This document discusses strategies for physician recruitment and retention. It begins by explaining the importance of physicians in healthcare organizations and the costs of recruitment and retention. It then outlines various recruitment strategies used by top hospitals like Cleveland Clinic, including nationwide searches, advertising, rapid applicant contact, and making candidates and families comfortable. Retention strategies discussed include competitive compensation, benefits, flexibility, communication, and on-call pay. The document concludes that physician recruitment and retention requires an art and science approach tailored to each organization.
From rising costs to an aging population, today’s hospital leaders have no shortage of concerns. However, they are all connected to a single issue—the need to acquire
talent. This emerges from a new Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey—sponsored by Prudential—of more than 300 executives from hospitals of different sizes, locations and structures.
The survey reveals that talent is becoming a more pressing issue. In 2015, when the EIU conducted the first survey of the sector, attracting the best talent was less of a concern than other challenges. Now it is the second-leading issue for the
industry, according to survey respondents.
Part of the problem is that, in a cost-constrained environment, it will not be easy for hospitals simply to increase pay packages to secure top talent. And this challenge is being compounded by an industry-wide shortage of nurses, doctors and other clinical staff.
For many, it is a game of catch-up. “For every vacancy filled, two or more positions come open and need to be filled,” says Julie Hill, Recruitment Coordinator for Tidelands Health and President of the National Association for Health Care
Recruitment.
To compete for talent in this environment, hospitals are finding creative solutions. While remuneration must remain competitive, hospitals are using other weapons in their battle to win recruits, from developing candidates internally to using social
media as a recruitment tool.
Medical assisting continues to be one of the fastest growing occupations. Job prospects should be best
for medical assistants with formal training or experience, particularly those with certification.
AAMA all rights reserved
I do not own this. This is purely informational
From rising costs to an aging population, today’s hospital leaders have no shortage of concerns. However, they are all connected to a single issue—the need to acquire
talent. This emerges from a new Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey—sponsored by Prudential—of more than 300 executives from hospitals of different sizes, locations and structures.
The survey reveals that talent is becoming a more pressing issue. In 2015, when the EIU conducted the first survey of the sector, attracting the best talent was less of a concern than other challenges. Now it is the second-leading issue for the
industry, according to survey respondents.
Part of the problem is that, in a cost-constrained environment, it will not be easy for hospitals simply to increase pay packages to secure top talent. And this challenge is being compounded by an industry-wide shortage of nurses, doctors and other clinical staff.
For many, it is a game of catch-up. “For every vacancy filled, two or more positions come open and need to be filled,” says Julie Hill, Recruitment Coordinator for Tidelands Health and President of the National Association for Health Care
Recruitment.
To compete for talent in this environment, hospitals are finding creative solutions. While remuneration must remain competitive, hospitals are using other weapons in their battle to win recruits, from developing candidates internally to using social
media as a recruitment tool.
Medical assisting continues to be one of the fastest growing occupations. Job prospects should be best
for medical assistants with formal training or experience, particularly those with certification.
AAMA all rights reserved
I do not own this. This is purely informational
This monograph provides an assessment of the current hospital-physician landscape and outlines an innovative vehicle for advancing hospital-physician relationships that has the potential to improve care delivery and coordination, clinical quality, and patient cost. Our findings and recommendations address:• Changes in the market place.• The concept of an integrated medical staff model.• The role of operational clinical integration, enabled by an Electronic Medical• Record, toward creating virtual medical staffs.• Benefits to the hospital, physicians, patients and community.• What boards and senior management can do to move toward the model.
Still struggling to find the monetary value of a strong patient communications program? This white paper maps the advantages and provides evidence about the ROI of using sustained electronic communications to improve patient satisfaction and outcomes.
The Patient-Centered Medical Home Impact on Cost and Quality: An Annual Revie...CHC Connecticut
Dr. Nwando Olayiwola, Associate Director, Center for Excellence in Primary Care, Assistant Professor, University of California, San Francisco addresses the 2014 Weitzman Symposium on The Patient-Centered Medical Home Impact on Cost and Quality: An Annual Review of Evidence
At the 2014 HFMA National Institute, PYA Principal and Chief Medical Officer of PYA Analytics, Kent Bottles, MD, spoke about the strategies that hospitals and health systems are using to decrease per-capita cost, while increasing quality. In the session, “Achieving Rapid Cost Reduction and Revenue Improvement by Engaging Clinicians and Administrators,” Bottles offered tactics for engagement.
