Running a private medical practice in 2025, for many physicians, can feel like juggling scalpels while riding a unicycle. You went to medical school to heal patients, not to become the de facto head of HR in healthcare. You might find yourself fielding résumés, refereeing staff disputes, and trying to decode the latest compliance update while still keeping your clinic doors open.
It’s the modern paradox of independent practice: physicians are expected to be both healers and human resource managers. And while the stethoscope may feel natural, the HR hat often doesn’t.
That tension—between clinical excellence and administrative overload—is shaping the future of independent practice. Across the country, practice owners are grappling with the same questions: How do you hire and retain great staff in a competitive market? How do you keep morale high when burnout is everywhere? And how do you balance the human side of medicine with the business realities of running a practice?
This article will unpack physician perspectives on what’s working, what’s breaking, and how physicians are finding ways to survive (and even thrive) in the human capital storm of modern healthcare.
The role of human resources in healthcare
Human resources in healthcare is about far more than payroll and paperwork. It’s the connective tissue that keeps a practice running: hiring the right people, ensuring compliance, maintaining morale, and fostering a culture where staff feel supported enough to deliver excellent care.
In large hospital systems, HR is a department. In private practice, it’s often just the physician‑owner—suddenly responsible for a discipline medical school never covered. The benefits of dedicated HR support are clear: lower turnover, stronger compliance, and healthier workplace culture. Until that’s an option, many practice owners must improvise.
Key functions of HR in healthcare include:
- Advocacy: Listening to staff concerns builds loyalty.
- Retention: Proactive HR reduces costly turnover by addressing dissatisfaction early.
- Compliance: Training and documentation keep practices aligned with OSHA, HIPAA, and other regulations.
- Culture: A positive environment reduces conflict and improves patient interactions.
- Burnout prevention: Balanced workloads and clear communication protect both physicians and staff.
Defining HR is one thing; living it is another. For many practice owners, the real challenge lies in translating these ideals into daily operations.
HR in healthcare: managing administrative struggles
The biggest HR challenges in healthcare today include hiring qualified staff in a competitive market, managing high turnover, keeping up with compliance requirements, and maintaining morale in the face of burnout. For small practices, these challenges are magnified because the physician-owner often has to juggle them personally.
Ask any practice owner what keeps them up at night, and you’ll hear a familiar refrain: hiring. Finding qualified candidates in today’s healthcare labor market is like searching for a needle in a haystack.
- Long hiring cycles mean positions stay vacant for months.
- Credentialing delays slow down onboarding.
- Competition with hospitals makes it hard to attract top talent.
For example, hiring a medical assistant in a small practice often means balancing speed with fit. Beyond credentials, practices look for adaptability, communication skills, and a willingness to wear multiple hats. Using specialized healthcare job boards or local training programs can help identify candidates who understand the unique pace of a small clinic.
Poll results from the Sermo community reflect just how widespread these struggles are. Four out of ten physicians say that finding qualified candidates is their greatest challenge when hiring staff for their practice. Another 20% cite offering competitive compensation as their biggest hurdle, while 20% say they don’t hire directly. Cultural fit is a sticking point for 11%, and 7% point to slow hiring processes and approval bottlenecks as their main obstacle.
These numbers echo what physicians are saying in their own words.
One general practitioner on Sermo explained, “The biggest challenge when hiring staff for a medical practice is often finding and attracting qualified candidates, particularly in a competitive job market. This includes attracting candidates who not only possess the necessary clinical skills and experience but also align with the practice’s culture and values. Additionally, ensuring a smooth and efficient hiring process that provides a positive candidate experience is crucial for success.”
The strain doesn’t stop at recruitment. Once staff are in place, the ongoing demands of managing them can weigh heavily on physicians. As a hematologist noted, “…HR issues are a major challenge. Balancing clinical work with hiring, managing staff, and resolving conflicts is exhausting, especially without dedicated support.”
