The headlines are impossible to overlook:

20 hospitals, health systems cutting jobs

20 top hospital systems have 12,000+ open jobs

These are real headlines published in a major healthcare news outlet on the same day in March 2025.

Hospitals are struggling to hire and yet many are closing. While the healthcare industry is no stranger to economic fluctuations, even the most experienced professionals are left questioning how much longer they can withstand a rapidly shifting landscape. What’s behind this crisis?

On the one hand, healthcare hiring is down due to spending cuts, private equity disruption, and AI automation, which are eliminating or modifying positions. On the other hand, hiring is robust at thriving healthcare organizations, driven by an aging population’s healthcare needs and the push for hospitals to return to pre-pandemic capacity.  

Whichever side of the equation you stand on, the evidence is clear: healthcare systems—like most businesses nationwide—struggle to manage their workforce. Delays in hiring and reducing capital expenditures are causing organizations to operate at suboptimal levels, slowing down production, delaying essential services, and reducing staff in non-essential areas. In healthcare, this often means relying on locum tenens or temporary staff to balance spending with patient care.  

The Private Equity Cautionary Tale: Too Much, Too Little and Too Fast

Rapid change – either expanding or contracting – always poses a risk to an organization’s structure. This is especially true in healthcare, where the delicate balance between patient care and proper staffing can easily be disrupted. Rapid expansion can overwhelm resources, cause provider burnout and compromise patient care. On the flip side, scaling down too fast can result in critical staff shortages, reduced access to care and service gaps, all of which harm patient outcomes.

Healthcare must grow sustainably, balancing financial stability with the core mission of providing quality care. This was evident in the downfall of Steward Healthcare, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital system, backed by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Steward filed for bankruptcy in 2024 after expanding rapidly, purchasing more hospitals and creating a real estate investment trust (REIT). While the REIT generated massive profits for shareholders by purchasing the land the hospitals stood on and then charging them hefty lease fees, this bankrupted the hospitals and left them with $9 billion in liabilities. It’s alleged vendors were not paid, staff salaries were cut, routine maintenance on equipment was neglected and staff and patients suffered. Steward’s fall is one of the largest hospital bankruptcies in decades.

While there are still active Senate Committee hearings on what happened with Steward Healthcare, it’s clear that driving healthcare systems for pure financial gains and eliminating vital staff has disastrous consequences. With approximately 20 percent of all for-profit hospitals nationwide owned or operated by private equity firms, only time will reveal the true impact of private equity in the healthcare model.

Is doing more with fewer resources a bad thing? Not necessarily – but it depends on the approach. Implementing efficiency, scaling back on non-critical projects, hiring smarter via technology solutions and digital innovation can work in the short term. However, in the long term, the pursuit of efficiency must be balanced with a commitment to well-being, both for patients and the providers that serve them.

AI Everywhere All At Once

As the healthcare industry grapples with these challenges, many organizations are turning to AI as a potential solution. AI seems like the ideal tool to accomplish more with less. And doing more with less is a panacea during economic uncertainty. At the recent Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) Executive Forum, the annual conference for the staffing industry hosted by the global research and advisory firm, executives were focused on how AI could save money. AI seemed to be on the agenda for every session and discussion: How will AI help with hiring efficiency? When and how should it be implemented? How will AI impact our workforce and are we ready for this change?

As much as AI is being touted as a quick fix, reaping its benefits isn’t instantaneous. AI frees employees from repetitive tasks, which helps streamline the redundant office systems in many hospitals. But the real value of AI lies in how it assists with higher-level problem-solving with real-time, insightful data. For example, AI’s ability to track and manage hospital staffing can allow administrators to make swift staffing adjustments, ensuring care is delivered efficiently and on time.

The transition to AI isn’t simply about replacing human labor but empowering professionals with data-driven insights that enhance actionable planning. Healthcare organizations must remain competitive and engaging in strategic, high-value work will improve decision-making. It’s no longer feasible to wait weeks or months to make operational changes. By leveraging AI to optimize staffing, healthcare systems can ensure the care they’re committed to delivering comes to fruition.

Protecting Yourself With Data and Charting Your Own Path

Economists are admittedly scouring forecasting reports for insights about how the economy will land. Finance experts no longer seem to be ruminating over whether it will be a hard or soft landing – it’s simply any kind of landing- due to the country’s wildly uncertain economic future.

How can professionals seeking jobs and healthcare organizations navigate this uncertainty? It depends on where you sit in the healthcare hiring ecosystem:

1. If you’re a healthcare professional, stay flexible and resilient in your job search. Being adaptable and strategic in a competitive job market is more important than ever. Ensure you have all the latest technology tools and access to the best jobs on the market. Gather a strong resume, current certifications and licenses and have them easily accessible. Be ready to apply when a job becomes available. Hiring facilities will be looking to fill roles quickly, so stay organized and ready to apply instantly.
2. If you’re a healthcare facility, staff appropriately by micro-planning and leveraging data. Resources must be considered on a case-by-case, project-by-project and even day-by-day basis. If you used to plan out staffing monthly or quarterly, switch to a weekly or even daily model. Balancing staffing levels with the right mix of permanent staff and locum tenens professionals can be the difference between canceling surgeries and providing high-quality, timely care. Implement an AI-augmented hiring system with quick compliance turnaround.

The Future: How Close Is “Now”?

The future of healthcare staffing requires adaptability, which can be said for nearly every business in every industry. Economic uncertainty, hiring surges and layoffs will continue to be part of the future. For healthcare professionals and the organizations that hire them, staying flexible and prepared will be key to overcoming the challenges ahead. What’s the best strategy? Turn to low-cost, easy implementation technology solutions, particularly in staffing. With smart staffing solutions, continuous adaptation, and leveraging the power of data, healthcare staffing and operations can be tamed. The headlines may remain disconcerting, but the right strategy and preparation will make them seem less scary.