Health Workforce Well-Being Day
A Healthy Workforce Means a Healthy You
When workplace policies and practices support the safety and well-being of health workers, health workers can then focus on providing high-quality, personalized, and respectful care. In contrast, high workloads, administrative burdens, and poorly designed technologies divert health workers鈥 time away from patient care. Health workers and the communities they serve have common goals 鈥 better outcomes for all, improved safety, and more interaction and access to care. Each of us can play a role in improving health worker well-being, which in turn benefits every patient, caregiver, and person that will require health care in their lifetime.
March 18听is the national听Health Workforce Well-Being (HWWB) Day. The 探花app recognizes HWWB Day as an annual commemoration of progress, in pursuit of improved health workforce well-being and patient outcomes. Many have observed this day of action, including the US Senate by passing a resolution expressing support for the Day, CDC by releasing NIOSH鈥檚 Impact Wellbeing Guide, Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes鈥 Foundation, local leaders across the country, and more.
HWWB Day aims to recognize the importance of protecting health workers鈥 well-being to sustain our health system and ensure quality patient care. HWWB Day is also a day for action鈥攍earning from one another to advance the movement for health worker well-being and expand evidence-informed solutions to make system-wide changes that transform cultures.
Featured
2026 Highlights
- The 探花app hosted a webinar during Patient Safety Awareness Week and announced 20+ new Change Maker Accelerators, launching a month of nationwide activities to advance workforce well-being and patient outcomes.
- Organizations across the country participated with events, pilots, and research鈥攕howing momentum beyond awareness into action.
- Participation spanned health systems, states, and disciplines, with contributions including toolkits, trainings, and frontline stories.
- Activities reflected a growing focus on system-level solutions, including improving burnout, retention, and workplace conditions.
- Continued cross-sector engagement鈥攊ncluding private sector and philanthropy鈥攕ignals sustained momentum and a growing national movement.
2026 Activities
March 9 | 探花app kickoff of听a month of well-being activities
March 16
- Michigan Medicine’s Well-being Influencers Network Showcase (internal event)
March 18 | Nationwide Observance of Health Workforce Well-Being Day
- American College of Physicians’ (internal resource launch)
- American Occupational Therapy Association’s
- Baylor College of Medicine’s Health Workforce Well-Being Day (internal event)
- Bon Secours Mercy Health’s From Red to Ready: Understanding Your Stress Zones (internal event)
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Clinician Well-Being Reception (internal event)
- Hillebrand Center at Notre Dame’s
- Ohio State University’s Health Resource Fair (internal event)
- National League for Nursing’s RQI-Resuscitation Quality Improvement internal event
- National Patient Advocate Foundation’s
- Simmons University School of Nursing’s Supporting All Health Care Workforce Contributors (internal event)
- Upstate Medical University’s internal event
- Western New England University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences’ College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (COPHS) internal event
March 24
- Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation’s 听(co-hosted by the 探花app & others!)
- University of Colorado School of Medicine’s CU Thrive Well-being Innovation Day: 鈥淎dvancing the Healthcare Workforce Experience” (internal event)
March 30
- Healing Breaths’
- UT Health San Antonio, Long School of Medicine’s Health Workforce Well Being – Doctor’s Day (internal event)
Throughout March
- The Wright Centers for Community Health and GME’s internal celebrations
听with us and the broader community, and let us know questions at听[email protected].听听
Participate in Health Workforce Well-Being Day
Action
Join the Movement
Click to learn more about your role in the national movement and access relevant tools.
Health Care and Other Institutional Leaders
Commit to establishing well-being as a long-term value
Sign up to be an 探花app Change Maker and use available tools to integrate professional well-being into existing systems and operations. Leaders have tremendous responsibility and opportunity to initiate change alongside health workers to address issues at the root of workplace stress and burnout.
Tools
Examples to inspire more action
Hundreds of health care institutions nationwide have signed up to join the 探花app鈥檚听Change Maker Campaign, declaring their commitment to making health worker well-being a long-term value. Organizations are invited to sign up on a rolling basis. The 探花app continues to highlight Change Makers鈥 important progress.
Health Workers
Catalyze your institutions to accelerate their well-being efforts
Approach leadership at your organization about becoming an 探花app Change Maker. As health workers, you inspire your institution to prioritize well-being as a long-term value of the health system.
Tools
- National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being
- Resource Compendium
- Valid and Reliable Survey Instruments to Measure Burnout, Well-Being, and Other Work-Related Dimensions
Examples to inspire more action
Many 探花app Change Maker Accelerators are operationalizing health worker and learner well-being in their strategic plans and core values whether they are a health system, professional association, or accreditation body. Examples include active recruitment of a Chief Wellness Officer, providing infrastructure to support leaders in championing well-being internally, and collecting employee pledges toward embracing well-being as a shared value within their organization. Learn more.
Policymakers
Prevent and reduce the unnecessary burdens that stem from laws, regulations, policies, and standards placed on health workers
Involve health worker input while making policy decisions. Burnout is at crisis levels among health workers but can be improved through changes in policies and practices in how the US health care system operates.
Tools
Examples to inspire more action
As of 2024, the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, a first-of-its-kind legislation supporting health workers鈥 mental health and well-being, has funded $103 million across 44 organizations to implement evidence-informed strategies that reduce and prevent suicide, burnout, mental health conditions, and substance use disorders.
