Healthcare reform, the unsteady economy, and an increased value on lifestyle balance are factors driving more and more physicians to favor employment over running an independent practice. Strategically this is good news for hospitals, but marketers and physician recruiters need to hone their tactics to appeal to this growing group of in-house providers.
"As an industry, we are seeing an increasing number of physicians pursuing employment opportunities for a variety of reasons, including the expertise required to navigate practice operations in preparation for health reform," says Todd Wiltsie, senior director of physician recruitment at LifePoint Hospitals in Brentwood, TN. "We are managing this by offering employment when it strategically fits the physician's and hospital's objectives."
Employment helps physicians mitigate financial risk and guarantee access to hospital resources, says Allison McCarthy, principal at physician-hospital relations consulting firm Barlow McCarthy.
"Healthcare reform—along with the economy—has caused more seasoned physicians to want to give up their private practices and become hospital employees," she says. "They just have determined that the business of practicing medicine has become so complicated and they want to focus their energies primarily on patient care, so they are coming to hospitals asking if they can be a part of their employed physician group."
Catching the physician's eye
With a growing number of physicians seeking employment, it's crucial to communicate the specific benefits your organization can offer.
When writing a job listing or other recruitment material, focus on points of differentiation to avoid getting lost among the clutter of other recruitment posts.
"The messaging is the critical part," McCarthy says. "And then getting the messages out to the right targeted group in as succinct a way as possible."
Marketers and recruiters must be extremely proactive to keep their organization visible to the ever-busy physician. "Targeted direct mail, participation in physician conferences, and a presence at university events can all be effective," Wiltsie says. "And nothing beats good old customer service—those personal interactions that make the physician feel valued and heard."
Your recruitment message and job listings should also be easily found on your organization's website—a step that cannot be overlooked, regardless of what generation of physician you are targeting.
"I have heard residents in particular say that the postings need to have enough information to provide a sense of the opportunity but then not too detailed," McCarthy says. "And they need the ability to ask for more information without having first to complete an application."
Maintaining the employment infrastructure
Most physicians seeking an employed setting are going to ask questions about the infrastructure—operational, financial, and clinical—that is there to support them, McCarthy says. For example, they may ask about medical record systems, staffing resources, employed group leadership, unit size, and physician participation in decision-making.
"So the organization needs to promote that it's got a credible structure to support their clinical practice," she says. "It also needs to help them to see that their voice has meaning in the group—that their opinion factors into decision-making. And the size matters also; while they don't mind being in a larger enterprise, they do prefer to practice at a smaller unit level."
Keeping employed physicians happy and successful
The job isn't done once you've successfully recruited an employed physician. Marketers and recruiters must work to keep physicians content and productive, especially in that first year of employment.
If a physician has relocated their family to take a position at your organization, it's important to touch base with their spouse and children.
"The physician may be ecstatic with the practice and the way things are going, but if the family is not happy then the recruit will not be successful," says Patricia Ball, EdD, senior vice president of strategic development and public affairs at LHP Hospital Group in Plano, TX. "It is very expensive to recruit a physician and then not be able to retain the physician because the family is not happy. We try to understand any particular interest of the spouse and children and make certain that they meet people with similar interests."
Ball and her team also conduct a focus group with all the newly recruited physicians after their first year to get a sense of what they are happy with and what they would like changed. "This ensures that our program is always improving," she says. "During the year we have our liaisons checking to see how things are going with the physician."
Keeping open channels of communications of physicians is also crucial, both when recruiting physicians and helping them build their practice.
"It is vital that you have regular meetings which need to be more frequent in the beginning and at least once a month later on to monitor the development of the practice and the satisfaction of the physician and the family," Ball says.
By highlighting your organization's attributes that appeal to employed physicians and then helping them build a thriving practice and get involved in the community, hospital marketers and recruiters will be able to better position their organization in today's changing physician recruitment environment.
Marianne Aiello is a contributing writer at HealthLeaders Media.