OBJECTIVES: Registered nurse (RN) burnout, defined as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment has an incidence rate as high as 70% and is responsible for 20% of RN turnover. Turnover exacerbates the current U.S. RN shortage, which is projected to reach 1.2 million by 2026. RN staffing shortages increase patient workloads for RNs and contributes to increased RN burnout and eventual turnover. As healthcare systems face increased budgetary constraints in serving rising patient volumes, knowledge of the economic burden of RN-burnout attributed turnover is essential. We assessed the economic cost of RN-burnout attributed turnover within a hypothetical health care organization. METHODS: A Markov model with a 10-year time horizon was developed to assess the incremental cost of RN-burnout in comparison to non-RN burnout attributed turnover from a health care organization (hospital) perspective. Model inputs were estimated from a systematic review of RN workforce literature and RN turnover costs. Utility values were added to the RN burnout component of the model to assess RN years working in burnout across the 10 years. Bivariate sensitivity analyses were undertaken. RESULTS: The incremental cost of burnout versus non-burnout attributed turnover for one RN across the 10 years was $8,872. The average RN was found to spend 2.8 of the 10 years in a state of burnout. CONCLUSIONS: RN burnout-attributed turnover represents a financial burden to health care organizations already struggling to adequately staff health care units with RNs for the provision of safe patient care. This evaluation is one of the first to assess the costs of RN burnout-attributed turnover. This study could potentially underestimate the direct cost burden of burnout-attributed turnover among RNs. More longitudinal studies are needed to assess RN burnout prevalence, drivers, and patient-level consequences in order to develop more robust cost evaluations of its impact.