- OnCall Solutions Editorial Team
- Published:
- Updated: July 2026
Recruiting a physician is one of the highest hidden costs a healthcare employer carries, and most budgets underestimate it. Between agency fees, interview travel, credentialing, and the revenue lost while a role sits open, the total runs well into six or seven figures. This guide breaks down each cost, shows how it varies by specialty, and outlines practical ways to spend less without lowering the quality of your hires.
The short answer: Recruiting a physician costs far more than the agency fee alone. Direct costs include job-board listings ($299 to $699 each), agency fees of roughly 15% to 35% of first-year salary, interview travel of $10,000 to $15,000 per candidate, and credentialing of $5,000 or more. The highest cost is usually indirect. A vacancy can lose thousands of dollars in net revenue for every day it stays open.
Understanding Recruitment Costs: A Detailed Breakdown
Physician recruitment involves both direct and indirect costs, which vary depending on the type of role (permanent, locum tenens, or moonlighting) and the physician’s specialty.
|
Cost component |
Typical range |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Specialized job board listing |
$299 to $699 |
Per listing; multiple roles multiply this |
|
Recruitment agency fee |
15% to 35% of first-year salary |
20% to 30% is standard; higher for scarce specialties |
|
Interview travel per candidate |
$10,000 to $15,000 |
Flights, hotel, meals; multiple candidates add up |
|
Background checks and credentialing |
$5,000 or more |
Takes several weeks |
|
Vacancy revenue loss |
Roughly $7,100 per day |
Based on current per-vacancy revenue estimates |
Direct Costs
- Advertising and job posting fees come first. Healthcare-specific platforms like Health eCareers charge between $299 and $699 per listing. General platforms like Indeed and LinkedIn offer free postings, but boosting ads for visibility can reach several thousand dollars per campaign.
- Recruitment agency fees are usually the next line. Partnering with an agency generally involves fees of 15% to 35% of the physician’s first-year salary, though 20% to 30% is the standard range for most searches. Fees run higher for high-demand specialties, but they are often justified by faster time-to-fill and higher-quality hires.
- Interviewing expenses follow. Bringing candidates to your facility, including flights, hotels, and meals, typically runs $10,000 to $15,000 per candidate when multiple visits are required.
- Background checks and credentialing round out the direct costs. Verifying that a candidate’s credentials are valid and meet all regulatory requirements can cost $5,000 or more and take several weeks, adding both time and expense.
Indirect Costs
- The largest recruitment cost is rarely a fee. It is the revenue lost while the role sits empty. Recent industry data puts the cost of a single physician vacancy at roughly $2.6 million per year, which works out to about $7,100 in lost net revenue per day. Applied to the current median physician time-to-fill of 118 days, an average search can cost well over $800,000 in lost revenue before the role is even filled. For hard-to-fill subspecialties, where searches can stretch past 300 days, that figure climbs above $2 million.
- Operational strain compounds the loss. Prolonged vacancies increase the workload on existing staff, leading to burnout, lower morale, and higher turnover, which in turn creates more roles to fill.
- Reputation and patient satisfaction are the final indirect costs. Chronic staffing shortages make it harder to attract top candidates, and longer wait times and reduced access to care lower patient satisfaction, which affects the bottom line.
Cost Variation by Specialty
Recruitment costs vary significantly by specialty. According to PracticeMatch, replacing a physician can cost anywhere from $1.8 million to $2.8 million once lost revenue is included, depending on the specialty (as of 2024). High-demand specialties with fewer available candidates carry higher costs because of competition and the need for specialized search efforts.
Here’s how costs tend to differ across several key specialties:
- Anesthesiology: In high demand at surgical centers and high-volume hospitals. Agencies may charge toward the top of the fee range, reflecting scarcity and specialized skills.
- Cardiology: Consistently high due to demand for experienced general and interventional cardiologists. Costs climb further for subspecialists like electrophysiologists or heart failure specialists.
- Obstetrics and Gynecology: Fierce competition, especially in rural and underserved areas, plus competitive compensation packages, drives cost up.
