New Survey Sounds the Alarm on U.S. Healthcare's Worsening Workforce Crisis

Findings from Inlightened Experts Highlight Critical Gaps and How to Support a System Nearing Its Limit

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Inlightened, the tech-enabled insights platform that connects client companies to a vetted network of healthcare professionals, today released the findings of its Q2 2026 network survey on what will make or break the U.S. healthcare system over the next 24 months. The message from practicing clinicians is unmistakable: the system is already less stable than it was, and the people who deliver care are running out of time, capacity and patience.

Among practicing physicians, nurses and healthcare leaders surveyed, key findings include:

• 70% say the U.S. healthcare system is less stable than it was two years ago, and nearly three-quarters (72%) expect it to worsen over the next 24 months.
• When asked to identify the single greatest threat to system stability, provider burnout ranked #1.
• Almost half (49%) anticipate their own organization’s staffing shortages will get worse.
• Asked to identify the top ways the system will decline, respondents pointed to a multi-front squeeze: clinician burnout (82%); rising costs of care for patients (81%); workforce shortages (77%); reimbursement instability or funding volatility (77%); a rising number of uninsured or underinsured patients (71%); provider exodus from clinical practice (62%).

"These findings reinforce a critical gap in how decisions are being made across healthcare,” said Shelli Pavone, president and co-founder at Inlightened. “Too often, policy, product and operational decisions are made without direct, real-time input from the clinicians delivering care, and the human infrastructure of our system is quietly eroding. Many experts in our network describe a system under increased strain, with growing concerns about burnout, workforce sustainability and the ability to meet demand. As leaders, policymakers and the industry plan for the future, the voices of those experts and the realities they see every day will be more important than ever.”

Why Clinician Insight Matters Now

The findings underscore three priorities for the leaders, organizations and innovators making decisions about the future of care:

• Engage clinicians early in technology deployment. Clinicians aren’t opposed to AI — many are using it. But 70% warn integration is outpacing execution, and they’re signaling where the deployment process is breaking down. Catching that signal early is the difference between adoption that supports clinicians and adoption that accelerates burnout.
• Treat workforce sustainability as a leading indicator, not a lagging one. The loss of experienced clinicians is already happening. Organizations that wait to address it will be in reactive vs. proactive mode.
• Make expert insight a continuous input mechanism, not a one-time exercise. The conditions clinicians are describing are changing month to month. Decisions made in the absence of current, vetted clinician perspective are decisions made without the most important data set on the table.

"The growing frustration is leading more clinicians to question their long-term future in the profession, which will create meaningful workforce challenges if left unaddressed," said Karen Leitner, M.D., internal medicine and pediatrics physician, certified coach for women physicians and Inlightened network expert. "And this is happening at exactly the wrong moment: Patients are aging and presenting with more chronic conditions, complexity and need. The country is going to require more dedicated, qualified and experienced providers in the next decade—not fewer. If these pressures persist, it will become increasingly difficult to meet growing patient demand with the workforce available to deliver care."

Survey Methodology

Inlightened sent the online survey to a randomized sample of its clinician and healthcare expert network and received 100+ responses between April 2 and April 24, 2026. Response counts varied by question, ranging from 73 to 102. Percentages were calculated based on respondents who answered each question. Respondents include practicing physicians, nurses and healthcare leaders across more than 30 specialties, including oncology, neurology, emergency medicine, primary care, psychiatry, dermatology, surgery, critical care and hospital administration.

The full report is available here.

About Inlightened

Inlightened is the go-to SaaS platform for healthcare innovation. It connects client organizations to on-demand insights via an unparalleled network of curated, vetted, and engaged experts. In addition to being recognized among Forbes’ Inaugural Next 1000, Inlightened has been featured in Crunchbase, Forbes, and MedCity News. Inlightened was acquired by LocumTenens.com, part of the Jackson Healthcare^® family of companies, in August of 2023, and operates as an independent entity. Learn more at www.getinlightened.com.