Replacing a medical assistant in a physician office costs about $7,283 to $9,104 per departure. That range applies the 16.0% to 20.0% of salary replacement cost quoted in Medical Economics on September 27, 2026 to the $45,520 median annual pay that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported for medical assistants in offices of physicians in May 2025.

Gallup's 2019 estimate is wider. It puts one departure at one-half to two times annual salary, or $22,760 to $91,040 for the same medical assistant. The top of the Gallup range is 10.0 times the top of the Medical Economics range, so the method a practice picks changes its budget by a wide margin.

What one departure costs at median pay

The Medical Economics figure comes from Rachel Brace, co-founder of BackPocket Talent and a former practice administrator with more than 15 years of experience. She said replacing an employee who earns under $75,000 costs 16.0% to 20.0% of that worker's salary. Both jobs in the table below sit under that $75,000 line.

BLS set the 2025 median pay for medical assistants at $45,690 a year, or $21.97 an hour, across all industries. In offices of physicians the median was $45,520, and the 10th percentile of all medical assistants earned under $36,050. Receptionists had a median of $38,010 a year, or $18.27 an hour. The BLS does not publish a physician-office median for receptionists in the page used here, so the table uses the all-industry figure for that row.

Role and pay baseAnnual pay16.0% to 20.0% of pay0.5 to 2.0 times pay
Medical assistant, offices of physicians, median$45,520$7,283 to $9,104$22,760 to $91,040
Medical assistant, 90th percentile threshold$59,310$9,490 to $11,862$29,655 to $118,620
Receptionist, all industries, median$38,010$6,082 to $7,602$19,005 to $76,020

Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 wage data, for pay. Medical Economics, September 27, 2026, for the 16.0% to 20.0% range. Gallup, March 13, 2019, for the 0.5 to 2.0 multiple. The dollar ranges are arithmetic on those inputs.

How many departures to expect and which roles are slow to fill

MGMA polled 303 medical group leaders in May 2026 and asked how staff turnover compared with 2025. Of those leaders, 39.0% said it was about the same, 30.0% said it was lower, 28.0% said it was higher, and 2.0% were unsure. That leaves 69.0% reporting no increase.

The year before looked almost the same. In MGMA's 2025 poll of 357 leaders, 35.0% reported the same turnover, 35.0% reported lower turnover, 29.0% reported higher turnover, and 1.0% were unsure. MGMA's write-up cited BLS data showing the healthcare quits rate at 2.2% in 2024 and 2.0% in early 2025.

A practice with 10 medical assistants that replaces 3 of them in a year spends $21,849 to $27,312 on the Medical Economics range. On the Gallup range the same three departures cost $68,280 to $273,120. The 3-of-10 case is a worked example, not a survey result.

MGMA polled 420 practice leaders in May 2025 on which role was hardest to hire. Medical assistants led at 47.0%, ahead of nurses at 15.0%, billers at 10.0%, and coders at 9.0%. Other roles made up the remaining 18.0%.

MGMA also reported that more than 43.0% of medical groups hired alternative staff to cover medical assistant vacancies during 2024. Only 22.0% said their nurse recruiting improved that year.

The BLS projects 13.0% growth for medical assistants from 2025 to 2035, or 107,600 new jobs on a base of 833,900. It also projects about 109,700 openings a year, which equals 13.2% of current employment. Receptionist employment is projected to fall 2.0%, yet the BLS still expects about 105,100 openings a year on a base of 947,500 jobs, or 11.1%. A practice that posts a medical assistant job in 2026 competes with all of those openings, and the 47.0% hiring difficulty above shows how that plays out.

Higher-paid roles, bonuses and the cost of leaving

An older estimate shows how fast the dollars grow with pay. Medical Economics reported on September 13, 2016 that a San Diego chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association put the replacement cost of a nurse earning $85,000 at over $180,000. The same source put a physician assistant earning about $120,000 at over $250,000, and an executive earning $200,000 at $426,000.

That source also gave a replacement cost of 213.0% of salary for a highly educated professional, against the 16.0% to 20.0% quoted for lower-paid roles in 2026. It put the replacement cost of a physician at over $1,000,000. The two estimates use different methods, so a practice should not apply one percentage to every job.

The 2026 Medical Economics article worked through the comparison. At an 18.0% replacement cost, the midpoint of the range, replacing a medical assistant at $45,520 costs $8,194. A $2,000 retention bonus paid at six and 12 months costs less than a quarter of that amount, or 24.4%. The article concluded that the bonus is the better use of money in that case.

The article also gave a profit-sharing example of 3.0% of pay, paid only if the practice hits its goal. At the $45,520 median that comes to $1,366 per medical assistant, and it costs nothing in a year the goal is missed.

Gallup's 2019 analysis found that 52.0% of departing employees said their manager or organization could have prevented their exit. Another 51.0% said no manager or leader talked with them about their job satisfaction or future in the three months before they left.

Sources

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