Dental Support Organizations Market Intelligence
Key Issues
ADA, coalition thanks lawmakers for passing bill aimed at preventing burnout among health workers as pandemic related challenges continue to affect industry
The ADA and 70 stakeholders praised Congress for passing the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, legislation that will give healthcare workers better access to education and training in order to prevent stress and burnout. Lorna Breen, M.D., was an emergency room physician in New York who died by suicide in 2020 after treating COVID-19 patients. In a March 8 letter to leaders in the House and Senate, the groups, led by the American College of Emergency Physicians, thanked the lawmakers for sponsoring the bill.
In addition to providing better education and training, the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act also seeks to enable employers to engage with their workforce on mental health issues and to provide greater resources and accelerate solutions.
The coalition said the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified longstanding issues faced by front line healthcare providers and stressed there "has never been a more critical time" to address mental health, which includes dental service organizations who have had to pivot their model and workforce in order to ensure that their patients have the care and support they need.
Dental Practice employees have been affected by the "Great Resignation" where the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported that in Nov. 2021 there were 4.5 million employees who quit their jobs. The healthcare sector reported the second largest number of employees who quit, yet was not as quick to hire back as other sectors. There are a number of reasons that healthcare workers don't return back as quickly as other sectors and a Ipsos research showed that many healthcare workers love their careers, yet burnout due to ongoing strain has almost a quarter of workers saying they are contemplating leaving their jobs. Despite 73% of respondents saying they love working in healthcare, 52% said they feel burned out and 23% say they are likely to leave the field in the near future.
By giving employees better access to education, training and mental health support and by engaging with their workforce to examine whether they are experiencing stress or burnout, dental service organizations can address challenges their workforce are facing to prevent costly challenges resulting from employee turnover and can ensure their teams are heard and understood in order to thrive under future challenges.
Sources: The American Dental Association, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Atlantic, Ipsos, March, 2022.
Benesch's DSO Market Intelligence Bi-Monthly Report: January - March 2022
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