Calculate the financial impact of physician turnover
…and see how much revenue you could protect
The Impact of Implementing Clinician Retention Intelligence (CRI)
Physician Resignations You Can Prevent
APP Resignations You Can Prevent
Revenue You Can Protect
In an environment of economic uncertainty and sustained margin pressure, unplanned clinician turnover creates three compounding costs that health systems cannot afford:
- Immediate: Lost direct care revenue from reduced patient throughput
- Near-term: Recruitment, replacement, and ramp-up costs
- Long-term: Revenue leakage and brand damage driven by access barriers and patient frustration
Replacing a single physician requires 80-200 hours of executive, clinical, and HR time, depending on specialty. Every avoided resignation preserves scarce leadership capacity and redirects recruiting efforts from backfilling losses to supporting net-new growth.
Even small gains in retention deliver outsized margin protection, preserving billable capacity while avoiding sticky costs such as locum tenens coverage, ER bed overlays, and other operational inefficiencies.
Physician Resignation Breakdown
Service Line
Preventable Resignations
Revenue Loss from Preventable Resignations
Primary Care
Total Estimated Resignations:
Preventable Resignations:
Lost Revenue from Time to Fill:
Lost Revenue from Delays in Ramping up Replacement:
Indirect Referral Downstream Loss:
Surgical Specialty
Total Estimated Resignations:
Preventable Resignations:
Lost Revenue from Time to Fill:
Lost Revenue from Delays in Ramping up Replacement:
Medical Specialty
Total Estimated Resignations:
Preventable Resignations:
Lost Revenue from Time to Fill:
Lost Revenue from Delays in Ramping up Replacement:
Hospital Based
Total Estimated Resignations:
Preventable Resignations:
Lost Revenue from Time to Fill:
Lost Revenue from Delays in Ramping up Replacement:
References
For All Service Lines:
Breakdown of physicians by Service Line at a health system: Atalan’s Health System Client Data (can be replaced with your health system’s specific breakdown)
Number of Days to Fill by Category (can be replaced with your health system’s specific recruitment data): Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR). 2025 AAPPR Physician and Provider Recruitment Benchmarking Report. https://aappr.org/research/benchmarking/
Productivity Loss During Onboarding: 20% over 12 months (based on interviews with health system financial leaders)
Revenue by Service Line: AMN Healthcare. 2023. 2023 Physician Billing Report. https://www.amnhealthcare.com/amn-insights/physician/whitepapers/2023-physician-billing-report/ (can be adjusted by your health system’s payor mix)
Average Salary by Service Line: AMN Healthcare. (2023). 2023 Physician Billing Report. https://www.amnhealthcare.com/amn-insights/physician/whitepapers/2023-physician-billing-report/
National Average Turnover Rate: Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR). 2025 AAPPR Physician and Provider Recruitment Benchmarking Report. https://aappr.org/research/benchmarking/
For Primary Care Service Line Only:
Average Referral Rate of Primary Care Physician: El Ayadi H, Desai A, Jones RE, Mercado E, Williams M, Rooks B, Carek PJ. Referral Rates Vary Widely Between Family Medicine Practices. J Am Board Fam Med. 2021 Nov-Dec;34(6):1183-1188. doi: 10.3122/jabfm.2021.06.210213. PMID: 34772773.
Average Panel Size of Primary Care Physician Per Year: Harrington C. Considerations for Patient Panel Size. Dela J Public Health. 2022 Dec 31;8(5):154-157. doi: 10.32481/djph.2022.12.034. PMID: 36751598; PMCID: PMC9894066.
Average Value of New Patient for Medical Specialties: Zocdoc. (n.d.). Industry benchmarks: Comparing new patient value by practice size and specialty. Industry Benchmarks: Comparing New Patient Value by Practice Size and Specialty. https://www.zocdoc.com/resources/blog/ article/industry-benchmarks-comparing-new-patient-value-by-practice-size-and-specialty