HFMA Article: 5 Signs That You Can Reduce Staffing Costs and Boost Nurse Sati...Block & Tackle Marketing
See how three Care Logistics hospitals are increasing efficiency in care delivery to improve healthcare quality and nurse morale while reducing costs from overtime, agency use, and turnover. By Care Logistics CFO Samantha Platzke.
This presentation explains the concept of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH), its function and its intended effects. A brief overview of the history of PCMH is also provided, as well as a discussion of its operational characteristics, its principles and outcomes, and what is expected in the future for the PCMH model.
A Career in Hospital Management, Master’s in Hospital Administration (MHA)/MB...Healthcare consultant
ALL labour that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence, said Martin Luther King, Jr. The Master’s in Hospital Administration course is meant for those people who share these sentiments, because job responsibilities range from giving astute guidance in administration to managing the daily affairs of the hospital.
Efficient management can play a role in saving more lives. With the advent of medical tourism and rapid development in technologies the health sector is emerging as one of the fastest growing sectors in India. Several corporates and business organisations have forayed into the healthcare sector, thus resulting in the healthcare delivery system becoming more organised, systematic and efficient. Hence, the healthcare industry needs professionals who can handle these challenges.
The purpose of this research paper is to identify why Human Resources (HR) is a change agent in any organization to drive organizational excellence. HR practitioners, as change agents, are responsible for easing the impact of changes in their organization and to empower employees against the consequences of these inevitable changes. Sometimes, the change helps to produce a significant increase in performance excellence and the company can boost sales and production without major additional cost.
Several vital competencies that are reviewed in this paper include how HR practitioners are path creators amongst the path breakers of organizational culture, by being change drivers and business focused. HR practitioners who are unable to function as change agents will inevitably create a barrier against their becoming a well-integrated strategic partner. Therefore, the role of change agent also mediates the relationship between certain HR competencies and organizational performance. This involves monitoring employee engagement and keeping levels high, developing strategies to retain top performers, and continuing to provide value-added services to employees.
This monograph provides an assessment of the current hospital-physician landscape and outlines an innovative vehicle for advancing hospital-physician relationships that has the potential to improve care delivery and coordination, clinical quality, and patient cost. Our findings and recommendations address:• Changes in the market place.• The concept of an integrated medical staff model.• The role of operational clinical integration, enabled by an Electronic Medical• Record, toward creating virtual medical staffs.• Benefits to the hospital, physicians, patients and community.• What boards and senior management can do to move toward the model.
Still struggling to find the monetary value of a strong patient communications program? This white paper maps the advantages and provides evidence about the ROI of using sustained electronic communications to improve patient satisfaction and outcomes.
The Patient-Centered Medical Home Impact on Cost and Quality: An Annual Revie...CHC Connecticut
Dr. Nwando Olayiwola, Associate Director, Center for Excellence in Primary Care, Assistant Professor, University of California, San Francisco addresses the 2014 Weitzman Symposium on The Patient-Centered Medical Home Impact on Cost and Quality: An Annual Review of Evidence
At the 2014 HFMA National Institute, PYA Principal and Chief Medical Officer of PYA Analytics, Kent Bottles, MD, spoke about the strategies that hospitals and health systems are using to decrease per-capita cost, while increasing quality. In the session, “Achieving Rapid Cost Reduction and Revenue Improvement by Engaging Clinicians and Administrators,” Bottles offered tactics for engagement.
HFMA Article: 5 Signs That You Can Reduce Staffing Costs and Boost Nurse Sati...Block & Tackle Marketing
See how three Care Logistics hospitals are increasing efficiency in care delivery to improve healthcare quality and nurse morale while reducing costs from overtime, agency use, and turnover. By Care Logistics CFO Samantha Platzke.
This presentation explains the concept of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH), its function and its intended effects. A brief overview of the history of PCMH is also provided, as well as a discussion of its operational characteristics, its principles and outcomes, and what is expected in the future for the PCMH model.
A Career in Hospital Management, Master’s in Hospital Administration (MHA)/MB...Healthcare consultant
ALL labour that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence, said Martin Luther King, Jr. The Master’s in Hospital Administration course is meant for those people who share these sentiments, because job responsibilities range from giving astute guidance in administration to managing the daily affairs of the hospital.
