State of Physician Recruitment: Inside the Leaders’ Playbook

Highlights

• Key strategies from physician recruitment leaders to address talent shortages and shifting workforce expectations.
• How AI supports recruiters with candidate matching, job description optimization, and market forecasting.
• Locum tenens as a strategic workforce solution to maintain patient access and physician well-being.
• The role of MSPs and VMS platforms in streamlining physician staffing and improving coverage visibility.

Physician recruitment is evolving rapidly. It’s no longer just about filling vacancies, it now demands strategic navigation of a shrinking candidate pipeline, shifting workforce dynamics and new expectations from physicians. As one of the nation’s leading locum tenens staffing partner, Aya Healthcare empowers healthcare organizations with unmatched scale, expertise and innovation.

A key pillar of our offering is DocCafe, the most visited job site for physicians and advanced practitioners, connecting physician recruiters with the highest quality talent faster and more effectively. Together, Aya and DocCafe offer the most comprehensive, data-driven and recruiter-centric solutions in the market—redefining what’s possible in physician hiring.

The following insights come from recent candid conversations with physician recruitment leaders across different healthcare organizations, highlighting key challenges they face and innovative strategies to stay ahead.

Table of Contents

1. Shortages and shifting expectations
2. Broadening the talent pool
3. Improving physician satisfaction and retention
4. Using AI to your advantage
5. How AI supports physician recruiters today
6. Shifting perceptions: Locum tenens as a strategic solution
7. Role of a VMS and MSP in locums staffing
8. Building the future of physician recruitment together

A perfect storm of shortages and shifting expectations

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the U.S. may face a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036, with primary care affected most. Primary care plays a vital role as the front lines of prevention, diagnosis and chronic care management, yet it remains one of the least popular roles for new physicians. Factors include low compensation, high burnout, heavy workloads and overwhelming administrative demands that continue to steer medical graduates towards more lucrative specialties. As one physician recruiter put it: “Sure, this doctor made good money, but they also saw a ton of patients and barely had a break.”

At the same time, there is a broader generational and cultural shift. Newer generations prioritize flexibility, work-life balance and autonomy. Many opt for employed roles over private practice, bringing different demands around scheduling and lifestyle. Turnover is also rising, with our physician recruiter focus group participants noting a clear trend of physicians frequently changing jobs, often in pursuit of signing bonuses or loan forgiveness incentives.

Broadening the talent pool

In hard-to-fill roles, flexibility is key. Many organizations are expanding their staffing models by:

• Integrating advanced practitioners: For specialties where physician recruitment is limited, filling the role with an APP can deliver faster access to care without compromising quality.
  
• Hiring residents in advance: Engaging and extending offers to residents before they complete their training helps systems get ahead of the competition and secure long-term talent earlier in the pipeline.

Improving physician satisfaction and retention

Retaining physicians requires more than just competitive compensation. It takes a thoughtful approach to how physicians work, interact with patients and manage their time.

• Emphasizing wellness: Organizations are investing in tools and workflows that reduce administrative burden and prevent burnout by starting with the care delivery structure itself.
  
• Conducting “stay” interviews: Rather than waiting until someone leaves, teams are holding proactive conversations to understand concerns early and build trust.
  
• Informatics for balancing schedules: Leaders are analyzing scheduling data and EMR activity to see if physicians are overloaded, particularly with after-hour charting and high patient volumes.

These solutions may not be one-size-fits-all, but they’re proving to be powerful building blocks in creating physician-centered workforce strategies.

Using AI to your advantage

In physician recruitment, success hinges on relationships, not just speed. That’s why leaders emphasized that AI isn’t about replacing recruiters or multiplying output — it’s about helping them work more intentionally. When used thoughtfully, AI can take on repetitive tasks and unearth key insights, freeing recruiters to focus on building connections and nurturing trust.

How AI supports physician recruiters today

• Job description optimization: AI tools like ChatGPT help generate specialty-specific, engaging posts that resonate with the right audience faster.
  
• Candidate matching: AI can analyze large databases to identify top matches based on licensure, location, subspecialty and even behavior (such as recent job board activity).
  
