NATIONAL DAILY HOSPITAL NEWS
Executive Briefing
Tuesday, December 9th, 2025
Today:
- Hospital workforce risk is shifting from “future concern” to a present-tense emergency as turnover, burnout, and intent-to-leave numbers climb.
- Operating Room (OR) efficiency and staffing are now among the top cost drivers and margin levers, not just a throughput issue.
- Executives can stabilize staff and surgical services by linking retention economics, OR block utilization, and flexible work models in one integrated plan.
1. Global & Health Sector Headlines
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2025 hospital operations survey: workforce and OR efficiency now core financial risks.
FTI’s 2025 U.S. Hospital Operations Survey finds that 34% of executives name workforce management (recruitment, retention, overtime, and agency staffing) as their top financial stressor, while 21% cite operating room efficiency and 24% cite supply costs as major pressure points.
https://fticommunications.com/2025-hospital-operations-survey-report/ -
Health systems confront 2025 staffing shortages as a “silent emergency.”
A national 2025 analysis describes persistent staffing gaps across hospitals, clinics, and long-term care, driven by burnout, an aging workforce, education bottlenecks, and geographic maldistribution—all of which threaten service availability and quality of care.
https://theodoredrew.com/blog/the-silent-emergency-the-story-behind-2025s-healthcare-staffing-shortages/ -
Trends report: strong demand, but hospitals face structural operational headwinds.
A 2025 trends review highlights sustained care demand, continued outpatient shift, operating challenges, and experimentation with hospital-at-home and risk-based models as health systems search for sustainable performance.
https://www.stout.com/en/insights/article/2025-trends-hospitals-health-systems -
National nursing shortage and attrition risk remain acute in 2025.
A synthesis of recent nursing data projects a 78,000-RN shortfall, with widespread vacancy and intent-to-leave concerns affecting both urban and rural hospitals and threatening safe staffing and service line growth.
https://nurseslabs.com/nursing-shortage/
2. Health Policy & Industry Updates
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More than half of U.S. healthcare workers plan to change jobs by 2026.
A Harris Poll–based survey of 1,504 frontline healthcare employees and 304 employers finds that 55% of workers plan to search for or switch jobs by next year, with 84% feeling underappreciated and only 20% believing their employer supports long-term career growth.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/over-half-us-healthcare-workers-plan-switch-jobs-by-next-year-survey-finds-2025-09-15/
https://theharrispoll.com/briefs/burnout-bottlenecks-and-a-path-forward-for-healthcare-retention/ -
National RN survey: burnout and flexibility are decisive retention factors.
AMN Healthcare’s 2025 RN survey, summarized by AONL, reports that only 39% of nurses plan to continue working as they are, while 58% feel burned out most days and 81% say flexible scheduling would improve their work-life and likelihood of staying.
https://www.aonl.org/resources/RN-Survey-2025-Nursing-in-Transition -
Hospital nursing strategy priorities for 2025 emphasize safety, staffing, and ER capacity.
A 2025 nursing strategy brief highlights safe staffing, staff well-being, ER capacity management, and support for younger nurses as top hospital priorities, underscoring the need for aligned workforce and operations strategies.
https://3bhealthcare.us/hospital-nursing-strategy-priorities-2025/ -
Physician burnout shows modest improvement but remains high.
AMA and AHA updates show physician burnout rates finally dipping below 50% after peaking near 63% in 2021, but still at levels that demand sustained attention to workflow, staffing, and well-being initiatives.
https://www.aha.org/topics/burnout
3. Early Morning Briefing Highlights (Workforce, OR & Surgical Services)
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2025 retention and RN staffing report quantifies the cost of turnover.
NSI’s 2025 National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report estimates national hospital turnover at 18.3% and RN turnover at 16.4%, with the average acute care hospital losing $4.75 million annually to RN turnover and each percentage point change worth roughly $289,000.
https://www.nsinursingsolutions.com/documents/library/nsi_national_health_care_retention_report.pdf -
Survey: stress, burnout, and chronic understaffing threaten bedside care.
A 2025 nursing study from Florida Atlantic University reports high levels of stress and chronic short staffing, warning that without structural changes to workload and support, nurses will continue leaving direct patient care roles.
https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/beyond-the-bedside-nursing-survey.php -
Operating room management in 2025: complexity rising on all fronts.
A 2025 OR management review notes that rising surgical volumes, staffing constraints, new technologies, and safety demands are making it harder to maintain high-performing ORs without data-driven scheduling and multidisciplinary governance.
https://insights.surgical-solutions.com/navigating-challenges-of-operating-room-management-a-2025-perspective -
Key trends shaping OR efficiency and costs in 2025.
A 2025 trend summary highlights increased use of AI, robotics, and surgical data analytics, along with tighter block management and turnover protocols, as hospitals seek to reduce OR idle time and improve contribution margin per case.
https://www.luminahp.com/blog/key-trends-shaping-operating-room-efficiency-and-costs-in-2025 -
The financial toll of OR time: every minute now counts.
A synthesis of OR cost data estimates each minute of OR time at $15–$100, with one U.S. survey finding an average OR charge of $62 per minute and high-complexity surgeries above $133 per minute—making small delays an outsized financial and access issue.
https://scrubupapp.com/surgical-time-cost-patient-risk/
4. Strategic Implications for Hospital Leadership
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Workforce risk is now a core strategic exposure, not a side conversation.
