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Article 1 - Conducting a successful physician search |
Published in Hematology Oncology News & Issues Michael J. Kirschner Conducting a comprehensive search when you are seeking a quality physician to fit your organizational goals is an extensive, time-consuming process. You should evaluate the situation carefully before you initiate a search. It is critical that you are methodical, organized and efficient since the process takes commitment and is costly. This article will explain the ten critical steps in identifying quality physicians in a reasonable time frame. Whether you are a large health care system, hospital, managed care organization or private practice, this search process will have a major impact on your organization. Step 1: Evaluating the Need Carefully evaluate your medical staff needs before initiating the physician search process. Depending upon the size of your organization, this could be a formal comprehensive medical staff development plan study performed by a consulting firm or a brief internal evaluation conducted by your organization. Make sure it is an accurate and honest attempt to evaluate your current physician situation. No matter how it is performed, it is critical that this foundation is established prior to starting the process. Depending upon the position, a job description may be necessary so there is complete understanding. This evaluation will ensure you are headed in the right direction, implementing this process at the right time, searching for the right type of physician(s), and receiving proper support from your organization. Step 2: Analyze Practice Opportunity Investigate each practice opportunity and discuss the strengths and weaknesses. Are there ways to reduce the weaknesses? How can we make this opportunity as attractive as possible? This is important because you need to understand the obstacles and have a strategy to overcome them. Is adequate office space available for the new physician? Are contracts developed for candidates and have they been reviewed by contract experts? All the key individuals involved with the recruitment process must be committed. Recognize that you are competing against others for the same quality physicians. Step 3: Describe Practice Opportunity Have a clear understanding of the opportunity. Describe the key features of the practice and the required criteria for the physician candidates. Make sure the medical staff approves it or prepare for the ramifications if they do not. This will help the individual(s) perform the recruitment and minimize misunderstandings. Step 4: Physician Search Sourcing Methods There are numerous sourcing methods available to identify quality physicians. We recommend using several methods simultaneously to increase your chances of identifying the best physicians that are seeking practice positions. Organization is extremely important. The more sources you use, the more confusing the search could become if you are not organized. The recommended sourcing methods to perform comprehensive searches are: A. Networking - Notify all physicians and other personal contacts and inform them of the search. (This is assuming it is not a confidential search). Attempt to receive referrals from these individuals and make sure they have a basic understanding of the searches so they are not referring inappropriate physicians. If there are recent graduates on the medical staff, have them follow-up with their residency/fellowship programs for potential candidates. B. Societies/Associations, Conventions, and Training Programs - Attend annual specialty conventions and develop an exhibit to further promote your opportunities (if recruiting is going to be a continual process). If possible, arrange interviews in advance with potential candidates. Visit the residency/fellowship programs if these physicians would be appropriate for your opportunity. C. Advertisements - The opportunities may be advertised in specialty journals or general medical publications. Highlight key aspects of the practice opportunity and requirements to attract qualified physicians. D. Targeted Direct Mail Campaign - Design a letter explaining the details of the opportunity and forward it to a target population in that specialty. In order for the letter to be most effective and experience good results, it needs to be sent to the “right” audience and has to hit the hot buttons of the particular physicians. For example, a letter for a Medical Director position should be sent only to physicians that have administrative experience and appropriate clinical training. The unique and key features of the position should be clearly stated. Utilize certifications, geography and year of transition as selections in targeting your mailer. Make sure a system is established to handle responses effectively. E. Database - Develop or purchase a physician database. Automating your candidate profiles will increase efficiency and organization. If you develop your database, make sure it is designed to meet all of your needs. Purchasing a database could be an adventure since there are numerous types, however gain a thorough understanding of the quality of the data and how the systems work. F. Physician Search Firm - Contact a limited number of recruitment organizations after you know your needs. These firms provide different services and you want to make sure your specific needs are going to be met. In selecting search firms, you can contact various national recruitment associations to receive lists of firms, recommendations and referrals. It is very important when working with a search firm, that you understand what they will provide and their fee structure. The services are critical because you want to keep the process organized, focused and most importantly successful. Evaluate fees with your priorities to insure search activity and increased potential for search success. We highly recommend that you interview (by telephone) each firm and the recruiter managing your search. Discuss strategies, methods and costs prior to selecting the firm. Depending upon the relationship you want to develop with a firm, will decide if you work with one or more. G. Internet - Utilize the internet to advertise your practice opportunities. Locate the most appropriate physician career search companies and physician job posting companies based on your needs and advertise your opportunities to their web sites. Some sites may be better for certain specialties. Prominent medical journals will typically post your ad to their web site automatically when you run an ad in their journal. Step 5: Decide Approach After evaluating your needs, analyzing and describing the practice opportunities and determining which sourcing methods to use, it is time to select the approach. If your organization has a recruitment office, will they manage the entire search process or receive assistance from a search firm? If they do not have an established recruitment office, are the physicians to seek an associate on their own or receive assistance from a search firm? Whatever approach you decide, make sure you will be able to achieve your goals. Do not assume the recruitment office or search firms will meet all your needs. Ask several questions before making a decision. How does the recruitment office plan to proceed? Will they do it all alone or use search firms as well? Will they use one or several firms? How do they plan to keep the process organized if they are using several firms? If the physician recruits on his/her own how much time will it take away from their practice? What is the strategy of the search firm? Can they guarantee activity? Will they represent your specific practice opportunity? Each approach has financial implications. Analyze the cost benefit and make the decision with all the necessary information. Make sure everyone knows their role in this