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Is Being a Doctor “Overrated”?
13 October 2011
Is practicing medicine an “overrated” career?
This week, the careers of physicians, surgeons, and psychiatrists were ranked in the top 12 “Most Overrated Careers” list by CareerCast.com. In fact, surgeons ranked second on the list, followed by physicians at number three, and psychiatrists ranked fourth.
CareerCast.com states that the rankings were based primarily upon the stress level, physical demands, and employment outlook of each career. Other factors were also considered but were not weighed as heavily in the ranking algorithm.
These physician and surgeon careers topped the list because they are perceived to be great careers, but often behind the scenes, physicians endure a tremendous amount of stress, long hours, and must often work under intense, critical circumstances.
If you had to do it all over again, would you choose to be a physician or surgeon? Would you recommend this career to your son/daughter/friend or other relative?
Are the stresses, work schedule, and all those years of training and school worth the rewards and earnings you enjoy now?
If your answer is “no” – consider what’s making you feel this way. What is the root cause of your dissatisfaction? Is it the actual role of being a doctor that makes you unhappy or is not as fulfilling as it should be? Or are there some other surrounding circumstances that you may be able to change for a more rewarding practice situation?
If you enjoy being a doctor, but don’t look forward to your current practice, perhaps it’s time to consider a new practice opportunity, not necessarily an entirely new career.
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Husband and Wife Physician Teams – Practice Search Tips
12 October 2011
Finding the right medical practice opportunity as a physician is challenging enough, and when your spouse is a physician too, the challenges double! With 50% of all medical school graduates being women, the prevalence of husband and wife physician teams seems to be growing significantly.
A physician’s spouse is always an important part, often the most important part, of the career and practice decisions. When that spouse is also a physician seeking the right practice opportunity, the intricacies of the search become even more complex.
So how do you make it work? Here are a few tips to help streamline the search process a bit:
1) Prioritize. Decide on a “primary” and “secondary” search, if possible. If you can, figure out which practice search will be the primary focus, and work towards a good practice opportunity for that physician first. It can be overwhelming conducting two different practice searches simultaneously! You may find yourselves going in too many different directions, literally and figuratively!
Once a practice opportunity has been identified and secured for one physician, then work on the secondary search. How do you decide which practice search is primary and which is secondary? If you have children, perhaps one person is going to be working a reduced schedule to help care for the family, in which case that spouse would be the secondary search focus. Or, you could base it on earning potential. If you practice different specialties and one of you has much higher earning potential based on your specialty, that physician could be the “primary” physician in terms of your search. This is not to de-value one practice or the other, this is just for the purposes of streamlining the search process.
2) Be flexible: It is true that it is a physician’s market right now in terms of practices – there are more open opportunities than there are physicians to fill them. So you do have many options when seeking practices. However, one spouse may need to concede on some of his or her “ideal” deciding factors on the practice wish list, in order to secure good opportunities for BOTH physicians.
3) Set Goals: Once you’ve decided which practice search will be the focus, put together a list of your professional practice goals. Include your needs, and wants, in separate categories. What are your needs (MUST-haves) for your quality of practice, your quality of life, your income? Then consider your “would-be-nice-to-haves” such as location, schedule, compensation, in addition to your absolute needs. Discuss ahead of time what is acceptable and what is not, for each spouse’s professional situation.
4) Communicate: When in doubt, over-communicate! Be sure you are keeping one another in the loop of any interviews scheduled, any conversations with recruiters, and any ideas you have regarding the focus of the search. Husband and wife physician teams have been known to unwittingly schedule interviews in separate states for the same date, if communication is lacking. Unless you and your spouse want to end up practicing in different states, frequent communication is KEY!
There is much more to the search process for spouse physician teams - these are just a few ideas to get you started. If you are a part of a husband and wife physician team, or if you’ve ever recruited a husband and wife physician team, we’d love to hear from you! What advice would you give to other spouse physician teams?
- Andrea Santiago
MMS Physician Workforce Study: Indicative of Future National Physician Workforce Trends?
3 October 2011
Shortages, Dissatisfaction Reported in Massachusetts’ Physician Workforce
The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) released its 10th annual physician workforce study, based on responses from 1,071 physicians in the state.
Many healthcare experts look to the healthcare trends in Massachusetts because the state’s health reform plan (often referred to as “RomneyCare”, after then-Gov. Mitt Romney) is reportedly similar in many ways to the national health reform plan passed by the Obama administration in 2010 – the PPACA.
