Physician compensation continues to rise across most specialties as the talent pool shrinks, furthering a need for employers to get creative to stay ahead of the competition.
Hiring organizations are shifting to offer more than just higher salaries to attract clinicians, according to respondents to Modern Healthcare’s 2024 Physician Compensation Survey. This year’s results reflect data from 10 staffing and consulting firms. With most organizations continuing to boost salaries for physicians and offering signing or relocation bonuses, many employers are also focusing on non-monetary career incentives.
The incentives include a larger emphasis on things like work environment, vacation time and scheduling, such as offering one week on and one week off, as well as retooling on-call requirements.
Here are five takeaways from this year’s Physician Compensation Survey.
1. Employers continue to offer higher salaries, more bonuses
Higher salaries and other financial incentives, including stipends, tuition reimbursement or housing bonuses, continue to be a top priority for recruitment and retaining efforts.
In another effort to stay ahead of the competition, some employers are even offering additional stipends to residents and fellows ahead of the completion of their programs, as far out as 2026 graduates, according to AMN Healthcare Physician Permanent Solutions President Leah Grant. The stipends offer money to residents and fellows to be used for any expenses in return for a commitment to join the employer once their training is complete. The payments are often made in addition to sign-on bonuses.
Some organizations are also beginning to offer a new bonus based on years of service, according to Fred Horton, president of AMGA consulting.
“That's something new," Horton said. "It used to be that once you got to a certain level, your compensation stayed the same regardless of years of service. But we’re starting to see organizations say they’re going to have a retention bonus, and that can fit into recruitment as well, because it’s the whole package.”
Building on the trend of providing relocation bonuses, some organizations are even offering subsidized housing for all physicians, regardless of specialty, Grant said.
One client is building rental properties so housing is at least available for physicians, but the rent isn’t free, she said. Another is offering up to $100,000 in down payment assistance, but not the whole payment, while a third is offering an interest-free loan of up to $500,000.
2. But money isn't everything
Non-financial incentives are also getting more attention. Employers are realizing that monetary incentives are not the only way to improve physician recruitment and retention, Grant said.
Several consulting firms said organizations found physicians are focusing more on workplace issues, particularly the culture and operating environment.
Physicians are saying the reputation of an organization in some cases matters more than the size of the paycheck, said Chad Stutelberg, national managing director at consulting firm Gallagher.
“I think in the physician arena, we've lost some of that,” Stutelberg said. “If you look at those who are successful, like the Cleveland Clinic, Mayo [Clinic], Geisinger, these big, well-known [organizations] have traditions. They have that culture.”
Employers have started to offer more day-to-day, non-monetary benefits as well, including more flexible schedules, additional vacation time and fewer on-call requirements.
Stutelberg said the high demand for on-call physicians is also driving their hospital clients to hire new physicians as fast as possible.