Senior Vice President of Practice Development at Orthopedic Marketing Group Tony Edwards discusses how to best meet recruitment challenges for new physician partners.
Q: How can orthopedic surgeons decide whether it is the right time to begin recruiting a new partner to their practice?
Tony Edwards: The decision to recruit can be stressful, though to ensure it is a wise decision, practices should consider the following:
• Current capacity – Are physicians at 100 percent of capacity? And, do patients have to wait to get an appointment?
• Overall practice strategy – Is expansion an objective for the practice?
• Practice makeup – What percent of the practice's physicians are generalists vs. subspecialists?
• Competition – What are they doing and what is the make-up of their practice?
By answering the questions above, a practice may quickly determine if it's the right time to search for additional providers or expose opportunities to improve efficiency.
Q. When the practice has decided to begin recruiting, what avenues are the most successful for tapping the best candidates?
TE: Considering all the recruitment strategies practices could use, the most successful approach is using more than just one. One of the biggest recruitment mistakes practices make is only hiring a recruiter. Although recruiters are certainly helpful, they shouldn't be the practice's only strategy to locate the right talent. Instead, practices should have a multi-facetted approach considering the following:
• The easiest physician to recruit is within a 100-mile radius of the practice.
• Looking for a fellowship-trained physician involves competing for talent at a national level.
• Physicians should capitalize on existing relationships by reaching out to colleagues where they completed their training.
Additional avenues include industry specific publications, state and national association Web sites and annual association meetings. However, running ads, handing out collateral materials and/or simply being at a trade show or meeting can be a successful tactic if done right; but it can also be expensive. If the practice chooses to take one or all of these approaches, it is imperative that all materials used have a consistent look and conveys a compelling message that not only resonates well for the physician from a financial standpoint, but also the physician's life outside of clinic as their spouse and family will have a say in the decision too.
Q. How can orthopedic practices make themselves attractive to potential partners?
TE: The most attractive practices recognized the importance of a first impression. Many practices make the mistake of saying they are cutting edge, but their materials such as their Web site and brochures look like they haven't been updated in more than 20 years. Making a good first impression starts with consistent and updated material, keeping in mind that the first thing a recruit may see is your Web site and it may be what they interpret to be a reflection of the practice.
Second to a good impression, attractive practices are also those with a thorough strategic plan that, if executed correctly, will help the physician get busy fast and stay on track to make partnership. Additionally, ancillary revenue is a great advantage for recruits and a significant differentiator between practices.
Q: When going though the interview process, how can the current partners tell whether a candidate would be a good fit with them or not?
TE: Practices need to set values for the practice that represents all physicians as a whole. These are values that the physicians would have, whether they were for an orthopedic practice or a hardware store, and these values should never change. Having practice values in place will make it easier to evaluate if a candidate is a right fit for the practice.
Additionally, physician involvement in recruit interviews is beneficial. Having the most successful physician interview candidates one-on-one provides an opportunity to look for similar characteristics ultimately improving your chances of choosing the right candidate.
As Senior Vice President of Practice Development with Orthopaedic Marketing Group, Tony Edwards has provided orthopedic practices with competitive market advantages through strategic marketing solutions supported by specialized research and experience.
Learn more about Orthopaedic Marketing Group.
Related Articles on Orthopedic Practices:
5 Things to Do Before Beginning New Orthopedic Surgeon Recruitment
5 Points on Recruiting Young Physicians to Orthopedic Practices
4 Steps for Successful Orthopedic Surgeon Recruitment
Tony Edwards: The decision to recruit can be stressful, though to ensure it is a wise decision, practices should consider the following:
• Current capacity – Are physicians at 100 percent of capacity? And, do patients have to wait to get an appointment?
• Overall practice strategy – Is expansion an objective for the practice?
• Practice makeup – What percent of the practice's physicians are generalists vs. subspecialists?
• Competition – What are they doing and what is the make-up of their practice?
By answering the questions above, a practice may quickly determine if it's the right time to search for additional providers or expose opportunities to improve efficiency.
Q. When the practice has decided to begin recruiting, what avenues are the most successful for tapping the best candidates?
TE: Considering all the recruitment strategies practices could use, the most successful approach is using more than just one. One of the biggest recruitment mistakes practices make is only hiring a recruiter. Although recruiters are certainly helpful, they shouldn't be the practice's only strategy to locate the right talent. Instead, practices should have a multi-facetted approach considering the following:
• The easiest physician to recruit is within a 100-mile radius of the practice.
• Looking for a fellowship-trained physician involves competing for talent at a national level.
• Physicians should capitalize on existing relationships by reaching out to colleagues where they completed their training.
Additional avenues include industry specific publications, state and national association Web sites and annual association meetings. However, running ads, handing out collateral materials and/or simply being at a trade show or meeting can be a successful tactic if done right; but it can also be expensive. If the practice chooses to take one or all of these approaches, it is imperative that all materials used have a consistent look and conveys a compelling message that not only resonates well for the physician from a financial standpoint, but also the physician's life outside of clinic as their spouse and family will have a say in the decision too.
Q. How can orthopedic practices make themselves attractive to potential partners?
TE: The most attractive practices recognized the importance of a first impression. Many practices make the mistake of saying they are cutting edge, but their materials such as their Web site and brochures look like they haven't been updated in more than 20 years. Making a good first impression starts with consistent and updated material, keeping in mind that the first thing a recruit may see is your Web site and it may be what they interpret to be a reflection of the practice.
Second to a good impression, attractive practices are also those with a thorough strategic plan that, if executed correctly, will help the physician get busy fast and stay on track to make partnership. Additionally, ancillary revenue is a great advantage for recruits and a significant differentiator between practices.
Q: When going though the interview process, how can the current partners tell whether a candidate would be a good fit with them or not?
TE: Practices need to set values for the practice that represents all physicians as a whole. These are values that the physicians would have, whether they were for an orthopedic practice or a hardware store, and these values should never change. Having practice values in place will make it easier to evaluate if a candidate is a right fit for the practice.
Additionally, physician involvement in recruit interviews is beneficial. Having the most successful physician interview candidates one-on-one provides an opportunity to look for similar characteristics ultimately improving your chances of choosing the right candidate.
As Senior Vice President of Practice Development with Orthopaedic Marketing Group, Tony Edwards has provided orthopedic practices with competitive market advantages through strategic marketing solutions supported by specialized research and experience.
Learn more about Orthopaedic Marketing Group.
Related Articles on Orthopedic Practices:
5 Things to Do Before Beginning New Orthopedic Surgeon Recruitment
5 Points on Recruiting Young Physicians to Orthopedic Practices
4 Steps for Successful Orthopedic Surgeon Recruitment