Efficient management can play a role in saving more lives. With the advent of medical tourism and rapid development in technologies the health sector is emerging as one of the fastest growing sectors in India. Several corporates and business organisations have forayed into the healthcare sector, thus resulting in the healthcare delivery system becoming more organised, systematic and efficient. Hence, the healthcare industry needs professionals who can handle these challenges.
The purpose of this research paper is to identify why Human Resources (HR) is a change agent in any organization to drive organizational excellence. HR practitioners, as change agents, are responsible for easing the impact of changes in their organization and to empower employees against the consequences of these inevitable changes. Sometimes, the change helps to produce a significant increase in performance excellence and the company can boost sales and production without major additional cost.
Several vital competencies that are reviewed in this paper include how HR practitioners are path creators amongst the path breakers of organizational culture, by being change drivers and business focused. HR practitioners who are unable to function as change agents will inevitably create a barrier against their becoming a well-integrated strategic partner. Therefore, the role of change agent also mediates the relationship between certain HR competencies and organizational performance. This involves monitoring employee engagement and keeping levels high, developing strategies to retain top performers, and continuing to provide value-added services to employees.
RUNNING HEAD: Progress Report1
Senior Project Progress Report
Melonie Lindsey
HCA 459
Vicki Sowle
June 2, 2014
Topic:
The topic that I selected for my senior project was “challenges of employee recruitment and retention of health care professionals”. I chose this topic because it is a growing problem among the healthcare institutions. The professionals who are capable of delivering best efforts in health care institutions are less in number and the opportunities that they have in this modern world are a lot. The human resources department of health care institutions adapt many modern ways to overcome these challenges. It is very interesting to understand such modern methods of human resources department for employee retention. At the same time, it’s interesting to visualize how the employees react to the actions performed by the human resources department of such healthcare institutions. In case the human resources department is unable to retain their employees irrespective of the hard measures taken by them, the backup plans executed by them in such cases are also worth studying.
Organization Specific Rationale:
New York Presbyterian is the health care organisation that I have selected for my senior project. This health care organisation is one of the top medical service providers in US. They have won several awards for maintaining good quality in delivering the health care services. The latest award that they have won is the “Energy Star Award” from EPA. This health care organisation offers a wide variety of medical services for their patients. The staff of this organisation is highly capable of delivering the best results. (http://nyp.org/, n.d.)
There are several challenges and opportunities that impact the balance between the health care costs for this organisation. Although NYP (New York Presbyterian) is a known name in medical field, it has to enforce several strict measures to control the cost and maintain steady income. The services offered by NYP are high class services so it’s not necessary that all the insurance plans cover it. Therefore only a specific category of patients can afford to have a treatment from this hospital. The running cost of the medical equipment installed in this hospital is also very high therefore the government aides are often necessary for this hospital. The salaries of the staff (including doctors) is also a major expense for the organisation.
NYP does not compromise with the quality of the health care services. Although the cost is directly proportional to the quality, the organisation manages its cost in such a way that the reputation of the hospital is never at stake. The multiple awards that are received by NYP is a result of the consistent reputation of the hospital is never at stake. The multiple awards that are received by NYP is a result of the consistent quality delivery. (http://nyp.org/services/index.html, n.d.)
Training:
The intended audience for this training can include t.
Team based care model for better productivityJessica Parker
In an old-fashioned practice model, the physician is solely responsible for most, if not all of the work undertaking of his facility, which also involves charge entry, to medical billing and coding till the time of claims reimbursements.
Robeznieks, A. (2013). What doctor shortage Modern Healthcare, 43.docxSUBHI7
Robeznieks, A. (2013). What doctor shortage? Modern Healthcare, 43(45), 14.
Some experts say changes in delivery will erase need for more physicians
You've heard the grim prognosis many times before. Unless immediate action is taken, the U.S. supply of doctors will be 91,500 short of the number needed by 2020 and 130,600 physicians short by 2025, according to an Association of American Medical Colleges estimate.
Dr. Atul Grover, chief public policy officer at the AAMC, projects that the U.S. needs to train an additional 4,000 doctors a year to avoid a shortage, given the Obamacare insurance expansion, an aging physician workforce, shorter hours worked by younger physicians, and an aging population.
But while some physician and hospital organizations wait for the federal government to pump more money into graduate medical education programs to train additional doctors, other health systems and businesses are using the physician shortage as an opportunity to roll out more cost-effective delivery systems and deploy different types of professionals to provide healthcare.
