As the challenges involved with physician recruitment compound, healthcare administrators increasingly recognize the urgency around retaining those physicians already on staff. Physician retention is a strategic imperative, yet many organizations are at a loss. Either they don’t understand what physicians need to feel satisfied at work, or they don’t feel the organization can provide it. In both scenarios, physician executives are uniquely qualified to address these challenges.
As Vice President of Executive Search for Jackson Physician Search, I regularly work with clients to help them identify and hire physician executives for their organizations. Through this process, I see the value physician executives bring and the impressive work they are doing to improve healthcare delivery. The physician executive role varies significantly from one organization to another, encompassing a wide range of responsibilities. One area with tremendous potential for impact is physician retention.
Physician leaders possess a dual perspective, understanding both the needs of physicians and the capabilities of the organization. By tasking physician executives with formalizing physician retention plans, enhancing communication and engagement, and championing physician leadership development, organizations will create a positive work environment where physicians feel empowered to make a difference and want to stay long-term.
The Essential Role of Physician Executives in Recruitment and Retention
At Jackson Physician Search, retention begins with recruitment. This means we use the physician recruitment process to identify candidates who are both clinically and culturally aligned with the organizations we partner with, making those candidates more likely to succeed and stay with the organization in the long term. In a recent blog post, I detailed how and why organizations should leverage physician leaders in the recruitment and onboarding processes. However, their potential to impact retention doesn’t end there. Because physician executives understand the day-to-day realities of clinical practice and the broader organizational objectives of healthcare administration, they are uniquely positioned to lead physician retention efforts by focusing on the following tasks.
1. Formalize Physician Retention Plans
According to a 2023 STAT poll by MGMA, 77% of medical group leaders reported that their organizations do not have a formal retention plan. Another 8% said they weren’t sure, leaving just 15% who said their organizations have formal retention plans. That’s not to say they aren’t taking proactive steps toward retaining physicians. In a 2025 STAT poll, 25% of medical group leaders said they had added or increased physician benefits in the past year in an attempt to improve recruitment and retention. However, without a formal retention plan, those efforts can only go so far to meet the needs of physicians.
Task physician executives with leading a committee to establish a formal physician retention plan. The process should involve surveying and consulting with physicians to understand their needs and preferences, and then determining how the organization can best meet those needs. It will take a leader who understands both the clinician’s perspective and the organizational goals (and limitations) to establish and implement an effective and actionable physician retention plan.
2. Enhance Communication and Engagement
Physicians leave organizations for various reasons, but one study of early-career physicians found that “practice ownership and governance models” are the most common reasons physicians leave their first jobs. While this answer encompasses a number of things, one takeaway is that physicians often lack understanding of how decisions will be made at their new organizations and are disappointed when they are excluded from those conversations. Contrarily, if physician executives can provide transparency and proactively seek input from other physicians, retention will improve.
Communication is important to physicians at all stages of their careers. In multiple studies, physicians rank two-way communication with management as a top factor in job satisfaction. Physician executives should facilitate transparent, two-way communication between frontline clinicians and administration. In addition to one-on-one meetings, regularly scheduled forums, town halls, and feedback sessions led by physician leaders can help surface concerns early and build trust. Task physician executives with setting up and leading these recurring events to ensure the organization’s commitment to communication is more than just lip service.
3. Champion Physician Leadership Development
Many physicians aspire to leadership roles. In a 2024 Jackson Physician Search and MGMA joint study, two out of three practicing physicians (67%) expressed an interest in pursuing leadership roles. With most candidates potentially interested in future leadership roles, physician executives serve as walking testimonials for physician leadership development. Whether or not their current organization developed them into leaders, physician executives should take an active role in creating or improving the current physician leadership development and mentorship programs.
Takeaways for Healthcare Administrators
- Prioritize Physician Executive Involvement: Make physician executive engagement in retention strategies a leadership priority, not an afterthought.
- Formalize Retention Committees: Enlist physician executives to lead committees dedicated to physician engagement, satisfaction, and retention.
- Commit to Better Communication: Both physician executives and senior leadership must be held accountable for attending and engaging in meetings, forums, and feedback sessions.
- Invest in Physician Leadership Development: Provide and encourage ongoing education, coaching, and leadership training for physicians. Physician executives can champion these initiatives, but administrators must reinforce the message that the organization values and invests in its clinical staff.
Your Secret Weapon to Improve Physician Retention
If leveraged effectively, physician executives can significantly improve physician retention rates at your organization. Physician executives have the advantage of empathy, insight, and authority. They understand the systemic, organizational, and clinical challenges physicians face because they have faced them as well. This gives them insight into what physicians need to overcome these challenges and find success and satisfaction in their jobs. Most importantly, they typically have the authority and status to deliver on what physicians want.
If your organization is focused on improving physician retention and not utilizing physician executives, you are fighting a battle without your best weapon. By strategically involving physician executives in recruitment, onboarding, ongoing engagement, and professional development, healthcare administrators can create the supportive environments physicians need to thrive — and choose to stay.
If your organization is seeking physician leaders, the Physician Executive Search team at Jackson Physician Search is eager to leverage our vast network to help you find the best candidate for your organization. Reach out today for more information.
About Tom Rossi
Tom Rossi has over three decades of dedicated experience in recruitment and leadership within the healthcare sector. Prior to joining Jackson Physician Search as the Vice President of Executive Search in 2023, Rossi served as National Vice President of Physician Recruitment for HCA Healthcare for 20+ years. Before spearheading physician and provider recruitment, Rossi played a pivotal role in HCA’s executive recruitment division and spent six years prior to that leading a team of executive recruiters for a professional services firm.
Outside his professional endeavors, Rossi engages in meaningful volunteer work, contributing to organizations such as Football Parents at Ohio State (FPAOS) and Habitat for Humanity. Rossi cherishes family life and is a proud parent of three adult children.
