Survey reveals competitiveness of recruitment

It wasn’t long ago that only rural facilities had serious problems recruiting physicians. Professional recruiters served more as redistributors helping to move physicians from larger, saturated markets to smaller communities and rural areas that had trouble attracting physicians, says Jim Stone, managing partner at Medicus Partners, a Dallas-based physician recruitment firm. Now, physician recruitment is becoming competitive in all settings, and a snowballing physician shortage will make it even more difficult for practices and hospitals in the near future. “The market’s really changed over the last couple of years, where the larger cities and more desirable communities are having difficulty attracting talent just like the smaller communities,” Stone says.