Therefore, the physician workforce trends being experienced in Mass. may be indicative of future national trends, at least in part. However, each state’s demographics, population, size, amount of healthcare facilities, and other factors also affect the physician workforce in other areas of the country.
Here are some of the key findings regarding physician shortages and workforce trends:
- Physician shortages were found in 8 specialties (out of 18).
- Critical physician shortages are: internal medicine, urology, and psychiatry.
- Among the 6 non-primary care specialty shortages, 4 are under “particular labor market stress”: urology, dermatology, psychiatry, and neurosurgery.
- 55% of physicians report difficulty filling physician vacancies.
- 52% believe the pool of available physician candidates is “inadequate”.
- The average time to recruit physicians is TWELVE months or more, for 9 of 18 specialties examined.
- Less than half of physicians are satisfied with current practice environment in Massachusetts.
For more results, analysis, and the full report, see the news release at the website of the Massachusetts Medical Society.
How do you think these trends will be replicated on a national basis, if at all?
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How Many Physicians Use Social Media? Which Networking Sites are Most Popular?
27 September 2011
Many studies and surveys have been completed regarding physicians’ use of social media. The growth of social media use among the physician population has been so rapid, it’s difficult for studies to keep up, according to the American Medical News.
One of the most recent studies was released in August 2011 by QuantiaMD, an online physician learning collaborative. Below are a few highglights:
- Nearly 90% of physicians use at least one social media site.
- 87% of physicians using social media do so for personal use.
- 67% of physicians who use social media do so for professional purposes.
- 33% of physicians online have received a “friend” request from a patient. 75% of recipients decline the friend request.
Which Social Networking Sites Do Physicians Use Most (Professionally)?
- Online physician communities: 28%
- LinkedIn: 17%
- Facebook: 15%
- Twitter/Other: 3%
Which Social Networks Do Physicians Use Most? (Personally)
- Facebook: 61%
- YouTube: 31%
- LinkedIn: 19%
- None: 13%
More:
- Full Story: American Medical News
- QuantiaMD Survey: Doctors, Patients, & Social Media (pdf.)
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5 Tips For Deciding To Sign Or Not To Sign
23 September 2011
Should You Accept The Offer?
You just had a great interview with a hospital or practice. You’ve got an offer in hand, and the opportunity seems to be a fit. However, you’re still not 100% certain; you’ve been on a number of interviews, and/or talked to so many people on the phone about several different practice opportunities.
So how do you decide which opportunity to accept? Here are a few quick tips for making a decision about whether or not you should accept the offer.
1.) Review your initial motivations. Especially if you are leaving another practice for this new opportunity, you need to be sure that your initial motivations are being met. Does the new offer address the concerns you have about your current opportunity? Whether you are seeking better pay, better hours, or a different practice structure or patient mix?
2.) Consider the long-term as well as the short-term benefits. Any time you accept an offer, even if it is the best opportunity, there is usually short-term discomfort involved such as closing down your current practice and/or working out a notice, packing up the house, relocating the family. However, consider the long-term gains. Will you be able to retire earlier, or retire richer? Will you have more time to spend with loved ones? In order to truly envision the long term benefits, think of yourself 10,15, or 20 years from now, looking back on your life. Would you regret taking this opportunity, or would you regret NOT taking it?
3.) Don’t rely too heavily on outsiders’ opinions. You have to do what is right for you, your family, and your career. Only you know what is best for you, and maybe one or two trusted advisers or family members. You know what they say about opinions – everybody has one! Each opinion is different, and many of them have nothing to do with your decision. Each person’s perspective influences their personal opinion, which will just add more confusion to your decision. In fact, often it’s best not to discuss your options until after you’ve made your decision, because people are always supportive after the fact.
4.) When all else fails, make a list. It may sound cliché, but making a list of the “pros” and the “cons” of the decision can really help you see clearly the choice you need to make. You will plainly see one column fill up with many more items than the other. If the columns are close, consider the value or impact of each item on both sides of your list and rank which ones are most important. Whichever column has the most high-impact factors on it is the way you should go.
5.) Set a Deadline. Once you have a written offer and contract in hand, the clock is ticking. The longer you take to make a decision, the least interested you appear, and the potential employer may start to lose faith in your interest in their opportunity, which is not an ideal way to start out a relationship with your new employer, if you do accept the opportunity.
