Duly Health and Care Honored by AMA for Commitment to Well-Being of Physicians

DOWN­ERS GROVE, IL – Duly Health and Care earned recog­ni­tion in 2025 from the Amer­i­can Med­ical Asso­ci­a­tion (AMA) as a Joy in Med­i­cine® orga­ni­za­tion. 

The pres­ti­gious recog­ni­tion from the country’s lead­ing physician’s asso­ci­a­tion hon­ors health sys­tems, hos­pi­tals, and med­ical groups that pri­or­i­tize proven meth­ods to reduce burnout and enhance the pro­fes­sion­al ful­fill­ment of doc­tors that comes from patient care. Orga­ni­za­tions that meet the cri­te­ria of the Joy in Med­i­cine Health Sys­tem Recog­ni­tion Pro­gram are lead­ers in the nation­al effort to trans­form health care work sys­tems and address the root caus­es of burnout among care teams. 

​“At Duly, we are a physi­cian-led orga­ni­za­tion, and that means our physi­cians are at the cen­ter of every­thing we do,” said Paul Mer­rick, MD, Chief Physi­cian Exec­u­tive of Duly Health and Care. ​“We know that when our physi­cians feel sup­port­ed and empow­ered, our patients and com­mu­ni­ties ben­e­fit. This recog­ni­tion reflects our com­mit­ment to their well-being and to cre­at­ing an envi­ron­ment where physi­cians can focus on our patient-first mis­sion.” 

Burnout among U.S. physi­cians peaked at 62.8% in 2021 dur­ing the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, accord­ing to research. But thanks to strides made to address burnout at the sys­tem lev­el, the nation­al physi­cian burnout rate ebbed to 45.2% in 2023. Despite improve­ments, physi­cian burnout lev­els remain much high­er than oth­er U.S. work­ers. Con­tin­ued efforts are essen­tial to ensure doc­tors receive the sup­port they need to thrive and achieve nation­al health goals.

“Joy in Med­i­cine rec­og­nized orga­ni­za­tions are lead­ing the gains made against the physi­cian burnout cri­sis and help clin­i­cians redis­cov­er the deep rewards and joy that comes from help­ing patients,” said AMA Pres­i­dent Bob­by Mukka­mala, M.D. ​“The AMA dis­tinc­tion hon­ors each organization’s com­mit­ment to not only the health and well-being of the care team, but also to patients. Qual­i­ty care ulti­mate­ly orig­i­nates from a pos­i­tive and pur­pose­ful work cul­ture where health care pro­fes­sion­als can flour­ish both men­tal­ly and phys­i­cal­ly.” 

Duly’s Physi­cian Well-Being pro­gram, co-direct­ed by physi­a­trist Lena Shah­ban­dar, MD, and pri­ma­ry care physi­cian Kate Hop­pock, DO, offers a vari­ety of resources to sup­port physi­cians at all stages of their careers. The pro­gram includes per­son­al­ized coach­ing to pre­vent and address burnout, ini­tia­tives to ease the bur­den of chart­ing, and work­shops to help new physi­cians estab­lish healthy habits ear­ly in their careers. Togeth­er, these efforts encour­age a cul­ture that pri­or­i­tizes well-being and empow­ers physi­cians to thrive in their work. 

Since its incep­tion in 2019, the AMA Joy in Med­i­cine Health Sys­tem Recog­ni­tion Pro­gram has rec­og­nized more than 200 orga­ni­za­tions across the coun­try. Recog­ni­tion lev­els are valid for two years. This year, a total of 109 health orga­ni­za­tions nation­wide earned recog­ni­tion with doc­u­ment­ed efforts to reduce sys­tem-lev­el dri­vers of work-relat­ed burnout and demon­strat­ed com­pe­ten­cies in com­mit­ment, assess­ment, lead­er­ship, effi­cien­cy of prac­tice envi­ron­ment, team­work, and support. 

Learn more about the AMA Joy in Med­i­cine Health Sys­tem Recog­ni­tion Pro­gram at ama​-assn​.org/​j​o​y​i​n​m​e​d​icine 

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About Duly Health and Care 

The Duly Health and Care brand con­sists of some of the largest inde­pen­dent, mul­ti-spe­cial­ty, physi­cian-direct­ed med­ical groups in the nation, with more than 1,000 pri­ma­ry care and spe­cial­ty care providers and over 6,000 team mem­bers across more than 150 loca­tions. The Duly Health and Care brand includes three med­ical groups — DuPage Med­ical Group Ltd., Quin­cy Med­ical Group, and The South Bend Clin­ic LLC. Duly is deeply com­mit­ted to car­ing for patients in tra­di­tion­al and val­ue-based care arrange­ments, ensur­ing a focus on qual­i­ty, effi­cien­cy, and enhanced patient expe­ri­ences through­out the Midwest. 

For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it duly​healthand​care​.com.