Physician Recruiting About to Get Tougher for Rural Hospitals

When it comes to recruiting physicians, it's like this: Rural hospitals have to work harder, talk to more candidates, and expect more rejections.

Of course, this should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with recruiting clinicians to rural America. And the data backs it up. These concerns are detailed in the 2012 In-House Physician Recruitment Benchmarking report from the Association of Staff Physician Recruiters.

The report suggests that the increased demand for healthcare services, which are expected with the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, is going to make recruiting doctors even more difficult for rural providers in the coming years.

"There is no indication whatsoever that rural recruiting is going to get any easier," says Shelly Tudor, chair of the ASPR Benchmarking Committee and member-at-large of the ASPR Board of Directors.

"In fact, the report shows that the cost of recruitment is going up, [which will make it] it harder for rural healthcare organizations to compete. A clear correlation exists between the facilities' population size and acceptance rates, with offers from organizations in larger populations much more likely to be accepted than those in smaller populations."