Metro Omaha Medical Society Foundation

Metro Omaha Medical Society Provider Wellness Initiative

The Metro Omaha Medical Society will address physician burnout and wellness at a community level, eliminating the barriers to seeking care that exist in other models because they are contained within an employer based system and endanger the anonymity that doctors consider a necessity.

The program’s approach is multi-faceted so that physicians have a tool to help them recognize stress and depression and then an ability to access services through telehealth or local services as they wish.  The Provider Wellness Initiative has the potential to be adapted to both large and smaller organizations, with the ability to serve large numbers of physicians in all stages of their careers.

The Medical Society is currently piloting a third-party way for healthcare providers in the community to seek help without fear of being seen by their patients, colleagues and employers.  The initial design phase took place in 2016 and led to an online assessment tool that launched in early 2017. Custom links for each hospital system capture which providers are seeking help. Once a participant has completed their assessment, a social worker from the contracted telehealth firm reviews the assessment. A tailored response to every participant is communicated via the website and/or email. Providers needing help have the option to utilize the out-of-state telepsychiatry services or be referred to local specialists that will make special arrangements to maintain provider anonymity. An increase in marketing and promotion of this resource will result in an increase of the utilization of the online assessment, and in turn, hopefully increase the number of physicians who are connected to care as well as resources made available via the website and communication with the reviewing counselor.