Keep in mind that, over the next few days or weeks, nothing is going to change about the opportunity, the community, or the contract, between now and your deadline. Therefore, it’s wise to set your deadline for sooner rather than later, and to think things through as soon as possible, based on the facts you have gathered throughout the interview process, so you can come to a conclusion. Even if you are waiting on clarification of minor details, decide if you would accept once those details are explained to your satisfaction. If not, this may not really be the best opportunity for you. If the answer is “yes”, go ahead and let your potential employer (or the recruiter) know (preferably in writing, or by signing the contract with the item initialed) that you accept the offer contingent on XYZ.
A bonus benefit of doing this is that you’re more likely to get what you’re asking for (if you are requesting a concession or change in the contract) if you sign the contract contingent on that item. It shows that you are serious about the opportunity and not just trying to buy time to interview at other locations.
“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
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6 Tips to Host a Great Physician Interview
21 September 2011
Many hospital or group employers go into interviews on a wing and a prayer, hoping that a physician candidate will like their opportunity and want to take the job. As a potential employer, you can proactively prepare to set up a fantastic interview that will truly make a difference in the success of the recruiting process overall.
Some physicians are attending six, seven, even eight or more interviews before making a decision, and that doesn’t include the 15 opportunities they probably ruled out via phone and the 25 they ruled out via email. Most likely, the average physician (e.g. no egregious background issues, etc) will receive an offer at or immediately following each interview visit!
Therefore, when you bring a physician in for an interview, it’s up to you, as the potential employer or sponsor of the physician practice, to make an impression! Here are 6 quick tips for setting up a great interview:
1) Don’t interview a physician without a contract ready! If you don’t have an employment contract ready to hand to the doctor, (at least a draft contract) then you are not ready to interview physicians, unless you wish to interview people just for fun. Without a contract, a candidate cannot be expected to make a decision. Would you expect someone to buy a house without knowing the asking price, or terms of the sale?
2) Don’t interview the candidate without his or her spouse present. (Unless the physician is single, of course!) If a physician tells you that they can make a decision without the spouse present, he or she is probably either lying, or will not be married for much longer!
3) Do make sure all decision-makers of your organization will be present for the interview. If they are not present, then they need to be willing to forfeit their input in the final decision.
4) Do handle any potential political issues BEFORE the onsite visit. for example, if there is a doctor or group of doctors in the community that is opposing the search, or trying to sabotage it in any way, they will make it known during the interview! So be sure you’re aware of any potential issues before your candidate arrives for the visit.
5) Do roll out the Red Carpet! Be sure you have planned a thoughtful visit that covers all of the areas a candidate will need to consider for him/herself and his or her family: schools, real estate, amenities, culture, activities, etc. At The Medicus Firm, our recruiters will find out as much about the physician’s personal and family needs, to assist you in covering all your bases.
6) Do extend a contract on or shortly after the interview! The employment contract is worth mentioning twice on our list. That is because contracts are so vital to your successful recruitment of physicians, yet often contracts are also the single most neglected part of the interview and recruiting process. An employment contract or relocation agreement must not only be ready to execute, a copy should ideally be given to the physician within 48-72 hours of the on-site visit.
As an employer, you have probably experienced the above scenarios many times, as well as other situations not mentioned here. What are some of the other “Do’s” and “Don’ts” you have learned in your experience of setting up interviews for physicians and clinicians?
Physician Recruiting and Retention Tips from ASPR
16 September 2011
The Association of Staff Physician Recruiters (ASPR) hosted its 18th Annual Conference in Chicago with record-breaking attendance last month. The Conference was attended by more than 460 in-house physician recruitment professionals from across the United States and Canada. Participants discussed how healthcare organizations can successfully recruit and retain physicians in an increasingly competitive market.
“Our members are on the front line of the physician shortage and our goal is to prepare them to effectively address this issue. They are challenged with not only recruiting, but structuring practice opportunities that meet the needs of today’s medical professionals,” says Jennifer Metivier, MS, FASPR, executive director of ASPR. “In addition to our annual conference, ASPR offers our membership continuing education and forums to discuss best practices and provides opportunities to network with other in-house physician recruitment professionals.”
Nationally known experts Roderick Hooker, PhD, from the Lewin Group, Scott Shipman, M.D., from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, and Fred Donini-Lenhoff from the American Medical Association presented on current trends for physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants and how they will be affected by the increasing demands on the American medical workforce.
The speakers concluded that while there will be incremental growth in the number of physicians entering or remaining in the workforce, demand for healthcare will continue to increase at a faster pace. This, coupled with the uncertainties of healthcare reform, will require other types of non-physician clinicians to be called upon to meet the future needs of our healthcare organizations. It is suggested by our panelists that nurse practitioners and physician assistants will be major contributors to providing access to primary care within the new health reform models. “We all need to recognize the need to attract and support the nurse practitioner and physician assistant as part of the new delivery model, if we are to respond to the increased demands for medical services in our communities,” said Metivier.
