Jul 16, 2009: State of the Industry Survey Results Announced

PracticeMatch Releases Results of Recent “State of the Industry” Survey of Physician Recruiters

St. Louis, MO (July 16, 2009):

PracticeMatch, the leading provider of physician data and sourcing services, has recently completed its yearly survey of in-house physician recruiters on the state of the physician recruitment industry. Survey results have revealed that the physician shortage, coupled with the aging population, has taken a toll on the recruiting industry as recruiters strive to fill openings. Survey results were compiled between May 1 and May 15, 2009, from a response group of 75 physician recruiters from healthcare systems and groups nationwide. Below are some key findings, and more information can be found by contacting Elizabeth Campbell, Marketing Coordinator for PracticeMatch, at 314-485-6539.

Key Findings, 2009

While needs for Primary Care specialties such as Family Practice and Internal Medicine remained steady, an increase was seen in Neurology (48.6%), Cardiology (28%), Urology (25.6%), Rheumatology (17.5%), and other specialties. As the physician shortage continues, these need reports are expected to continue to rise.

Physician recruiters are striving to fill opportunities, and for 2009 they report needing to fill an average of 24.7 opportunities per facility - an increase of nearly 5 over the previous year. However, recruiters are only expecting their rate of fill to be 17, 7.7 lower than their reported need. With a projected interview-to-hire ratio of 3.25:1 (down from 3.86:1 in 2007) hospitals and medical groups will be interviewing an average of 80 physicians. With placement rates expected to come in at 17, the projected interview-to-hire ratio for 2009 jumps to 4.7:1 - adding an additional $348,000 to hospital budgets at an average total interview cost of $3,000 per interview.

To combat the rising costs of interviewing, recruiters have begun to diligently track success rates with different sourcing and advertising outlets - with 100% reporting success through Internet marketing and 94% finding success in mass e-mail campaigns. Journal advertisements, direct mail, and job fairs were reported as the least successful methods, with 18-22% reporting no success with these methods.

One reason for the decrease in hire rates could be that recruiters are finding themselves overextended - only 23% reported that recruiting was their only duty, with others' workloads including unrelated tasks of marketing, webmaster, and office management.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, however, with over half of respondents stating that they are now actively pursuing Advanced Practitioners, including Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists - with several (46%) relying on word-of-mouth as their method for recruitment.


About PracticeMatch

PracticeMatch Services, based in St. Louis, has been the number one provider of physician data for almost 20 years. Currently, PracticeMatch offers a number of sourcing services for data clients, ranging from direct marketing assistance to cold-calling services.

For more information, please contact:

Lisa Rimmert
Marketing Coordinator
314-485-6612
lisa.rimmert@practicematch.com

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