Healthcare Staffing Trends for 2025 and Beyond: Why Vendor‑Neutral VMS Solutions Matter

The U.S. healthcare staffing market is entering a new phase. Recent data from Staffing Industry Analysts’ (SIA) 2025 Healthcare Staffing Summit show that spending on temporary labor is normalizing after the pandemic surge, yet certain segments, including locum tenens and advanced practice, continue to expand[1]. At the same time, digital platforms and vendor‑management solutions are becoming the preferred channels for connecting clinicians to hospitals. This article unpacks the key trends and explains how Ringo’s vendor‑neutral VMS helps hospitals and agencies adapt to an increasingly complex labor landscape.

Market Outlook: From Pandemic Peaks to Balanced Growth

SIA forecasts that U.S. healthcare staffing revenue will reach $39.4 billion in 2025[1]. While this total is roughly one‑third lower than the pandemic‑era peak, it reflects a healthier balance across multiple skill segments:

• Travel nursing: Travel nurse revenue, which spiked above $44 billion in 2022, is projected to decline to about $14.2 billion in 2025[2]. Hospitals are still relying on travelers but are experimenting with AI‑driven scheduling and reducing assignment lengths to manage costs.
• Per diem and allied health: Per diem nurse staffing is expected to generate roughly $4.5 billion in 2025 with a rebound beginning in 2026, while allied health will reach about $9.8 billion[3].
• Locum tenens and advanced practice: The fastest‑growing segment. Spending on locums and advanced practitioners is forecast to hit $9.6 billion in 2025—roughly 24 % of the total market—and continue rising[4].
• International nurse: Visa backlogs are limiting supply, but hospitals still plan to spend about $1.3 billion to recruit nurses from abroad[5].

The pandemic distorted demand and revenue, particularly for travel nursing. Travel nurse spending grew from $29.9 billion in 2021 to $44.6 billion in 2022, then dropped to an estimated $28.6 billion in 2023 and is forecast at $14.2 billion in 2025[2]. In contrast, locum tenens and advanced practice staffing have not experienced a post‑COVID pullback. The growth of locums shows where the market is headed next.

Locum Tenens and Advanced Practice: The New Engine of Growth

Locum tenens and advanced practice revenue has more than doubled since 2019, rising from roughly $5.2 billion to a projected $9.6 billion in 2025[4]. After a brief downturn in 2020, growth accelerated at 14 % in 2021, 25 % in 2022, 17 % in 2023 and 15 % in 2024. SIA’s September 2025 update projects 5 % growth in 2025 and 4 % in 2026, signaling that locums will remain a bright spot even as travel nursing contracts. Demand is driven by physician shortages, aging practitioners, aging populations and underserved rural and specialty markets.

The steady expansion of locums highlights a strategic opportunity: many large staffing firms do not operate their own VMS technology. Agencies can go on offense by offering managed service provider (MSP) programs built on vendor‑neutral platforms. Rather than waiting for industry consolidation, firms that partner with an independent VMS can defend direct relationships, compete for locum revenue and extend services to their nursing clients.

Drivers of Demand: Workforce Growth, Shortages and Cost Pressures

Several macro trends explain why temporary staffing will continue to play an essential role:

• Rapid employment growth and specialty imbalances – Healthcare employment is projected to grow 21 % between 2015 and 2025, nearly twice the rate of the overall job market[2]. Certain specialties face acute shortages: family medicine, anesthesiology, internal medicine, radiology and cardiology searches dominate employer requests and could experience double‑digit deficits by 2037. Conversely, nurse practitioner jobs are forecast to expand by over 40 % through 2034[4]. These imbalances require flexible staffing solutions across multiple disciplines.
  

• Rural hospital vulnerabilities – A Chartis analysis found 432 rural hospitals vulnerable to closure as of February 2025, with some states seeing more than 40 % of their rural facilities at risk. Closures reduce patient access and referral networks for urban systems. To maintain critical services, rural hospitals depend on broad supplier networks and rapid access to clinicians, underscoring the value of technology that can reach multiple vendors and specialties.
• Rising labor costs – Labor accounts for 56 % of total hospital expenses[6], and overall hospital expenses grew 5.1 % in 2024, outpacing the 2.9 % inflation rate[7]. Hospitals are under pressure to control costs while investing in new talent pipelines and technology.
• Growing use of locum tenens – Surveys indicate that 81 % of healthcare facilities used locum tenens providers in 2024, and 80 % expect usage to remain steady or increase in 2025[8]. Unfilled physician positions cost up to $2.6 million in lost revenue each, so hospitals use locums to cover vacancies and preserve revenue[9].

Together, these factors create a challenging environment for hospitals and staffing firms. Organizations need robust technology to source talent quickly, track credentials across state lines, ensure compliance and manage costs.