These innovative organizations are figuring what work needs to be done by a doctor and what work can better be done by different types of providers. They are optimizing the use of different professionals in patient-centered medical homes, accountable care organizations and retail clinics, which may well reduce the number of physicians needed. Some of these changes have been tenaciously opposed by organized medicine, but many physician leaders are embracing the new models.
The physician-shortage crisis is based on assumptions that "could be far from the mark � if the production function for primary care can, indeed, be changed," wrote Dr. Thomas Bodenheimer, adjunct professor at the University of California at San Francisco, and Dr. Mark Smith, president and CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation, in the November issue of Health Affairs, which focused on physician workforce issues. They said the shortage issue could be solved with technology and reallocation of responsibilities.
Dr. Scott Shipman, AAMC director of primary-care affairs, wrote in the same issue of Health Affairs that if physicians reassigned 30 minutes of their daily clerical tasks to a nonphysician in their office and spent that time with one patient, it would generate between 30 million and 40 million more physician visits a year. That's exactly what patient-centered medical-home practices are trying to do.
The new delivery models offer hope in the face of the AAMC's bleak outlook. According to the association, the biggest obstacle to increasing the physician workforce is that Medicare funding of physician training has been essentially frozen since 1997.
While medical and osteopathic school enrollment continues to climb, the number of available residency slots remains stagnant. One result was that 528 graduating medical school seniors did not match with a residency program this year, as many as twice the numb ...
Choosing your career is one of the most important decisions that you will ever make. When asked why they chose to pursue medicine, most physicians respond that they wanted to make a difference by helping people and positively impacting their lives through health care. Serving others as a physician is a noble and challenging way to invest your intellect, skills, and passion in a demanding and rewarding profession.
Australia's medical care framework is perceived worldwide for its greatness, cultivating an interest for profoundly qualified experts across different clinical disciplines. From specialists and medical attendants to particular experts and managerial staff, the clinical labor force assumes a basic part in guaranteeing the country's well being and prosperity. Key bits of knowledge into medical recruitment Australia start with a profound comprehension of the elements that impact the recruiting scene.
The Sustainable Health Care Facility of the FutureTextbooks H.docxchristalgrieg
The Sustainable Health Care Facility of the Future
Textbooks:
Hayward, C. (2006). Healthcare Facility Planning: Thinking Strategically. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.
Vickery, C.G., Nyberg, G., & Whiteaker, D. (2015). Modern Clinic Design: Strategies for an Era of Change. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Instructions: Please ensure to substantiate your response with scholarly sources and/or also a personal account of your own experience in the work place or personal life. Cite and reference work! Must be 150 -200 word count.
What reactions do you have to the ideas they presented? Include examples from the course readings or your own experience to support your perspective, and raise questions to continue the dialogue. 100 to 150 words for questions 1, 2, 6, 9, 10 & 11.
1. I agree that the changes made with CMS (center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) how changed the guidelines for how providers can bill for services. One of the biggest changes was the upgrade of ICD codes which has expanded enormously to be more specific with diagnosis and services to bill for. I work for a program of hospice, called palliative care, and the change over from using ICD9 codes to ICD10 was a very large task that took time to switch over to but I have come to realize that changes in health care are inevitable and to be prepared for things to change constantly. With being a palliative care program I don't think the change was as big of an impact on us like I'm sure it was for a hospital. Our program provides education on disease progress for chronic illnesses such a chronic kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and so on. The amount of ICD 10 codes we use are minimal compared to what a hospital would see. Nonetheless the codes are way more specific now which can be challenging when trying to narrow down for accuracy.
2. I think training and feedback are two important aspects of implementing electronic medical records. The users are the most important stakeholders and they should be trained properly. Their feedback should be taken seriously as this helps with post implementation changes to the system. No one likes changes but change in any organization is essential. Technology has completely transformed the health care industry and from my experience resistance typically comes from the older generation who doesn't really understand the importance. Most are used to doing things manually. Most organizations are turning to the technology to transform their environment by cutting costs and ensuring that their revenues are coming in timely.
3. Open your web browser and search for videos, articles and other resources discussing the health care system in the United States. Look for new trends, current issues affecting the health care system, etc.
4. Discuss your findings with the class
5. As a healthcare leader, you will need to have a strong base with understanding healthcare systems. Where will health care be delivered in the future? ...
