Introducing: Physician Employment Strategies Series

Introducing: Physician Employment Strategies Series

Busy Nurse's Station In Modern Hospital

For the first time in history, there are more physicians employed by hospitals than by private practices. This cultural shift, combined with a growing physician shortage, has made hospitals’ recruiting and retention more challenging than ever. Attempts to attract and retain top physician talent can be expensive and frustrating. These issues are magnified for small and rural facilities, where attracting and keeping a new physician can make or break a service line.

At MaxWorth, we have partnered with a network of strategic alliances to help support hospitals in their efforts to remain independent, valuable assets to their communities. We believe the key to doing so is to implement dynamic and better-aligned compensation and benefit programs that are specially designed to attract and retain physician talent while driving revenue and reducing expenses.

Over the next few months, we will explore some of the challenges hospitals are facing in regards to physician employment, including:

 

  1. balancing long-term and short-term rewards
  2. finding the money to finance benefit programs
  3. supporting HR in its administrative role
  4. remaining compliant while implementing innovative solutions

 

We hope to provide you with the insights you need in order to determine if your physician employment strategies are positioning you for a brighter future.

First, we will discuss the foundation of our employment strategies: a balanced rewards suite.

 

Building a Better Rewards Suite

 

When attempting to attract employees to an organization, we typically think in terms of salary and qualified retirement plans. These two components of compensation, for the most part, represent the guaranteed elements of an employee’s “package” or total rewards. They are essential components of an overall compensation plan, and are usually adequate for employees outside of healthcare, but alone, they are not sufficient for physician employees.

While it is common to see physician compensation packages that include RVUs, signing bonuses, and/or a form of income guarantee, these compensation elements will not distance your hospital from the competition.

When designing compensation strategies to attract an in-demand physician, practice group, or service line, a more creative approach is often required.

 

Alternative Approach

 

It is possible to design a rewards package that better aligns compensation and benefits with a hospital’s objectives. This can be achieved by using a combination of at-risk, short-term bonuses and long-term rewards. These elements are flexible and highly customizable. They can align physician compensation with hospital goals like candidate attraction, retention, improved quality, and/or productivity.

When properly designed and implemented by our strategic partner network, additional bonuses and rewards are offset through improvements in revenue and productivity, cost controls, and funding vehicles.

This approach will distance your hospital from the competition in a competitive market, giving you a unique advantage in the race for talent.

 

For part two of our series, please click here

 

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