For some specialties, the challenge is even more acute. A radiation oncologist shared, “In my field, the most challenging aspect about hiring and HR processes is finding valuable candidates but—in some cases—the real problem is finding candidates AT ALL. During these and the next few years, a lot of physicians are going to retire, creating a void in the system.”
And even when candidates are available, the rules and frameworks guiding HR don’t always fit the realities of medicine. As a radiologist in the U.S. put it, “HR tends to have set rules created for standard businesses rather than the unique issues of medical practice.”
Beyond hiring, the operational burden—scheduling, payroll, compliance audits—often lands squarely on the physician’s desk. It’s no wonder many report that HR is the single most stressful part of physician practice management.
The crisis in HR in healthcare: How to deal with churn rate
Turnover isn’t just a nuisance; it’s a crisis. The average churn rate in healthcare outpaces many other industries, and small practices feel it most acutely. Every departure means lost continuity for patients and added stress for remaining staff. This revolving door has consequences for both patient outcomes and staff morale.
As one psychiatrist in the U.S. observed, “Physicians are sometimes disrespectful of support staff and this contributes to turnover. These individuals may not own their behavior or may have limited insight; appears to be more prevalent in certain specialties, cultures. Gender may play a part. Administrative burdens keeps coming up as a major source of stress. What is being done about it? Private practice may bring less income but might be better for sanity.”
This revolving door has consequences. Faced with this instability, some physicians are rethinking independence altogether. Joining a larger hospital system or group practice suddenly looks appealing—not because they want to give up autonomy, but because they want to give up HR headaches. A recent Sermo community poll noted that 16% of physician respondents had already made the change, while 26% were still mulling it over. Just over 10% say that they prefer to stay independent regardless, while 28% say that they haven’t made a change yet, but the concern was growing.
How the HR department in healthcare supports clinical teams
When HR is absent or underdeveloped, the burden falls on physicians. That isolation is palpable. Many practice owners describe feeling like they’re on an island, managing conflicts and compliance alone.
Combine that with staffing shortages, and the result is predictable: burnout. Not just among physicians, but across the entire clinical team. Nurses, medical assistants, and front-desk staff all feel the strain when turnover is high and support is low.
As one internal medicine physician on Sermo explained, “HR challenges are increasingly making clinical practice difficult to manage. Physicians today are expected to juggle not only patient care but also hiring, staff management, and team morale all while dealing with high turnover and burnout. Staffing shortages mean clinicians often take on administrative roles they weren’t trained for, which adds to their stress and detracts from quality care.”
An ophthalmologist echoed this concern, noting, “The growing HR burden on physicians, especially in small or independent practices, threatens not only operational efficiency but also provider well-being and patient care. This situation underscores the urgent need for structural support, streamlined processes, and dedicated resources to manage human capital effectively.”
Poll results from the Sermo community highlight just how uneven support can feel. Only 18% of physicians say they feel very supported in managing HR-related issues like hiring, conflict resolution, and burnout—typically because they have dedicated HR or administrative staff. Another 39% feel somewhat supported as they share the load with others, while 23% admit they don’t feel very supported since they handle most HR work themselves. Alarmingly, 13% say they don’t feel supported at all, describing themselves as overwhelmed to the point where it affects their work.
A robust healthcare HR function doesn’t just protect the practice; it sustains the team. It ensures that clinicians can focus on patients instead of paperwork, and that staff feel supported rather than stretched thin.
Strategies to create a better HR experience in your practice
So what’s the way forward? While no single solution fits every practice, several strategies are emerging as game-changers.
- Access to a dedicated HR manager or consultant: Even if you can’t afford a full-time HR hire, consider a consultant. Outsourcing HR functions can relieve the administrative burden while ensuring compliance and best practices.
- Better hiring platforms for clinical staff: Generic job boards often don’t cut it. Specialized healthcare hiring platforms can connect practices with candidates who already understand the clinical environment.