Recruitment analytics provide further context on where demand is headed. AMN Healthcare’s 2024/25 data show that nurse practitioner roles were the most searched by clients, yet long‑term workforce models predict a 76 % surplus of NPs by 2037. Meanwhile, family medicine, internal medicine, psychiatry, hospitalists and radiology were also among the top requested searches but face projected shortages ranging from 18 % to 57 % by 2037. These mismatches suggest that marketing and recruiting efforts should prioritize physician specialties that will remain in deficit while continuing to build pipelines for advanced practice roles.

The picture is similar across allied and support disciplines. A slide shared at the SIA Healthcare Staffing Summit shows that many healthcare occupations—including speech language pathologists, massage therapists, physician assistants and physical therapist assistants—are projected to grow 20–23 % between 2024 and 2034, far faster than the 8.4 % average for all occupations. Demand for psychiatric technicians, occupational therapy assistants and ophthalmic medical technicians also exceeds 21 % growth. This breadth of high‑growth roles underscores the need for platforms capable of matching talent across both clinical and allied health segments.

Platforms on the Rise: MSP and VMS Adoption

Technology is reshaping how healthcare staffing is managed. Eighty percent of travel nurse staffing revenue now flows through either a managed service provider (MSP) or a standalone VMS, up from 72 % in 2019. Most of this growth is coming via MSP programs: about 73 % of travel nurse revenue in 2024 was routed through an MSP, while use of standalone VMS platforms declined to 7 %. Key trends driving adoption include ATS‑VMS convergence, AI‑enabled credentialing and integrated workforce intelligence.

Moreover, platform adoption extends beyond travel nursing. A 2025 survey of staffing executives found that over 90 % expect to adopt platform‑based solutions within the next five years. Healthcare staffing leads other verticals in adoption: about 34 % of healthcare staffing executives already use staffing platforms, compared with roughly 29 % in IT and 27 % in industrial sectors.

This shift to platforms has implications for locum tenens. Travel nursing demonstrates that MSP/VMS adoption can quickly become the norm. As hospitals seek efficiency and transparency, the same dynamics will likely emerge in locum staffing. Agencies that partner with a vendor‑neutral VMS can stay relevant as clients consolidate vendors under managed programs.

Operational Imperatives for Agencies: Focus, Technology and Cash Flow

Small and mid‑sized agencies face a dual challenge: differentiating themselves while keeping up with rising technology expectations. Industry experts advise firms to own their niche, choose a clear growth path, adopt and integrate technology, design for profitability and use data to prove value. Each of these imperatives depends on having the right platform.

Cash flow is another constraint. SIA benchmarking shows that travel nurse agencies wait nearly 80 days to get paid, versus a 46.5‑day median for staffing firms overall. Long days sales outstanding (DSO) tie up working capital and limit investment in growth and technology. Reliable payment terms and fast‑pay options can improve cash flow and reduce financing costs.

Modern VMS/MSP programs help agencies manage these operational complexities. By centralizing requisitions, rates, vendor communications and credentialing, agencies can deliver consistent service, track profitability and advise clients based on data. Vendor‑neutral platforms also allow agencies to offer MSP programs without competing with themselves, defending existing relationships while expanding into new segments like locum tenens.

Recent investment surveys point toward accelerating adoption. According to SIA’s North America Staffing Executive Outlook, roughly three‑quarters of healthcare staffing executives plan to increase technology spending in the next 12 months, while only a small minority expect to decrease it. The same survey projects that average IT spending in healthcare staffing will rise about 8 % in 2026, highlighting that platform investments are now a priority. In this environment, VMS/MSP is here to stay—organizations can either embrace vendor‑managed solutions and evolve their operating models or compete in a shrinking marketplace. Partnering with a vendor‑neutral platform like Ringo enables agencies and healthcare providers to build workforce solutions that match how they want to grow and where the market is heading.

Conclusion: Preparing for the Future of Healthcare Staffing

Healthcare staffing is evolving from a pandemic‑driven boom to a balanced, technology‑enabled market. Locum tenens and advanced practice are becoming core components of workforce strategies, labor costs remain high, rural hospitals face closure and specialty shortages persist. At the same time, vendor‑neutral VMS and MSP platforms are rapidly gaining adoption, turning staffing into a data‑driven, platform‑based business. Agencies and hospitals that embrace these trends will be positioned to thrive.

Ringo provides the tools to navigate this new landscape. By offering an independent platform that accelerates hiring, controls costs, ensures compliance and supports both agencies and hospitals, Ringo helps you control what you can control. Whether you are a hospital seeking flexible access to talent or an agency aiming to expand into locum tenens and MSP services, partnering with Ringo will keep you ahead of the curve.

Ready to see how Ringo can transform your contingent workforce? Schedule a demo and discover how a vendor‑neutral VMS can help you staff smarter and grow faster.