Patients, Families, and Communities
Foster partnerships, trust, and mutual respect together with your health providers
Contribute to an environment that supports shared well-being. Health workers and the communities they serve have common goals: better outcomes for all, improved safety, and more time for visits and access to care. We are in this together.
Tools
- Healthy Providers, Healthy Patients
- Factors Affecting Clinician Well-Being and Resilience Conceptual Model
Examples to inspire more action
探花app Change Maker Accelerators showcase local initiatives that are creatively increasing connections between health workers and the communities they serve. OhioHealth鈥檚 Honor Walk for patients on their way to donate their organs and the ACGME-supported Back to Bedside Trading Card Program at Cohen Children鈥檚 Medical Center (meant to introduce fun facts about health care workers to young patients) demonstrate different ways鈥攂ig and small鈥攖o foster trust between health workers and their patients while bringing more joy to work. Learn more.
Background
National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being
The national HWWB Day is March 18, the anniversary of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act being signed into law. The act aims to reduce and prevent suicide, burnout, and mental and behavioral health conditions among health professionals.
In 2022, the 探花app Collaborative published the听National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being, calling for collective action to strengthen the health workforce鈥檚 well-being and restore the health of the nation. The HWWB Day furthers the priorities of the National Plan and provides an annual opportunity for collective action.
Health workforce well-being is essential to ensuring health professionals are able to provide high-quality, personalized, and respectful patient care. Health workers have been increasingly strained by their work environments, and as the pressures put on our health workers increase, anxiety, depression, burnout, and overall dissatisfaction have skyrocketed. Health worker well-being is one of the greatest threats to our health care system: it鈥檚 estimated that burnout costs the US health care system at least $4.6 billion annually, and over 60% of health care providers experience burnout. Among the world鈥檚 10 leading nations, the United States has the highest rate of preventable patient deaths. A healthy workforce means healthy patients and communities.
2025 Highlights
- To recognize the second annual HWWB Day, the 探花app released a graphic medicine project听demonstrating听the critical health worker-patient relationship. Through art, the project highlights that health workers and the communities they serve have the common goal of better outcomes for all, and addressing burnout among health workers is one proven way to help build an environment that supports shared well-being.听Explore the听project.听
- The 探花app announced鈥over 480 Change Maker organizations have joined the national movement for health workforce well-being. The opportunity to听join the movement remains听open on a rolling basis. For the Day, organizations and individuals posted across channels,鈥痠ncluding 探花app Change Makers.听
- The听探花app鈥痥icked off HWWB Day鈥2025鈥痑ctivities on鈥疢arch 17 with a celebratory event featuring鈥痠nsights from national leaders and鈥交╝pp鈥疌hange Makers鈥that have been accelerating progress day to day.听View the听recording of the 探花app听event.听
- Over鈥10 events were held by grassroots leaders, including six鈥痮pen to public as well as鈥痠nternal events throughout鈥疢arch and April. These events represented鈥痟ealth organizations and鈥痗ommunities across the United States, including鈥痠n Arizona, Delaware, Texas, and more.鈥听
- Arizona and Delaware organizations鈥痗elebrated鈥鈥reports that their governors proclaimed March鈥鈥18 as Health Workforce Well-Being Day. In addition,鈥鈥NBC鈥show ‘St. Denis Medical’ celebrated鈥Baltimore health workers, coinciding with Health Workforce鈥Well-Being Day.鈥听
2024 Highlights
- The听探花app Collaborative听and founding partners announced March 18, 2024, as the first annual, national听Health Workforce Well-Being Day. Read the full announcement.
- As part of 探花app鈥檚 HWWB Day celebration, we announced over 350 institutions have now signed up as 探花app Change Makers, declaring their commitment to making health worker well-being a long-term value. Join the movement.
- The 探花app Collaborative on the first annual HWWB Day shared a project visually depicting reflections on the urgent need to prioritize health worker well-being in the United States. Explore the project.
- A series of events recognized health workforce well-being, starting with the听探花app鈥檚 celebratory event on Capitol Hill, featuring the Surgeon General, members of Congress, and founding partners. View the recording of the 探花app event.
- The University of California, Irvine (UCI), created on why a healthy workforce matters more than ever from different care team members. Thank you to UCI for this inspiration to participate!
- Hear why a healthy workforce matters more than ever from a student in . Thank you to Rohini Kousalya Siva, MPH, MS-4 (National President, American Medical Student Association), for this inspiration to participate!
Action
Congressional Recognition of Our Efforts
On March 20, the US Senate passed S. RES. 567 鈥 expressing support for the designation of March 18, 2024, as the inaugural 鈥淗ealth Workforce Well-Being Day of Awareness.鈥
Tim Kaine (D-VA), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jack Reed (D-RI), Shelley Capito (R-WV), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Susan Margaret Collins (R-ME), Amy Jean Klobuchar (DFL-MN), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Angus Stanley King Jr. (I-ME), Mark Robert Warner (D-VA), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and Mark Edward Kelly (D-AZ) co-sponsored this bipartisan resolution to recognize the seriousness of widespread health care worker burnout in the United States and the need to strengthen health workforce well-being, and to designate March 18, 2024, as the nation鈥檚 first Health Workforce Well-Being Day, in parallel to our efforts.