process. Step 6: Initiate Search Process Now that you have decided the approach, you must be fully committed to the process. The candidates must be thoroughly screened and the qualified candidates must be contacted in a timely manner. The next steps are just as important as the first five steps in order to achieve success. "Beware"- Case Example : Group Practice A is performing a hematology/oncology search. Three qualified candidates have been identified and presented to the physician or administrator of the practice looking for an associate. The candidates are contacted 3-4 weeks later after being presented and are no longer available at that time. The recommendation is to contact the presented candidates within 2 days. Step 7: Interviewing Once you have narrowed down the candidates presented from the sourcing, you are ready to interview. Two interviews should take place: telephone interview and on-site visit interview. A. Telephone Interview - The telephone interview should consist of the recruiter, administrator and/or appropriate physicians speaking with the candidate. Anyone speaking with the candidate must be able to specifically explain the opportunity in a professional manner. Ask the candidate their desires, motivational factors, priorities, clinical style and philosophy. Prior to the telephone interview be prepare to provide potential site visit dates. B. On-Site Visit Interview - After the telephone interview if the candidates remain viable, an onsite interview should be arranged and references should be received. The references should include physicians who can comment on the quality of the candidates’ medical skills and his/her personality within the last two years. It would also be appropriate to include administrators, nurses and referring physicians, as references. The visit should provide the candidate and spouse/significant other (if appropriate) a comprehensive view of the opportunity. This is your chance to learn as much as possible about the candidate and show off your practice opportunity. The visit must be extremely organized. Make sure all the individuals involved with the visit are well versed on the opportunity and present themselves in a professional manner. The visit should include a tour of the practice, hospital and community. Plan adequate time for the candidate to meet with the administrator(s), physicians that they will be practicing with, and referring physicians. Depending on the specialty or opportunity, it may be appropriate to meet with the operating room staff, board members and/or chief of services. Social functions may be planned throughout the visit as well as meetings for spouses. The educational system and religious facilities may also be investigated. The comprehensive visit may take 2-3 days. Before the candidate leaves, you should have all your questions answered. If the visit is proceeding well, a sample contract (after it has been reviewed by a contract expert) should be provided to the candidate or be reviewed with the candidate before concluding the visit. “Beware”- Case Example : Group Practice B has a medical oncology candidate visit for a job position. Throughout the visit, the candidate is waiting to meet the physicians in the group, in between patient office visits. During the interview, the physicians are interrupted by telephone calls. The candidate does not have time to ask many important questions and gain information about the opportunity since the key physician had to leave early. In addition, the financial aspects are not discussed and the candidate did not have time to tour the hospital. Other key people were out on vacation. The recommendation is to plan a comprehensive visit and establish an appropriate itinerary. Step 8: Post Interview Gain feedback on the candidate as soon as possible after the visit. If you decide to not pursue the candidate further, inform him/her promptly in a professional manner. However, if your organization has decided to pursue things further, the next step would be to re-contact the candidate within a few days of the visit or wait to hear back from the candidate if they wanted time to think it over. Either way you should re-contact the candidate within one week. Make sure proper follow-up is performed after the visit. Step 9: Presenting and Negotiating Contract First and most importantly, ensure the contract has been reviewed by a physician contract expert (usually an attorney) before presenting the agreement to the candidate. This is critical because if an inappropriate and unfair contract is presented, you run the risk of permanently damaging the relationship and destroying the candidate search process you worked so hard to develop. Depending upon your organization there may be flexibility with the contract. If the candidate requests some changes and you are strongly in favor of the physician’s candidacy, you may choose to modify the contract. Prior to giving a final response to the candidate on the contract requests, evaluate the overall importance of the requests. In either instance, you have to decide (after evaluating all of the above) if the contract changes requested by the candidate are significant enough for you to reject the candidate. Timing is very important in negotiations. If too many delays occur, the candidate may perceive that you are not interested or too disorganized. If the contract needs to be reviewed, make sure the new contract is forwarded to the candidate within 2-3 days of the conversation. The contract must be readily available and presented in an appropriate time period. It is important that you use your attorney as an advisor not as a spokesperson. It is highly recommended that the attorney does not speak directly with the candidates. Remember, you need to demonstrate your effective communication abilities. Clear and timely communication between you and the candidate is essential for a successfully negotiated contract. Decide on the most important issues, using your attorney’s guidance. “Beware”- Case Example : A physician employment agreement is forwarded to the hematology/oncology candidate by Group Practice C. The candidate has various questions and leaves messages for the point of contact at the practice. The call is returned 7 days later and the candidate receives some answers to the questions. A revised contract is to be sent to the candidate within 4-5 days. It is received 17 days later with only some revisions. The candidate awaits a call back after two messages. The point of contact at the practice calls the candidate back and the final contract is not received by the candidate for 2 more weeks. The candidate decides to accept another offer. The recommendation is to respond to the candidate in an organized and timely manner. Step 10: Decision Listen to your feelings and recognize impact on organizational goals. This may be most important. Consider the input from your professional colleagues and perhaps family members (if they were involved in the process). They could provide objective points with their perspectives on the candidate. The search process is easier and more effective if you take a comprehensive and organized approach. The key members in the process must be committed and willing to listen to the professional advisors. Some of the rewards of conducting a successful physician search process are meeting the medical needs of the community, upgrading the clinical services of your organization, and improving the financial stability of your organization. * Published in Hematology Oncology News & Issues, November 2002 Michael J. Kirschner is President of American Medical Consultants-FL, Inc. He specializes in health care consulting and physician recruiting. He has over 20 years of experience in the health care industry with group practices, hospitals, corporate networks, and managed care systems.
Michael J. Kirschner |
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