Physician Alliance Well-Being Case Study: Avera Health

Avera Health, an integrated health system based in Sioux Falls, S.D., serves a rural population of nearly 1 million residents across South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and North Dakota. Fueled by seeing physician colleagues develop burnout, Avera’s chief medical officer (CMO) and the employee assistance program (EAP) director sought to not just treat burnout but to prevent it. In 2013, Avera Health created its own program inspired by physician well-being coach, Dike Drummond, M.D., and work at Stanford and Vanderbilt, to support the needs of its clinicians. Avera Health made it a mission to develop a proactive program to address the burnout epidemic among physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. The program became known as LIGHT: Live, Improve, Grow, Heal and Treat.