Competition to Recruit Physicians Increases

As the physician shortage intensifies, so does competition among medical practices attempting to recruit doctors.

“It’s really competitive and it gets more competitive every year,” David Cornett, senior executive vice president of business development at physician and executive search firm Cejka Search, told Physicians Practice. “I would say many practices underestimate how long it takes them to recruit.”

Cornett noted the increasing shortage of physicians, the aging patient population, and healthcare reform are all fueling the competitive recruitment environment.

In addition, findings from a Cejka Search Survey of 700 members of the medical school class of 2012 found that 57 percent of internal medicine physicians, 51 percent of pediatricians, and 27 percent of family medicine physicians were considering additional specialty training after completing their program.

Of course, that’s further constraining the supply of young graduates available to short-staffed medical practices, Mary Barber, senior executive vice president of marketing at Cejka Search, told Physicians Practice.

The Cejka survey also found that 50 percent of the surveyed class of 2012 members had already started the interview process for new positions at this time last year, and 41 percent had signed contracts before March of 2012.

For those reasons, if you’re planning to recruit young physicians sometime this year - your recruitment process should have already started.

“The 2013 graduates - some of them have already started interviewing, begun their decision-making process, and the bulk of them will be doing that very, very soon,” said Cornett. “If you have the luxury of knowing you’re going to need somebody next summer, this is the time to start.”

He added that it takes about six months to complete an average physician search.

Are you planning to recruit new physicians this year or next? What’s the primary reason you plan to do so?