Annual National Physician & Healthcare
Provider Preference & Insights Survey: 2026

Today's provider labor market is being shaped by more than compensation alone. Physicians and advanced practice clinicians are weighing opportunities through the lens of workload, burnout, flexibility, culture, benefits, and long-term fit. The 2026 National Physician & Healthcare Provider Preference & Insights Survey offers a data-driven look at the evolving expectations, motivations, and behaviors influencing today's healthcare workforce. Drawing on insights from both physicians and APCs, this report helps healthcare organizations better understand what providers value, what drives job change, and how to strengthen recruitment and retention strategies in an increasingly competitive market.

What You'll Learn:

• How physician and APC mobility is evolving, with 48.2% of physicians and 62.4% of APCs likely or open to changing roles within the next 12 months.
• Why burnout, workload strain, and workplace pressures continue to threaten retention—and what providers say is driving that dissatisfaction.
• What physicians and APCs value most in their current roles, from work-life balance and compensation to benefits, workplace environment, and feeling valued.
• How compensation, financial rewards, and total benefits packages continue to influence career decisions, job satisfaction, and willingness to make a change.
• Where providers are willing to relocate, which practice settings they prefer, and how those preferences expand recruitment opportunities beyond local markets.
• What motivates physicians and APCs to explore new opportunities—and which barriers most often stand in the way of making a move.
• How providers search for jobs, which outreach channels remain most effective, and what information they expect to see clearly communicated in job ads.
• How to turn provider sentiment into action through practical recruitment and retention strategies built around transparency, speed, flexibility, and operational support.

Built to help healthcare organizations better align recruitment and retention strategy with what providers actually want, the 2026 National Physician & Healthcare Provider Preference & Insights Survey delivers the insight needed to compete more effectively for physician and APC talent.