Transforming
Workplaces, Impacting
Workforce Wellbeing

We share a deep commitment to supporting our healthcare workforce’s wellbeing and mental health.

Yet, the challenge we hear most often is navigating implementation of workforce wellbeing solutions—figuring out exactly how to translate our best intentions into daily operational reality.

Through our Caring for Caregivers program, we provide evidence-informed pathways to improve workplaces, helping healthcare organizations implement operational and cultural advancements that support our health workers’ wellbeing and mental health.

By bringing interprofessional, cross-department healthcare teams together, we empower leaders to put proven ideas into practice, optimizing workflows and practices to improve both the health worker and patient experience. We have supported 20+ health systems in Virginia and North to turn administrative burden (the #1 driver of burnout) into clinical time, measurable wellbeing, and improved patient relationships. Over the next year 30+ health systems across Wisconsin, Houston, Texas, and a national cohort across geographies, will participate in the Caring for Caregivers program.

“When we look at EHR documentation and inbox fatigue, we know the burden doesn’t fall solely on physicians—it impacts our nurses, medical assistants, and advanced practice providers alike. Participating in the Caring for Caregivers journey challenged us to take a truly interprofessional, systems-level approach to operational wellbeing. By implementing AI-assisted message drafting across our ambulatory teams, we provided our workforce with a tool that eases their daily workload without compromising their clinical voice or judgment. Shaving 28 to 40 seconds off a single message might sound modest on paper, but in practice, it has saved our clinical teams dozens of hours of computer time. Ensuring that all members of the care team experience this tangible reduction in daily friction has been a vital step in showing our workforce that their wellbeing and time are valued.”

Lindsey Stanton, DNP, FNP, Inova Health

“The weight of health worker burnout—the long hours, the documentation burden, the emotional toll—was real and relentless. Our partnership with the Foundation was the catalyst for systemic change. They challenged us to address that documentation burden directly, leading us to deploy ambient AI scribe technology. The impact is undeniable: 17 providers in a small, focused pilot saved 100 hours of documentation time in four months. This isn’t just efficiency; this is reduced cognitive load and, as one physician put it, literally getting their life back so they can enjoy more time with their family.”

Gregory Szlyk, MD, FACS, Mary Washington Health Care

“Administrative burden isn’t just one contributor to burnout—it’s the leading cause. When highly trained clinicians spend more time navigating technology and documenting care than delivering it, we erode the very core of patient safety and human connection. These inefficiencies rob our teams of focus, fulfillment, and presence at the bedside. Implementing solutions as we have with the Foundation has allowed us to reclaim that time and energy—restoring capacity, calm, and confidence where it matters most.”

Leigh Williams, MHIIM, FHIMSS, FACHDM, CHCIO, Augusta Health

Guiding Hands-On Improvement

Caring for Caregivers helps healthcare organizations lay a foundation for workforce retention and sustainability that, in turn, ensures safe, quality patient care. We provide team-based leadership training and dedicated guidance to help healthcare organizations confidently take the next steps on their wellbeing systems approach journey.

1. FOSTER SAFE PATHWAYS FOR HELP-SEEKING

Healthcare organizations participate in the Wellbeing First Champion Challenge program and receive dedicated technical assistance to ensure credentialing applications and peer reference forms use supportive language—beginning the journey to ensure practices and processes empower health workers to seek mental health care.

Intrusive mental health questions on credentialing and licensing applications prevent 50% of clinicians from seeking help and are a primary driver of suicide risk.

Through the Wellbeing First Champion Challenge, we help organizations audit and revise these forms. Removing this stigmatizing language ensures health workers can confidently seek the mental health support they may need without fearing professional repercussions.

2. ADOPT A WELLBEING SYSTEMS APPROACH

Healthcare organizations bring an interprofessional, cross-department wellbeing leadership team together to complete The Breen Scale™—leaving with clear insights into their current workplace and specific guidance on next steps to support their workforce’s wellbeing and mental health.

The Breen Scale™ is an evidence-informed assessment for healthcare organizations to benchmark their current workforce wellbeing infrastructure. The Breen Scale™ guides organizations through three key domains:

Organizational Strategy: Explores overarching goal and ensures a structured approach and measurement plan to transition from basic compliance to workforce wellbeing as a core metric of organizational success.
Leadership Approach: Reflects on how an organization structures its leadership, governance, and communication to ensure wellbeing is championed at the highest levels.
Wellbeing Systems Approach: Reviews both operational and individual systems support, looking at the daily experiences of an organization’s workforce—from optimizing workflows to providing comprehensive, confidential mental health care.

2. ADOPT A WELLBEING SYSTEMS APPROACH

Healthcare organizations bring an interprofessional, cross-department wellbeing leadership team together to complete The Breen Scale™—leaving with clear insights into their current workplace and specific guidance on next steps to support their workforce’s wellbeing and mental health.

The Breen Scale™ is an evidence-informed assessment for healthcare organizations to benchmark their current workforce wellbeing infrastructure. The Breen Scale^TM guides organizations through three key domains:

Organizational Strategy: Explores overarching goal and ensures a structured approach and measurement plan to transition from basic compliance to workforce wellbeing as a core metric of organizational success.
Leadership Approach: Reflects on how an organization structures its leadership, governance, and communication to ensure wellbeing is championed at the highest levels.
Wellbeing Systems Approach: Reviews both operational and individual systems support, looking at the daily experiences of an organization’s workforce—from optimizing workflows to providing comprehensive, confidential mental health care.

3. INTEGRATE WELLBEING INTO OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENT

Based on The Breen Scale™ results, teams participate in a collaborative learning community to implement operational improvement projects through WELL-OPS™. This approach directly links a thriving workplace environment to exceptional health outcomes, demonstrating that caring for your workforce is the most effective way to care for your communities.

WELL-OPS™ is a proven quality improvement methodology that serves as a professional wellbeing lens for operational change. Integrating seamlessly into an organization’s existing infrastructure and frameworks, WELL-OPS™ encourages health worker engagement and co-design while helping organizations thoughtfully develop a return on investment for wellbeing efforts.

Powered by Evidence

Caring for Caregivers is based on the Impact Wellbeing™ Guide’s evidence-informed strategies co-developed by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Dr. Lorna Breen Foundation, which utilizes the Quadruple Aim Quality Framework that recognizes professional wellbeing as a key outcome essential to advancing a healthcare organization’s mission and producing exceptional patient care.

View the Guide

The Impact Wellbeing™ Guide is designed for leaders. However, health workers can use these tips to advocate for its use in their organization.

View the Tips

Ready to Care for your Caregivers?

If you are interested in participating in our Caring for Caregivers program and building a supportive, sustainable environment for your healthcare workforce, complete the form below and our team will be in touch.

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Want to Get Started Now?

There’s no time like the present to show your healthcare workforce that your organization supports mental health privacy! Use our free, on-demand resources to join the Wellbeing First Champion Challenge and ensure credentialing applications and peer reference forms are free of intrusive, stigmatizing mental health questions.

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