TABLE 1. Key Challenges for the Clinician Sector.

Challenge Area	Pre-Pandemic Trend	COVID-19 Experience
Clinician well-being and occupational distress	Between 35% and 45% of clinicians reported occupational distress prior to the pandemic	COVID-19 served as a massive acute stressor for clinicians, levying a significant physical, emotional, and moral toll on the workforce
Staffing and operations	Critical care clinicians were already in shortage prior to the pandemic Digital systems were not optimally configured to support care coordination and rapid research initiatives	Clinicians were retrained and redeployed to fill gaps in care capacity Clinicians struggled to exchange data with public health departments and officials
Disruptions to education and training	Communities of color were underrepresented in the clinician pipeline Institutional racism and implicit biases were embedded in academic medicine	The financial impact of the pandemic resulted in furloughs and hiring freezes While all learners were affected by disruptions to clinical training, the disruptions disproportionately affected students from marginalized communities
Financial and administrative impacts	Many clinicians were still reimbursed under inflexible payment arrangements Temporary closures and reduced care volume created acute revenue shortfalls for clinicians and practices	Care delays and cancellations created revenue shortfalls for clinicians under fee-for-service reimbursement systems Many measurement and documentation requirements were untenable during the pandemic