- Improved staff training or retention programs: Retention isn’t just about pay; it’s about growth. Offering training, mentorship, or career development opportunities signals investment in your team.
“It’s clear that many physicians are struggling with staffing shortages, burnout, and the increasing complexity of managing a team in today’s healthcare environment. What’s working seems to be strong leadership, flexible work models, and a renewed focus on team culture. What’s breaking is the traditional model where physicians are expected to juggle both clinical care and business operations without adequate support. As a result, many doctors are rethinking the viability of staying independent. This human capital challenge is becoming a key factor in whether they continue to operate on their own or align with larger healthcare systems,” a vascular surgeon in Germany explained.
For those who want to remain independent, one of the most effective ways to counterbalance these pressures is leaning on community. Shared experiences and collective problem‑solving can provide both practical strategies and emotional reinforcement, reminding physicians they don’t have to navigate these challenges alone.
Peer support of physician management groups
Communities like Sermo provide a space for practice owners to swap stories, share strategies, and vent frustrations.
A family medicine physician in Spain emphasized the importance of culture, noting, “Having a team that is cohesive through mutual respect and the pursuit of common goals for the benefit of the population is essential to provide quality health care.”
Of course, culture alone isn’t enough. Even the most cohesive teams need systems that reduce friction and free them to focus on patients. That’s where streamlined tools and smarter processes come in.
Streamlined admin and compliance tools
Technology can’t solve everything, but it can simplify a lot. From scheduling software to compliance dashboards, the right tools reduce manual workload and free up time for patient care.
Poll results from the Sermo community show where physicians see the most potential for improvement. Thirty-five percent say that improved staff training or retention programs would most improve their experience managing their team and practice. Another 20% point to access to a dedicated HR manager or consultant, 17% to better hiring platforms, 13% to streamlined admin and compliance tools, and 11% to peer support groups.
Together, these insights highlight that while no single solution will fix the HR burden, a combination of leadership, culture, and practical tools can make the difference between burnout and balance.
The bottom line of HR in healthcare for physician practice owners
Here’s the hard truth: independent success in modern medicine requires mastering HR as much as mastering medicine. Physician practice owners can’t afford to treat HR as an afterthought. It’s a core competency—one that directly shapes patient outcomes, staff morale, and the long‑term viability of the practice.
Experiences and data make clear that HR is no longer just about vacancies or payroll. It’s about building resilient systems of people and processes that can withstand staffing shortages, regulatory pressures, and burnout. Physicians who thrive will treat HR not as a distraction, but as an extension of clinical work—because a healthy workforce is inseparable from healthy patients.
That doesn’t mean physicians must do it alone. The future belongs to practices that tap into external HR expertise, adopt smarter technology, and join professional networks that share solutions. Across specialties and geographies, the lesson is consistent: culture, leadership, and infrastructure must evolve together.
The key is being proactive—seeking support before burnout sets in, and designing HR systems that are sustainable rather than overwhelming. For practice owners, this isn’t just a defensive move against churn or compliance risk. A clear business plan for your medical practice that weaves HR strategy into the overall vision for your practice’s growth and independence is a strategic investment in independence, in the well‑being of your teams, and in the kind of patient care that only a stable, supported practice can deliver.
The practices that will thrive in the next decade are the ones that treat HR not as a burden, but as a strategic advantage. When physicians embrace people management with the same rigor they bring to patient care, they future‑proof their independence and create workplaces where both staff and patients flourish.
Get peer advice on Sermo
The balance between leadership and humanity is what ultimately defines sustainable practice ownership. Technology and tactics help, but the real opportunity is treating HR as a strategic pillar of independence. The future of private practice will be built not only on medical expertise, but on smarter ways of managing talent—turning HR from a burden into a lever for growth, culture, and resilience.You don’t have to figure it out alone. Communities like Sermo are already sharing playbooks and proving that even the toughest staffing challenges can be solved together. Join in on the debate, learn from your peers, and add your voice to the discussion.