Introduction
The big business of health care is growing in a massive rate more now than ever according to The Center for Health Workforce Studies a non-profit organization located in Rensselaer, New York the organization report that, “While total U.S. employment dropped by over 2% between 2000 and 2010, health care employment grew by more than 25% during the same period. More than 13% of the U.S. labor force worked in the health sector or in a health occupation (19 million jobs out of 143 million jobs in U.S. labor force). The health care sector is projected to add over 4.2 million jobs between 2010 and 2020, with 63% of those in ambulatory settings (offices of health practitioners, home health, and other non-institutional settings” (2012, CHWS). Health care is booming in all areas of study and research from Holistic to Western Medicine which include purchasing and supply. Unfortunately this is based off the demand for more Physicians that are not available where there is a need. The health care industry believe it or not includes the food industry and health and fitness as well.
The matter of ethics within the health care industry always needs to be address along with the quality of care for patients. Within this working essay paper I will discuss the matter of; Care & Service Provider, Ethics (codes and values), Mal-Distribution Physician Labor Forces. Even though the health care industry is growing the mal-distribution of health care is still evident in some rural areas. This factor of not having proper care delivered to impoverish neighborhoods and communities is another issue that still plagues the United States. David Cutler the online journal reporter for PBS News Hour stated, “About 10, 15 percent. Just to give you one example, Duke University Hospital has 900 hospital beds and 1,300 billing clerks. The typical Canadian hospital has a handful of billing clerks. Single-payer systems have fewer administrative needs. That’s not to say they’re better, but that’s just on one dimension that they clearly cost less. What a lot of those people are doing in America is they are figuring out how to bill different insurers for different systems, figuring out how to collect money from people, all of that sort of stuff” (2013). The need for health care workers is great, but the balance is off regarding where the needs are not being meet.
Introduction
The big business of health care is growing in a massive rate more now than ever according to The Center for Health Workforce Studies a non-profit organization located in Rensselaer, New York the organization report that, “While total U.S. employment dropped by over 2% between 2000 and 2010, health care employment grew by more than 25% during the same period. More than 13% of the U.S. labor force worked in the health sector or in a health occupation (19 million jobs out of 143 million jobs in U.S. labor force). The health care sector is projected to add over 4.2 million jobs between 2010 and 2020, with 63% of those in ambulatory settings (offices of health practitioners, home health, and other non-institutional settings” (2012, CHWS). Health care is booming in all areas of study and research from Holistic to Western Medicine which include purchasing and supply. Unfortunately this is based off the demand for more Physicians that are not available where there is a need. The health care industry believe it or not includes the food industry and health and fitness as well.
The matter of ethics within the health care industry always needs to be address along with the quality of care for patients. Within this working essay paper I will discuss the matter of; Care & Service Provider, Ethics (codes and values), Mal-Distribution Physician Labor Forces. Even though the health care industry is growing the mal-distribution of health care is still evident in some rural areas. This factor of not having proper care delivered to impoverish neighborhoods and communities is another issue that still plagues the United States. David Cutler the online journal reporter for PBS News Hour stated, “About 10, 15 percent. Just to give you one example, Duke University Hospital has 900 hospital beds and 1,300 billing clerks. The typical Canadian hospital has a handful of billing clerks. Single-payer systems have fewer administrative needs. That’s not to say they’re better, but that’s just on one dimension that they clearly cost less. What a lot of those people are doing in America is they are figuring out how to bill different insurers for different systems, figuring out how to collect money from people, all of that sort of stuff” (2013). The need for health care workers is great, but the balance is off regarding where the needs are not being meet.
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Christopher p digiulio md - the importance of soft skills in the healthcare ...Christopherp3
Soft skills are generally defined as the personal characteristics that enable an individual to interact effectively and harmoniously with others, and are essential for successful performance in any interpersonal setting.
Duties of a certified medical assistantNancy Higgins
Certified medical assistants perform wide-ranging duties in ambulatory healthcare settings such as doctor offices, group practices and clinics. They provide administrative, clerical as well as basic clinical support to healthcare practitioners. From greeting and registering patients to assisting doctors during a clinical procedure – the list of their duties and responsibilities is quite exhaustive.
1. Jacob Persily
Professor Sidney Seligman
HR and Health Administration
23 April 2015
Physician Recruitment and Retention Strategies and Techniques
Introduction
Healthcare has come to be one of the most cost-consuming portions of the Gross
Domestic Product of the United States. At over 17% and rising, Americans expect the best care
possible when they seek healthcare. Though the implications of the Affordable Care Act on
access to, and quality of, care still remain to be seen, one concept remains as a primary concern
of healthcare organizations. That concept is the physician.