With more than half of healthcare workers planning to change jobs and nurses reporting daily burnout, boards should treat retention as a primary risk domain—tracked quarterly alongside margin, liquidity, and safety.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/over-half-us-healthcare-workers-plan-switch-jobs-by-next-year-survey-finds-2025-09-15/
https://www.aonl.org/resources/RN-Survey-2025-Nursing-in-Transition -
Retention economics should be quantified and tied to capital and staffing plans.
The NSI report’s estimate that each one-percentage-point change in RN turnover is worth about $289,000 per year per hospital means leaders can explicitly quantify the ROI of mentorship, career ladders, and flexible scheduling initiatives.
https://www.nsinursingsolutions.com/documents/library/nsi_national_health_care_retention_report.pdf -
OR governance is a high-leverage margin and access lever.
With OR efficiency cited as a top cost driver and each minute of OR time carrying significant cost, system-level OR governance (block ownership, scheduling rules, case start reliability, and turnover standards) is now a C-suite priority rather than a departmental concern.
https://fticommunications.com/2025-hospital-operations-survey-report/
https://www.luminahp.com/blog/key-trends-shaping-operating-room-efficiency-and-costs-in-2025
https://scrubupapp.com/surgical-time-cost-patient-risk/ -
Nursing strategy and ER capacity planning must be integrated.
2025 nursing strategy briefs emphasize that safe staffing, staff support, and ER flow management are intertwined; separating “workforce” and “throughput” workstreams risks missing cross-service bottlenecks that drive burnout and boarding.
https://3bhealthcare.us/hospital-nursing-strategy-priorities-2025/ -
Enterprise strategy must anticipate a prolonged era of tight labor and rising demand.
2025 trend analyses underscore that labor constraints and rising demand are structural, suggesting that automation, redesigned roles, and value-based care partnerships will be essential to sustain access and margin.
https://www.stout.com/en/insights/article/2025-trends-hospitals-health-systems
5. Quality Metrics to Share With Your Team (≤7)
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RN turnover and financial impact: National RN turnover is 16.4%, and each percentage point change in RN turnover costs or saves the average acute care hospital about $289,000 per year; total RN turnover cost averages $4.75 million annually per hospital.
https://www.nsinursingsolutions.com/documents/library/nsi_national_health_care_retention_report.pdf -
Hospital turnover: Overall hospital turnover stands at roughly 18.3%, with RN turnover ranging from about 5% in the top decile to over 24% in the bottom decile.
https://www.nsinursingsolutions.com/documents/library/nsi_national_health_care_retention_report.pdf -
Intent to leave: 55% of U.S. healthcare workers plan to search for or switch jobs by next year, and 84% report feeling underappreciated at work.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/over-half-us-healthcare-workers-plan-switch-jobs-by-next-year-survey-finds-2025-09-15/ -
Burnout and flexibility: 58% of nurses say they feel burned out most days, and 81% say flexible scheduling would improve their work-life and likelihood of staying.
https://www.aonl.org/resources/RN-Survey-2025-Nursing-in-Transition -
OR cost per minute: Research estimates OR time at $15–$100 per minute, with one U.S. hospital survey showing an average charge of $62 per minute and up to $133 per minute for high-complexity cases.
https://scrubupapp.com/surgical-time-cost-patient-risk/ -
Top financial stressors: 34% of hospital executives identify workforce management as their top financial stressor, followed by supply costs (24%) and OR efficiency (21%).
https://fticommunications.com/2025-hospital-operations-survey-report/
6. Leadership Call to Action (≤5)
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Build a quantified workforce risk and retention dashboard for 2026–2028.
Incorporate RN turnover, vacancy rates, agency utilization, and “intent to leave” survey data into a board-level dashboard, explicitly tying each improvement in turnover to the $289,000 per point financial impact.
https://www.nsinursingsolutions.com/documents/library/nsi_national_health_care_retention_report.pdf -
Design and fund a multi-year retention program instead of one-off bonuses.
Use survey findings to prioritize flexible scheduling, tuition assistance, internal career ladders, and supervisor training as core retention investments rather than episodic sign-on and retention bonuses.
https://theharrispoll.com/briefs/burnout-bottlenecks-and-a-path-forward-for-healthcare-retention/
https://www.aonl.org/resources/RN-Survey-2025-Nursing-in-Transition -
Stand up or strengthen a system-wide OR governance council.
Establish a multidisciplinary OR governance structure (surgery, anesthesia, nursing, finance, and perioperative services) with authority over block allocation, on-time starts, turnover standards, and case mix optimization.
https://fticommunications.com/2025-hospital-operations-survey-report/
https://insights.surgical-solutions.com/navigating-challenges-of-operating-room-management-a-2025-perspective -
Integrate nursing strategy with ER and inpatient capacity planning.
Align nurse staffing plans, ER capacity initiatives, and admission/boarding management so that retention, safety, and throughput are treated as one integrated system instead of separate projects.
https://3bhealthcare.us/hospital-nursing-strategy-priorities-2025/ -
Stress-test 2026–2027 plans against a structurally tight labor market.
Use 2025 trends data to test your strategic plan against scenarios of continued workforce shortages and rising demand, identifying which service lines, sites of care, and partnerships will be most decisive for resilience.
https://www.stout.com/en/insights/article/2025-trends-hospitals-health-systems
Published at National Daily Hospital News
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