Workforce Pressures Mount for Nurses and Technicians as AI and Politics Enter the Workplace: New Report

Incredible Health's sixth annual 2025 State of U.S. Nursing & Technicians Report surveys nurses and technicians, uncovering widespread concerns about burnout, pay, Medicare and Medicaid cuts, and the future role of AI in care delivery

, /PRNewswire/ -- Incredible Health, the largest software and AI-powered career marketplace for permanent healthcare workers, announced today the release of its sixth annual State of U.S. Nursing & Technicians Report. The report highlights emerging challenges and opportunities across staffing, compensation, well-being, and AI technology across the US healthcare workforce. This year's report features a major expansion: for the first time ever, the report includes insights from more than 1 million US nurses, as well as technicians. The insights offer healthcare organizations a data-driven roadmap from responses across the country to meet rising care demands, improve retention, and support their permanent workforces.

"Nurses and technicians comprise the majority of healthcare workers in the US and it is essential to get their point of view on what is - and is not - working in our healthcare system," said Incredible Health co-founder and CEO Iman Abuzeid, MD. "This year's report offers meaningful insight for health systems on how to improve conditions for these essential workers to reduce turnover and ultimately improve quality of care."

Technician Shortages and Compensation Gaps Fuel Turnover Risk

Technicians are over 30% of the healthcare workforce and cover all aspects of care, from radiology to phlebotomy to surgical care. They are vital to America's care economy, and yet they face mounting pressures as staffing shortages, compensation concerns, and economic barriers converge. In a pattern similar to that of the 2021 nurse shortage crisis, 61% of technicians say the shortages in their field are directly impacting their work. This, in turn, leads to increased stress (32%), fewer teammates to rely on (13%), and added responsibility without sufficient support (12%).

What appears to be driving this trend? Stress and financial constraints:

• 71% of technicians say they are not fairly compensated. 32% say a 6–10% raise would help them feel adequately paid.
• Only a quarter (25%) of technicians rate their mental health as "very good."
• Nearly half (48%) report they can barely meet their basic financial needs, and 76% say it's harder to find a job than in past years.
• Among surgical technologists, 68% report increased demand for surgical care—a signal that technician workloads may continue to rise without sufficient staffing.

Unsurprisingly, almost a third of technicians (28%) say they plan to leave their role by the end of 2025, with 42% citing pay and benefits as the key factor. Together, these findings point to a growing risk of technician attrition and highlight the urgent need for better support systems, pay equity, and retention strategies across this healthcare workforce.

Pressure from All Sides: How Politics and the Economy Are Shaping Healthcare Careers

As healthcare employers navigate staffing challenges and care demands, nurses and technicians are also contending with growing political and economic pressures. From budget cuts to housing hurdles, the broader climate is reshaping career decisions and daily realities on the job.

• 88% of nurses and technicians anticipate that potential Medicaid and Medicare cuts will negatively impact health systems.
• 63% of nurses believe the current political environment will affect their job or workplace.
• 55% of nurses and 78% of technicians say the housing market and interest rates have limited their ability to consider roles in other cities.
• 66% of nurses and technicians overall report that the macroeconomic climate has influenced their career choices or trajectory.

These findings highlight the urgent need for healthcare leaders and policymakers to address the broader forces impacting the workforce, from economic instability to policy uncertainty, in order to retain healthcare workers and protect quality of care.

Openness to AI Grows as Confidence Builds

Healthcare workers are increasingly open to the idea that AI may be additive to their work, not a threat. While 64% of nurses in 2024 believed AI would negatively impact their roles, that number has dropped sharply to just 38% in 2025—a trend likely to continue as comfort with the technology grows. In fact, 85% of nurses say they want more training on how to use AI.

Nurses are most optimistic about AI's potential to:

• Save time on administrative tasks (40%)
• Increase process efficiency (36%)
• Improve technical training (34%)

While adoption across care settings is still in early stages—only 16% of technicians report using AI—the findings suggest significant opportunity ahead as interest and openness continue to grow.

The Path Forward

"The future of healthcare hinges on how we support the healthcare workers delivering care," said Abuzeid. "The good news is that healthcare employers have clear, actionable steps they can take to strengthen hiring and retention. That means investing in competitive, transparent compensation; expanding overall flexibility; prioritizing mental health and workplace safety; and providing continuous training—especially when it comes to emerging technologies like AI."

As the largest software and AI-enabled career marketplace for healthcare workers, Incredible Health is free to all nurses and technicians and helps them plan and manage their careers. Over 1 million US nurses and thousands of technicians use the platform to land permanent roles across 1,500 acute and non-acute employers, access free resources and tools, and receive free one-on-one support from coaches regarding career decisions. The marketplace helps hospitals, home health organizations, and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) quickly hire and retain top, permanent healthcare workers while saving millions per year per facility in temporary staff, overtime, and HR costs, and growing and expanding their organizations.

The full report, including more information about nursing shortages, insights into Incredible Health's top markets, and more, can be found here.

Resources for nurses and technicians can be found here, and resources for healthcare employers can be found here.

About Incredible Health
As the largest career marketplace for permanent healthcare workers, Incredible Health puts healthcare professionals in the driver's seat. Hospitals, home health organizations, and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) apply directly to healthcare workers rather than the other way around. The first and only platform to focus on permanent roles rather than contractors, Incredible Health is already used by over 1,500 healthcare employers nationwide and over 1 million U.S. healthcare workers. Incredible Health's proprietary software and AI-powered technology custom matches the needs of employers with the right healthcare professionals. Co-founded by MD and Wharton alum, Iman Abuzeid, and MIT alum from a family of nurses, Rome Portlock, Incredible Health is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and operates nationally.

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SOURCE Incredible Health