadian health leaders building the case for physician well-being: a free two-page guide with the Canadian evidence decision-makers respond to, and four drivers that turn it into funded action.
The Capacity Case: Winning Leadership Support for Physician Well-Being in Canada
In a publicly funded system, the most persuasive argument isn’t what burnout costs. It’s the care that doesn’t get delivered.
Making the case to leadership? U.S. turnover math rarely moves Canadian decision-makers. This guide gives you the evidence that does — lost clinical hours and patient access — on two pages you can bring straight into your next leadership meeting.
What’s inside
- Burnout is shrinking clinical capacity — the Canadian data on physicians cutting hours and leaving practice
- What lost capacity is worth — burnout’s cost measured as physician services lost
- Four drivers of leadership buy-in — how to frame the case so it gets funded
Get the free guide
Read it online, or print it and save it as a PDF.
How can Canadian health organizations measure physician burnout?
With a brief, repeatable assessment that gives you a baseline and a way to track change. The Well-Being Index, developed at Mayo Clinic, measures physician distress and compares your results with Canadian peers.
Does the Well-Being Index have Canadian benchmarks?
Yes. Since its 2025 normative data update, the Well-Being Index benchmarks results against Canadian physicians and residents/fellows, made possible through a partnership with the CMPA.
How common is physician burnout in Canada?
In the CMA's 2025 National Physician Health Survey, 46% of physicians reported high levels of burnout, and 37% plan to reduce their clinical hours in the next 24 months. (CMA, 2025)
How does physician burnout affect patient access to care in Canada?
The CMA reports that exhaustion and burnout are "leading some to reduce clinical hours or consider leaving practice altogether." Average weekly physician hours in Canada fell 6.9 hours between 1987–1991 and 2017–2021, and researchers suggest the decline may be, in part, a response to burnout. (CMAJ, 2024) Primary care "remains out of reach for more than 6.5 million Canadians." (CMA, 2025)
What does physician burnout cost the Canadian health system?
A national study estimated $213.1 million (2010 dollars) in physician services lost to burnout-related early retirement and reduced clinical hours. The authors call the estimate conservative. (BMC Health Services Research, 2014)
How do you get leadership buy-in to fund physician well-being?
Frame well-being as patient access, not expense. Bring your own baseline data, show burnout is structural rather than a pandemic effect, and fund what physicians say will help, such as reducing administrative burden. Get the guide for the evidence behind each driver.
Sources
- Canadian Medical Association. From pressure to progress: Results from the CMA’s 2025 National Physician Health Survey. October 14, 2025 (updated March 10, 2026).
- Dewa CS, Jacobs P, Thanh NX, Loong D. An estimate of the cost of burnout on early retirement and reduction in clinical hours of practicing physicians in Canada. BMC Health Services Research, 2014;14:254.
- Kralj B, Islam R, Sweetman A. Long-term trends in the work hours of physicians in Canada. CMAJ, 2024;196(11):E369–E376.
- de Wit K, et al. Emergency physician burnout and attrition in Canada: a longitudinal study. CMAJ, 2026;198(27):E1055–E1064.