A healthy primary care system is essential to our nation's health system, but primary care is at a crossroads. Burnout is rampant, fewer physicians are choosing the specialty, and many existing primary care doctors are leaving it. Drs Christine Sinsky and Thomas Sinsky and their colleagues visited more than 20 primary care practices that have adopted innovations to enhance the job satisfaction of physicians, other clinicians, and staff while also improving the quality of care and the patient experience. In research sponsored by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation and published in the Annals of Family Medicine, investigators sought to identify challenges facing primary care practices and innovations that could facilitate and restore joy in practice. Chief among the innovations is a movement from a physician-centric model of work distribution to a shared-care model with higher levels of clinical support of physicians and frequent forums for communication that can result in high-functioning teams, improved professional satisfaction, and greater joy in practice. FMDRL_ID: 4641#Conferences #ConferenceonPracticeImprovement #2013