Though certain healthcare professionals, namely physicians’ assistants and nurse
practitioners, will tell you that healthcare will, in the future, be moving away from physicians as
primary providers, the fact of the matter is that, today, physicians are still the primary component
of care. It is important for healthcare organizations to solicit and keep the highest quality of
providers in their organizations, to yield the highest levels of quality of care and patient
satisfaction, and the lowest levels of readmissions.
There are two major components to this crucial component of the world of human
resources in healthcare, recruitment and retention. Physician recruitment is the process of finding
and hiring physicians, and retention is the process of keeping the physicians employed within a
particular healthcare organization. Though recruitment and retention are a major part of the
human resources process in any organization, this paper will address the intricacies and
2. variations in hiring physicians, a large class of professionals, whom patients will trust with their
life on a daily basis.
Recruitment
Physician recruitment is an intricate process, which must be handled by human resources
professionals with the utmost care. Healthcare organizations rely on physicians to care for
patients and put complete confidence in their physicians that they will treat each patient with
respect and dignity at all times, regardless of ailment or injury. Physicians are often among the
top paid staff in a healthcare organization, so it is useful to look at the role of compensation in
the physician recruitment process.
Like most professional staff positions in healthcare, there are three primary compensation
concepts used in the recruitment of physicians, each of which has its own unique characteristics
and advantages. The first concept is the quartile strategy. In this compensation strategy, the staff
is paid under the market rate of pay. This methodology is effective for organizations looking to
cut costs, in areas where physicians are plentiful and fresh-out-of-school doctors are just happy
to have a job to begin paying off their mounds of medical school debt.
The second quartile strategy pays staff right at the market rate of pay for their position.
For physicians, this is often a nice six-figure salary. This is an effective compensation strategy
for community hospitals, allowing for quality staff recruitment and retention, while maintaining
a reasonable cost containment concept.
The final method of compensation, commonly seen in healthcare, is the third-quartile
strategy. In this strategy, compensation is often set at rates above the market price, to attract the
best and the brightest physicians to an organization. This practice is often carried out by
3. academic and teaching hospitals, who have the economics means to pay above the market rate.
This is also effective for hospitals with strong sub-specialty departments, like pediatric
neurosurgery, or geriatric endocrinology, to attract the strongest candidates to bolster these
highly specialized department in the facility.
Various healthcare organizations have their own methodologies of physician recruitment.
However, to determine best practices, it is often effective to look to the top healthcare
organizations in the country. One of these top organizations is the Cleveland Clinic, in
Cleveland, Ohio.
The Cleveland Clinic is one of the leading hospitals in the nation, ranked number one for
cardiac care for the past twenty years, and also ranked in fourteen other specialties by US News
and World Report (Zeltner, 2014). Their incredible staff of physicians provides this quality of
care.
The Clinic has published what is essentially a White Paper of physician recruitment
techniques, and it is worth looking at some of their majjor points as the major concepts of
physician recruitment in America. The first concept noted to conduct a nationwide search. It is
true that, in a given community, candidates for a particular subspecialty of physician might not
be found, but a national search will yield the desired candidate. It is also important to maintain
strong connection with residency and fellowship programs, which will be looking to place their
graduates into quality positions. The Clinic further elaborates on national recruitment with the
concept of advertising. Joe Vitale, the Clinic’s Director of Physician Recruiting indicates the
importance of utilizing trade magazines, professional journals, and online advertisement to
ensure that open positions reach the eyes of the maximum number of candidates, and maximum
4. number of job placement agencies, which will then send their top applicants in to apply for an
open position within your organization.
Vitale next indicates the importance of rapid contact with each and every applicant, to
notify them of the receipt of their application. Vitale indicates that this contact should occur
within five days of the receipt of materials, to ensure that the candidates know how much the
hiring organization cares for its prospective employees. Physicians want to work for an
organization that will take care of their personal needs at the level they desire.
Vitale also acknowledges a more strategic usefulness for this early contact. The
Cleveland Clinic uses this first phone call as a intitial screen of their applicants. Their strategy is
to use this brief communication to determine which candidates to advance to a further stage in
the application/interview process. A few minutes speaking to someone can be very telling about
one’s character and background, and can determine which applicants seem like they would be
the best fit for the culture of an organization.
