Thirty Years In, Coleman Associates Is Still Leading the Fight Against Healthcare Burnout

When Melissa Stratman first encountered Coleman Associates, she didn't expect it would change the trajectory of her career. She was working in a community health center at the time and assumed the consulting group had been brought in to deliver superficial advice. Instead, she found practical tools, frontline expertise, and a philosophy that resonated with her own belief: real healthcare transformation starts on the ground and is always focused on the end-user.

Today, as owner and CEO of Coleman Associates, she leads the organization into its fourth decade of helping clinics improve care through systems thinking, data, and hands-on coaching.

Founded more than 30 years ago, Coleman has quietly become one of the most influential names in primary care redesign. From rural and indigenous clinics to urban community health centers, the group is known for embedding with staff, observing real workflows, and implementing operational changes that reduce bottlenecks and increase patient access.

It's not about high-level memos or top-down mandates. Coleman trains medical assistants, front-desk staff, nurses, clinicians, and administrators in how to redesign the day-to-day, how to plan ahead for patient needs, improve team communication, and manage change in a way that sticks.

One of the most urgent challenges Stratman and her team see today is burnout. But rather than framing it as a staffing crisis, they describe it as a systemic failure rooted in workflow inefficiencies, poor support structures, and underskilled management, resulting in moral injury.

Physicians and other caregivers aren't just tired. They're caught in impossible trade-offs, having to choose between clinical obligations and their personal lives, between staying late to help a patient in need or leaving in time to attend their child's track meet. For a growing number of clinicians, especially younger ones and working parents, that tension is no longer sustainable.

Burnout is estimated to cost the US healthcare system approximately $4.6 billion each year, primarily due to physician turnover and reductions in work hours. Actually, for every physician who leaves the profession because of burnout, the associated cost to the organization can range from $500k to over $1 million, depending on the medical specialty. One unmeasurable cost caused by clinician loss trickles down to a reduced continuity for patients and their families, and a higher likelihood that their care will fall through the cracks.

In Stratman's view, the evolution of burnout has been slow but steady. A decade and a half ago, very few clinic leaders expressed concern about their doctors' well-being. Over time, that began to shift. West Coast practices were among the first to acknowledge that physicians wanted more balance, not just more pay. Since then, the issue has accelerated, influenced by generational expectations, the impact of the pandemic, and the changing demographics of the healthcare workforce. Practices are now focusing on quality-of-life metrics for clinical staff, an idea that would have seemed radical not long ago.

At the same time, clinics are grappling with role-based territoriality, resistance to change, and a growing disconnect between policy and practice. Stratman believes one of the ways to alleviate pressure is to re-examine the definition of who provides care. In some cases, nurses or nurse practitioners with appropriate training are well-positioned to perform certain tasks or procedures. Especially in areas where specialist access is limited, these expanded models of care can help improve outcomes and reduce delays.

Coleman's approach is rooted in lived experience. Its team members have all worked on the front lines and understand the constraints clinics face. Their model focuses on building trust, aligning teams, and helping organizations disaggregate data to reveal blind spots. For example, they might assess whether a specific communication method works equally well across different patient populations or adjust patient outreach to reduce no-shows and increase throughput. They also endorse planning meetings that leverage technology and flag patient-specific issues in advance, enabling teams to provide more holistic, coordinated care.

These small but powerful interventions are what Coleman has built its reputation on. Over the years, the company has introduced industry-shaping tools, including its Performance Dashboard, Rapid DPI™, the Tactical Nurse™ program, and the High Impact Management Program™. But at the core of its success is something simpler: an unwavering belief in the people delivering care and the systems that either support or fail them.

After three decades of service and innovation, Coleman Associates remains focused on what matters most—making healthcare work better for those who need it and for those who provide it. In an era where clinical staff retention is a growing concern, their mission feels more urgent than ever.