Another highlight of this year’s conference was the introduction of three distinct learning tracks focusing on Marketing and Sourcing Candidates, Employment Models and Today’s Trends, and Adding Value to the Physician Recruiter’s Role. “With three learning tracks, recruiters at all skill levels could learn and participate in the discussion,” explains Metivier. “One of the main goals of ASPR is to engage all of our members so that we may learn from each other.”
All of the learning tracks were designed to provide current information about trends that will affect our members’ ability to successfully target and hire medical professionals. Kimberly Mosby of Sullivan Cotter and Associates is one of the leading experts on physician compensation. She discussed trends that affect a physician’s compensation and how to structure pay in a competitive regulatory environment. Another session was lead by Judy Rosman, President of RosmanSearch Inc. and expert on neurosurgical recruitment, who spoke about the difficulties in successfully completing searches for highly compensated specialists in fields with a limited cadnidate pool.
According to Rosman, “One must understand that when targeting a highly coveted specialist like a neurosurgeon, you must have and be able to convey a vision for building a model in which the physician can be successful.”
Related:
- The Medicus Firm at ASPR Convention
- Physician Recruiting News Updates
- Recruiting & Retention Tips from MGMA
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Physician Recruiting News and Physician Workforce Updates
13 September 2011
There is so much news currently developing relative to physician careers, physician staffing, and the physician workforce, that it’s almost impossible to blog about them at a reasonable pace and keep up with the latest updates.
Therefore today’s post is a brief round-up of some of the interesting stories relative to the physician staffing industry and medical practice that are interesting right now:
Overhaul Needed of the Medical Education Program?
Do you think that physician education and training needs to be revamped? If so, how do you think the system should be improved? Many industry experts are calling for a complete transformation of the medical school and residency system. What say you?
Burned Out before they’re Churned Out?
The primary care physician workforce has taken many hits in recent years. PCPs are among the lowest-paid physicians, but often have the same amount of student loan debt that their more highly-compensated, more specialized colleagues have. Furthermore, the growth of the hospitalist field has taken an additional bite out of the primary care workforce that was already dwindling due to the lure of higher paying specialties.
Now, a new study says that IM residents are already burned out during residency, before they even enter the profession as physicians. Why is this happening and how will this further impact the primary care workforce and medicine subspecialties?
Staffing Firm and Hospital Sued for Stark Violations
Your compensation package is very important for attracting physicians, but it can also land you in trouble with the law, if not calculated appropriately. A Florida hospital and a staffing firm are being sued over compensation packages of several neurosurgeons they recruited. The suit alleges that the compensation was too high above reasonable average pay, and that also physicians are compensated based on referral volumes, and both of these allegations violate Stark laws for physician recruitment and compensation.
Health Reform Increases Demand for Administrative Professionals more than Clinicians
FierceHealthcare.com reports on a new study that shows that health reform actually increases the need for additional support professionals, more so than it will increase the demand to add more physicians and providers. This information is based on a NEJM study of the Massachusetts state healthcare reform, upon which the national health reform plan was based, according to FierceHealthcare.
4 Myths About Direct Mail Marketing to Candidates
8 September 2011
If you are currently hiring physicians, you know how challenging and competitive the market is for physicians right now. Despite the need for physicians, many hospitals are looking for short cuts and ways to cut corners to save money in their recruitment efforts, due to the economic stress and the need to reduce costs. However, hospitals still need to achieve the same results: to attract and sign a qualified, interested physician.
One area that seems like an easy place to cut is direct mail marketing. Direct mail, or personal letter campaigns, have gotten a bad rap over the last couple years, and many hospitals and practices are trying to do away with this strategy or try to execute a letter campaign in-house.
Below are a few myths about direct mail marketing, as well as the reality, at least from our experience here at The Medicus Firm. Hopefully this will help you to make an informed decision about how to implement direct mail in your physician search efforts.
1) MYTH: Direct Mail does not yield candidate responses – many firms, such as contingent recruiting firms or others that do not do direct mail campaigns may use scare tactics to sell against direct mail as a great source of candidates. They will tell potential clients that mail campaigns do not get any responses and that the costs are marked up to gouge the client. It is true you are not going to receive hundreds of responses from your campaign – you will probably receive a few. However, the candidates who DO respond will most likely be a fit based on the targeted nature of mail campaigns, and the fact that they responded specifically to your campaign, meaning the interest level may be higher. Plus, you only need one physician to fill each opening, so attracting even a handful of qualified, interested candidates to your opportunity enables you to have options, and find the best fit for your need.
