Managing Professional Burnout

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Bill Eikost, FHFMA

Do you feel like a prisoner in your job? Do you often feel like you’re fighting a battle you can’t win? Are you confident that when you take time off from work the work will get done while you’re away? Are you struggling to find a good work/life balance? If you feel defeated, is someone telling you that or is it that voice inside your head that we all have telling you that? Well, please know that you’re not alone. Many of your friends and colleagues feel the same. The healthcare industry is full of challenges. We’re often asked to do more with less. Outside regulatory pressures and payer issues are constant. These are just some of the stressors in our professional lives. Our personal lives can include caring for aging parents, loss of a job, a sick loved one, divorce, finances, raising kids as a single parent, or just keeping up with household responsibilities

So what do you do to reset? How do you keep it all together for yourself and for your teams? Nearly 20% of healthcare workers have considered leaving the industry since the pandemic. Leadership engagement has gone down.

Here are some things you can do for yourself:

• Take the first step
• Be intentional
• Make self-care a priority
• Have an Accountability Partner
• Know who you are – Are you a Revenue Cycle leader, a spouse, a parent, a grandparent, a caregiver, a business owner
• Separate your personal satisfaction from your professional satisfaction
• Stop taking on other people’s stuff
• It’s okay to look into therapy if you need to – betterhealth.com

“Preserve Your Purpose”

Here are some things you can do for your team:

• Celebrate the wins
• Recognize a job well done
• Employee Surveys are important but make sure you have a strategy around the findings
• Communicate expectations
• Create a culture of accountability
• Focus on the big things
• Let the mission drive you
• Have fun

“Culture outperforms strategy every time; and culture with strategy is unbeatable.”

-Quint Studer

“A boss will ask you to manage your stress. A leader will fix what’s causing it.”

-Lise Kuecker

So, in summary, don’t sweat the small stuff. Focus on the big things that are really going to impact your results and your performance. Guard your time vigorously and put up guardrails around what you will and won’t do. Would you expect someone to maintain the same pace you’ve set for yourself? Don’t wait until it’s too late to make a change. Some say we only live once. The truth is we live every day. There is an abundance of professional development resources out there. What is truly most important to you? You are the one that needs to take the first step. You’ve got this! The future is bright!

Bill Eikost, FHFMA

Regional VP of Business Development

KeyBridge Medical Revenue Care

[email protected]