How a Playbook Can Optimize Your In-House Recruitment Team

Physician Shortage On the Rise

Physician shortage is on the rise within the United States, with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) projecting a physician shortfall of 37,800 to 124,000 by 2034. Part of this shortage is due to physicians retiring, but demographic trends continue to drive increased demand. Primary care specialties, including family and internal medicine, are the most competitive to fill. Additionally, other hard-to-fill specialties include dermatology, gastroenterology, neurology, and psychiatry. A recruitment team faces unique challenges in addressing these gaps.

Recruitment Challenges

Whether recruiting primary care or specialty care, provider recruitment continues to be a challenge facing healthcare systems and physician practices. This can be especially true in more rural markets where 20% of Americans live, according to the American Hospital Association (AHA). Not only do less than 8% of physicians practice in rural markets today, but facilities serving smaller communities report higher physician turnover. This can mean that recruiters in these areas of the country may carry higher-than-median search loads.

In-house Physician Recruitment Team

Many hospitals and healthcare organizations now have in-house physician recruitment teams to address local healthcare needs. This role was created to reduce costs associated with search firms or headhunters. As retention trends indicated a need for more intentional sourcing and vetting, in-house teams gained popularity. These recruiters, familiar with the community, are uniquely positioned to match candidates with opportunities. Moreover, they collaborate with internal stakeholders to support onboarding and retention efforts.

According to reports from the Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR), healthcare organizations are doing more searches than ever before with in-house physician recruitment teams. This same report indicates that physician searches are taking longer than ever. When it comes to optimizing your in-house recruitment team’s results, I have found that a physician recruitment playbook can provide a solid foundation for physician recruiters and operational leaders to implement best practices for the recruitment process.

Physician Recruitment Playbook

A playbook is a manual with a set of strategies and methods that are tried and true practices designed to achieve success. Similarly, a physician recruitment playbook can serve as a guide for assisting operations and leadership on how to employ the best practices needed to recruit and retain physicians who fit with an organization’s mission and values.

Step 1 to Developing a Physician Recruitment Playbook

One of the first steps in the process of developing a playbook is to understand not only the national physician recruitment market and trends but also trends specific to your geographic region and the specialties you are prioritizing. Some things I have typically asked as we prioritize positions and searches include:

• How many providers are available within your specialty of interest?
• How many of these are actively looking for a role?
• How many of these have ties to your area?
• What strategic sources will you need to build or leverage to gain visibility among these providers?

Step 2 to Developing a Physician Recruitment Playbook

The next step in developing a physician recruitment playbook is to understand the key processes in a candidate pipeline. For example, some typical steps in the recruitment process can include:

Defined Timeframes

Defining your process is only the beginning. Strong in-house recruitment teams have tightly defined timeframes for moving providers from one step of the process to the next. At Mercy Health, in-house recruiters were expected to follow up with candidates within 24 hours to initiate a relationship and determine a potential fit. Similarly, department leaders were educated on the importance of timely processing and were expected to follow up by telephone within 48-72 hours of being presented with a candidate.

By outlining your process and what is expected across each stage along the way, you can map out, track performance, and coach your team to fill vacancies, minimize days to fill, and support stronger retention.

Learn more about Physician Recruitment Playbooks and how you can get started building your own with our tool kit.

Demo — Physician Recruitment

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Tool Kit — Physician Recruitment

Physician Recruitment Playbook

A recruitment playbook serves as a comprehensive guide to help in-house recruitment teams streamline their processes, enhance efficiency, and successfully attract and retain top physician talent. By following the four key steps outlined in this tool kit, organizations can build a robust recruitment strategy that aligns with their mission and long-term goals.

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