2) MYTH: Firms do not send out the mailers for which they charge – some recruitment firms actually charge a fee for mail, but never send the letters out. There are not many firms who use this unethical tactic, but the few firms who do this hurt not only other firms, but the hospitals who could otherwise benefit from properly executed mail campaigns. Those of you who have worked with The Medicus Firm know that we are not one of the firms who use this trick!
3) MYTH: It would be easier and cheaper to send out our own mailer for same results – Just because you need physicians, doesn’t mean you have the resources, tools, and expertise necessary to most effectively market your opportunity to physicians. Therefore, some firms, such as The Medicus Firm, consult with professional graphic design and marketing professionals to help design letter campaigns that are eye-catching, fresh, and attractive to candidates, to help elicit the needed response.
Additionally, conducting an effective mail campaign is fairly labor intensive – ordering the list of physicians is only the first step of many in the process of executing an effective direct mail campaign. And, by outsourcing your recruitment (and direct mail) through a recruiting firm, you may also benefit from other mailers of recently filled searches – e.g. candidates who reply after the other client’s search has been filled, or candidates who weren’t interested in another opportunity they responded to, may be a better fit for your opportunity.
4) MYTH: Email is faster and better – Email is a great tool for contacting candidates. However, emails can so easily be deleted and/or lost in a sea of other emails. Many active candidates receive 50-100 emails per day! As opposed to maybe a few paper mailers they receive per day. Email campaigns and direct mail should be utilized as part of a multi-pronged approach to marketing your opportunity.
Hopefully, this may help clear up some of the confusion and misconceptions about direct mail, which remains one of the most efficient, cost-effective ways for sourcing candidates in a targeted way. Thanks for visiting DocHunterDiary.com, and if you have any other questions, feel free to contact a consultant at The Medicus Firm to discuss your search and opportunity marketing needs.
– Andrea Santiago
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The Importance of Curiosity in Recruiting
1 September 2011
A long time ago, when I took a few journalism classes, one of the themes that was often tossed around was the importance of curiosity in journalism – the best journalists are often those who are most curious. By having enthusiasm and natural curiosity for the world around them, journalists never assume to know everything about any particular situation. Curious journalists know they need to explore every aspect to learn more, and to get the whole story. Seeking the whys and hows of their surroundings, and looking beyond the seemingly obvious answers helps journalists to be the best at finding the greatest angle for their stories, uncovering human interest, and sometimes even making a difference in the world by informing and motivating others to take action on a previously unknown cause.
Curiosity can also be a key to success in physician recruiting, or any type of recruiting for that matter.
Especially for experienced recruiters, curiosity can be elusive. After you’ve talked to hundreds of doctors, you begin to anticipate answers and sometimes even unintentionally lead them with your questions. Like reporters interviewing a subject for a story, recruiters interviewing physicians for jobs must ask the right questions to obtain the most useful and pertinent information from candidates.
Even the least skilled recruiters know to ask the basics: why the candidate is looking, where they’ve been, who is relocating with the candidate, what procedures they do, and when they can start.
But as recruiters, we also should know what makes each candidate “tick”. Why did they pursue medicine? How did they decide on their current specialty? How did they end up in the practice and location they’re in now? By understanding how the physician got to this point in their professional and personal life, and by learning how they made their decisions to this point, you will be better prepared to understand which of your opportunities would be the strongest fit for this physician, and why. If you are able to understand that and communicate it to your candidate, you are in a much better position for success.
What if you’re not a naturally curious person? Hopefully you are curious on at least a minimal level; otherwise, you are probably very bored in your role as a physician recruiter. However, if you’ve experienced any modicum of success as a recruiter, most likely you do have a lot of curiosity, or you did at some point. Over time, if you’ve lost that passion to explore more about the candidate’s situation, the easiest way to “fake” curiosity is to simply ask lots of follow up questions. Ask questions in layers. Start with a broad, open question, and narrow them down as you go, probing for more specifics.
After the candidate answers your question initially, follow up their answer with another question. It can be as simple as: “Really! Why is that?” Or: “What else?” or “How important is that to you?”
Candidates know the questions you are going to ask them and have most likely prepared some answers. To get beyond the “canned” answer, you must go beyond the first layer of questions, with more open-ended questions.
Curiosity may have killed a lot of cats, but it definitely helps a lot of physician recruiters achieve greater success when utilized and leveraged regularly during the recruitment process. –Andrea
