Asynchronous Care That Works: A Better Way to Support Clinicians
What the Latest Research Reveals About Asynchronous Work and How MDI Is Already Solving It
The conversation around clinician burnout has often focused on staffing shortages, EMR fatigue, and rising patient demands. But a new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine points to something more subtle (and more fixable) than many realize: the growing burden of asynchronous work.
In this study, researchers at the University of Colorado tested what would happen if primary care physicians were given protected time during clinic sessions to handle non-visit tasks like reviewing results, managing patient messages, and coordinating care. The results were striking. Clinician satisfaction improved significantly, the intent to stay in practice increased, and both patient satisfaction and care quality remained steady. The only trade-off was a modest decline in visit volume, while productivity (measured by wRVUs) stayed level.
In other words: when asynchronous work is structured and supported, it stops being a burnout risk, and starts becoming a retention strategy.
Read the full study here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-025-09919-3
Asynchronous Work Isn’t the Problem. It’s the Design
The study’s findings echo what MD Integrations has believed from day one. The problem in traditional healthcare isn’t that asynchronous communication exists, it’s that it’s unbounded and unstructured. In many systems, clinicians are expected to respond to messages, refill requests, and follow-ups on their own time, without compensation or clear workflows. What begins as flexibility quickly becomes fragmentation.
MD Integrations was built to change that.
Our platform redefines asynchronous care as a structured, physician-first process, not an afterthought. Every asynchronous encounter is time-bounded, supported by automated intake and routing, and fully reimbursed. Physicians review patient data, make clinical decisions, and move on, without the administrative sprawl that has become so common in electronic health record systems.
This isn’t just a workflow improvement. It’s a philosophical shift: technology should serve the clinician, not the other way around.
Designing for Autonomy and Retention
The University of Colorado study found that the single greatest benefit of structured asynchronous time was an increased sense of autonomy and control. That’s exactly what MD Integrations delivers at scale.
Through our asynchronous model, physicians can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and focus entirely on care delivery rather than coordination. Built-in compliance, pharmacy integrations, and automated communication mean that clinicians spend their time where it counts, on medical judgment, not inbox management.
This design supports both clinicians and the brands that depend on them. When physicians feel balanced and supported, they deliver better care, stay longer in their roles, and strengthen patient trust, the foundation of every successful telehealth brand.
A New Model for Sustainable Care
The takeaway: asynchronous care isn’t inherently the cause of burnout, it’s the lack of structure, support, and time that makes it unsustainable.
MD Integrations has operationalized that insight, transforming asynchronous care into a model that scales physician well-being alongside access and efficiency.
As the industry looks for ways to stabilize the clinical workforce, the data and the lived experience align: autonomy matters, structure matters, and design matters.
At MDI, we’re proving that when asynchronous care is built with purpose, it doesn’t just preserve the physician experience, it defines the future of healthcare.
Reference: Doolan RJ, Fraumeni BR, Schilling LM, et al. “Addressing the Burden of Asynchronous Work to Promote Clinician Retention in Ambulatory General Internal Medicine Practices.” Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-025-09919-3