In February, Jennifer Henley, COO of NAS Recruitment Innovations, part of M3 Talent Solutions Organization, discussed the past lessons and future plans in healthcare hiring with four panelists from top healthcare organizations across the nation. In this webinar, we shared experiences and opportunities from the past year and discussed new strategies for how to maximize impact in healthcare recruitment measures for 2026.
Barb Martin
Executive Director of Physician and APP Recruitment, Mercy
Domonique Allds
Director of Provider Recruitment and Network Development, MetroHealth
Andrea Leland
System Vice President for Provider Services, Dartmouth Hitchcock
Tracey Suber
Vice President of Education and Talent Acquisition, Phoebe Putney Health
Lessons from 2025
Maintaining Resilience
Healthcare recruitment teams faced a year defined by uncertainty, operational pressures, and rising expectations from physician candidates. Panelists emphasized that resilience became a critical competency for recruitment teams navigating market volatility, tight budgets, and growing demand for faster hiring decisions.
Successful teams were those that could stay steady amid these challenges while continuing to deliver results. This often meant strengthening internal collaboration, particularly between recruitment, operations, and clinical leadership. Several panelists noted that deeper engagement across departments helped teams adapt to new systems, changing processes, and shifting priorities.
Resilience wasn’t just about managing workload; it was about maintaining focus, strengthening partnerships, and keeping recruitment strategies aligned with evolving organizational needs.
Doing More With Less
Budget constraints were a major reality for healthcare organizations in 2025, forcing recruitment teams to rethink how they operate. Rather than expanding resources, many organizations focused on maximizing efficiency and optimizing existing processes.
Some teams formed cross-functional task forces to quickly identify areas for improvement across hiring workflows, employee recognition programs, and compensation strategies. Others turned inward, partnering with internal departments like IT to automate manual processes and streamline administrative tasks that previously required hours of manual work.
Even in the face of workforce reductions in some organizations, recruitment teams demonstrated adaptability by redistributing responsibilities and strengthening collaboration across their teams. These challenges ultimately pushed teams to become more organized, strategic, and efficient in how they approached provider recruitment.
Meeting Candidate Expectations
Physician and advanced practice provider expectations continued to evolve in 2025, raising the bar for recruitment teams. Candidates are increasingly empowered, selective, and focused on the overall experience organizations provide during the hiring process.
To remain competitive, recruitment teams focused on improving alignment between recruiters and hiring leaders, ensuring recruiters had a deeper understanding of productivity expectations, role requirements, and departmental goals. This allowed recruiters to have more meaningful conversations with candidates and provide clearer insights into opportunities.
Organizations also expanded how they connect with potential candidates. Some recruitment teams increased their use of social media and digital advertising to reach more targeted audiences, particularly for advanced practice providers in local markets.
Across the board, panelists agreed that delivering a thoughtful, well-informed candidate experience is essential for attracting top talent in today’s competitive healthcare landscape.
Directions for 2026
Embrace Technology Tools
As healthcare recruitment grows more complex, organizations are increasingly looking at technology to improve efficiency and visibility across their hiring processes. Rather than adding new tools simply for the sake of innovation, many teams are focusing on better leveraging the systems they already have in place.
Several panelists shared examples of how their organizations are using existing applicant tracking systems to streamline workflows, reduce manual tasks, and improve collaboration between recruiters and vendors. By rethinking how these tools are used, some teams have
been able to automate onboarding processes, centralize candidate data, and create more efficient ways to manage contingent labor and locum providers.
Recruitment teams are also beginning to rely more heavily on data and reporting. Dashboards and analytics tools are helping organizations track performance, align stakeholders around shared metrics, and make more informed decisions about hiring strategies moving forward.
Ultimately, the goal is to use technology strategically to work smarter and create more scalable recruitment processes.
Elevating the Provider Experience
As competition for physicians and advanced practice providers continues to intensify, healthcare organizations are placing a stronger emphasis on delivering an exceptional candidate experience.
Recruitment teams are recognizing that providers evaluate organizations just as closely as organizations evaluate them. From initial outreach to the on-site interview process, every touchpoint contributes to how candidates perceive the opportunity.
Panelists highlighted that many hiring challenges stem not from sourcing issues but from gaps in the interview or decision-making process. In some cases, refining how departments communicate their value proposition, structuring interview days more thoughtfully, and ensuring each stakeholder plays a clear role in the process can dramatically improve outcomes.
For many organizations, improving the candidate experience means slowing down enough to focus on intentional, well-designed processes that showcase the strengths of the organization, its culture, and the community it serves.
Returning to Recruitment Fundamentals
While innovation remains important, many healthcare recruitment leaders are revisiting the foundational practices that support successful hiring.
Clear processes, well-coordinated interview experiences, and strong communication between recruiters and hiring leaders remain critical components of effective recruitment strategies. Panelists emphasized that these fundamentals often determine whether candidates ultimately choose to join an organization.
By strengthening these core processes, recruitment teams can reduce friction in the hiring journey and create a more consistent experience for candidates. These improvements also free up time for recruiters to explore new strategies, technologies, and outreach methods that can further enhance their efforts.
In many ways, the path forward for healthcare recruitment in 2026 is about balancing innovation with discipline: leveraging new tools and ideas while ensuring the foundational elements of recruitment remain strong.
Watch the Full Webinar
The conversation doesn’t stop here. Our panelists shared even more insights, real-world examples, and practical strategies for navigating healthcare recruitment in today’s competitive market. Watch the full webinar recording here to explore the complete discussion and take away additional ideas you can apply in 2026.
Ready to elevate your recruitment strategy? Contact NAS today to get started.