1. Look for medical students from the community. Contact medical students who grew up in or near your community and recruit them to return after they’ve earned their degrees, says B.J. Millar, a director in Quorum Health Resources’ physicians services practice. Offer to provide stipends during their time in medical school and throughout their residencies if they agree to return after their training. The hospital is taking a risk by offering these types of incentive programs because the students are not contractually bound to honor the agreement. However, the program could be beneficial to entice students back who already have links in the community. “It’s a long-term project,” says Mr. Millar. “But what hospitals hope is that they’ll have a solid provider who is tied to the community by a lot more strings than just having a job there.”
2. Offer to cover the surgeon’s expenses. Hospitals in smaller towns can offer to cover the moving and relocation expenses of specialty surgeons who are living or training in big cities, says Mr. Millar. Covering these expenses give the surgeons a reason to choose your hospital over others. Additionally, some hospitals are offering loan forgiveness to the students coming out of medical school as a further incentive to practice in the area for three to five years.
3. Involve already employed physicians. Hospitals should actively include already employed physicians in the search for a new specialist, says Bob Bregant, executive vice president of Horton, Smith & Associates, based in Overland Park, Kan. Hospital administrators should also canvass their current physicians about which medical schools they attended. Contact those medical schools via phone or e-mail and ask if they have any recent alumni who might be interested in working at the hospital. Hospitals can also ask employed physicians to network within professional societies or organizations to recruit good candidates for the position.
Read other coverage on physician recruitment:
– 5 Tips to Improve Recruitment of Spine Physicians and Staff
– The Future of Orthopedic Surgeon Employment: 3 Core Concepts
– Rural Spine Practices Meet Recruitment Challenges by Emphasizing Decreased Competition, Small-Town Lifestyle
