Healthcare Workforce Shortages: Evidence and Hiring Solutions

By MedicalRecruiting.com · Published January 8, 2025

Substantively updated October 23, 2026. Data periods are stated separately from the review date. This is recruiting information, not individual legal, clinical, tax, or financial advice.

Is there one nationwide healthcare worker shortage?

No single number describes every profession and community. Shortages depend on specialty, geography, service demand, and the model used. HRSA's December 2025 release covers 2023–2038 and projects an overall shortage of 141,160 physician full-time equivalents in 2038, including 70,610 primary care physician FTEs. These are modeled future gaps, not today's unfilled job advertisements. See HRSA Health Workforce Projections, reviewed by HRSA in September 2026.

What do the projections mean for employers?

HRSA projects shortages in many nursing, behavioral health, physician, and allied-health occupations and identifies substantial geographic differences. A national projection does not tell a practice how long its particular vacancy will take to fill. Use local applicants, offer acceptance, turnover, patient access, and credentialing timelines alongside federal data.

A practical recruiting and retention plan

1. Define the actual care gap. Document appointment delays, coverage hours, patient complexity, and services that cannot currently be delivered. Decide whether the solution requires a physician, NP, PA, nurse, or another qualified professional within applicable scope.
2. Publish an accurate role. State location, compensation where available, schedule, call, patient volume, supervision or collaboration, required credentials, and onboarding support. Distinguish required experience from skills that can be taught.
3. Remove avoidable hiring delays. Set interview owners, response deadlines, and a clear offer process. Track time between stages instead of promising a universal time-to-fill.
4. Plan credentialing before the start date. Separate licensing, employer privileging, payer enrollment, background checks, and orientation. A signed offer is not the same as readiness to practice or bill.
5. Retain the team you have. Review workload, support staff, inbox demands, schedule predictability, compensation transparency, and leadership responsiveness. Use stay interviews and exit feedback to identify local causes of turnover.
6. Evaluate technology against clinical outcomes. Pilot documentation or scheduling tools with privacy, security, accessibility, and clinical oversight. Measure time saved and error rates; do not assume AI safely replaces licensed clinical judgment.

Which metrics should a practice track?

• Days from requisition approval to qualified interview, accepted offer, and clinical start.
• Qualified applicant-to-interview and offer-acceptance rates.
• Vacancy coverage costs and canceled or delayed appointments.
• Retention at defined intervals, with reasons for departure.
• Workload, patient access, and quality measures before and after a staffing change.

Use consistent definitions and protect employee and patient privacy. A faster hire is not a successful hire if support, scope, or long-term fit is wrong.

Frequently asked questions

Are workforce projections counts of current vacancies?

No. They estimate future supply and demand under modeling assumptions. HRSA reports many results in FTEs, which are not interchangeable with individual headcount or job-ad counts.

Can NPs and PAs solve every physician shortage?

No. They can expand access within their education, certification, experience, state law, and employer privileges. Teams need an appropriate mix of professionals, referral pathways, and physician support for the services they provide.

Should an older job posting be automatically closed?

No. Age is a reason to verify the vacancy with the employer, not proof that it is filled. Close or expire postings when confirmed unavailable; do not refresh dates merely to make a vacancy look new.

Sources and next steps

Read HRSA's workforce projections and methodology links. For a specific hiring need, review physician recruiting, NP recruiting, and PA recruiting, or discuss your staffing requirements.