- Pediatrics: Steady demand, but underserved areas and pediatric subspecialties (oncology, cardiology) raise costs.
- Emergency Medicine: A fast-paced, high-stress setting makes recruiting and retention difficult, which raises cost.
- Psychiatry: Among the most expensive specialties to recruit for, driven by a documented shortage of psychiatrists and the incentives needed to attract them.
- Hospitalists: High demand and high patient turnover keep recruitment costs substantial.
- Radiology: Growing demand tied to imaging technology raises cost, especially for clinicians proficient in the latest techniques.
- Telehealth: Costs vary widely; telehealth roles in psychiatry and emergency medicine can command higher salaries and fees.
Understanding these variations helps healthcare employers allocate budget where it is needed most and fill critical roles promptly. Partnering with a specialized firm like OnCall Solutions can help manage these costs and keep your facility staffed with the right clinicians in every specialty.
How OnCall Solutions Helps Manage Cost
OnCall Solutions offers transparent pricing with no hidden markups, along with comprehensive support for credentialing, licensing, and administrative tasks. If you would like a side-by-side comparison against your current staffing spend, we can build one from your actual numbers.
Did you know?
OnCall’s services are 25 to 40% less expensive than other locum tenens staffing agencies. We also provide comprehensive support with credentialing, licensing, and administrative tasks.
Effective Budget Allocation Strategies
Allocating your recruitment budget well is vital to minimizing cost while filling critical roles quickly.
Prioritize high-impact roles first. Direct your budget to high-priority, hard-to-fill positions. Emergency medicine and radiology roles, for example, warrant more attention because of their direct effect on patient care and revenue.
Use locum tenens strategically. Locum coverage is a cost-effective way to manage short-term vacancies in high-demand specialties. While daily rates for locum physicians may look higher, they reduce the financial hit of a prolonged vacancy by maintaining patient volume and revenue. For a full breakdown, see our guide on how to budget for locum tenens coverage.
Streamline the recruitment process. An applicant tracking system (ATS) reduces the time and cost of finding and hiring physicians by managing postings, applications, and candidate communication more efficiently.
The Cost of Not Recruiting: Financial and Operational Risks
Delaying recruitment carries real cost. The longer a vacancy stays open, the more it costs in lost revenue, operational strain, and reputational damage. Those costs need to be weighed against the investment in an efficient recruitment strategy.
Strategies to Reduce Recruitment Costs
Reducing cost without compromising hire quality is challenging but achievable.
Optimize job postings. Craft clear, compelling job descriptions tailored to your facility and each specialty. Targeted keywords and platforms attract suitable candidates without overspending on ads.
Enhance retention. Retaining top talent reduces the need for constant recruitment. Professional development, competitive compensation, and a positive work environment improve retention and cut turnover costs.
Partner with a specialized firm. Working with a healthcare staffing firm like OnCall Solutions can save money over time by reducing time-to-fill and helping you hire the right physicians the first time, avoiding costly turnover.
Making Informed Decisions for Long-Term Success
Understanding and managing physician recruitment costs is essential to your facility’s financial health and operational efficiency. By prioritizing high-impact roles, using locum coverage strategically, and leaning on a specialized recruitment firm, you can optimize your budget and limit the financial impact of vacancies.
Contact us today for a customized cost analysis or to learn how OnCall Solutions can help reduce your recruitment costs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to recruit a physician? Direct costs commonly run tens of thousands of dollars per hire. Total replacement cost is often cited at $1.8 million to $2.8 million once lost revenue during the vacancy is included, according to PracticeMatch.
What percentage do physician recruiting agencies charge? Typically 20% to 30% of the physician’s first-year salary, ranging up to 35% for scarce, high-demand specialties.
How much revenue does a physician vacancy lose per day? Roughly $7,100 per day, based on current estimates of about $2.6 million in lost net revenue per vacancy per year.
How long does it take to fill a physician role? A median of 118 days as of the 2025 AAPPR benchmarking report, and considerably longer for hard-to-fill subspecialties.