There are several dimensions to consider when evaluating whether a potential physician recruit will be a good fit for the hospital or the community, including:
Commitment to quality and service. Placing a high priority on a culture of quality and safety will help a hospital attract and retain the best physicians. By the same token, physicians who are not willing to adhere to the highest standards of quality and patient service will not be comfortable with the scrutiny they will face. Physicians unwilling to be measured against clinical benchmarks and patient satisfaction norms will not be good additions to the medical staff.
Commitment to vision and values. Successful healthcare organizations have strategic plans that include a well-articulated mission, values designed to shape behavior at all levels, and a compelling vision of what the organization seeks to accomplish within the next three to five years. New physician recruits should embrace the organization's values and be willing to make an enthusiastic commitment to the organization's future.
Comfort with physician colleagues and practice expectations. Recruits should be told about the makeup of the existing medical staff such as what percent of physicians are in primary care versus specialty care, what percent are board certified, what percent are fellowship trained, how many are recognized as ?top docs? in the area, how many are nearing retirement, and where the most respected physicians went to medical school and received their residency training.
Recruits should be given additional information about other physicians in their specialty, such as how long they've practiced in the community, whether their practices are accepting new patients, their prevailing work ethic (e.g., the size of the average patient panel, the number of admissions they generate, the number of surgeries or other procedures they perform, and the extent of their on-call responsibilities), and whether they attract patients from outside the service area or whether patients leave the community for care. The hospital should also facilitate face-to-face meetings with established young physicians to help the recruit understand the dynamics of establishing new referral relationships and building a practice in the community.
Enlisting staff and community support
Many examples exist of new physician recruits unable to build a sustainable practice in a community, despite a demonstrated community need for physicians in their specialty. Sometimes, this occurs because one or more physicians on the existing medical staff subtly discourage referrals to the newcomer for fear they will lose patients and practice income. Other times, the physician simply does not become well-known in the community.
The best approach to avoid this situation is to enlist support for the new recruit within the medical staff and the community early in the recruitment process. Sharing the results of the community need analysis with medical staff members is one way to clarify the opportunities for new and existing practices. Sharing the results of the annual physician survey is another proactive strategy, especially when the survey documents dissatisfaction with the current breadth, depth, or quality of the existing medical staff in the given specialty.
If a new recruit represents a new specialty or subspecialty, adds an important new clinical capability, or meets a critical need in the community, the physician's impending arrival should be featured in newsletters mailed to the community or highlighted in postings on the hospital Web site. The advance notice to the community should be part of a formal marketing plan that builds enthusiasm and support for the new recruit by underscoring how the community will benefit from the added capabilities the physician has to offer.
The new physician should also make personal visits to established physicians who are potential referral sources to explain his or her unique capabilities and practice style. Within allowable guidelines, all new practices should receive support from the hospital in the form of advertising, media exposure, open houses, introductory meetings, and other means of connecting new physicians to potential patients and colleagues.
This article was adapted from The Hospital Executive's Guide to Physician Staffing.