Physician mobility driven by soaring job demand

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES — The physician job market is experiencing an unprecedented surge in demand, leading to increased mobility among doctors seeking better opportunities. The aging population and rising need for medical services have created a critical shortage of skilled physicians across specialties and regions.
Doctors now have better employment prospects
Employment setups for physicians have evolved throughout the years. In the past, they were mostly employed by medical institutions or in private practice.
Now, they are being hired by a diverse range of employers, including insurance companies, private equity groups, urgent care centers, retail clinics, federally qualified health centers, and telemedicine groups.
According to Helen Falkner, regional vice president of recruiting at Jackson Physician Search, the number of open physician positions across the U.S. has skyrocketed, with nearly 3,000 family medicine jobs currently unfilled.
Falkner noted that physicians’ preferences and priorities, which have evolved over the years, play a critical role in job hunting.
“Are they interested in hospital medicine? Do they have some other sub-specialty interests that they want to pursue? What do they want in a call schedule, a general schedule, compensation, loan repayment needs, geographic preferences, spousal or family needs, visa requirements? Then your pool … shrinks to single digits by state,” Falkner said.
Competitive salary packages for doctors
The stagnant supply has caused a dramatic increase in healthcare workers’ salaries. Falker said that the majority of organizations are offering starting salary guarantees at or above the Medical Group Management Association median.
“I think a lot of organizations feel the pressure to fund their compensation in one of the highest percentiles in order to be competitive,” says Carey Goryl, CEO, Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment.
“We look at the data from many of the compensation sources out there, and those that we follow show that yes, pretty much across the board, compensation is increasing.”
Falkner disclosed that her company even offered recruitment packages worth $100,000 last year. Sixty-five percent had signing bonuses or recruitment packages worth $50,000 or greater.
Additionally, Leah Grant, president of AMN Healthcare’s Physician Permanent Solutions division, said that 62% of openings they handled offered some relocation allowance, which is worth an average of $12,000 but has gone as high as $150,000.