Will health system hiring slow in 2025?

One in 5 chief human resources officers across industries expect hiring to slow in the next six months. This is nearly twice the share who anticipated pullback in 2024, according to a Q2 Conference Board survey of more than 100 leaders.

What is the outlook at hospitals and health systems?

Hiring has remained steady at Fort Myers, Fla.-based Lee Health throughout 2025, and Chief People Officer Mike Wukitsch, PhD, expects momentum to continue — if not accelerate — through the end of the year.

“We are in a high growth market, and we continue to need staff to serve our community to help meet those market needs,” Dr. Wukitsch told Becker’s.

Lee Health recruits in state and nationally, monitoring economic indicators such as interest rates, cost of living and labor force participation.

“Cost of living is a highly sensitive area for us in Southwest Florida,” he said. “But everything that we look at is indicating that we’re in solid shape right now to meet our needs.”

Fairfield, Calif.-based NorthBay Health is hiring staff amid the launch of a new medical group for physicians, the early stages of its Epic EHR implementation and a return to its revenue cycle function back in house, Chief People Officer Jim Andersen told Becker’s.

“Outside of these endeavors, our anticipated voluntary turnover rate for the year is expected to be near 10%, which is slightly lower than last year,” Mr. Andersen said.

Nationwide — and state-specific — financial pressures are also affecting hiring. While there continues to be strong demand for clinical talent across the U.S., there may be a general slowdown in North Carolina, Michelle Adamolekun, chief people and culture officer at Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health, told Becker’s.

“One of the key factors influencing this trend is the potential impact of H.R. 1 — commonly referred to as the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ which may lead to a rollback of Medicaid expansion in our state,” Ms. Adamolekun said. “If that rollback occurs, health systems will face a period of adjustment. So we anticipate an increase in the number of uninsured patients and a reduction in Medicaid reimbursement rates, both of which could significantly affect our financial outlook. We are assessing the implications and exploring strategies to navigate these changes.”

Dr. Wukitsch also pointed to national workforce challenges, such as widespread shortages and baby boomer retirements, as key dynamics shaping healthcare hiring.

“Being able to attract those early in their career is really important, and then recognize that there is a lot of experience that’s being lost as well,” he said. “Demographically, there’s tremendous competition for healthcare talent, pretty much across the board — nursing, technologists and those in diagnostic areas.”

Technology roles are particularly competitive given their transferability across industries.

“These are highly competitive areas,” Dr. Wukitsch said. “It is unique because those skills transfer across industries, so making sure that we provide a value proposition to them that’s attractive in coming to healthcare rather than in other sectors.”

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