The Clinic’s literature also speaks of the importance of working with each candidate in
scheduling site visits and in-person interviews, again to be accomodating of potential employees.
This is especially important if the organization will be flying applicants in for interviews from
around the country and around the world.
The Clinic also establishes the importance of making the applicant, and his/her family,
feel comfortable in the community in question. This is notably important in rural areas of the
country. It may an easy decision for a physician to move to West Virginia for a position in a
practice, which may have the strongest compensation and benefits package of any job offer. It is
an entirely different situation to get his wife, born and bred in Manhattan, to uproot the family
and make the move with her husband. The Clinic makes note of giving personalized tours of the
5. community, and providing information about housing, the local school districts, and other
opportunities in their region to develop a sense of pride in the community from perspective
applicants.
Though the Cleveland Clinic lays out several major components of traditional physician
recruitment, there are several other means of recruiting top physicians to a healthcare
organization. One of these methods is contracting with a physician group. For certain services,
like radiology and emergency medicine, it has become common practice for hospitals to contract
with a specialty physician practice to staff the given department. This is, at times, the most viable
financial method of recruitment for a healthcare organization, and also simplifies the hiring
process for these departments, as the contract group now deals with recruiting and retaining their
own staff.
There are other recruitment strategies, often used only in the vent that traditional
strategies have proven ineffective. The first is by contracting with a physician agency. An agency
is contracted to provide a certain number of physicians for a certain number of days. While this
is often one of the most expensive means of staffing a hospital, it can be the deciding factor
behind whether or not to close a wing of the facility because of a lack of physicians.
An interesting component of physician recruitment is international recruiting. Though the
cost of relocating staff from another country to work for your organization can be rather
expensive, there a many more physicians around the world then there are in the United States,
and many of them will work at lower rates of compensation than American physicians will,
thanks to the conversion rates of the American dollar to their home currency. There are many
regions of the world that provide physicians to major American hospitals. These include, but are
not limited to, the European Union, China and its neighbors, India, and many others.
6. Though some patients may argue that using foreign-born providers takes jobs away from
Americans, if there are no individuals seeking the positions, international doctors can provide the
same care as the American doctors and are actively seeking positions. There is one important
thing to recognize in recruiting internationally. It is important to accurately evaluate the English
language skills of non-native speakers, to ensure that they have full fluency in conversing with
patients. TOEFL, and other equivalent exam, scores may not be telling of one’s true English-
speaking capabilities, so it is important to use Skype and other voice protocols for this
evaluation.
Retention
It is one thing to hire a physician, to find the best and brightest talent to fill and open job
position. It is another thing entirely to keep that person working for an organization for an
extended period of time. This is the concept of retention. Retention is an important concept in
healthcare. Not only is recruiting replacement physicians an expensive and time consuming
process, but it can be detrimental to patients.
Patients in a healthcare system come to rely on their doctors. It is often the same doctor
who will see the patient again and again over an episode of illness, and this physician knows the
wants and needs of their patients. If the provider was to suddenly leave the organization, the
patient would be left without anyone who knows their particular needs, without a friend in the
system. A new provider would enter the picture without knowing any of the patient’s history,
beyond what is in their chart, and could potentially create further health problems, continued
readmissions, and ultimately even death for that patient. As healthcare human resources
7. professionals, having death tied to staffing practices is not a very good thing, so looking at
retention strategies is key.
One major retention strategy is, as often is the answer in any industry, monetary.
Compensation can make-or-break the deal of staying at an organization for an employee. For
example, if a competitor offers staff a starting salary higher than the annual raise mark at your
facility, many employees would be tempted to leave your facility for the other facility.
Human resource compensation professionals must always be cognizant of the market rate
of pay for each and every position, especially physicians. Physicians can be easily tempted by
compensation offers from competition to leave an organization. Being aware of the local
competition can keep physicians compensated to the point that it is needed to keep physicians
working for an organization.
Another major means of physician retention, in terms of monetary means, is incentive-
based pay. Healthcare organizations that pay their providers accordingly based on how much
care they actually deliver will lead to the retention of their strongest employees, and the loss of
those who are not the strongest, leaving those physicians in the market for jobs with other
organizations in the region, which, in turn, puts the competition in a place to hire unproductive
staff. Whether the incentives are for patient volume, procedure volume, lack of readmissions, or
any other means, they will function to keep the hard working providers, who are being
compensated at the highest rates.