• Personalized outreach to passive candidates: Segmenting audiences (e.g., early career vs. mid-career vs. lifestyle-focused physicians) allows recruiters to tailor outreach and spark meaningful engagement.
  
• Market forecasting: AI can provide data-driven projections on time-to-fill and candidate pool capture based on past performance, market conditions and salary competitiveness.

Several leaders shared concerns that overreliance on AI in screening could risk eliminating promising candidates, but agreed it should support, not replace, human connection in recruiting. By automating busy work and offering insights, AI empowers recruiters to shift from reactive mode to relationship mode.

Shifting perceptions: Locum tenens as a strategic solution

The conversation around locum tenens staffing is changing as locums usage increases each year. It is gaining broader recognition as a valuable and intentional part of the physician workforce strategy. Physician recruitment leaders shared how their organizations are increasingly viewing locums as a flexible solution that expands patient access and supports physician well-being. 

How perceptions are evolving:

• High-quality care builds trust: When locum tenens show up and do great work, word spreads. That builds trust, and more departments become open to using them.
  
• Helping teams breathe: Some organizations are planning ahead and using locums during busy times, like holidays or when teams are stretched thin, to give their permanent staff a break.
  
• Keeping patients from going elsewhere: If patients can’t get in to see someone soon, they’ll go somewhere else. Locums help keep schedules full and patients seen.
  
• Not just a temporary gig: Physicians and advanced practitioners who work as locum tenens full time are being seen in a new light. What used to be viewed as a red flag is now understood as a lifestyle choice, and those candidates are being seriously considered for permanent roles.
  
• Support for both care and revenue: Locums help maintain care continuity for patients and when used well, can generate revenue from the increased patient volume.

One leader shared a powerful example that highlighted this shift in thinking. Their organization had always assumed locums wouldn’t work in oncology — the care was too specialized and needed long-term continuity. But with the market as tight as it is, they decided to try locums to ease the team’s load.

“We never thought we’d use a locum in oncology,” they said. “But it really helped as our physicians feel supported and our patients got care when they needed it.”

Role of a VMS and MSP in locums staffing

As healthcare organizations adopt managed service providers (MSPs) and vendor management systems (VMS) to support physician workforce strategies, one focus group takeaway was clear: These terms are not universally defined. “VMS,” “MSP” and “vendor-neutral” are often used interchangeably but mean different things to different people, leading to misaligned expectations.

Leaders want consultative and strategic partners, not order takers. The focus should be on understanding the organization, department and specific needs of each position before offering solutions. Education, collaboration and intentionality must come before selling.

Leaders look for:

• Visibility: Real-time insight into gaps, utilization and future coverage, especially helpful when planning for holidays or last-minute changes.
  
• Speed and automation: Tools that can quickly broadcast openings and activate a pool of qualified candidates without delay.
  
• Transparency: No hidden fees like surprise overtime rates, holiday premiums or layered markups.
  
• Reporting and cost forecasting: Leaders want to pull reports on coverage spend, identify high-utilization areas by specialty or location and develop plans to reduce over-reliance.
  
• Customization: Workflows built specifically for physician recruitment, not repurposed from nursing or allied health staffing.
  
• Continuity of care: The ability to stay partnered with high-performing physicians and advanced practitioners — regardless of agency ownership — without disruption to patient care. When a new MSP is introduced, some departments hesitate to join if it means losing existing providers, and that can directly impact clinical outcomes.

Whether using a VMS or MSP, the solution needs to save time, reduce complexity and add value not just for the organization, but for the locum tenens navigating the system as well. It should be user-friendly and transparent throughout the process. Ultimately, whether you’re a physician, healthcare organization or an agency, we all share the same goal: ensuring patients receive timely, reliable care when they need it.

Building the future of physician recruitment together

As the physician workforce evolves, so must our recruitment strategies. In our conversations with physician recruitment leaders, one message rang loud and clear: Today’s success requires more than filling roles. It takes a deep understanding of physician needs, thoughtful investments in retention, flexible staffing models and tools that empower, not replace, the human relationships at the heart of finding great care.

As a strategic partner of AAPPR, Aya Healthcare is proud to support this evolution. By combining technology, insight and collaboration, we help healthcare organizations navigate today’s challenges and plan for what’s next — with a shared commitment to timely patient care.