ACO Recruiting Turns to Non-Physicians

Whether it's difficult or not, most execs—at least 70%—say there will be changes in goals and processes for recruitment in developing ACOs, according to the Medicus survey. Of the respondents, 66% worked at not-for-profit community hospitals, and 19% were in office-based physician practice groups.

An overwhelming majority—80%—led their organization's recruitment department or team.

At least 46% of top healthcare officials who are currently or soon to be involved in ACOs believe recruiting volume will increase slightly. Overall, 48% say the volume of recruits will increase, with 56.1% saying they will recruit more primary care physicians.

While many healthcare organizations are still uncertain whether they are heading toward Accountable Care Organizations, these medical groups and hospitals are emphatically doing one thing: recruiting non-physician providers to take over physician functions in what the head of a national physician recruiting firm calls a difficult recruiting environment, Stone says.

More than 80% of executives expect to increase recruitment of non-physician providers such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants under the ACO care model.