In 2026, the healthcare workforce is being reshaped by rising labor costs, uneven specialty demand, and persistent clinician shortages. As these pressures intensify, long-standing assumptions about fill times, availability, and pricing are quickly becoming outdated.
For healthcare organizations, this shift represents both a challenge and an opportunity. The ability to adapt to a more dynamic labor market is now critical to maintaining service line continuity, controlling costs, and ensuring patient access.
Locumsmart’s 2026 Market Trends Report provides a data-backed view into this evolving landscape, drawing from tens of thousands of staffing transactions, bids, and facility engagements nationwide. The findings highlight where pressure is building, where it is easing, and how organizations can respond with greater precision.
Key findings shaping 2026 staffing strategy
The data show a healthcare workforce market that is not just tight but uneven. Certain specialties are experiencing major growth in demand and spend, while others face cooling rates and reduced utilization. Understanding where pressure is intensifying and where it is easing is critical to allocating resources effectively.
Procedural and anesthesia-related specialties dominated spending and demand in the past year. Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) and anesthesiology continue to command the largest share of total spend, driven by sustained surgical backlogs and limited supply.
Oncology, gastroenterology, OB/GYN, and urology are accelerating. These specialties are seeing significant year-over-year growth in both utilization and total spend, reflecting demographic shifts, rising case complexity, and persistent coverage gaps.
Psychiatry presents a more mixed picture. While demand continues to grow, rate trends vary across segments. At the same time, hospitalist demand has begun to cool after years of rapid expansion, signaling potential stabilization.
Compare the numbers: Read the takeaways from last year’s report
Rates are diverging across specialties
One of the most consequential shifts heading into 2026 is the uneven movement of rates across specialties. Rather than rising or falling uniformly, compensation is increasingly tied to specialty-specific scarcity.
- Double-digit increases in median hourly rates for high-scarcity roles such as pathology, orthopedic surgery, pediatric surgery, infectious disease, and trauma surgery.
- Meaningful declines in rates across several primary care and advanced practice segments, including internal medicine, urgent care PAs, and certain psychiatry roles.
These divergences are reshaping negotiating power between healthcare organizations and clinicians. Additionally, this also emphasizes the importance of specialty-specific market intelligence rather than one-size-fits-all rate benchmarks.
Speed-to-fill metrics reveal hidden operational risk
Even modest increases in time-to-fill can have outsized operational and financial consequences. The report shows:
- Median days-to-fill are trending upward overall.
- Time-to-first-bid is increasing, signaling tighter competition for available providers.
- Certain high-need specialties average fewer than five available candidates per role, dramatically raising fill risk and premium exposure.
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Geography continues to influence workforce strategy
Staffing demand and spend continue to vary sharply by state and region. Some regions are experiencing concentrated growth driven by population shifts, higher-acuity patient needs, and expanding health systems, while others remain more stable.
Why this report matters now
Healthcare leaders are under pressure to do more with less while maintaining access to care, care quality, and clinician satisfaction. The 2026 Locumsmart Market Trends Report equips decision-makers with the actionable intelligence needed to:
- Forecast staffing costs more accurately
- Identify emerging specialty risks before they disrupt operations
- Reduce time-to-fill and improve access to providers
- Optimize workforce strategy in a rapidly shifting labor market
In an environment defined by increasing complexity, it’s critical to have a clear understanding of market dynamics.
To explore the full data and dive deeper into the highlights, download the 2026 Locumsmart Market Trends Report.