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Committee lays over Treat Yourself First grant to address health-care worker burnout
Summary
House File 1645 would fund Treat Yourself First, an initiative to reduce stigma and expand mental-health resources for health-care workers; testimony cited high burnout rates across professions and personal losses, and the bill was laid over for possible omnibus inclusion.
Representative Breyer introduced House File 1645 to fund Treat Yourself First, an initiative aimed at connecting health-care workers to mental-health resources and reducing stigma around seeking care. He described high burnout rates across medical professions and said the grant would support outreach and services.
Dr. Michelle Chestovich, a family physician testifying for the Minnesota Medical Association, described burnout as a public-health problem affecting retention and patient access. "Rates of burnout are at an all time high in medicine. It is a real problem with real consequences," she said, recounting national survey data and a personal family loss by suicide in 2021.
Committee members discussed causes and potential responses. Questions and comments addressed the role of regulatory burdens (prior authorization, claims processing) and whether licensing processes deter clinicians from seeking help; Dr. Chestovich and others said boards have revised historic "have you ever" language to focus on current impairment and that stigma and fear of job loss still limit help-seeking. Representative Backer said increasing provider supply and interstate licensure compacts could help, while DePauw and others urged reducing avoidable administrative burdens.
Representative Breyer renewed the motion to lay House File 1645 over for possible omnibus inclusion; the committee did not take final action beyond laying the bill over.
