by Michael P. Broxterman, COO & Wendy Abdo, Staff Writer
For many hospitals and medical organizations, physician recruitment is the lifeblood of the business. Therefore, it is important to understand how well you are implementing your recruitment plans and whether they are giving you the proper results. To determine this, you should review the four basic keys of physician recruitment. Begin by asking yourself what factors support a successful recruitment strategy. Below we have outlined the four most important components that support successful physician recruitment.
#1 – Define Candidate Parameters
What does your medical facility need? Are you in need of a Doctor of Medicine or a Doctor of Osteopathy? What particular qualifications are you looking for? Is malpractice an issue? What are you willing to accept? Before you even speak to a physician recruitment firm, you must be able to answer these questions and more. It is important to clearly define your goals. By eliminating unqualified applicants or those physicians whose goals do not match well with those of your facility, you will be able to save time and money. However, always keep in mind that the more specific you are, the more limited your candidate pool becomes. Therefore, it is essential to be balanced in your approach of defining candidate parameters and of conveying these points to your recruitment firm.
#2 – Be Competitive In Compensation
Good recruiting cannot overcome a bad offer or bad market conditions. You must be realistic. Ask yourself if you are competitive with the current market. Always remember that your attractiveness will be relative to your specific situation. For instance, larger cities do not have to offer as much salary as smaller towns. In addition, there are thousands of small towns that have the same type of amenities such as low cost of living, low crime rate, parks, outdoor recreation, etc. In order to attract physicians, facilities in smaller towns must offer higher compensation benefits to actively compete against larger towns and stand out against the crowd of other small towns.
#3 – Know Your Community Demographics
What are the characteristics of your community? Will it draw doctors? Over 90 percent of doctors are interested larger cities, while only 5 to 6 percent are attracted to small towns. In addition, those physicians who would consider moving to smaller towns would also consider moving to mid-sized cities that have a population of 150,000. Here is a sample of community features that affect a physician’s decision to accept a job offer:
Attractive Features Include:
– Close Proximity to Big-City Amenities
– Low Medicare/Medicaid Population
– Large Hospital with State-of-the-Art Technology
– High Income Area With High Population Growth
Unattractive Features Include:
– Far From Big-City Amenities
– High Medicare/Medicaid Population
– Small Hospital with Older Technology
– Low Income Area with Flat or Declining Population
#4 – Deal Effectively with Local Politics
Physicians see themselves as competitors. Family practices compete with other family practices and this causes problems. This may make it extremely hard to sign up a physician in your area. For example, if you have interviewed ten physicians, but none of them have shown interest in signing up with you, it may be that you have a miscommunication problem with local doctors discouraging potentials from moving to your area. The first step in solving this problem is to determine why the existing doctors are resisting the recruitment of new physicians. The following are cited as being the most common reasons:
- Potential future practices may geographically overlap current practices causing existing physicians to fear a reduction in their patient volume.
- Local specialists may worry that new primary care physicians will disrupt their current referral pattern.
It is important for a medical facility to gain the support of its physicians and local community. This can be done by actively getting doctors involved in the physician recruitment process. You should ask their opinion, use their ideas, and keep them informed of your progress. This will go far in alleviating misunderstandings while promoting a friendly environment for potential candidates.
Conclusion
These four keys are essential in laying the groundwork for physician recruitment. You must educate yourself on ways to improve and promote your medical facility’s recruitment strategy, while remaining aware of the things you cannot change. This will aid you in being more realistic in your search efforts and more competitive in attracting and hiring the physicians you require.
References
Stepnick, Larry. The Advisory Board Company. Physician Recruitment: Ten Management Practices of Top Hospital Recruiters. The Advisory Board Company: 1992.