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Physician Retention Bonuses Insights and Negotiation Tips

As the physician shortage amplifies–and as salaries lose spending power with inflation–we’ve seen more and more questions about cost of living adjustments and retention bonuses in our online physician community, particularly as physicians renegotiate their existing contracts or negotiate new positions. To help assess current trends, we asked members in our community to share their experiences from recent negotiations, and have compiled the anonymous data below to share insights into how common physician retention bonuses are, what the average retention bonus is, conditions that come attached, and more.


Disclaimers/Disclosures: This information is derived from an anonymous survey sent to our online physician community, and is subject to self-reporting errors and availability of relevant data points. The information below was compiled from 116 data points collected in 2025. Smaller datasets may be less representative of the overall landscape. This information is provided for educational purposes only, and is aimed at advocating for individual physicians. It is not intended to be used for collective bargaining; please see additional disclosures and disclaimers on the physician salary data pages. Please also do your own research before making any decisions based on the information provided. We are not formal financial, legal, or tax professionals and do not provide individualized advice. You should consult these as appropriate. We highly recommend having your physician employment agreement reviewed by a physician contract review attorney to ensure you have the most up to date and relevant information for your specific situation.


What percentage of physicians in our online community reported receiving a retention bonus.


How common are physician retention bonuses?


15% of the physicians who responded to our retention bonus survey reported receiving a retention bonus. 


The majority of these physicians (70%) renewed their contract within the past year (2025).



What retention bonuses do doctors receive?


Reported retention bonuses ranged anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000.


The average retention bonus amount was $36,765.00, while the median was $30,000.


Insights into physician retention bonuses, including the average and median amounts received & the range of bonuses reported

Many of our physicians mentioned that their retention bonus was an annual bonus amount they received, so long as they remain with their employer.


Please note that this data was composed from replies to a post on our communities, and therefore the sample size is not as large as for our normal compensation databases. Given the small number of physicians who reported receiving retention bonuses, we want to caution doctors about putting too much weight into the specific numbers provided, but rather the convey trends and thoughts submitted by our members below.


For more specific information that factors in specialty, location, practice environment, etc., all of which influence retention bonuses, please look at our most recent compensation databases for doctors.


Additionally, if you’re currently negotiating a retention bonus, we highly recommend reaching out to a local physician employment contract review attorney who can also help you assess what current market trends are in your area that are relevant to your specific situation, as well as come up with talking points that support your request for a retention bonus.




What conditions are attached to physician retention bonuses?


Several of the doctors who reported receiving a retention bonus mentioned that they had conditions attached to their bonus. These conditions varied by contribution, but generally conveyed conditions such as:

  • Must stay on for a certain number of years in order to receive

  • Can be paid out in increments per year instead of all at once

  • Can be taken back if leave earlier than a certain time

  • Have to meet wRVU targets or quality metrics to receive


A more unusual condition we saw was that one member stated they must live within a specific mile radius of their institution.



Can doctors negotiate retention bonuses?


As we’ve seen, about 15% of our respondents stated they received retention bonuses. Some of these may be standard offerings from employers, but physicians also mentioned they were able to negotiate a retention bonus, even if it wasn’t originally offered. Other physicians asked and said that they were declined without much explanation or an offer to discuss. However, we still stick by the adage that if you don't ask, you don't get.



What are tips for negotiating a retaining bonus?


Tips from our community include:


  • Just ask for one and see what they say

  • Bring up what other institutions or jobs are doing, and if possible provide data for others in your specialty

  • Bring up another job you’re considering based on an offer you have received

  • Bring up that you’re considering looking for other jobs as the compensation seems to be more competitive elsewhere

  • Ask for other ways to increase your compensation within the organization, as you’d like to stay within the organization but are struggling with seeing more competitive salaries elsewhere

  • Come equipped with numbers that demonstrate your value to an organization, as well as a list of talking points for why you would be hard to replace

  • Persistence: Establish a record of asking so that even if you're declined once, eventually they may feel as though they should give something - planting the seed that you want more and that you're not going to drop it is important.

  • If you're declined, ask what you would need to do to be able to get a retaining bonus, and if they say it's just not an option, ask what future opportunities for growth there are for you in the organization - this way, without flat out threatening to leave, you plant the seed that you may if you don't see a pathway for future growth



Who gets retention bonuses?


It’s difficult to dive deeper into a smaller dataset to pick apart trends and factors that influence trends. From the data we have, we can see that physicians across multiple practice environments reported receiving retention bonuses, including:

  • Hospital systems (both academic & non-academic)

  • Corporate groups & private practices

  • Government & military, including VA jobs


We also saw retention bonuses reported across numerous specialties, from family medicine and pediatrics to neurology and surgeons, and several others.


Generally, the physicians with the largest retention bonuses likely have the most market favors in their condition, which makes sense. The harder it is to replace someone, the more leverage they have at the negotiating table, so if you're going to negotiate a retention bonus, try and come up with a list of reasons, ideally with numbers to back it up, for why you provide unique value that would be hard to easily replace.



Conclusion


A retention bonus can be a great incentive for physicians to help keep up with inflation and other trends in physician salaries. These bonuses can benefit both physicians and employers, and we may see them become more common as institutions struggle to get (and maintain) reliable staff.


While a retention bonus can be a nice perk, and one you may be able to negotiate, don’t stay in a job that’s a bad fit just for an extra $30,000 a year. A retention bonus doesn’t resolve systemic issues within an institution that may ultimately cause a job to be the wrong fit, such as lack of support or misaligned leadership.



Related compensation resources for physicians


While our salary & compensation data for doctors doesn’t include additional insights into retention bonuses specifically, our database includes information on salaries, call schedules, PTO, signing & relocation bonuses, CME stipends, and more. Learn how to access our free salary & compensation database for doctors.


Explore additional compensation insights:


Related PSG resources to negotiate your contract:


If you’re searching for a new job:

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