Healthcare salaries are on the rise, but healthcare organizations may need to do more to retain their workers, according to Health eCareers' annual Healthcare Salary Guide released today.

Of the healthcare professionals surveyed, 29% anticipate changing employers in the next year, 30% have no plans to change and 41% are unsure. Additionally, 86% are confident they could find a new position. The top reasons given for seeking new employment were higher pay, more rewarding and challenging work, better working hours and wanting to work for a different organization.

But despite the competitive hiring market, the report found only 61% offer some type of incentive to retain employees, up only 1% from last year. And 39% offer no motivator at all.  

“Healthcare employers have an opportunity to sway those 41% who are on the fence about leaving,” said Bryan Bassett, Health eCareers’ managing director. “It’s not just about higher pay. They could be incented with more rewarding or challenging tasks, or by retooling their work hours.”

The survey also found 87% of healthcare professionals now make more or the same as a year ago. Ten out of the 14 studied positions saw salary increases over the past year, but some were more sizeable than others and key positions such as nursing declined.

Average annual salaries by position compared to 2015 data:

• Physicians and surgeons: $255,648, up 2.5%
• Healthcare executives: $134,632, down 12.9%
• Physician assistants: $105,856, up 4.3%
• Nurse practitioners: $100,549, up 5.3%
• Healthcare IT: $91,251, up 2.2% 
• Nurses: $61,875, down 3.1%

Academics/research, administrative/operations and allied health positions reported the largest year-over-year salary increases, while healthcare executives and pharmacy saw the biggest decrease this year.

“It struck us that NPs and PAs received a higher pay bump than physicians,” Bassett said. “This could, at least in part, be attributed to the physician shortage, which is causing healthcare providers to hire NPs and PAs in larger numbers, and having to pay them more to be competitive.”

The survey included 19,754 healthcare job seekers from the Health eCareers database and was conducted in January and February 2016.