The third monetary means of physician retention, though not really monetary, is through
benefits attached to a job position. One might think that benefits, most often thought of as health
insurance, would be of much importance to physicians, who can just provide themselves and
their family medical care. However, if a neurosurgeon’s wife is pregnant, he is going to want top
8. health insurance and benefits to provide her the best possible care. Most doctors cannot do
everything in medicine, and they, more so than other professions, find comfort in strong health
for their families.
There are many other techniques to aid in physician retention to a healthcare
organization. The below thoughts come primarily from a 2011 report by Merritt Hawkins, a
leading healthcare consulting firm, in a report to hospitals, which are struggling with physician
retention issues.
The Hawkins report indicates that the most crucial key to physician retention is
communication with physicians. It is essential for healthcare organizations to keep an open ear to
their physicians to handle issues which may arise, before they arise. The organization must be
open to making changes that are needed to keep physicians happy. After all, happiness is key to
life, especially to the stressful life of the physician.
The Hawkins report also takes a moment to speak of the importance of scheduling to
providers. Many physicians may have other obligations, whether professionally or personally,
and are more likely to want to work for an organization that provides flexibility of scheduling.
Doctors want to be able to have shift changes available to leave earlier in the day to make it
home for little Bobby’s baseball game or Suzie’s cheerleading practice. They also want to be
able to adhere to other professional obligations, whether major conferences of their specialty, or
service to civic and non-profit organizations. Healthcare systems, which provide for the ability to
maintain these connections to the community as a whole, while maintaining satisfying
employment, are most likely to be chosen for long-term employment by the largest number of
physicians.
9. The report from Merritt Hawkins also indicates that physicians are more likely to set their
stakes down for the long term at a healthcare facility, which tries its best to provide support
services to its providers. Services like providing physician’s assistants to lighten caseload,
hospitalists and nocturnists to cover basic care, and skilled nursing staff goes a long way in the
physician retention game. Some other, simpler concepts also go a long way toward physician
staying put. Simple things like convenient parking near the part of the hospital a physician works
in, discounts in the cafeteria, and easy external access to the facility and digital records might
seem like they would not really make an impact on physician retention. However, if a previous
facility did not provide these services to a physician and your facility now is, they will be more
likely to stay at the convenience of your facility.
There is another major point, acknowledge in the Merritt Hawkins report, and this is the
concept of on-call pay. Most hospitals have a provider from each major specialty on-call at all
times for the emergency department, if needed to assist in the care of patient who come through
the emergency department. At some facilities, emergency department on-call coverage is
contractual to each specialty. At others, however, this is not in specialty contracts, but rather paid
on a per-diem rate.
Offering on-call hours as a per-diem contract, in addition to base pay, if a viable
economic option for the facility, can be a fantastic retention tool. The report indicates the
average per-diem rates for being on-call can be quite fantastic. From internal medicine averaging
around $350 per 24-hour call period, to $1200 for general surgery, up to nearly $2000 for
neurosurgery, this can be a notable source of income for providers, considering they may make
this money without needing to be called. An opportunity to make over $1000 just for going about
their day, with the possibility of a phone call, is one which many physicians will not say no to.
10. Even if on-call days are contractual, the opportunity to pick up open call shifts at per-diem rates
can go a long way in keeping physicians satisfied and working for an organization for a long
period of time.
Conclusion
Human resources in the healthcare industry is a unique subset of a difficult industry.
Finding staff, and keeping them happy, is a full-time job, none more so than in the recruitment
and retention of physicians. There has been discussion that it is easier to leave physician
recruitment to national recruiting agencies, and only handle lower-priority recruitment in house.
However, this is an ineffective means of handling the crucial task.
In-house physician recruitment and retention ensures that those physicians, often the top
of the organization, are a good fit for the organization. Organizational culture and
recruitment/retention go hand-in-hand. If an employee is not a good fit for an organization’s
culture, it should be discovered during the recruitment process. If this process is outsourced, it
will show in poor retention rates among physicians.
This paper has merely scratched the surface on methodologies and concepts in the
recruitment and retention of physicians. This is, in all honesty, an art and a science, and must be
handled with the utmost care. The methods that work for one organization very well will not
work as well for an organization across the country, or even just across the city. It stands to be
seen that the work of human resource professionals in healthcare is essential, as without strong
human resources departments, healthcare organizations will not find the best providers to bring
in the most patients, and keep the organization financially viable.