Physician Turnover Rate Statistics

The median annual physician turnover rate reported by participating health care organizations was 7.3% in 2024. Urban organizations reported 7.8%, while suburban organizations reported 6.7%. The figures come from a recruitment benchmark covering 128 organizations and more than 15,000 searches, 61% of which were physician searches.

The 7.3% figure is useful context, but it is not a universal probability that any physician will leave. Results depend on the population, departure definition, time window, geography, specialty, career stage, and practice structure. A claims study that detects a change in group affiliation measures something different from an employer's personnel record.

For a solo physician, turnover is an unusual concept. The owner cannot leave without changing or closing the practice, but employed clinicians and staff can. National rates still offer context when a practice recruits or reviews retention conditions.

Current turnover benchmark

The 2025 recruitment report described a 7.3% median physician turnover rate for calendar year 2024. Its five-year series stayed in a fairly narrow band, except for a higher result in 2022.

The median is the midpoint across participating organizations, not the percentage of every US physician who changed jobs. Participation can change between years. This supports an organizational benchmark, not a national census estimate.

The urban and suburban medians differed by 1.1 percentage points. No rural figure appeared in the summary. That gap matters because labor supply, retirement patterns, recruitment time, and alternative employers vary across markets.

Turnover also differs from vacancy and recruitment activity. A search may replace a departing clinician, add a position, or remain open for another reason. Search count is not the turnover denominator.

Rates by setting and specialty

Peer-reviewed studies show why one rate cannot describe every group. A hospital medicine study cited mean annual hospitalist turnover of 10.9% in 2019. Its own analysis covered 234 hospitalists at six hospitals in one system from July 2017 through June 2020. It was designed mainly to estimate costs, not a national all-specialty rate.

Claims studies use practice affiliation as a marker. Among 13,264 US ophthalmologists affiliated with 3,306 practices, 34.1% separated from at least one practice between 2014 and 2021. The average annual rate was 9.4%, with yearly results from 3.7% to 19.4%. Solo-practice affiliation was associated with higher odds of recorded separation, but administrative data could not establish why.

A related otolaryngology study found 36.4% cumulative turnover from 2014 through 2021. Annual rates ranged from 6.2% to 10.2%. Investigators defined turnover as separation between a physician and an affiliated group in Medicare data. A physician could remain active and appear as turnover after moving groups.

These results should not be averaged. They cover different specialties, denominators, years, and methods. Cumulative separation over seven years is naturally higher than a one-year rate. An affiliation change is not always equivalent to leaving medicine.

Ownership events can affect retention. A case-control study examined 405 physicians at 70 private equity-owned practices that were sold and 810 matched controls. Two years after sale, physicians in affected practices were 16.5 percentage points less likely to remain than controls. They were 10.1 percentage points more likely to join a practice with more than 120 physicians. Retirement did not change significantly.

This adjusted difference applies to a specific transaction type, not all private practices. It shows why a practice should record the context of departure instead of treating every exit as interchangeable.

Turnover costs and causes

Turnover creates recruiting, credentialing, interviewing, onboarding, and temporary coverage costs. It can reduce billing while a position is vacant or a new physician builds a panel. The mix depends on the practice model.

In the hospital medicine study, measured direct costs were $6,166 per incoming physician. A simulation using national wage data estimated a mean cost of $56,943 when a program hired one hospitalist. The mean fell to $33,333 per physician when five were hired and $30,382 when ten were hired because some costs were shared. Confidence intervals were wide.

These estimates were lower than older figures for panel-based physicians. Hospitalists work in a site-based coverage model, so departure may shift work rather than remove a patient panel's revenue. A small ambulatory practice can follow a different path if patients leave or appointments cannot be filled.

A national model estimated that physician burnout contributes about $4.6 billion each year through turnover and reduced clinical hours, or about $7,600 per employed physician. This is a population estimate, not an invoice for replacing one clinician. It depends on assumptions about prevalence, departure, reduced effort, and financial consequences.

Interviews with 13 physicians who voluntarily left one multispecialty network identified workflow distribution, staffing, patient expectations, documentation, care models, and payment models as themes. The network had 5% annual turnover. This small single-network sample is better used for local questions than frequency estimates.

The recruitment benchmark listed retirement, taking a similar role elsewhere, geography, burnout, compensation, and advanced learning among reasons. A practice should not assume burnout caused an exit without direct evidence. Retirement and geographic moves require different responses from workload problems.

Our cost of physician burnout brief explains the national model. The physician burnout rate brief addresses prevalence rather than departure.

How practices should measure turnover

A practice first needs a written definition. One common formula is departures during the period divided by average physician headcount, multiplied by 100. Average headcount can use beginning and ending values when monthly data are unavailable.

Suppose a group begins with 20 physicians, ends with 18, and records three departures. Average headcount is 19. Three divided by 19 produces a 15.8% annual rate. New hires affect ending headcount but do not erase departures.

Track voluntary departures, involuntary departures, retirement, internal transfers, and ownership changes separately. Decide whether reduced hours, temporary billing pauses, or moves between locations inside one organization count. Keep the rule stable across periods.

Small denominators require care. One departure from a two-physician group produces a 50% rate even though it represents one event. Report the count beside the percentage. A rolling rate can add context, but it should not hide a recent problem.

Retention asks who remains. It is not always exactly 100% minus turnover because definitions, hires, and denominator timing can differ. State both formulas. Time-to-fill and vacancy days describe the effect after departure.

Supporting measures include workload, after-hours EHR time, inbox coverage, staffing ratios, paid leave taken, and confidential work-life assessments. Our work-life balance satisfaction research explains why a consistent survey item matters.

Measurement should support improvement, not individual surveillance. Aggregate results, restrict personnel information, and avoid publishing small-cell details that could identify someone. Exit feedback is sensitive and may be incomplete.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the current physician turnover rate?

The median annual rate reported by participating organizations was 7.3% for 2024. It is an organizational benchmark, not a census.

Did physician turnover rise in 2024?

The median increased from 7.1% in 2023 to 7.3% in 2024. It remained below the 8.0% reported for 2022.

Is physician turnover higher in urban areas?

The 2024 median was 7.8% for urban organizations and 6.7% for suburban organizations. The summary did not report a rural rate.

How is physician turnover calculated?

A common formula divides departures by average physician headcount. Comparisons require the same departure definition, denominator, and time window.

Is intent to leave the same as turnover?

No. Intent is a survey response. Turnover records an actual departure or affiliation change. Not everyone who considers leaving departs.

What does physician turnover cost?

Costs vary. One hospital medicine study measured $6,166 in direct cost per incoming physician and modeled $56,943 for a program hiring one hospitalist.

Methodology and sources

We used the 2024 organizational median as the headline figure. We reviewed specialty separation rates, hospital medicine costs, qualitative departure research, a private equity transaction study, and burnout economics research.