A new 2025 survey from CHG Healthcare and Hanover Research offers a snapshot of physician satisfaction, retention risk and growing economic concerns across the workforce.
CHG and Hanover surveyed 920 practicing physicians in May 2025 to identify the drivers of disengagement and outline strategies to strengthen physician engagement and retention.
Here are eight key numbers
1. Overall satisfaction: 75% of physicians say they are “somewhat” or “very” satisfied with their current role.
2. Retention outlook: 64% say they are “extremely” or “very” likely to stay in their current position.
3. Employer advocacy: 29% of physicians say they are likely to recommend their healthcare organization as a great place to work.
4. Negative sentiment: 37% say they are unlikely to recommend their organization.
5. Workplace volatility: Physicians cited concerns about public health (44%), funding cuts (35%), Medicare and Medicaid fee cuts (33%), and prescription drug costs (33%) as the top sources of instability.
6. Economic anxiety: 45% of physicians say they are very or extremely concerned about the economy, and 65% report growing more concerned over the past year.
7. Supplemental work: 31% plan to explore work outside of medicine, while 30% plan to supplement their income through moonlighting. Among physicians already working locum tenens, nearly half plan to increase their days worked.
8. Engagement gap: Only 10% of highly engaged physicians plan to change jobs, compared with 25% of all other respondents.
