Noah Wyle: I play a doctor on 'The Pitt.' Real health care workers need our help.

USA Today

21 hours ago

Noah Wyle: I play a doctor on 'The Pitt.' Real health care workers need our help. Since 'The Pitt' premiered, I've heard from health care workers who said they finally feel seen. Their stories echo the same themes: Exhaustion, compassion and a system that threatens their work.
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Watch Noah Wyle in 'The Pitt': Doctor gives advice for dying patient
In new TV series "The Pitt," Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) counsels the dying using words from a mentor.
I've spent a lot of my life wearing scrubs, although I never passed Anatomy 101.
On "The Pitt," I play an attending physician in a high-intensity emergency department. It's fiction, but it's grounded in real stories – shaped by medical advisers who've lived them and delivered with reverence for the professionals we're honored to represent.
Still, it wasn't until my mother, a retired nurse, watched a scene where my character lists the names of patients he couldn't save that I truly grasped the emotional weight of this work, as she shared a flood of stories she's carried silently for decades. I've never seen her respond that way to something I've acted in.
And she's not alone. Since the show premiered, I've heard from countless health care workers who've told me they finally feel seen. Their stories echo the same themes: exhaustion, compassion and a system that threatens to make their life's work unsustainable.
Their stories have stayed with me. And that's why I jumped at the chance when I was approached by FIGS, a health care apparel company with a history of standing up for the health care workforce, to go to Capitol Hill with them this week. While on Capitol Hill, I will advocate alongside a group of FIGS ambassadors made up of 18 extraordinary nurses, doctors, students and other health care professionals.
Health care workers need help from Congress
As part of this grassroots effort, we're urging lawmakers to act on three urgent, bipartisan issues that are making health care workers' jobs, and their lives, harder than they need to be: lack of mental health support, crushing administrative burden and financial strain.
Our message is simple: Without a supported, protected and fairly treated workforce, there is no patient care. Whatever other important issues are being debated, this has to be a priority.
Health care workers are experiencing burnout at staggering levels. Half of physicians and nurses report being burned out, and health care workers face a 32% higher risk of suicide than the general population. Even when support exists, many fear that seeking help could jeopardize their license, career or reputation.
Opinion: 'The Pitt' captures something real about doctors. Medicine can benefit from it.
That issue has hit home for many of the health care professionals who will join me in Washington. One nurse said she struggled with depression and anxiety due to the conditions at work and came close to taking her own life. A doctor described dental students whose teeth were ground away by stress. And an oncology nurse shared the heartbreaking story of a young cancer patient who died because of the paperwork delays in getting him the lifesaving medication he needed.
That's why one of our priorities is reauthorization and funding of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, which includes federal mental health programs for health care workers as well as grants for peer support, training and institutional culture change, especially in rural and underserved areas.
The law was enacted in 2022 on a nearly unanimous bipartisan basis. But unfortunately, it expired in 2024. It should now be reauthorized with just as much support as it received initially.
Prior authorization threatens patients' health
At the same time, administrative red tape is strangling the system. Physicians and their staff spend nearly two full business days each week dealing with prior authorization – essentially asking insurance companies for permission to treat their patients.
One ambassador, a primary care provider, told us she spends nearly half her day fighting insurance denials and filling out duplicative forms – far more time than she spends with patients.
Opinion: For patients and doctors, insurance prior authorization can be a dangerous game
These delays don't just cause frustration: 1 in 4 physicians say prior authorization has led to serious patient harm. We're urging Congress to move forward with reforms that help put clinical judgment back where it belongs: in the hands of trained professionals.
And then there's pay. Fewer than 6 in 10 health care workers feel fairly compensated, and only 38% see any link between their performance and their paycheck.
That disconnect is pushing people out of the field and fueling dangerous shortages.
Another ambassador, a resident physician, described working 80-hour weeks while struggling to afford groceries. Stories like hers are why FIGS is championing the Awesome Humans Act, a proposed federal tax credit to provide frontline health care workers with meaningful financial relief.
These aren't partisan issues. They're practical ones. And they're urgent. Because when our health care professionals are burned out, buried in paperwork or forced to leave the field altogether, we all pay the price.
I'm not a policymaker. I'm not a clinician. But I've spent my career listening to those who are, and I've seen the difference they make when it matters most: after a car accident, during cancer treatment, in delivery rooms and at the end of life.
This week, I'll stand with them in the halls of Congress, and I'll be proud to do it with my mom and 18 other amazing health care workers.
To anyone who's ever benefited from the knowledge, care and courage of a health care professional, now's the time to show up for them and take action. They've had our backs. It's time we have theirs.
Noah Wyle is an actor, writer, producer and director who currently stars in 'The Pitt.'