Healthcare employers face a paradox: they provide care to the community but often struggle to provide competitive benefits to their own workforce. With nursing shortages, physician recruitment challenges, and intense competition, understanding your benefits position is critical.
This guide covers benchmarking considerations for hospitals, health systems, clinics, and other healthcare employers.
The Healthcare Staffing Crisis
Healthcare faces unprecedented staffing challenges. Benefits are a key lever for recruitment and retention:
- 1.Nursing shortage: RNs are in critically short supply nationwide. Hospitals compete fiercely, and benefits matter alongside signing bonuses and pay.
- 2.Burnout epidemic: Post-pandemic burnout has accelerated turnover. Mental health benefits and wellness programs have become essential, not optional.
- 3.Travel nursing competition: Travel nurses earn premium rates. Permanent staff expect competitive total compensation including benefits.
- 4.Physician recruitment: Physicians compare packages across systems. Benefits, especially retirement and malpractice coverage, factor into decisions.
Key Metrics to Benchmark
When benchmarking healthcare benefits, focus on these metrics:
Employee Contribution Rates
Healthcare employers typically cover 80-88% of single coverage and 70-80% of family coverage. Self-insured systems sometimes offer more generous packages.
Industry median: 82% single / 72% family
Plan Design & Deductibles
Compare in-network deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, and coinsurance rates across healthcare employers. Plan design choices reveal how systems balance cost control with employee access to care.
Coverage Tier Offerings
See how healthcare employers structure coverage tiers—employee only, employee plus spouse, employee plus children, and family. Understand contribution strategies across each tier.
Premium Cost Trends
Track how monthly premiums compare across the healthcare industry. See where your costs land relative to hospitals, ambulatory services, and other healthcare sub-sectors.
Healthcare Sub-Sectors
Benefits vary across healthcare settings. Benchmark against your specific sub-sector for the most relevant comparisons:
Hospitals
Inpatient facilities including health systems, community hospitals, and specialty hospitals. Often self-insured with competitive packages and multiple plan options.
Ambulatory Services
Outpatient care settings including surgery centers, imaging centers, urgent care, and diagnostic labs. A growing sector with increasingly competitive benefits.
Physicians & Practitioners
Private practices, medical groups, and specialty clinics. Benefits vary widely by practice size and specialty profitability.
Nursing & Residential Care
Nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living, and continuing care communities. High turnover makes competitive benefits essential for retention.
Social Services
Community health centers, home health agencies, mental health services, and social assistance organizations. Benefits positioning is key for attracting mission-driven professionals.
Self-Insured Advantage
Many large health systems are self-insured and provide care through their own facilities. This creates unique benchmarking considerations:
- Lower costs: Providing care internally often means lower net costs, enabling more generous benefits design.
- Plan flexibility: Self-insured systems can customize plans in ways fully-insured employers cannot.
- In-system incentives: Many systems offer lower cost-sharing for care received within their network.
See Healthcare Benchmarking Data
Explore real benchmarking data from 3,200+ healthcare employers. Filter by setting type, size, and region to find your peer group.