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AMGA: Internal, Family Medicine Top Hiring Priorities

Margaret Dick Tocknell, for HealthLeaders Media, April 21, 2011

Among the findings:

Turnover rates have increased slightly. The average turnover rate for 2010 was 6.1%, which matches the 2008 rate before the economy began to freefall and is slightly ahead of 2009's 5.9%. Historically, physicians have been most likely to change practices after three years. The reasons vary and include career motivation and family satisfaction with the practice location. The 2010 survey found that almost 13% of responding groups were seeing turnovers after just one to two years of practice. That's a concern because it may reflect failures to adequately access physician prospects during the hiring process.

According to the survey, 78% of the turnovers were voluntary while retirement accounted for 10%. Turnover among physicians can cost a practice as much as $1.3 million per physician, including $990,000 in lost downstream revenue, $61,000 in recruiting costs and $211,000 in start up costs for the new hire.

Mentoring may reduce turnover. The majority of medical groups (73.8%) believe mentoring reduces turnover, but just more than half (56.1%) actually assign a mentor to newly hired physicians. The turnover rate was 5.3% for groups that have written mentor goals and guidelines compared to 6.3% for those who do not assign a mentor.

Working part-time is growing in popularity. Flexible work schedules are important. At least 21% of physicians were employed part-time in 2010 versus 13% in 2005. Female physicians are more likely than male physicians to be part-timers. Some 53% of the male physicians working part-time are at least 55 years of age and are probably reducing their work schedules in preparation for retirement. Female physicians working part-time are younger?56% are under age 44. That could reflect family responsibilities that make full-time work less attractive.
Margaret Dick Tocknell is a reporter/editor with HealthLeaders Media.
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1 comments on "AMGA: Internal, Family Medicine Top Hiring Priorities"


Del James (5/13/2011 at 5:06 PM)
This is a growing concern for thos eof us in internal medicine- while temporarily good for business it will increase pressure elsewhere in a system not ready to meet the demands...http://www.piedmontimfpatyork.com/